Shopping Services

Japanese shops and online auction sellers don't sell to overseas buyers for the most part. For this reason you will need to employ a shopping service to buy from Japan. A shopping service will buy you the item you want for a fee; each service charges a different fee, but the fee should not be all you consider when you choose which shopping service to use.

This list includes a brief overview of each shopping service's features. Always read over a company's policies and fees before doing business with them!

Celga http://www.celga.com/egl/
Celga can be used to buy from Japanese webshops, yahoo! Japan auctions, and Mbok. They have offices in both the US and Japan and will accept PayPal and US Domestic Money Orders for payment.
With a Celga Gold Account you receive your own username to personally bid on Yahoo! Japan Auctions and your credit card is charged automatically for your won auctions.

Reviews of this service:
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Cosmates http://www.cosmates.jp/proxy_purchase.html
Cosmates Japanese Products Proxy Purchase can be used to buy from Japanese webshops and accepts payment via PayPal.

Crescent Shop http://www.crescent-shop.com/
Crescent can be used to buy from Japanese webshops and Yahoo! Japan Auctions. They accept PayPal, Credit Card, International Postal Money Orders, Bank Wire and Euro Giro.
You must first set up a user account through the website and then you are allowed to bid on auctions in realtime.

Reviews of this service:
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From Japan http://www.fromjapan.co.jp/
From Japan can be used to buy from Yahoo! Japan Auctions. They offer realtime bidding, a sniping service and a point system that will save you money the more you use the service. They accept payment via PayPal and Credit Card.

GOODY-JAPAN http://www.goody-japan.com/
GOODY-JAPAN can be used to buy from Japanese webshops and Yahoo! Japan Auctions, you can also use them to sell items on Yahoo! Japan Auctions. They accept payment via PayPal or bank transfer.

i-tm4u http://www.i-tm4u.biz/
i-tm4u can be used to buy from Japanese webshops and Yahoo! Japan Auctions. They will also try to find you what you need if you are not sure where to get it or if you can't find a webshop to link to. They accept payment via PayPal. You can read the i-tm4u blog here http://happygarnet.livejournal.com/

Reviews of this service:
1

Japamart http://www.japamart.com/
Japamart can be used to buy from Japanese webshops and Yahoo! Japan Auctions. They have a search system very similar to Rinkya's and also allow you to bid in real time after sending a deposit. Japamart only accepts payment via PayPal for auctions, but for items being bought through webshops they accept PayPal, IPMO, and Western Union.

Japan Auction Center http://www.japanauctioncenter.com/
Japan Auction Center can be used to buy from Yahoo! Japan Auctions and Japanese webshops (by special request). They allow you to bid in realtime and accept payment via PayPal.

Mail Order Japan http://www.mailorderjapan.com & http://www.mailorderjapan.com/yahoo-auction-japan/specialshoppingservices.php
Mail OrderJapan can be used to buy from Japanese webshops, Yahoo! Japan Auctions, and Bidders.co.jp. They accept International Postal Money Orders (IPMO), Eurogiro, PayPal and US dollars in cash (at your own risk). With MOJ you can bid in real time or for a small fee automatically snipe at about 10 minutes before an auction ends. MOJ will also help you find what you are looking for if you don't know the Japanese terms.

Mukunoki JP http://mukunoki-jp.net
Mukunoki can be used to buy from Japanese webshops, Yahoo! Japan Auctions, Mbok, and Bidders. He accepts payment via PayPal or IPMO and takes Tuesdays off. Check the Mukunoki blog (http://blog.livedoor.jp/mukunoki_jp/) to see if he is on vacation before placing an order.

ok!shon http://www.okshon.com/
ok!shon can be used to buy from Yahoo! Japan Auctions, after you sign up for an account and make a deposit you can bid instantly up to 5 times the amount of your deposit. They accept payment via PayPal.

Ooh!JAPAN http://www.oohjapan.com/
Ooh!Japan can be used to buy from Japanese webshops, Yahoo! Japan Auctions, and Bidders. They show you how to create your own Yahoo! Japan Auction account then you bid for yourself and forward them the emails the seller sends to you after you win. You pay them and then they pay the sellers. They will also do this with Bidders, however they will create your Bidders account for you. They will also help you find what you are looking for and buy items for you in person if you provide an image of the item and other necessary details. Ooh!Japan accepts payment via PayPal, Bank Transfers and Western Union.

Rinkya http://www.rinkya.com
Rinkya can be used to buy from Japanese webshops and Yahoo! Japan Auctions. They have a easy to use search system to find what you want on Yahoo! Japan Auctions and accept payment via PayPal or Credit Card.

Reviews of this service:
1

Shopping Mall Japan http://www.shoppingmalljapan.com
Shopping Mall Japan can be used to buy from Japanese webshops and Yahoo! Japan Auctions. They accept payment via PayPal or Credit Card and have a forum setup for customers to discuss the service with each other and to keep customers updated on the service.

Reviews of this service:
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Treasure Japan http://treasure-japan.net/
Treasure Japan can be used to buy from Japanese webshops and Yahoo! Japan Auctions.
They accept payment via PayPal or Moneybookers.

Yahoo Auction Snipe Service http://www15.ocn.ne.jp/~ebay/snipe/Snipe.html
This service provides sniping of Yahoo! Japan Auctions. Payment is made via PayPal only.