I recently published a video sharing and discussing some of the Japanese websites used to buy cards. Here is a list of the websites and the middle man options below:
Ya know, Iāve got a Metric F Ton of Japanese Neo Holos in PSA 10 that I need to get rid of. Wouldnāt mind paying a sales commission if someone who was familiar with the Japanese marketplaces and could get more value than I can get on ebay currently for them.
Any from the list should work! I think most people use Buyee, as they have the lowest rates. It honestly comes down to preference of feeās, interface and service.
Those sites might be niche but they sure have some goodies to offer. A quick search already pulled up raw copies of a Trophy Kangaskhan Family Event, a Tamamushi Magikarp, a couple of FA Masked Royal promos, a couple of Fan Club Porygon, a full set of Worlds 2010 Trophy Cards and a nice splash of Japanese Shining and Gold Star Cards.
Nice distraction Scott but Iām on to you, its only a matter of time until the people find out about those secret Japanese sites that you can only access through the dark web where you can buy an Illustrator in exchange for a kidney.
In lieu of any grand conspiracy however, good share, Iāve been using YJ and Buyee for ages now, everything Iāve bought has always showed up in pretty good time.
This thread by @pokemontrader has also been super useful in breaking the language barrier, in addition to using bulbapedia for Japanese names for specific species also.
Thanks so much for this @smpratte, I found zenmarket.jp/ really easy to use. Just need 1 more Japanese card and Iāve completed my english and Japanese Tropius set and then its onto psa 10ās :ā)
For Mercari and Rakuma, make sure to enter your search query in the search box within the sidebar on the left. The search box at the top will search the entire site and clear the category filter.
Thanks a lot Scott! I know Iāll be busy browsing these websites for Pikachus this weekend.
Thus far I primarily used YJ with Noppin.com. Iāve heard most middleman websites like Buyee and Zenmarket are easier to use, but since I have great experience with Noppin and I now know how to avoid the ridiculous import fees on arrival (once even 350 euros for a 2k USD packageā¦), Iāll keep using it primarily. Here is all the information I know on how to use Noppin for YJ auctions. Here mostly the same as bullet-points:
Pros:
You only pay when you actually won an auction.
You can save up won auctions up to 60 days and combine them in one shipment to you to save shipping costs (and import fees in some cases).
Sellers arenāt blocked like sometimes is the case with Buyee. Usually they are blocked for a reason of course, but sometimes itās not really deserved.
Excellent packaging with a box, and loads of bubblewrap
Fast with answering questions / concerns
Both an English and Japanese search option available (new since about halve a year ago)
Cons:
More expensive items mean more expensive middleman service fees as well. For items below 5000 Japanese Yen (~50 USD) itās the same, but for something like a 100,000 Japanese Yen auction (~ 1,000 USD) you pay an additional 9,500 Japanese Yen middleman fee.
Default shipping is EMS, so make sure to specify a cheaper shipping option without potential import fees when creating your shipment request.
SAL shipping isnāt possible anymore since December last year, so non-registered Airmail is the cheapest shipping option available.
You have to authorize a certain PayPal amount before bidding on auction. At this point you donāt have to pay anything yet, so donāt worry about that. You can only bid (in total across all auctions) up to three times what you authorize for. So if you authorize 10,000 Japanese Yen, you can place one or multiple bids on auctions up to 30,000 Japanese Yen in total. This autorized amounts will remain there. So if you have 30,000 Japanese Yen to spend, bid on an auction of 10,000 JY and one of 5,000 JY. Then win the 10,000 one the next day, your spending limit becomes 25,000 again (and when you win/lost the 5,000 one itās back at 30,000).
You donāt get a message when youāre outbid, so youāll have to keep this in mind yourself. Also, even if you use buyout and immediately win, you can only finalize the payment with Noppin the next day.
but thanks for the shout out!