The ¥10,000 item costs ¥18,280 by the time it reaches you. That is 83% more than the item's own price.
- Item
- Service fee
- Postage inside Japan
- International postage
- Import tax
The steps, and what each one costs
- You ask the proxy to buy it. You pay the item price and the proxy's service fee. For a Mercari purchase the fee is FROM JAPAN ¥500, Buyee ¥500, ZenMarket ¥800, Neokyo ¥350, Doorzo 3% of the item price (¥200–¥300). Some charge per item and some per purchase, which matters as soon as you buy more than one thing.
- The seller posts it to the proxy's warehouse in Japan. You pay this domestic postage too. It is set by the seller, so it is the one number you have to read off the listing. This example uses ¥700.
- It waits in storage. Each service holds purchases for free for a while (FROM JAPAN 60 days, Buyee 30 days, ZenMarket 60 days, Neokyo 45 days, Doorzo 60 days) so you can collect several and ship them together. After that, storage is charged.
- It is packed. FROM JAPAN, Buyee, ZenMarket and Doorzo include packing in the service fee; Neokyo charges for it by weight.
- It is posted overseas. EMS to United Kingdom costs ¥4,400 at 1 kg, the same whichever proxy sends it. On this order that is 24% of the whole bill, the largest single line after the item itself.
- Paying can cost extra.ZenMarket adds 3.5% of the whole transaction; FROM JAPAN and Buyee add nothing, and Neokyo and Doorzo does not publish one.
- It clears customs in United Kingdom. ¥2,880 of VAT on this order, charged on the item plus the international postage. Some services collect it at checkout; otherwise the courier collects it at the door.
The running total
| Step | Adds | Running total |
|---|---|---|
| The item | ¥10,000 | ¥10,000 |
| Service fee | ¥300 | ¥10,300 |
| Postage to the warehouse | ¥700 | ¥11,000 |
| Packing | — | ¥11,000 |
| International postage | ¥4,400 | ¥15,400 |
| Payment fees | — | ¥15,400 |
| Import tax | ¥2,880 | ¥18,280 |
The service fee everyone advertises is ¥300 of the ¥8,280 you pay on top of the item. Postage and tax are most of the rest, and those do not change whichever proxy you pick. That is why the cheapest service on one order is not automatically the cheapest on the next: the parts that differ are small, and they are charged on different units.
Protection plans and what is included
Some services bundle extras into the fee and some sell them separately. FROM JAPAN includes 60 days of storage, consolidation, a guarantee on the purchase in Japan, an inspection on arrival and shipping insurance in the service fee. Buyee offers 4 plans instead, from ¥0 to ¥500:
| Buyee plan | Fee | Shipping guarantee | Inspection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light (no cover) | ¥0 | No | No |
| Inspection only | ¥300 | No | Yes |
| Shipping guarantee only | ¥500 | Yes | No |
| Standard (guarantee + inspection) | ¥500 | Yes | Yes |
The totals on this site use the free Light plan, so Buyee is compared at its cheapest. If you would take the Standard plan anyway, add ¥500 to its totals before comparing.
Where it goes wrong
The item cannot be exported. Paint, spray cans, lighters, batteries and replica weapons are refused by some or all of the five, and you find out at the warehouse, after you have paid for the item and the postage to get it there. Check what cannot ship before you bid.
You change your mind. ZenMarket, for example, charges ¥1,000 to cancel once an item has reached the warehouse, and auction and flea-market purchases cannot be cancelled at all.
You leave it in storage too long. The free period runs from the day the item reaches the warehouse. Past it, storage is charged daily or weekly, and items left long enough are disposed of without compensation.