Which Japan proxy service is cheapest?

It depends entirely on the item price. For items up to about $69, jpdrop is cheapest, because rival services charge a fixed purchase fee plus domestic Japanese shipping before any percentage is applied, and those fixed costs dominate a small order. Above that, flat-fee services overtake us: our fee is a percentage, theirs is not.

Why is the total so different from the advertised fee?

The advertised fee is usually the purchase fee alone. Buyee adds a ¥500 domestic delivery service fee on top of the actual domestic postage, plus a plan fee and a 3.5% payment fee. ZenMarket charges ¥800 per item for Mercari specifically, its highest tier, plus a deposit fee. Those additions are published, but they are not in the headline number.

Does this include international shipping and customs?

No. International shipping is broadly comparable between proxy services, so including it would add a similar amount to every column and compress the differences without changing which is cheapest. Customs and import tax are charged by your own country, not by the proxy, so no service can avoid them.

How current are these rates?

Every rate was read from the service's own published fee page and last checked on 2026-09-13. Fee pages change without notice, so check the linked source before relying on a figure.

Mercari proxy fees compared: Buyee, ZenMarket, FromJapan

Every Japan proxy service quotes a headline fee, and almost none of them quote what you actually pay. The published number is usually the purchase fee alone, with domestic Japanese shipping, payment processing and plan charges arriving separately. This compares the total each service takes before international shipping, for a single Mercari item, using rates read from their own fee pages.

Item price

jpdrop is cheapest here, by $3.71 against the next best.

Total before international shipping — Item price $30
Service	You pay
jpdropCheapest	$5.00	Includes domestic Japanese shipping, inspection, photos and repacking. No plan, payment or storage fee.
FromJapan	$8.71	Flat ¥500 handling fee per item, with 45 days free storage and a points scheme on repeat orders.FromJapan does not publish a payment-processing fee, so none is included here. Their column is therefore understated, and the real crossover point sits higher than shown.
ZenMarket	$11.02	ZenMarket charges ¥800 per item for Mercari specifically, its highest tier (¥300–500 elsewhere). Consolidation and insurance under ¥5M are included.The funds deposit fee is published as "from 1%" and varies by payment method, so 1% is the floor rather than a typical figure.
Buyee (Lite plan)	$13.11	Cheapest Buyee plan. Excludes insured delivery and item inspection, so it is not like-for-like with services that include them.
Buyee (Standard plan)	$16.46	Buyee's recommended plan, adding insured delivery. Buyee charges a ¥500 domestic delivery service fee on top of the actual domestic postage.

¥/$ at 149.25

How this is calculated

Each figure is the sum of every charge a service applies to one Mercari purchase before the parcel leaves Japan: purchase or handling fee, plan fee, payment or deposit fee, and domestic shipping to their warehouse. International shipping is excluded because it is broadly comparable between proxies and would add a near-constant to every column without informing the choice. Customs is excluded because your government charges it, not the proxy.

The one assumption

Domestic shipping inside Japan is modelled at ¥800. Buyee publishes a typical range of ¥150 to ¥1,500 and this is the midpoint. It is the largest assumption here, and it is the one line jpdrop does not charge at all, so it is worth knowing that a cheap domestic leg narrows our advantage and an expensive one widens it.

Where we lose

Above roughly $69, jpdrop is not the cheapest option and the table above will say so. Our fee is a percentage that tapers and caps at $50; the flat-fee services charge the same few hundred yen whether an item costs $20 or $2,000. If you are buying one expensive item and nothing else matters to you, they will cost you less. We think the inspection, the included domestic leg and the absence of plan and payment fees are worth it, but that is a judgement, not arithmetic, and the arithmetic is above.

Sources

Buyee (Lite plan)checked 2026-09-13
Buyee (Standard plan)checked 2026-09-13
ZenMarketchecked 2026-09-13
FromJapanchecked 2026-09-13

Questions

Which Japan proxy service is cheapest?: It depends entirely on the item price. For items up to about $69, jpdrop is cheapest, because rival services charge a fixed purchase fee plus domestic Japanese shipping before any percentage is applied, and those fixed costs dominate a small order. Above that, flat-fee services overtake us: our fee is a percentage, theirs is not.
Why is the total so different from the advertised fee?: The advertised fee is usually the purchase fee alone. Buyee adds a ¥500 domestic delivery service fee on top of the actual domestic postage, plus a plan fee and a 3.5% payment fee. ZenMarket charges ¥800 per item for Mercari specifically, its highest tier, plus a deposit fee. Those additions are published, but they are not in the headline number.
Does this include international shipping and customs?: No. International shipping is broadly comparable between proxy services, so including it would add a similar amount to every column and compress the differences without changing which is cheapest. Customs and import tax are charged by your own country, not by the proxy, so no service can avoid them.
How current are these rates?: Every rate was read from the service's own published fee page and last checked on 2026-09-13. Fee pages change without notice, so check the linked source before relying on a figure.