# Where to buy Japanese Pokemon cards: US marketplaces, Japanese shops, proxies and SNKRDUNK compared

URL: https://sugoicards.com/pokemon/buying/where-to-buy-japanese-pokemon-cards/
Author: SugoiCards editors
Updated: Oct 26, 2026

## Summary

As of October 2026, Japanese Pokemon cards reach US buyers four ways: US marketplaces (TCGplayer, eBay, Amazon), SNKRDUNK (authenticates in Japan, 3.5% fee, 5 to 15 days), proxy services for Japanese shops and Mercari (Buyee ¥500 per order, ZenMarket ¥300 to ¥800 per item, Neokyo ¥350 per item, FROM JAPAN ¥500 per item), and Pokemon Center, whose Japanese store ships to Japan addresses only. Every parcel from Japan carries a 12.5% US duty with no duty-free minimum since 24 July 2026.

## Key facts

- US duty on cards from Japan: 12.5%, no minimum (USTR, from 24 Jul 2026)
- Proxy service fee: ¥350 to ¥800 per item or order (Oct 2026)
- eBay Authenticity Guarantee: Singles $200+, US buyers only
- Pokemon Center Japan: Ships to Japan addresses only

The places that will get Japanese Pokemon cards to a US address fall into four groups as of October 2026: US marketplaces (TCGplayer, eBay, Amazon), SNKRDUNK (which inspects cards in Japan and ships them to you), proxy services (Buyee, ZenMarket, FROM JAPAN, Neokyo) for Japanese shops and Mercari, and Pokemon Center, whose Japanese store ships to **Japan addresses only**. Whatever you pick, a parcel from Japan now carries a **12.5% US import duty** with no duty-free minimum. Here is where to buy Japanese Pokemon cards for each kind of purchase.

## Which places ship Japanese Pokemon cards to the US?

The table compares what each channel charges and promises, taken from each company's own fee and policy pages on 25 and 26 October 2026. Yen are converted at ¥158 to the dollar (Federal Reserve H.10 rate, 16 October 2026). Item prices and international postage are on top of everything listed.

| Channel | Fees you pay on top of the item | Ships from, delivery time | Authenticity and damage protection | Returns | Payment and language |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TCGplayer (marketplace sellers) | Seller's shipping charge | Seller's location, mostly the US; estimated delivery date shown per order | TCGplayer Safeguard: refund if not arrived or not as described, claim within 30 calendar days of the estimated delivery date; counterfeit claim gets a full refund once the card reaches TCGplayer | Through the seller, same 30-day window | English site |
| eBay (marketplace sellers) | Seller's shipping charge | Seller's location, worldwide | Money Back Guarantee; Authenticity Guarantee on single cards at $200 and up, inspected by PSA at no fee, US buyers only | Per listing, backed by Money Back Guarantee | English site, card, PayPal, Apple Pay and others |
| Amazon (third-party sellers) | Seller's shipping charge | Seller's location | A-to-z Guarantee: delivery and condition, claim up to 90 days after the last delivery date, 48 hours after contacting the seller | Through the seller; A-to-z covers refused returns | English site |
| SNKRDUNK | 3.5% buyer fee; shipping and US duty are shown at checkout | Japan; about 5 to 15 days in total | Every item passes an inspection center in Japan before it ships; counterfeit report within 7 days gets a full refund | No cancellations or personal-reason returns; returns only if the item fails SNKRDUNK's standards, within 7 days | English site and app, nine supported countries including the US |
| Buyee (proxy) | ¥500 (about $3.16) per order, plan ¥0 to ¥500, domestic postage ¥150 to ¥1,500, optional ¥1,500 protective packing | Buyee warehouse, Japan; EMS, airmail, sea mail | Standard plan (¥500): refund for wrong, damaged or lost items, claim within 14 days; no authenticity check | None | English site, card or PayPal in your currency |
| ZenMarket (proxy) | ¥300 to ¥800 (about $1.90 to $5.06) per item, ¥800 on Mercari and Yahoo Auctions; deposit fee from 1% | ZenMarket warehouse, Japan | Shipping insurance under ¥5,000,000 included; no inspection; photos ¥500 per item | ¥1,000 cancellation, not for Mercari or auction items | English site, prices shown in US dollars, PayPal among the payment options |
| FROM JAPAN (proxy) | ¥500 (about $3.16) per item, consolidation and a check included (secondary source) | FROM JAPAN warehouse, Japan | Check service included | None | English site |
| Neokyo (proxy) | ¥350 (about $2.22) per item plus ¥500 per shipment with packing; carrier rate at cost | Neokyo warehouse, Japan; EMS, DHL, FedEx, UPS under a week, airmail under 10 days | Insurance and tracking included in the shipment fee; no inspection | No cancellations | English site, PayPal only |
| Pokemon Center Online (Japan) | ¥550 (about $3.48) domestic postage, free from ¥6,000 | Japan addresses only, 2 to 5 days after ordering | Official store | Not applicable to overseas buyers | Japanese only |
| Pokemon Center US, Canada, UK | Regional shipping fee (Canada: flat $10 CAD) | Separate regional sites and catalogs; the Canadian store ships only to Canadian addresses | Official store | Returns through the store | English, regional currency |

**The sample behind the table:** Fees are the published rates for one item or one order on 25 and 26 October 2026. Domestic postage inside Japan, international postage, carrier brokerage fees and the 12.5% duty come on top of all of them, so compare the fee column, not the total.

## Where to buy Japanese Pokemon cards in the US: TCGplayer, eBay and Amazon

The simplest route is a US marketplace, where sellers list Japanese singles and sealed product and ship domestically. You pay in dollars, the listing is in English, and the platform's buyer protection sits between you and the seller. The trade-off is price: the seller has already paid duty and postage, and that is in the asking price.

TCGplayer's Safeguard covers orders that do not arrive or are not as described, from both TCGplayer Direct and marketplace sellers. You must contact the seller within 30 calendar days of the estimated delivery date, and a seller who does not reply within 2 business days can be escalated to TCGplayer. If you suspect a counterfeit, TCGplayer sends a prepaid label, inspects the card at its headquarters and refunds in full if it is fake.

eBay's Money Back Guarantee covers items that do not arrive or do not match the listing. Single cards at **$200 and up** also go through Authenticity Guarantee: the seller ships to PSA, which inspects the card and listing accuracy, then forwards it with tracking and a tamper-proof seal, at no cost to you. The program is for US buyers only, covers singles but not boxes, packs or lots, and the threshold dropped from $250 to $200 in a rollout eBay announced around August 2026, so some eligible listings may not show the badge yet.

Amazon's third-party sellers fall under the A-to-z Guarantee. You can claim up to 90 days after the last possible delivery date if the item is late, damaged, defective or not as described, once the seller has had 48 hours to respond. The guarantee also covers you if an international seller does not provide a US return address or if customs charged you extra and the seller would not cover it.

## Do Japanese card shops like Cardrush, Hareruya2 and Yuyu-tei ship overseas?

Not directly. The three big online shops for Japanese Pokemon singles all describe domestic delivery only, so from the US you reach them through a proxy service with a Japanese address.

Cardrush (カードラッシュ) ships by Yu-Packet at ¥180 to ¥320 depending on parcel thickness, or by insured Yu-Pack, and takes convenience store payment, credit card, bank transfer, postal transfer, cash on delivery and Amazon Pay. Its grades run 状態S, A, A-, B, C and D, and problems must be reported within 7 days of arrival. Its store information page has a notice for customers who use forwarding agents for overseas shipping (cash-on-delivery orders through forwarders are cancelled), which tells you how overseas buyers already use it.

Hareruya2 (晴れる屋2) offers Yu-Packet at ¥200 nationwide or Yu-Pack, free from ¥30,000 per order, with five domestic payment methods. Cards are 状態A unless marked B, C or D, orders ship the same day payment clears, and wrong or missing items must be reported within 8 days. No overseas option appears in its help pages.

Yuyu-tei (遊々亭) ships every item free inside Japan and dispatches the same day for payments confirmed by 13:00. It takes nine payment methods including credit card, PayPal and Amazon Pay, but its three delivery methods are all domestic couriers.

**Shop grades are not PSA grades:** 状態A at one shop is not 状態A at another, and none of them is a professional grade. Read each shop's condition page and, for anything expensive, pay for the proxy's photo service before it ships. Our guide to [spotting fake Japanese Pokemon cards](/pokemon/authenticity/how-to-tell-if-japanese-pokemon-cards-are-fake/) covers what to look for when the parcel arrives.

## How do proxy services work, and what do Buyee, ZenMarket, FROM JAPAN and Neokyo charge?

A proxy buys the item in Japan on your behalf, receives it at its warehouse, and ships it to you. That opens up Cardrush, Hareruya2, Yuyu-tei, Mercari Japan, Yahoo Auctions (JDirectItems on Buyee and ZenMarket) and Rakuten. You pay the item price, the proxy's fee, any domestic postage to the warehouse, and the international postage. The fee structures differ in ways that matter for cards.

**Buyee** charges a flat **¥500 per order** (about $3.16), however many items are in that order from one seller, plus a plan fee: Lite ¥0, Inspection ¥300, Standard ¥500. Only the Standard and Insured Delivery plans refund damaged or lost parcels, and claims must be made within 14 days of arrival; Buyee says plainly that its inspection does not check brand authenticity. Domestic postage to the warehouse runs about ¥150 to ¥1,500 per order, protective packing is ¥1,500 per box, and you pay in two steps, item first and shipping once the parcel is in the warehouse.

**ZenMarket** charges per item: **¥500** for Amazon, Rakuten and most shops, ¥300 for its Recommended Stores, and **¥800 for every Mercari item or Yahoo Auctions bid**. A funds deposit fee from 1% applies to every payment. Consolidation and shipping insurance for parcels under ¥5,000,000 are included; a detailed inspection is not, so budget ¥500 per item for photos of a used card. Storage is free for 60 days.

**FROM JAPAN** (now One Map by FROM JAPAN) charges **¥500 per item** with consolidation, 60 days of storage and a check included, according to the proxy comparisons we could read in October 2026; its own fee page would not load without JavaScript, so treat the figure as secondary.

**Neokyo** has the lowest per-item fee at **¥350** (about $2.22), plus **¥500 per shipment** that includes packing up to 2 kg. International postage is charged at the carrier's rate with no markup, PayPal is the only payment method, and cancellations are not allowed. Neokyo's shipping page also spells out the US duty trap: with DHL you pay duty on delivery at the rate for your item, while FedEx via Neokyo prices a flat 13.4% into the quote that cannot be amended.

For a line-by-line costing of one sleeved single and one booster box through each service, see [Buyee vs ZenMarket vs FROM JAPAN vs Neokyo](/pokemon/shipping/buyee-vs-zenmarket-pokemon-cards/). The step-by-step process is in [how to buy Pokemon cards from Japan](/pokemon/buying/how-to-buy-pokemon-cards-from-japan/).

## Is SNKRDUNK a safe place to buy Japanese Pokemon cards?

SNKRDUNK is a Japanese marketplace that sits between seller and buyer: the seller ships to SNKRDUNK's authentication center in Japan, the card is inspected, and only then is it shipped to you from Japan. Its App Store listing names Pokemon, One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Magic and Lorcana among the cards it handles and describes a multi-point inspection with X-ray equipment.

The buyer fee is **3.5%** of the price, and the shipping cost is built into the price you see. For US buyers, duties and taxes are calculated and added at checkout, so the carrier should not bill you again. The help center quotes **5 to 15 days** from purchase to delivery, of which 2 to 5 days is the final leg to you. In November 2024 SNKRDUNK advertised US shipping from $34 for up to 6 boxes in one order; the site now folds shipping into the item price, so check the cart.

The protection is strong on authenticity and weak on everything else. A suspected counterfeit reported within 7 days of delivery is refunded in full, but buyers cannot cancel after paying, returns for personal reasons are refused, and cancellations SNKRDUNK does accept carry a 10% charge. The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are among the nine officially supported countries; everyone else is pointed to Buyee, FROM JAPAN, ZenMarket or Doorzo.

## Does Pokemon Center Japan ship to the US?

No. Pokemon Center Online's delivery guide says overseas delivery is not accepted and that delivery addresses are accepted within Japan only (checked 26 October 2026). Domestic postage is ¥550, free from ¥6,000, and orders ship 2 to 5 days after purchase by Yamato Transport. The site is in Japanese.

Pokemon Center exclusives therefore reach the US through a proxy or a forwarder with a Japanese address, or second-hand through Mercari Japan via a proxy. The US, Canadian and UK Pokemon Center stores are separate sites with separate catalogs; the Canadian store, for example, ships only to Canadian addresses for a flat $10 CAD, and Pokemon Center says products are not available in every region. The full picture, including lottery sales, is in [does Pokemon Center Japan ship to the US](/pokemon/pokemon-center/does-pokemon-center-japan-ship-to-the-us/).

## What do shipping and the 12.5% duty add?

Two rules changed the math for anyone importing cards. The US duty-free minimum for parcels ended on **29 August 2025** under Executive Order 14324, so even a $20 card is dutiable. Then, after the earlier 15% rate on Japanese goods ended, the US Trade Representative's Section 301 action set Japan's combined duty at **12.5%** from **24 July 2026**: trading cards (HTS 9504.40, normal rate free, per CBP ruling N352819) now pay the full 12.5%.

Who collects it depends on the channel. SNKRDUNK adds it at checkout. Through a proxy it depends on the carrier: with Neokyo, DHL bills you around delivery and FedEx prices a flat 13.4% into the quote. Carriers may add a brokerage fee on top.

Postage from Japan is the other big line. Japan Post EMS to the US costs ¥3,900 (about $24.68) up to 500 g, ¥5,300 (about $33.54) up to 1 kg and ¥7,900 (about $50) up to 2 kg as of October 2026, and Japan Post's availability chart shows air letter-post, air parcels and EMS all open to the US with electronic customs data mandatory. Neokyo's table puts EMS, DHL, FedEx and UPS at under a week and airmail at under 10 days. Rates, carriers and the paperwork are in [shipping from Japan to the US](/pokemon/shipping/shipping-from-japan-to-the-us-tariffs/).

## Best for a single card, a booster box, a Pokemon Center exclusive, or a bargain hunt

**One single card worth $200 or more:** eBay with Authenticity Guarantee, if you are in the US. PSA checks the card and the listing at no cost, and the Money Back Guarantee stands behind it. SNKRDUNK is the alternative if the card is only listed in Japan.

**Several cheap singles from the same Japanese shop:** a proxy. Buyee's ¥500 per order covers a whole Cardrush or Yuyu-tei cart, and Neokyo's ¥350 per item is the lowest per-card fee when the cards come from different sellers. Add the photo service for anything you would mind receiving in worse shape.

**A sealed booster box:** SNKRDUNK or TCGplayer. SNKRDUNK ships from Japan with duty settled at checkout and 5 to 15 days delivery; TCGplayer sellers ship domestically with a 30-day Safeguard window and no customs surprises. Whether the Japanese price still wins after duty and postage is worked through in [are Pokemon cards cheaper in Japan](/pokemon/buying/are-pokemon-cards-cheaper-in-japan/).

**A Pokemon Center Japan exclusive:** a proxy with a Japanese address, or Mercari Japan through Buyee or ZenMarket once the item sells out. Note ZenMarket's ¥800 Mercari fee against Buyee's ¥500 per order.

**A bargain hunt:** Mercari Japan and Yahoo Auctions through a proxy, with eyes open. None of these proxies promises an authenticity check (Buyee says so outright), so the saving is yours to protect with photos, seller ratings and a close look on arrival.

## What changes if you are outside the US?

Most of this guide works anywhere, with three exceptions. eBay's Authenticity Guarantee requires a US buyer, so outside the US you rely on the Money Back Guarantee of the eBay site you check out on. SNKRDUNK sells directly to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; other countries go through its partner proxies. Pokemon Center has separate regional stores for the US, Canada and the UK with separate catalogs; the Canadian store, for one, ships only to Canadian addresses.

The proxies ship worldwide, but your import rules replace the US ones in the duty section: Neokyo, for example, collects 10% GST on low-value parcels to Australia and applies IOSS to EU parcels under 150 euros. TCGplayer's missing-package coverage with tracking applies only between the US and Canada, so an international order there is riskier than a domestic one.

More guides: [how to buy Pokemon cards from Japan](/pokemon/buying/how-to-buy-pokemon-cards-from-japan/), [Japanese vs English Pokemon cards](/pokemon/buying/japanese-vs-english-pokemon-cards/), and the [Pokemon hub](/pokemon/).

## Questions people ask

### Where can you buy Japanese Pokemon cards in the US?

On TCGplayer, eBay and Amazon from marketplace sellers, each with its own buyer protection, or from SNKRDUNK, which inspects cards in Japan and ships them to US buyers. Japanese shops such as Cardrush, Hareruya2 and Yuyu-tei only ship within Japan, so you reach them through a proxy service.

### Does Pokemon Center Japan ship to the US?

No. Its delivery guide says overseas delivery is not accepted and delivery addresses must be in Japan (checked 26 October 2026). A proxy or forwarder with a Japanese address is the only route.

### What is the cheapest way to buy Japanese Pokemon cards?

For a handful of cheap singles from one seller, a proxy with a per-order fee (Buyee, ¥500 per order) or a low per-item fee (Neokyo, ¥350) keeps fees small. International shipping and the 12.5% US duty are the same whichever service you choose.

### How long does it take to get Japanese Pokemon cards from Japan?

SNKRDUNK quotes about 5 to 15 days from purchase to delivery. Through a proxy, EMS, DHL, FedEx and UPS take under a week once the parcel leaves Japan and airmail under 10 days, plus the days the item needs to reach the proxy warehouse.

### Do you pay customs on Japanese Pokemon cards shipped to the US?

Yes. The duty-free minimum ended on 29 August 2025, and from 24 July 2026 trading cards from Japan carry a 12.5% duty. SNKRDUNK collects it at checkout; with a proxy the carrier bills you, or FedEx via Neokyo prices it into the quote.

## Sources

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