FROM JAPAN vs ZenMarket: shipping to Taiwan

Taking a typical order — a ¥10,000 item from Mercari Japan, about 1kg once packed, sent to Taiwan by EMS — FROM JAPAN works out cheaper by ¥797.

Totals include the proxy's service fee, packing, domestic shipping inside Japan, international postage, any deposit or payment fee, and import tax. Where a service collects tax up front it appears in the “pay the proxy” column instead of “pay on delivery” — the tax is the same either way.

Where the ¥797 actually goes

Part of it is the service fee: FROM JAPAN charges ¥500 against ZenMarket's ¥800. The largest single difference on this order is the deposit / payment fee, worth ¥497. Line by line: ZenMarket pays ¥497 more in deposit / payment fee; ZenMarket pays ¥300 more in service fee.

Does this hold for other orders?

The answer is stable for this pair: FROM JAPAN stays ahead if the parcel is three times heavier, if you buy three items instead of one, or if the item costs five times as much. That is not true of every pairing on this site, which is why each combination is calculated separately rather than assumed.

What each includes for the money

FROM JAPAN: 60 days of free storage, consolidation of several purchases into one parcel, a guarantee on the domestic purchase, an inspection of the item on arrival, insurance on the international leg. ZenMarket: no extras bundled at this plan level. A cheaper total with no inspection and no insurance is not the same product as a dearer one that includes both — on a second-hand auction item, where the seller's description is the only thing you have to go on, that difference is worth more than the gap above.