It’s been a minute since I bought something off the Japanese secondhand market, but I’ve been thinking about a couple pieces that I wanted to add to my lolita wardrobe, including a tartan skirt and a jam print. Browsing Mercari, Fril, and Rakuten meant that I also found a few more items that I couldn’t live without, including an IW blouse that I already like and own in another color. It felt like destiny, so I started an order with a shopping service.
Japan Shopping Service
Japan Shopping Service really has one thing going for it: they’re dirt cheap. Their tiered commission system starts at 300 per item for items under 3000 yen, 10% for items from 3001-10000 yen, 5%+500 for items from 10001-20000 yen, and 5% for items over 20001 yen. They also don’t charge for using Paypal when using their “automatic purchases” function. That meant that my items didn’t have a transaction fee. My items came out to 33,979 yen, plus a commission fee of 1699 yen, which comes out to roughly 5% commission on my items. Not bad!
That being said, they definitely are extremely no frills. They don’t take pictures when they arrive to their warehouse, they won’t ask sellers for additional pictures, they don’t ask about items that are out of stock, and they’ll only try to negotiate a lower price on Fril and Mercari. Basically, Japan Shopping Service is best for orders where the item is obviously in stock, the price you want, and with pictures you’re confident in.
My Order
On April 5, 2023, I placed my order. On April 11, I received an email that all my orders had been received and the order was ready for shipping.
JP Shopping service offers an instant “buy it now” service for Mercari, which can mean that your item will purchased on the site within minutes of placing your order with JP Shopping Service. They also allow for “auto” auction bidding, which gives you additional control over your purchases.
As with many shopping services, Japan Shopping Service will hold your items in their warehouse for 30 days after your last item arrives. This is handy if you’d like to keep a shopping cart open for a while before you ship things.
Shipping
When you are placing your order, you have the option to tell Japan Shopping Service to pack your order immediately, or to let you know when everything arrives and ask about shipping then. I always opt for asking me to ship everything, just in case I want to add something to the order.
My package weighed about 1600 g, so at that weight EMS and Airmail are roughly the same price. I opted for EMS because it will arrive a little quicker.
Japan Shopping Service is a really no frills shopping service. So low frills, in fact, that you have to fill out your own customs form. While this may be a bonus for those in countries will high customs fees, I don’t need to mark down my own package, so it was an annoying extra step.
Once I had chosen my shipping service and filled out my customs form, I waited for my second payment invoice. On April 16, I got an email letting me know my items had shipped. By April 22, my package had arrived to my front door in California.
My items arrived in a Sanrio EMS box, packed with newspaper and with my items still in their original shipping packages inside. All items arrived safely and without damage from shipping.
Closing Thoughts
Overall, Japan Shopping Service is a no frills, reliable shopping service for simple auction transactions. If you need someone to press the “buy” button for you and ship it safely, they’re great. If you need more assistance than that, they’re probably not for you.
JP Shopping is my SS of choice and the fact that their website looks like it was made by a dad in the early 2000s upon discovering that the Internet is a thing has, over the years, really endeared me to them (though yeah, every time I recommend them to someone I have to warm people because such outdated design looks like a scam to a contemporary Western eye xD)