proxycost
Assumptions behind every total
A total is only as good as what goes into it. Where a company or a government publishes a figure, we use it. Where nobody does, we have to assume something — and we assume the same thing for all five services, so the comparison stays like for like. This page lists those choices, how sure we are of each, and where it comes from.
Plain = published price list. ~amber = our estimate. Dotted = second-hand source. — = not included, not zero.
The same for all five
You pay by card or PayPal
Card or PayPal, with each company’s own fee for itEstimated
Companies charge differently for bank transfer, wallet top-ups and cards. We compare all five as if you pay by card or PayPal, and add that company’s fee on the whole payment. What each company charges is listed under its name below.
Our own assumption — there is no published figure to check it against · set 2026-09-16.
Goods are made in Japan
Japanese origin for every itemEstimated
We do not ask where an item was made. For the United States that means the Section 301 rate on goods of Japan applies to everything; for Australia we use the average tariff rather than the Japan–Australia agreement rate.
Source: US tariff headings we read.
Box size when no item has a size
20 × 15 × 10 cm for every parcelEstimated
This is the box we assume until an item in the cart has a size. You can enter an item’s size in the cart, but not the box — the service packs it. Once some items have a size, each item without one counts as one box of this size when we build the box from the items (below). The box decides whether a method accepts the parcel and, for sizes you entered, confirmed or that the listing states, what couriers bill by volume — Japan Post prices do not depend on it.
Our own assumption — there is no published figure to check it against · set 2026-09-11.
Box size, built from your items
3 cm of padding on every side of the itemsEstimated
When we know or estimate how big each item is, we build the box from the items instead of assuming one fixed box: we pack the items together into one block and add this much padding on every side, so the box is never shorter than the longest item plus the padding on both ends. The thickness is a placeholder we chose, not a measurement. UPS and DHL Express tell senders to leave 5–6 cm between the contents and the box walls; the services say they cut packing material to keep boxes small but publish no thickness, so we took a value below the carriers’ advice. No forwarder publishes its box sizes and we have no invoices with box dimensions to calibrate against. Sizes we estimate from an item’s title are used only to decide whether a shipping method accepts the parcel and to show the size; prices use only sizes you entered or confirmed and sizes the listing states. With such sizes, thicker padding makes courier rows dearer (couriers bill by volume); Japan Post prices do not depend on it.
Source: UPS packaging guidelines (PDF) · DHL Express packing guide (PDF) · set 2026-10-01.
Courier volume weight
Length × width × height (cm) ÷ 5,000, unless the service publishes its own divisorEstimated
Couriers bill the heavier of the packed weight and the volume weight of the box. FROM JAPAN publishes ÷5,000 for DHL (tier not published), FedEx Economy and FedEx Priority and ÷6,000 for ECMS (tier not published); Buyee publishes ÷5,000 for ECMS (tier not published). For ZenMarket’s ECMS Express we assume ÷6,000: ZenMarket publishes no divisor, and ÷6,000 is the one that fits the box size we measured on its calculator — a single box size, so treat it as our assumption. For every other courier we borrow ÷5,000 without a published figure. Where no single divisor matched a service’s calculator for a country, we show a range from the price by weight up to the price at ÷4,000. This applies only to item sizes you entered or confirmed and sizes the listing states — sizes we estimate from the title never change a courier price.
Source: FROM JAPAN on volume weight · Buyee on volume weight · set 2026-10-01.
Weight after packing
Item weight × 1.2 + 300 g, per parcelEstimated
Packing adds padding and an outer box. Postage is looked up with this packed weight, not the bare item weight. It is our rule of thumb, not a measurement.
Our own assumption — there is no published figure to check it against · set 2026-09-06.
Item weight
none — you type itNot included
We do not supply a weight for your items. Until you type one, that item is left out of the totals and the ranking — the same as an item with no price. We do not fall back to a round number, and we do not treat a blank as 0 g.
Our own assumption — there is no published figure to check it against · set 2026-09-06.
Shipping inside Japan
¥800 per listing when the listing does not sayEstimated
When the listing shows the seller’s postage we use it. When it does not, we place this amount — the same for all five, not doubled for quantity, and not combined for the same shop. Pasting the listing URL usually settles it.
Our own assumption — there is no published figure to check it against · set 2026-09-06.
“Free shipping” listings
¥0, marked as an estimateEstimated
Buyee and Jauce say a proxy can still charge domestic shipping on a listing the seller marks as free; the other three say nothing either way. We keep the amount at zero for all five and mark it the same way for all five.
Source: Buyee fees · Jauce auction fees.
Days in the warehouse
45 days, unless you change itEstimated
Many buyers hold items and ship them together. Each company’s free storage period is its own published one; at this default only some of them start charging.
Our own assumption — there is no published figure to check it against · set 2026-09-11.
Optional plans and insurance
Not added; required ones areEstimated
Where a company sells an optional protection plan or insurance, the total leaves it out. Where a plan is required, or insurance is built into the postage, it is in the total.
Our own assumption — there is no published figure to check it against · set 2026-09-16.
Exchange rates
Fixed rates, ECB reference rate for 2026-09-30Second-hand
Everything is computed in yen. The rates decide which side of a duty-free limit your goods fall on and the currency shown next to a total. We do not fetch live rates, and we do not model your card issuer’s own rate or margin. Where a proxy, PayPal or Stripe converts your payment for you, its markup over the reference rate is added to the total as a separate line. Who converts depends on how you pay: the calculator’s Pay by switch chooses card (the default) or PayPal, and its § lists who converts for each company.
Published but not checkable — these are the European Central Bank euro foreign exchange reference rates for 2026-09-30, and the ECB publishes only the current day’s rates, so no public page still shows the numbers we froze.
Rates in use: ¥157.00/USD, ¥208.59/GBP, ¥178.27/EUR, ¥109.39/AUD, ¥110.69/CAD, ¥122.92/SGD — the reference rate for 2026-09-30, cross-rated through the euro and rounded to the sen.
Import duty above the duty-free limit
United Kingdom 2.9%, Germany 4.1%, France 4.1%, Australia 2.3%, Canada 2%Estimated
We do not classify items into tariff headings, so above each country’s limit we apply the country’s average rate for non-agricultural goods. Your item’s own rate can be higher or lower.
Source: WTO tariff profile, United Kingdom — a statistical average, not the rate customs charges · WTO tariff profile, Germany — a statistical average, not the rate customs charges · WTO tariff profile, Australia — a statistical average, not the rate customs charges · WTO tariff profile, Canada — a statistical average, not the rate customs charges.
Flat duty on low-value parcels
€3 per listing, on parcels up to €150 (Germany, France)Estimated
We count one customs declaration line per listing: several of the same listing are one line, different listings are separate lines.
Our own assumption — there is no published figure to check it against · set 2026-09-16.
US duty prepayment fee (Japan Post)
USD 2 + 10% of the duty, per parcelEstimated
Japan Post takes US-bound mail only if duty is prepaid through Zonos, which does not publish its fee for Japan Post. We apply Zonos’s published standard fee to every parcel up to USD 2,500, for all five alike.
Source: Zonos pricing · Japan Post notice on US mail.
Canadian provincial tax when no province is picked
7.3%, the population-weighted averageEstimated
The provincial part is collected at the border according to where you live. Rather than drop a tax that certainly happens, we apply the average weighted by population (2026-04-01 estimates) until you pick your province.
Source: CBSA Memorandum D2-3-6 · Statistics Canada population estimates.
Handling fees on postal parcels
None when no tax is collected at the borderEstimated
A postal operator’s handling fee comes with collecting duty or tax at the door. When a parcel owes nothing there — or the company already collected the tax at checkout — we add no fee. When tax is collected at the door, we add the operator’s published fee.
Our own assumption — there is no published figure to check it against · set 2026-09-16.
Courier fees for paying your duty
The carrier’s fee once per shipment, only when duty or tax is dueEstimated
Couriers charge for advancing duty and tax on your behalf. We apply each carrier’s published fee in your country once per shipment; where a carrier does not publish it we use the lowest published fee in that country. When nothing is due, the fee is zero. Where DHL publishes separate rates for importers with and without a DHL account, we use the rate for importers without one — we assume a buyer receiving through a proxy has no DHL account. For UPS to Canada we use the minimum UPS publishes for its Express services (CAD 12.00), because the same guide lists UPS Standard as a service from the U.S. only. Counting the fee once per shipment and charging nothing when nothing is due are our own assumptions.
Source: DHL Express rate guide, Canada · UPS rate guide, Canada · set 2026-09-16.
Courier prices
The final price each company’s own calculator showsEstimated
Measured in the 20 × 15 × 10 cm box at fixed weights and not split into parts. Between two measured weights the total runs from the lower price to the higher one.
Our own assumption — there is no published figure to check it against.
Courier fuel surcharge
Treated as already inside the courier priceEstimated
Companies negotiate their own carrier rates, so a carrier’s weekly fuel percentage is not something we can apply on top without double-counting. This is our working assumption, not a confirmed fact.
Our own assumption — there is no published figure to check it against · set 2026-09-12.
Courier remote-area surcharge
Not in any totalNot included
It applies only to some postcodes and we do not ask for yours. If your address is remote, the courier can add it on delivery.
Our own assumption — there is no published figure to check it against · set 2026-09-13.
Sites a company says it does not handle
That company is left out of the ranking for the basketEstimated
Only when the company’s public pages say so. A site that is merely missing from a company’s list stays in the ranking with a note.
Our own assumption — there is no published figure to check it against · set 2026-09-16.
How we read each company’s fees
Fee pages do not always say how a fee is counted. Where we had to choose a reading, it is here.
Neokyo
Service fee
¥350 per item, once per distinct itemPublished
Neokyo’s fee example adds the fee after the item price and domestic shipping, so we read the fee as not covering shipping inside Japan.
Source: Neokyo fees.
Card or PayPal fee
3.6% + ¥40 of the paymentEstimated
Worked out on the whole amount that passes through Neokyo, so the fee is charged on itself too. Assumed 3.6% + ¥40 — PayPal Japan's standard merchant rate. Neokyo publishes no rate of its own: it says each payment provider charges its own fee when you pay, and mentions a single 40 yen fee for PayPal. PayPal's +0.5% cross-border add-on is not included; Stripe/Wise fees are not published.
Source: PayPal Japan standard merchant rate (Neokyo publishes no rate of its own).
Japan Post insurance
Added to the postage, by the value of the parcelEstimated
Neokyo says insurance is included in its Japan Post shipping price, so the postage line includes Japan Post’s insurance charge for the parcel’s value.
Source: Neokyo shipping.
Storage after the free period
¥350 per week after 45 days; up to ¥1,400 for large itemsPublished
The weekly rate depends on the item’s size, which we do not ask for. The total uses the smallest size and the range reaches the largest.
Source: Neokyo storage.
ZenMarket
Service fee on Yahoo! Japan Auctions
¥800 per itemPublished
ZenMarket’s fee page names “JDirectItems Auction”. ZenMarket’s own blog says that is Yahoo! Auctions, so the auction fee applies to Yahoo! Auctions items.
Card or PayPal fee
3.5% of the paymentPublished
Worked out on the whole amount that passes through ZenMarket, so the fee is charged on itself too. 3.5%, charged on the whole transaction rather than on the amount deposited — ZenMarket's own published base rate (fees.aspx gives only a starting rate of 1%; the per-method breakdown behind it is still unconfirmed, requires login).
Source: ZenMarket payment terms.
VAT charged at checkout
United Kingdom 20% on parcels up to GBP 135, Germany 19% on parcels up to EUR 150, France 20% on parcels up to EUR 150, on the item price plus international shippingEstimated
ZenMarket’s shipping page says it takes VAT when you pay for a low-value parcel to the United Kingdom, Germany and France, worked out on the item price plus international shipping. It prints no rate for Germany and France, so for each we apply that country’s standard VAT rate — which rate ZenMarket actually charges is our assumption. The rate for the United Kingdom is printed on the same page, but we have not yet put our record of it through the check we require before calling a figure published, so it is shown as an estimate too.
Source: ZenMarket shipping page.
Clearance fee on couriers with duty paid at checkout
¥0 on ECMS Express to Germany and FranceEstimated
ZenMarket’s shipping calculator lists duty and VAT prepayment as mandatory on these routes, so the tax is paid at checkout and nothing is advanced at the border. We take that to mean no clearance fee is billed on arrival — the calculator does not say so itself.
Source: ZenMarket shipping calculator.
FROM JAPAN
Service fee
¥500 per item, once per distinct itemPublished
FROM JAPAN’s required protection plan is this same charge, so it is not added a second time.
Source: FROM JAPAN help.
Payment fee inside Japan
¥0 — no payment fee on any sitePublished
The fee page shows no charge for paying inside Japan, on any site, and the terms say the payment fee was dropped for purchases after 2023-01-31 11:00 JST. The ¥200 per “JDirectItems Auctions” win we used until 2026-09-18 came from a translation-string file that still holds the retired wording; no live page shows it.
Source: FROM JAPAN help.
Card or PayPal fee
¥0Estimated
No card/PayPal fee appears in FROM JAPAN's fee list or terms (its terms say the payment fee was dropped for purchases after 2023-01-31) — but FROM JAPAN does not say outright that none is charged. A competitor's comparison table (Buyee, as of 2025-03-01) claims FROM JAPAN charges 3.5%.
Source: FROM JAPAN payment terms.
Outsourced packing
Not in the total — charged at costNot included
FROM JAPAN sends very heavy, very expensive or fragile parcels to an outside packer and publishes no amount. The line appears only for those parcels, and leaves the top of the total open.
Source: FROM JAPAN help.
Buyee
Purchase fee
¥500 per order; items from the same shop are one orderPublished
We tell shops apart from the listing URL. On Yahoo! Auctions and Mercari every listing is its own order; where the URL does not tell us the shop, each item is its own order.
Source: Buyee fees.
Parcels
One parcel per order unless you ask to combinePublished
Buyee is the only one of the five that ships each order separately by default. With two or more orders we show both: shipped separately, and combined on request.
Our own assumption — there is no published figure to check it against.
Card or PayPal fee
¥0Published
No payment fee — Buyee's own announcement puts its payment fee at 0 JPY (as of 2025-03-01).
Published but not checkable — Buyee’s fee page lists no payment fee at all, and the only place it publishes a zero payment fee is a comparison table on its first-time-user ad page that is hidden by CSS and never shown to a reader.
Jauce
Card or PayPal fee
3.9% + ¥40 of the paymentSecond-hand
Worked out on the whole amount that passes through Jauce, so the fee is charged on itself too. ¥40 + 3.9% of the payment.
Source: Jauce payment terms.
Bank fee
¥300 per orderPublished
Jauce charges it once per seller per day. We do not know which of your items share a seller and a day, so we charge it once per listing.
Source: Jauce auction fees.
Rakuten and Yahoo! Shopping
No service fee, percentage or bank feePublished
Jauce lists these shops as free while that part of the site is in beta, so a Jauce total for them can change without notice.
Source: Jauce auction fees.
Storage after 60 days
Amount not publishedNot included
Jauce gives ¥700 a month as a rough example, not a price list. We use it only to put a ceiling on the total, over the longest storage Jauce allows.
Source: Jauce auction fees.
Shipping methods we price, and the ones we leave out
In the Japan Post rate tables EMS was not the cheapest method at any weight we checked. So the calculator prices all 5 Japan Post methods — EMS, Small packet (airmail), International parcel (airmail), Small packet (surface) and International parcel (surface) — and ranks each service on the cheapest one its parcel fits.
Courier rates are priced too, for the 4 services whose own calculator we could read (Neokyo, ZenMarket, FROM JAPAN and Buyee). Which couriers are priced varies by destination, so the calculator names the ones it has for your country. Jauce does not offer couriers, so only the postal methods are priced for it.
What we leave out: the methods below that we hold no rate table for. We do not guess their price, so an order sent one of those ways can come in under the totals on the front page.
- Buyee — besides EMS: Airmail (parcel, small packet, AIR Packet), Surface mail, FedEx / FedEx Economy, DHL, UPS, ECMS. Buyee shipping page.
- Neokyo — besides EMS: Surface, Airmail, FedEx, UPS, DHL. Neokyo shipping page.
- FROM JAPAN — besides EMS: International parcel (air / surface), Small packet (air / surface), ePacket Light, FedEx Priority / Economy, DHL, ECMS. FROM JAPAN shipping page.
- Jauce — besides EMS: SAL, Surface mail. Jauce shipping page.
- ZenMarket — besides EMS: AVIA (airmail; Small Packet under 2 kg, or standard), Surface, FedEx, UPS, DHL, SF Express, ECMS Express. ZenMarket shipping page on an archived copy captured 2025-11-27, because the live page blocks us.
Goods that may not be shippable at all
Every total assumes the parcel can be sent. We never check that. We have no customs declaration and no item classification, so we cannot tell you whether your purchase is allowed — only what Japan Post publishes. Read these before you order.
- Alcohol — Japan Post refuses any alcoholic drink stronger than 24% ABV as international mail anywhere in the world, and lists alcohol first among the goods most often posted to destinations that prohibit them. Japan Post, nonmailable articles (this passage exists only in the Japanese page).
- Lithium batteries — A lithium battery can go only if it is installed inside the equipment and meets the capacity and quantity limits; loose cells and batteries packed beside the device cannot be posted at all. Air mail carrying them reaches only the destinations Japan Post lists. Japan Post, nonmailable articles.
- Blades — An airmail item holding a sword, spear or naginata with a blade of 15 cm or more, or a sword, dagger or switchblade with a blade of 5.5 cm or more, is asked to carry the weapons label on its address side, is not flown inside Japan, and is returned to the sender when an airline will not load it. Japan Post, nonmailable articles (this passage exists only in the Japanese page).
Japan Post lists the destinations that can receive air mail carrying lithium batteries. Of the seven this calculator covers, United States, France, Australia, Canada, Singapore are on that list and United Kingdom and Germany are not.
What we could not get: Japan Post’s country-by-country prohibited-goods table is a form with no page per country, so we could not read the per-destination rules for alcohol. That is why the warning says the destination decides instead of naming which destinations refuse it.
Import tax details
United States: what the 12.5% is, and where it is only a floor
The 12.5% is the rate Section 301 puts on goods of Japan, applied net of MFN — you pay the greater of the two. So it is exactly right wherever the ordinary rate is lower, and only a floor wherever the ordinary rate is higher. We looked up the headings each weight category can fall under on 2026-09-07 and left the amount alone: naming one heading per item would need the material and construction, which we do not have.
| Category | Headings we read | Is 12.5% the rate? |
|---|---|---|
| figures | 9503.00.00 Free — dolls, other toys, scale models | yes — nothing above it here |
| music | 8523.80.10 Free — phonograph records8523.49.30 Free — discs for reproducing sound only | yes — nothing above it here |
| books-manga | 4901.99.00 Free — printed books, other4911.99.80 Free — other printed matter | yes — nothing above it here |
| tcg-singles | 9504.40.00 Free — playing cards4911.99.80 Free — other printed matter | yes — nothing above it here |
| kpop | 4901.99.00 Free — printed books4911.91.40 Free — printed pictures and photographs8523.49.30 Free — discs for reproducing sound only8513.10.20 12.5% — flashlights (the nearest heading for a lightstick) | yes — nothing above it here |
| fishing-tackle | 9507.10.00 6% — fishing rods9507.30.20 9.2% — reels valued not over $2.709507.30.60 3.9% — reels valued over $8.459507.30.80 5.4% — parts and accessories | yes — nothing above it here |
| sneakers | 6404.11.90 20% — sports footwear valued over $12/pair6402.99.90 20% — other footwear valued over $12/pair6404.11.49 37.5% — other footwear with textile uppers6402.99.31 6% — other footwear of rubber or plastics | no — a floor only |
| used-luxury | 4202.22.89 17.6% — handbags with an outer surface of textile4202.22.15 16% — handbags with an outer surface of plastic sheeting4202.21.90 9% — leather handbags valued over $209102.11.25 40¢ each + 8.5% on the case + 14% on the strap, band or bracelet + 5.3% on the battery — wrist watches | no — a floor only |
| sports-goods | 9506.99.60 4% — other sports equipment6211.43.10 16% — women's garments of man-made fibres6204.53.30 16% — skirts and divided skirts of synthetic fibres | no — a floor only |
| games | 9504.50.00 Free — video game consoles and machines, and parts8523.49.40 Free — discs carrying instructions, data, sound and image8523.51.00 Free — solid-state non-volatile storage (a game card) | yes — nothing above it here |
| food-tea-sake | 2206.00.45 3¢/liter — rice wine or sake2206.00.90 4.2¢/liter — other fermented beverages | no — charged per litre |
MFN general rates read from the USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule on 2026-09-07. Where a basket mixes categories we take the weaker reading.
Canada: the rate for each province
These are the rates the CBSA collects on imports, which are not always what a province charges its own shops. Pick your province in the calculator to use its rate instead of the average.
| Province or territory | Provincial part | With the 5% GST | Population 2026-04-01 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario | HST 8% | 13% | 16,103,890 |
| Nova Scotia | HST 9% | 14% | 1,090,852 |
| New Brunswick | HST 10% | 15% | 866,497 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | HST 10% | 15% | 547,910 |
| Prince Edward Island | HST 10% | 15% | 181,715 |
| British Columbia | PST 7% | 12% | 5,646,420 |
| Manitoba | PST 7% | 12% | 1,503,865 |
| Saskatchewan | PST 6% | 11% | 1,266,092 |
| Quebec | QST 9.975% | 14.975% | 9,016,222 |
| Alberta | none collected at the border | 5% | 5,057,077 |
| Yukon | none collected at the border | 5% | 48,493 |
| Northwest Territories | none collected at the border | 5% | 45,808 |
| Nunavut | none collected at the border | 5% | 42,215 |
Found something wrong
If an assumption here does not match what a company charged you, that is worth more to us than anything else on this page. Open an issue on our feedback tracker and say which line and what you were charged.