How to buy

How to buy goods from Japan

Here we provide a comprehensive guide along with examples on everything you need to know about using our service to buy goods from Japan.

Useful points:

1. Fee System
2. Charge System
3. Shipping Method
4. Storage
5. Consolidation

Fee System

There are several fees that are necessary for you to pay when ordering your item. There is no charge for the consolidation of your items. Insurance is also free for EMS, Airmail and SAL service, excluding small packets.

Service fee (buyinjapan.jp fee): 300 yen per item. Our service fee pays for our staff to check the availability of your item and then order it. It is also necessary for them to open your package upon arrival and make a visual inspection to ensure that your item has not been damaged or that there are no missing parts. The visible check is quick.
Yahoo Auction Fee - 800 Yen per winning bid.
Bank fee: For all payments, PayPal charges a 4.1% + 40 yen from the transaction. Bank transfer fees depend upon your financial institution.
Shipping fee (Domestic): Sometimes you will need to pay the domestic shipping fee for your item. Usually, the price for shipping is 500 yen or more. Some Japanese retailers provide free delivery, especially for expensive items.
International delivery fee: You will always be required to pay this fee. The price will be calculated based on the destination, weight, size and delivery method. Please check the price for delivery on the Japan Post website. (http://www.post.japanpost.jp/cgi-charge/index.php?lang=_en)

We also charge fees for other optional services.
Storage fee: We will charge 100 yen per day for the storage of your item exceeding 60 days. The first 60 days of storage are free. After 90 days, we will need to dispose of your item. Please understand that our warehouse space is limited.
Intangible goods fee: 5% of the order price on the purchase of game codes, passwords, etc.
Strong packaging fee: 1200 yen. If your package is heavy, fragile or large, we recommend paying for this service as we will then pack your items into the strongest box available with additional safety elements (wrapping, tape, etc.).
Picture fee: 300 yen. We will take 3 pictures of your item before packing it.
Repacking fee: 1000 yen. If your package is already prepared for shipping, but you would like to re-pack it, we will charge you 1000 yen.
Checking fee: 3% of the price of an item to check your item more thoroughly, for example to open it and check the functioning of your product or if some parts are missing. Please be aware that we may need to cancel your request if the procedure is too complicated for us to perform (many parts, many functions, etc.).
Cancellation fee: 1000 yen. This fee will be charged if your item has already arrived at our warehouse and the retailer that the item was purchased from will agree to your cancellation. Please be aware that you may have to pay also other additional fees, for example domestic shipping fees, banking fees, etc.
Please check these order examples.

Charge System

You will be charged twice. The first charge will be for ordering your item from the Japanese retailer. The second charge will be for shipping the order to your country.

Charge 1:

You will always pay:
Order of your item
buyinjapan.jp fee: 200 yen
Banking fee: PayPal– 3.9 %. Bank transfer– approximately 1000 yen or more

You will sometimes pay:
Shipping fee (domestic)
VAT: 8% if it is not included already in price of your item

Charge 2:

You will always pay:
International delivery fee
Banking fee: PayPal– 3.9 %. Bank transfer– approximately 1000 yen or more
 
You will sometimes pay (optional fees):
Storage fee: 100 yen per day after 61 storage days
Strong packaging fee: 1200 yen
Picture fee: 300 yen
Repacking fee: 1000 yen
Cancellation fee: 1000 yen

Balance payment/overpayment – There may be a difference in the payment amount.
If the domestic shipping fee is changed by the Japanese retailer, we will either refund or charge you the difference.

Shipping Methods

buyinjapan.jp offers almost all international shipping methods provided by Japan Post. As a safe and fast service, we recommend using the EMS method.
There are several different methods that can be used to send your package to you. Each method has advantages and disadvantages. Not all of the shipping methods may be available to your country. Before ordering your item, please check our list of restricted and prohibited items for shipment.
Japan Post only accepts packages of a maximum of 30 kg (for some countries is limit 20 kg)  with size limitations based upon your country or shipping method. If your package is overweight or oversized, we can divide your package into two smaller packages, but we will need to charge you a repacking fee of 1000 yen.
There are four basic shipping methods for sending your package to you: EMS, Airmail, SAL and surface mail. You can combine airmail, SAL and surface mail with a small packet service, too.

* Please understand that this is only a representative table and there may be some differences based upon shipping address and the specific conditions of the Japan Post service
* Additionally, we can provide almost any other Japan Post service. Please contact us directly.

Useful links from Japan Post:
International Mail (you can find all information about international shipping here):
http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/index_en.html
Comparison of shipping methods:
http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/service/dispatch/index_en.html
Shipping calculator (Choose Yamaguchi prefecture)
http://www.post.japanpost.jp/cgi-charge/index.php?lang=_en
Rate schedule for international mail
http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/charge/list/index_en.html

Storage

You may keep your items in our warehouse for 60 days without any additional fee. We will begin to count the days from the day after your item arrived at our warehouse, not from the date when you placed your order. During that period you may consolidate your orders for free. If you exceed 60 days of storage, we will charge you a storage fee of 100 yen per day. You may store your item in our warehouse for a maximum of 120 days. After 120 days, we will dispose of your item without compensation. Please understand that the space in our warehouse is limited.

Consolidation – save money on postage

Why is the consolidation of my items so beneficial? Wouldn’t it be better to send each package to me immediately?
If you are ordering two or more items, have your items shipped to you in one package. This is called consolidation. It is great tool how for saving money on shipping. You can save more than 50% on shipping costs. How is this possible? Each package contains a great deal of packing material and space is taken up by advertising materials. Also, the shipping cost for small packages is higher per kilo than that for bigger packages.
It is a big advantage that you can store your items in our warehouse for free for up to 60 days because during this period you can order more items from different Japanese retailers. We recommend that you use consolidation to ship these orders. This is the reason why we do not charge any extra fees as other service companies do, and we provide this service to you free.

Here is an example showing shipping calculations

A customer lives in Europe and orders 5 items to be sent by EMS:
If each item is sent separately to the customer, it will be:
Item 1– 0.4 kg: 2200 yen
Item 2– 0.7 kg: 2600 yen
Item 3– 1.2 kg: 3650 yen
Item 4– 1.4 kg: 4100 yen
Item 5– 2.3 kg: 5800 yen
Total – 6 kg: 18,350 yen
If the items are consolidated, it will be:
Items 1 through 5– 6 kg: 11,400 yen
Save 38%! In fact, the savings will be even greater because you also reduce the materials being sent (1 box instead of 5 boxes and removing unnecessary items and packaging)

Included for free with the consolidation service:
Removal of unnecessary packaging and bulky boxes
Reduction to the minimum required amount of space
Checking the contents of packages to ensure that they are correct and unbroken

Additional services that are not free:
Taking photos of the items in the consolidated package (Photo fee: 300 yen)
Making your package stronger (Strong packaging fee: 1200 yen)

How does it work?
Go into your account
Choose the items that you wish to consolidate in your cart
When your consolidation is prepared, you receive notification by email.

If your consolidated package is oversized or overweight (more than 30 kg), we will inform you by email. You can remove or consolidate items into two new packages. In this case, repacking is free.
Please, ensure that the items you choose for consolidation are the correct items. If you want to change or remove any item from a consolidated package, we will have to charge you. (Repacking fee: 1000 yen)