Cheapest proxy service from Japan to United States
The same order — ¥10,000 of goods, roughly 1kg packed, EMS to United States — priced through all four services, from each of the seven places a proxy can buy from. FROM JAPAN is cheapest wherever you buy — and at ¥16,500 the marketplace makes no difference to the total.
Cheapest service for each marketplace
| Where you buy | Cheapest | Total | The other three |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yahoo! Auctions | FROM JAPAN | ¥16,500 | Buyee ¥16,500 · Neokyo ¥16,850 · ZenMarket ¥17,409 |
| Mercari Japan | FROM JAPAN | ¥16,500 | Buyee ¥16,500 · Neokyo ¥16,850 · ZenMarket ¥17,409 |
| Rakuten Rakuma | FROM JAPAN | ¥16,500 | Buyee ¥16,500 · Neokyo ¥16,850 · ZenMarket ¥17,098 |
| Amazon.co.jp | FROM JAPAN | ¥16,500 | Buyee ¥16,500 · Neokyo ¥16,850 · ZenMarket ¥17,098 |
| Rakuten Ichiba | FROM JAPAN | ¥16,500 | Buyee ¥16,500 · Neokyo ¥16,850 · ZenMarket ¥17,098 |
| a ZenMarket recommended store | FROM JAPAN | ¥16,500 | Buyee ¥16,500 · Neokyo ¥16,850 · ZenMarket ¥16,891 |
| any Japanese online shop | FROM JAPAN | ¥16,500 | Buyee ¥16,500 · Neokyo ¥16,850 · ZenMarket ¥17,098 |
The cheapest total is ¥16,500 from every marketplace on this list. FROM JAPAN charges one flat service fee regardless of where it buys, so on a single-item order the marketplace changes nothing. It starts to matter once you order more than one item, or once a service that charges per order rather than per item becomes the cheapest — the table below shows where the ranking actually moves.
What happens when you buy more than one thing
Service fees are not charged on the same unit, so the ranking above is only the answer for a single item. Here is the same Yahoo! Auctions order at one item, at three separate items, and at three items bought from the same shop:
| Service | 1 item | 3 items | 3 from one shop |
|---|---|---|---|
| FROM JAPAN | ¥500 | ¥1,500 | same |
| Buyee | ¥500 | ¥1,500 | same |
| Neokyo | ¥350 | ¥1,050 | same |
| ZenMarket | ¥800 | ¥2,400 | same |
FROM JAPAN stays cheapest at three items (¥17,500 in total). Buying several things at once also shares one parcel and one lot of postage between them, which usually matters more than the service fee does.
What the cheapest total is made of
FROM JAPAN's ¥16,500 on a Yahoo! Auctions order breaks down as proxy service fee ¥500, domestic shipping in japan ¥700, international shipping ¥5,300, on top of the ¥10,000 item itself, plus import charges that cannot be estimated in advance. The item is 61% of what you actually spend — the rest is the cost of getting it out of Japan and through customs.
| # | Service | Pay the proxy | Pay on delivery | Total | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FROM JAPAN | ¥16,500 | not estimated | ¥16,500 +duty | On delivery |
| 2 | Buyee | ¥16,500 | not estimated | ¥16,500 +duty | On delivery |
| 3 | Neokyo | ¥16,850 | not estimated | ¥16,850 +duty | On delivery |
| 4 | ZenMarket | ¥17,409 | not estimated | ¥17,409 +duty | On delivery |
You may not need a proxy at all
The Amazon, Rakuten, recommended-shop and other-store rows above are places selling new, in-stock goods. For those a proxy is often unnecessary: some Japanese shops ship overseas themselves, and the proxy fees in that table — from ¥6,500 on this order, on top of the item price — disappear entirely.
This does not apply to Yahoo! Auctions, Mercari or Rakuma. Those listings are second-hand or one-off, and no direct shop stocks the same item.
Solaris Japan — figures, anime goods and model kits
Shipping availability and postage differ by store and by country. Check on the store's own site before ordering.