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As we know, Amazon has such a huge range of items available for purchase – from tech good & electronics, clothing & the latest fashion, to kids toys & homewares. Whatever you need Amazon has it – From A to Z.
But what about those items before A and after Z? Amazon has grown massively since its conception, and while they have a huge global presence, a big part of the business is products listed by private sellers that have no interest in shipping overseas.
This means is that while there are many items available for purchase globally, there are still some products that are only available on specific local versions of the Amazon website. Japan, a land full of unique culture, sub-cultures and their associated goods, is no exception.
Why buy from Amazon Japan?
What are the advantages of buying from Japanese Amazon?
- New listings uploaded every single day by thousands of sellers and name brands
- Japan exclusive releases of popular brands, particularly anime & manga related goods
- You can buy directly from the Japanese manufacturer or license holder
What does this mean for you?
You can shop Japanese products that are usually only available in Japan without having to fork out the money for a plane ticket, or without having to buy a heavily marked up product at a retailer in your region.
This ensures you get original and exclusive goods at a fair price.
Want to start shopping on Amazon Japan?
Buying from a Japanese online marketplace, can understandably be difficult, particularly if you are not a Japanese speaker – even for speakers, reading can be challenging with all those kanji. ZenMarket makes buying from Amazon Japan easy. Read on, and we’ll explain how to get the items you want from Amazon Japan.
Amazon Japan Step-by-Step Shopping Guide
1. Access Amazon directly on ZenMarket
First you need to get to the Amazon tab. You can do this by clicking on “AMAZON” in the blue header bar at the top of the ZenMarket website. This will take you to our Amazon top page so that you can browse a number of popular product categories available on Japan’s Amazon.
Amazon Japan has been setup to function in your selected language and currency directly on the ZenMarket website. In other words, you can directly shop Amazon Japan, without the hassle of switching between a million Amazon and Google translate tabs.
By the way, in order to shop on Amazon Japan, you will need to sign up for a ZenMarket account. Its free, and only takes a few seconds!
2. Search Amazon Japan for your favorite Japanese products
There are so many product categories you can check out on our Amazon page, which is great if you are browsing, but if you’re already looking for a particular item, you can save a lot of time by searching for it instead! Don’t worry, its easy! First, select “Amazon” from the Search Bar drop-down list next to the search bar, enter your desired item, and press return or click on the little magnifying glass next to the search bar.
NOTE: Due to the Amazon website being automatically translated, there may be times when search results are not what you expected. Searching in Japanese typically yields better results.
Also Read: 5 HANDY TOOLS TO FIND JAPANESE PRODUCTS WITHOUT KNOWING JAPANESE
You can also browse Amazon Japan website directly. If you find an item you like, copy + paste the URL into the ZenMarket search bar and it should load the page on the ZenMarket website.
Try using some of our handy tips or if that fails, contact our customer support if you a struggling to find what you are looking for. You can do this either from the messages tab on your account or the help page.
3. Browse the available Amazon listings
When you to a search, the products available will show on the ZenMarket website. Products will be shown converted into your selected currency.
There are so many items available on Amazon that you usually won’t be able to check all of them. To save you time and effort, we recommend that you use our category filters to get rid of products that you aren’t looking for. You can filter by product category, and sort by either price, popularity, review score or listing date.
As always, let us know if you need help!
4. View the Amazon Product Listing on ZenMarket
Click on the item you’re interested in and you will be brought its listing page on ZenMarket.
In addition to the price in yen, you will also find the price is your selected currency, item photos, available colors, item descriptions, and the item condition.
It often pays to check the item’s page on Amazon page to see if thee is a domestic shipping fee for shipping within Japan as if you want to buy an item, you will also need to pay this amount in addition to the item.
While it is rare, there are some cases where the seller sets their shipping fee to “cash on delivery”.
In these cases, ZenMarket will not know the shipping fee until the item arrives at our warehouse, at which point we will pay for it, and deduct the amount from the balance of your ZenMarket account.
It is also worth checking the product and seller reviews, particularly if you are looking for items that are popular or often have fakes or bootlegs made.
Also Read: HOW TO TELL IF A POKEMON CARD IS FAKE?
You can do this by clicking on the “This item page on Amazon” link.
From the item page you can see the item review score, the shipping cost and the seller, the same as you would on your region’s Amzaon store. It will usually be written in Japanese though. Thankfully, we have a handy trick.
For Google Chrome users, you can right click anywhere on the page, then click Translate to English (this option defaults to the language set on your Chrome browser). The result is an automatically translated version of the webpage. As a result, the translation might not be 100% accurate, though there tends to be more translated content than if you switch the language on Amazon directly.
If ever you find an item with questionable authenticity, or you are unsure of any of the pieces of information above, you can always ask us before ordering. This is easy to do when shopping from the ZenMarket – simply click the “Ask a question about this item” link and follow the prompts.
You can also ask us if there is additional information you would like to know that you cannot find on the page. In cases where the answer to your question is not written, we will translate your question and attempt to contact the seller.
Please note that depending on how responsive the seller is, it may take some time before getting an answer. This is completely outside of ZenMarket’s control as we are waiting for an answer from the seller ourselves – some sellers may never respond. We will do our best to keep you up to date with what is happening.
Another cool feature available on this page is the ability to add items to your ZenMarket watchlist. You can use this by clicking the “+ Add to watchlist” button.
This allows you to access the item listing easily from your account at a later date. This is particularly useful if you find an item you want that may be temporarily out of stock, or that regularly has discounts, but is full price when you find it. Use this to ensure you snag great deals.
You can also leave a note on each item in your watchlist so you can keep track of the items you are watching easier. ZenMarket will not see these comments – they are for your eyes only.
You will need to be logged into your ZenMarket account in order to use this feature.
Don’t have a ZenMarket Account?
5. Add items to your cart
So you’ve found an item you like and have decided to buy it. What next?
It is as simple as entering the quantity you want to buy and clicking the “Add to cart” button. For items with customizable options or different colors, you can select them if they appear on the page (this only works if the seller has set up the product listing correctly).
If they do not appear, you can enter this information into the comments box before you click the “add to cart” button. Our purchasing team will read these comments when they go to buy your items.
PLEASE NOTE: Some Amazon listings are uploaded by private sellers. As a result there are items that are available as they are, and cannot be adjusted or ordered in bulk. If a single, limited edition fishing lure is added to the cart, but you say “this, but blue”, or “a bigger size please”, or request a quantity greater than what is available, we will not be able to place the order, as those requests are outside of what is available.
Given the vast majority of sellers on Amazon are running stores, you will usually not have to worry about this, but it is good practice to check what is available prior to ordering to make sure that we can actually order the items.
Once you’ve added a product to the cart, all you need to do is wait for our super support staff to check the item. They will let you know via your account once they have confirmed the item’s price and availability.
TIP: Make sure you check all available images and read all item descriptions carefully to check that the item is how you would like it before you order. It is much easier and cheaper to not order something, than to return it from overseas once it has been shipped.
6. Pay for your items
Once the item has been checked by our support team, its status will change from “Being checked by ZenMarket” to Available for Purchase. You will then be able to pay for the item.
Once you’ve paid for the item, we’ll purchase it from Amazon. They will then ship it to our warehouse in Osaka, Japan. At this point, you can store it for free (up to 45 days), consolidate it (free), or get international shipping to you organized.
To check the condition of items you order before consolidating them and shipping them internationally, you can order our photo service.
With this service, you can receive photos of your items so you can confirm their condition when they arrive at our warehouse. ZenMarket will take these photos so you can see what you would like to do with your item prior to us packing and shipping them.
If you are shipping really fragile items, you can also have your parcel reinforced. You can see some of our other optional services here.
That’s it for our Amazon Japan shopping Guide! Thank you for reading!
If this is your first time shopping with ZenMarket, please feel free to watch our video explainer, or read our How To Use ZenMarket guide to have a better idea of how our service works.
ZenMarket is the place to get your hands on goods directly from Japan!
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