Buyee vs ZenMarket vs FromJapan vs Neokyo for Pokemon cards: fees, packing and US duties compared

As of October 2026, Buyee charges ¥500 per order and ZenMarket ¥800 per Mercari item; FromJapan charges ¥500 per item and Neokyo ¥350 plus ¥500 packing. A ¥7,000 Mercari single shipped to Los Angeles costs about $67 before US duty on Buyee or ZenMarket, about $81 on Neokyo. An ¥18,000 booster box lands between $154 and $159 on all three. In the buyee vs zenmarket question, the real differences are packing, who prepays US duty, and how each handles Mercari.

Every figure comes from the four services’ own fee pages (read 25 October 2026) and shipping calculators (run 26 October 2026); yen at ¥157 to the dollar (Wise, 25 October 2026). FromJapan’s calculator sat behind a human-verification wall, so it has fees but no shipping quote here.

Buyee vs ZenMarket vs FromJapan vs Neokyo: the fee table

Sample: one order of one Mercari JP item shipped to the US, October 2026.

Buyee vs ZenMarket fees: what do you actually pay?

Buyee’s headline number is a flat ¥500 purchase fee per order, the same for one auction lot or five Mercari items from one seller. It rose from ¥300 on 1 April 2026 (Buyee notice, 13 March 2026). On top you choose a plan: the Standard Plan (¥500) is the only one that both inspects the item and covers loss or damage in transit; the Lite Plan is free and covers nothing, not even a wrong item.

ZenMarket charges per item, and Mercari is its most expensive tier at ¥800 (fee page, 25 October 2026); Amazon and Rakuten are ¥500, Recommended Stores ¥300. The fee includes consolidation and transit insurance but not inspection: any check taking “a non-specialist over 3 minutes” costs extra, and photos are ¥500 per item.

ZenMarket also runs on deposits, and the deposit fee is where its pages disagree: the fee summary says “from 1%”, the payment page’s worked example says 3.5% of the transaction. We use 3.5% below, the figure ZenMarket shows for card and PayPal deposits.

FromJapan splits every order into Charge 1 (the item) and Charge 2 (shipping and the ¥500 plan), with no payment fees. Neokyo is the cheapest per item at ¥350 but adds ¥500 packing per parcel.

What does a ¥7,000 Mercari single cost with each proxy?

Sample: one sleeved single bought on Mercari JP for ¥7,000, packed at 300 g (20 x 15 x 5 cm), declared at ¥7,000, shipped to Los Angeles (ZIP 90012); quotes taken 26 October 2026. US import duty is left out: Buyee and ZenMarket show it only at checkout, Neokyo’s DHL bills it on arrival, and it is the same tariff whichever proxy you use (see our tariff guide).

Buyee and ZenMarket tie on the single. The budget pick on both is ECMS, a courier both use for the US; Buyee’s ECMS rules out items priced under ¥500 and PO boxes and ships Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Faster options: Buyee Air Delivery (¥3,860 plus ¥1,200 fee, 2 to 7 days) takes the Buyee total to ¥13,060 ($83); ZenMarket’s EMS (¥3,900, about a week) takes its total to about ¥12,120 ($77).

Neokyo’s DHL quote looks worse because DHL is a premium courier on a light parcel, and the total still owes US duty. Its FedEx option (¥5,233) prepays duty at a flat 13.4% plus ¥150 and a broker fee of at least $15, about ¥16,500 ($105) all-in; on a ¥7,000 card the $15 floor is most of that.

What does an ¥18,000 booster box cost?

Sample: one sealed booster box bought for ¥18,000, packed at 1,000 g (20 x 15 x 10 cm), declared at ¥18,000, to Los Angeles; same date and rules.

At box weight the gap closes to $5 across three services. For a sealed box we’d pay for a tracked courier or EMS, with duty settled up front on Buyee and ZenMarket so the box isn’t held for payment at the US end. ECMS is the cheaper route again if you can wait: ¥2,288 plus ¥800 on Buyee (¥22,088, $141), ¥3,714 on ZenMarket (about ¥23,300, $148). ZenMarket’s EMS is the exact Japan Post counter rate (¥5,300 for 1 kg to the US), plus its DDP prepayment at checkout.

One warning from ZenMarket’s own Pokemon guide: some Japanese card shops ship booster boxes with the outer box removed to save weight. If you want the box intact, tell the seller before buying.

Do proxies sleeve or toploader Pokemon cards?

No. None of the four offers sleeves, toploaders or team bags, and FromJapan’s plan excludes exactly what card buyers fear: for trading cards from private sellers on JDirectItems Auction, Rakuma or Mercari, “items that have been switched, re-shrunk or removed are not covered under our plan”. The condition your card arrives in is mostly the seller’s doing, so ask for a sleeve and toploader before you pay.

What the proxies do offer:

• Buyee ships items in the box they arrived in. Protective Packaging is ¥1,500 per box and Buyee warns it adds 1 to 2 kg, which can push a light parcel into a higher shipping band.
• ZenMarket packs by fragility for free, with a ¥1,000 per box reinforcement option (corner guards, double boxing), and will not open a sealed item without permission.
• FromJapan bundles “extra care in packing items that require special handling” into its ¥500 plan, with transit insurance.
• Neokyo’s ¥500 packing fee buys a right-sized box and bubble wrap. It does not inspect anything.

The proxy is not your fake filter either: Buyee’s Inspection Plan lists “branded product authenticity” as not covered and FromJapan’s check excludes authenticity. Read our fake-spotting guide before you bid.

Who pays US customs duties: DDP or DDU?

Since the US ended de minimis on 29 August 2025, every parcel of cards from Japan owes duty. How the proxy handles that is the biggest practical difference between them.

• Buyee moved all US courier options (Buyee Air Delivery, DHL, FedEx, UPS, ECMS) to Delivered Duty Paid on 28 August 2025. It charged a flat 20%, then 15.5%, and since 21 April 2026 a rate by item category on each item’s invoice value, shown as an estimate when you order and confirmed by email. A clearance fee comes with shipping: ¥800 on ECMS, ¥1,200 on Buyee Air Delivery. Nothing more is due on delivery.
• ZenMarket shows DDP on the shipping payment screen; in our US quotes it was mandatory on everything except DHL. The amount is based on the item’s HS code, and ZenMarket warns the final figure “is determined by the local customs authority and may differ”.
• Neokyo leaves the choice to you. DHL is Delivered Duty Unpaid: CBP or DHL bills you around delivery at the normal tariff. FedEx is DDP at a flat 13.4% plus ¥150 per package and a broker fee of 2% of the duty or $15, whichever is higher, and Neokyo cannot amend it.
• FromJapan says members “are fully responsible for customs clearance procedures and payment of customs fees”. We could not confirm a DDP option.

Japan Post is the odd one out. It resumed US-bound parcels on 14 April 2026 on condition that the sender prepays US duty through a CBP-certified app, and from 15 October 2026 at nearly all post offices. Even so, Buyee’s and Neokyo’s calculators listed every Japan Post method as unavailable to the US on 26 October 2026, while ZenMarket quoted EMS, AVIA and Surface with DDP. If you want EMS, ZenMarket is the one offering it.

Which proxy can buy where: Mercari, auctions, Rakuten, Amazon JP, Pokemon Center?

Two details decide “buyee or zenmarket for mercari”. ZenMarket says a paid Mercari item “cannot be canceled for any reason” and used Mercari items get no compensation “in most cases” if the seller sent the wrong thing, unless the ¥500 photos caught it first; Buyee’s Standard Plan refunds a wrong or damaged item claimed within 14 days of arrival. And FromJapan’s Mercari flow is manual, with staff replying in 1 to 2 business days, a long time on a hot listing.

Pokemon Center Online does not ship to the US, so all four proxy it the same way: you paste the URL and they buy as a Japanese customer. Lottery and one-per-account items are where this breaks down; see does Pokemon Center Japan ship to the US.

Best for

• Best for a single Mercari card: Buyee. ¥500 flat plus the ¥500 Standard Plan buys an inspection and transit cover that ZenMarket sells separately as photos, at the same ¥10,600 total on our sample single (26 October 2026), and a wrong card is refundable within 14 days.
• Best for a sealed booster box or several items: ZenMarket. Free consolidation, 60 free storage days, insurance included, no opening of sealed boxes, and the only one of the three we could quote that offers EMS to the US right now. The ¥800 Mercari fee and the deposit fee are the price.
• Best for a bundle of cheap items in one parcel: Neokyo. ¥350 per item is the lowest fee and the ¥500 packing fee covers the whole box under 2 kg. Pick DHL and expect a duty bill on arrival, or FedEx to prepay a flat 13.4%.
• Best for a high-value card from a shop: FromJapan. The ¥500 plan bundles a check service, consolidation, 60 days storage and insurance with no payment fees. Not for Mercari in a hurry, and get its shipping quote yourself since we couldn’t.
• Not a fit for cards: Buyee’s Lite Plan (no cover at all) and any untracked small packet (Buyee and FromJapan exclude untracked parcels from compensation).

These fees and the US duty rules change often. Check the service’s own fee page on the day you order, and see how we research.

More guides: how to buy Pokemon cards from Japan · where to buy Japanese Pokemon cards · are Pokemon cards cheaper in Japan? · all Pokemon guides