How To Buy Things From Japan

I recently went to Japan for a holiday and despite the hike in consumption tax, prices were still generally cheaper than Singapore. Of course this is dependent on whether it is an imported good and the current exchange rate. Anyway! Uniqlo was about SGD10 cheaper for non-promotional items.

Naturally I got thinking about how to shop online from Japanese websites.


It is annoying because some websites like Uniqlo JP only allow the use of Japanese-issued cards for payment. So you will need to go through an agent to get the stuff for you. I have done extensive (if I may say so myself) research and I must say... it is quite a profiteering business being a shipping agent in Japan. They levy charges on all sorts of things.

Some will charge service fee per item (~300 yen), storage fee, shipping fee, packaging fee, paypal transaction fee, bank transaction fee, consolidation fee. So even if they promised a low 5% agent fee, these additional charges meant that the effective agent fee can be over 30%.

I found two agents which were not that expensive and have used them before.

1.  http://www.vvjapan.net/en/index.html

That was essentially the entire website. 

Service fee was 500 yen for 20 items, I had 22 items (-.-) to buy so my service fee became 1000 yen instead. It was a little "scary" at first because everything is communicated by email, so there was a doubt that they might not email back. But it was listed as one of the trustable website on Japan Post website, so my fear was reduced lol. 

the advantage of using vvJapan is that it has DBS bank account, so you can save on all the paypal transaction fees that other agents will pass on to you. 

2. http://www.jpn-depot.com/

Found this shortly after vvJapan, it has a lot of more structure and more automated. The only problem is that you still have to communicate via email when it comes to shipping the items out to you. So not as automated as vPost or comgateway. But never mind, the owner was pretty friendly and nice (as most Japanese are lol). 

my very limited knowledge on Japan lol.

Service fee is 200yen, if you are able to pay and ship the item to them and 700yen (500yen as they help you + 200 yen service fee) if you need their help. If you buy 30 items from one shop, it is still 500 yen, unlike vvJapan, which was great. Unfortunately though, they do have paypal charges which you need to shoulder, but I think the amount would be cheaper than what you pay for vvJapan. 

What's more, they even take a snapshot of your parcel when it arrived at their place for free! This excellent service *wipes tear from eye*

This was what I have gotten from Japan for my iPad <3

Didn't want the white colour because it gets dirty easily, but the brown (uglier version) is an additional $20 more. No way! 

So yes, if I can turn back time again, I would definitely use JPN-Japan from the start, but if you are unsure of the costs, you can always email both websites and get a quote, or do some calculations yourself!