How to buy Pokemon cards from Amazon Japan
Did you know you can buy an Amazon Japan no matter where you live?
Plus you don’t have to worry about extra import fees and save some money?
Yes, all of that is real and thanks to Amazon International Shipping Program [orders can be shipped to more than 65 countries/regions that participate in the Amazon Global program]. This program allows you to save a lot of money and in many cases is better than buying from eBay.
How?
Because you’re prepaying all import costs and skipping many extra fees like handling fee set by for ex. Royal Mail which is £8 in UK, in US handling fee for USPS is about $6. On Amazon Japan you’re paying for item, shipping cost [which include small amount of their handling cost, basically this is how they name packing, etc] plus you have import fees deposit — this is very convenient because this amount isn’t big, this is pre-paid by you so your carrier can deliver parcel to you. This includes Import fees, vat and everything else that is needed for your order to be delivered to you. Amazon Japan uses DHL for International Deliveries. So you from date of shipping you can expect your parcel very quickly. Plus if you have a big order that is coming from different warehouses, you can expect your order split — but shipping cost, fees, stays the same. So no worries about this.
Before I show you how to create an account and what you can buy, let me do quick math.
So you decide to buy something, I explained to you how this looks and I told you that in most of the cases this is cheaper than eBay and everything else.
So let me confirm it by quick calculation:
Ex: You want to buy Pokemon TCG Tag Bolt GX Booster Box SM9
Amazon Japan sells it for about ￥ 3,985 [price may vary, depends on a day, promotion, seller]
The same booster box on eBay from Japan costs about $55-$60 / £42-£46 [with free shipping]
From random Anime shop ￥ 4,500
If you add on top of that: shipping + VAT [this need to be calculated in total with shipping cost], handling fee from your local post, other import costs [depends on your local law and your order total amount] — this will be expensive.
For ex. in the UK if you consider eBay order with price £43 + VAT [£8.6] + Royal Mail Handling fee £8 = total amount is £59.60
If you get the same box from Amazon Japan even for a price of ￥ 4,000 [about £29] + shipping and import fees deposit you’ll pay about £43
So quickly you can save £16.60 — this is a huge amount of money you can spend on a 2nd box or something else.
So you want to buy something from Amazon Japan and you’ve always been worried about language, costs, etc.
So how can I make a purchase on Amazon Japan, which is Japanese? I don’t know this language.
Don’t worry, you’re covered. Amazon Japan offers an English version of their website and at the same registration, your account and even support is offered in English language. So this is easy, don’t worry about anything.
Let me show you
When you launch Amazon Japan for the first time, this is what you’ll find:
Yes, everything covered in Japanese.
What you have to do is to click language selector [available on top of a website] — small globe icon with language code. Please refer to the image below for a hint:
Now you have a website in English.
It wasn’t difficult, right?
Ok, what next? Just click on “Hello, Sign in Account & Lists” and click “Create your Amazon account”
Now you should easily create your account.
Ah, i forgot, you can not use your UK, US or any other Amazon account on Amazon Japan.
This is a separate website from all of those and you won’t be able to use your regular credentials on it. This is how’s that work. But you can use the same email address if you want.
Ok, you’ve got an account.
How to make a purchase and purchase products available for international buyers?
Yes, not everything is available for International Shipping. Plus some items may go from 3rd party sellers, which mean you have to be worry about ordering from them, why?
Because these products are not shipped from Amazon warehouse and 3rd party sellers is the same person as a seller on eBay. They offer International shipping but their cost is higher and if this exceeds a limit for order free from import cost in your country, you will finish paying import costs on your own [vat, handling, etc, until someone, will mark it as a gift — but I would be careful about that, customs workers are careful too]
So how can I distinguish items available for Amazon International Shipping from 3rd party sellers?
At first, try to search on Amazon for ex. “Pokemon” phrase.
Go to the left sidebar with filters and at the end of it you should find “International Shipping International” checkbox. Just check: Shipping Eligible
All results will be filtered. This is the easiest way to do that.
A more complicated method is when you browse many items that are difficult to find via filtering when you browse some sellers or use Japanese in search — yes, you can search in English and Japanese, and many times when you put Japanese word, you have a better chance of finding what you’re looking for.
Ok, let’s check all way to find products with shipping available for you.
Like for example, some upcoming TCG set.
Let say you’re looking for upcoming Pokemon SM11a Name for this set is “Remix Bout” — this set will be released on July 5, 2019
Pokemon Card Game Sun & Moon Reinforced Expansion Pack “Remix Bout”:
On the product page in the right sidebar you can find this information: “This item can be delivered to the UK — Mainland” [if you live in a different country, please look for your country name]
Also as you can see this item is Pre-order and Ships from and sold by Amazon Japan, not a third party seller.
If some item is not available for shipping to your location, you will find this information: “This item does not ship to your selected location”
But, also you can end up with nothing. No info about shipping. What you can do?
Simply add this product to your basket, and find out if you can order it and what shipping option is offered for it.
If an item will not be available for shipping you can delete it from your basket and check other sellers or other items.
There are two other statuses I said about but forgot to show you and tell about.
Product sold by 3rd party seller and fulfilled by Amazon. This mean product is available for Amazon International Shipping program but sold by 3rd party seller. Sometimes at first this need to be shipped by the store to Amazon warehouse, or is available on a warehouse.
Then you can find this information:
The last one is item sold by 3rd party seller but not fulfilled by Amazon Japan. As you can see shipping cost is next to the product price. Plus information about 3rd party seller. This isn’t fulfilled by Amazon.
Ok, this is it.
I hope all the basic information been covered here. If I missed something or you’d like to know more and have some questions, please ask them in a comment section or ask via Social Media, like Twitter.
I’m always happy to help.
At the end of this few more details.
On Amazon Japan you can buy everything. Not only Pokemon TCG, but Anime figures, movies, Manga, gadgets, etc.
You’re not limited to only these categories. This is a good place to buying some stuff for home, as a gift, for cooking, etc, plus you can find there many promotions and special offers.
Be careful about Amazon Prime -there is no benefits for International buyers.
Occasionally you can find some tiny promotion for item or two where price is available only for Prime members, but to be honest never nothing special. Feel free to try it but don’t keep it.
But if you’re located in Japan or you’re on a holiday, then you can benefit from it.
Amazon Japan Support — if you have any questions. Just ask them. They response within few hours 12 to 24. Support is in English and helpful. But sometimes you may find some responses like a bot response but this is if you ask many questions and get some big issues. Personally, I had delivery issues but with DHL — they can find sometimes excuse to double check content and check if you can import specific item to your country. But this is rare.
So now let me show you some of the best deals you can get if you’re looking for Pokemon TCG Japanese cards, gadgets, etc.
Upcoming Pokemon Japanese sets
Pokemon TCG — Remix Bout [SM11a]
Pokemon TCG — Dream League [SM11b]
Previous Pokemon Japanese sets
Pokemon TCG — Tag Bolt GX [SM9]
Pokemon TCG — Sky Legend [SM10b]
Pokemon TCG — Miracle Twins [SM11]
Other items like — Anime & Manga figures, Gaming, Learning Japanese, Amiibo
Remember you can buy games too :) So a lot of Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, retro and more.
If you like this sort of guides, let me know if there is something specific you’re interested to read like stores review, guides how to buy from Japan, where to buy, etc.
