ZenMarket vs Neokyo: shipping to United States

Taking a typical order — a ¥10,000 item from Mercari Japan, about 1kg once packed, sent to United States by EMS — Neokyo works out cheaper by ¥559.

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 ¥559 actually goes

Part of it is the service fee: Neokyo charges ¥350 against ZenMarket's ¥800. The largest single difference on this order is the deposit / payment fee, worth ¥609. Line by line: ZenMarket pays ¥609 more in deposit / payment fee; Neokyo pays ¥500 more in packing charge; ZenMarket pays ¥450 more in service fee.

Does this hold for other orders?

The answer is stable for this pair: Neokyo 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

Neokyo: no extras bundled at this plan level. 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.

What we could not confirm

Neokyo: payment fee is not published; treated as ¥0