Japan's Top Online Resale Marketplaces

Japan is best known for its culture, cuisine, anime, and technology. But here's one thing that often goes unmentioned: Japan is a second-hand shopping heaven.

It’s easy enough to find second-hand shops and marketplaces out in the streets. But nowadays, online marketplaces take things to another level. Thanks to Japan's culture of respect, you’ll see that people take care of their clothes and belongings.

This means that if you know the best online resale marketplaces in Japan, a whole new world of affordable, previously loved items opens up for you. Or if you're looking to sell your stuff, there are tons of options.

In this post, I'll help you narrow down your options and choose an online "flea market" service best suited for you. So without further ado, here are Japan's top resale marketplaces where you can buy and sell online.

Mercari

It’s no wonder Mercari is at the top of our list, as it’s arguably the largest online resale marketplace in Japan. 

Japan’s first tech Unicorn allows users to handle everything from listing, payment, and shipping right on its app. This is probably the easiest way you can start buying and selling used items in Japan today.

All you need to do is download the app and register. As it’s quite popular, Mercari is probably your best bet at finding anything. Thanks to its very large user base, there’s a wide range of categories of items to choose from.

The best part about using Mercari is that everything is packaged and shipped, so there are no dropoffs or pickups. Sellers can package their items in boxes available in convenience stores and ship them out, and the buyer has no way of knowing the original address of the sender. 

Adding to the fact that Mercari handles payments through its own digital payment platform, the app stands as one of the safest options in terms of personal data, item accuracy, and payment safety for secondhand shopping in Japan.

One thing about using Mercari as a foreigner is that the app is in Japanese, and you may need some basic Japanese to message buyers/sellers. However, you can easily manage this with a translation tool like DeepL and using Mercari’s website instead of the app.

Mercari is currently hiring foreign IT professionals, including software engineers and designers in Japan, and you can check the opportunities available on Japan Dev.

Facebook Groups

Anyone interested in second-hand shopping and, most importantly, once-in-a-blue-moon deals in general, has to know that Facebook groups, and more specifically, Sayonara Sale groups, is where it’s at.

Facebook marketplace is a great app for selling used items in most places, but in Japan, you’ll come across many of these “Sayonara Sales”, which have the best deals by far. Simply called “Goodbye Sales”, these are Facebook groups where many foreigners and expats sell items, furniture, and clothes they don’t want to bring with them.

Most of the time, the main reason why people sell on Sayonara Sales is to get rid of things quickly. This means better negotiating power, and it also means that people may just list items at exceptionally lower prices in hopes that they’ll sell more quickly.

While you can find a variety of Sayonara Sales with a quick search on Facebook using the keywords “Japan Sayonara Sale”, one of the largest ones is Tokyo Sayonara Sales, with a good alternative being The Original Tokyo Sayonara Sales. Here are a few other popular ones you can check out:

• Osaka Sayonara Sale Facebook Group,

• Kyoto Sayonara Sales Facebook Group.

Rakuten Rakuma

Similar to Mercari, Rakuma is the multimedia conglomerate Rakuten’s marketplace platform. The platform, which used to be another second-hand marketplace called Fril, was acquired and rebranded by Rakuten, but you may still come across the original name in the website’s URLs.

The app pretty much provides the standard online fleamarket experience, and all of the features, including the layout, are similar to Mercari’s platform.

Rakuma also provides the option to have items shipped instead of requiring in-person pickup, which is great news when it comes to safety. 

The app is, unfortunately, in Japanese, but you can use translation tools to get around it.

While it’s similar to its competitor in many ways, perhaps the biggest advantage of using Rakuma is its policy regarding commissions. While Mercari charges a flat 10% fee to the seller, Rakuma has six different levels of sales commissions that start as low as 4.5%. This means that sellers only pay commission when they sell their products, and according to their sales performance.

Yahoo! Auctions

Call it Japan’s eBay because it very well might be. The purpose of Yahoo! Auctions is in the name, as it simply allows you to auction off your items and bid for other items you might like.

This website is arguably the most popular one for auctioning owned items in Japan. Here, you’ll find a wide variety of items, from collectibles to clothes.

Unlike a regular online resale platform where prices are set from the get-go, Auctions offers the anticipation and the thrill that comes with the potential of finding a good deal or a rare item, which is its best selling point. 

And if you want to get rid of stuff fast and don’t really care about making the most money in return, Yahoo! Auction might also be your best bet.

Once again, like most online resale platforms in Japan, the platform is in Japanese, which you can navigate through via a browser extension if you don’t speak Japanese.

Yahoo! Furima

It may sound foreign now, but if you’re into second-hand shopping, the Japanese word “furima” will be one of your favorites. As the word simply means “Flea Market”, Yahoo! Furima serves as the giant internet corporation Yahoo!’s online flea market app.

Not to be confused with Yahoo! Auctions, Yahoo! Furima used to be called PayPay Furima before it was acquired by the company, as you can still tell by the website URLs. It’s the web giant’s second resale-focused platform.

As I mentioned, while Yahoo! Auctions acts sort of like eBay in terms of buying items via bidding, Furima is more about listing an item at a set price and buying items on the spot.

Unfortunately, the platform’s interface is, once again, fully in Japanese, but it’s not an issue that a translation tool can’t resolve.

Yahoo! Auctions

Call it Japan’s eBay because it very well might be. The purpose of Yahoo! Auctions is in the name, as it simply allows you to auction off your items and bid for other items you might like.

This website is arguably the most popular one for auctioning owned items in Japan. Here, you’ll find a wide variety of items, from collectibles to clothes.

Unlike a regular online resale platform where prices are set from the get-go, Auctions offers the anticipation and the thrill that comes with the potential of finding a good deal or a rare item, which is its best selling point. 

And if you want to get rid of stuff fast and don’t really care about making the most money in return, Yahoo! Auction might also be your best bet.

Once again, like most online resale platforms in Japan, the platform is in Japanese, which you can navigate through via a browser extension if you don’t speak Japanese.

Jimoty

Jimoty offers a great alternative to more streamlined options and can be best described as “Japan’s Craigslist”. The true charm of a platform like Jimothy comes from the odd listings you’ll find here, and a true veteran who knows how to scout this website can get away with deals like no other. 

Of course, this also means that there’s a bit more effort involved. You do have to search a bit harder to find what you want, and the website sticks with the tried and true method of pickups and dropoffs, where you’ll have to arrange a meetup to deliver/receive the items sold. 

So, if you don’t mind getting a bit more involved for a chance to score some rare finds, Jimoty is a great alternative to an app like Mercari. One downside, however, is that the website’s user interface is only available in Japanese, which you can work around with the help of translation extensions.

Alternatively, you can use this neat guide I found that explains step-by-step how to sign up and use the website as an English speaker.

Craigslist

Jimoty might be more popularly called “Japan’s Craigslist”, but in reality, Japan’s Craigslist is none other than Craigslist itself. 

While not super popular in Japan, you’ll be surprised that Craigslist exists and is somewhat functional in the country as an alternative to online resale platforms. 

Keep in mind, however, that the service is mostly used by foreigners in Japan. This means that most of the listings are usually centered around Tokyo, and maybe other big cities such as Osaka and Kyoto.

One thing to note here is that the site requires arranging meetups to exchange goods, which may not be everybody’s cup of tea. Still, it’s a great platform for finding unique offerings and has its own little niche in Japan’s online resale landscape.

The best thing about Craigslist is that it has an English option. Currently, it’s available in the following cities in addition to Tokyo, even though they’re a bit less active than the Tokyo site: 

• Fukuoka

• Hiroshima

• Nagoya

• Okinawa

• Osaka-kobe-kyoto

• Sapporo

• Sendai

Concluding Words on Japan’s Online Marketplace Platforms

In this post, I presented you with some of the most popular online resale platforms, but these aren’t all of them. 

There are smaller ones as well, like the Tokyo Noticeboard. It’s local to Tokyo and has fewer listings, but it’s great for foreigners as it’s in English. 

There are also more niche ones, like ZOZOUSED, which is mostly focused on second-hand clothing but offers a great variety of fashion brands.

In addition to these, you’ll also find hybrid online/physical stores that buy and sell vintage and used items. For instance, RAGTAG Online is an app where you can buy and sell used clothes and accessories, while you can also find physical RAGTAG stores where you can shop for used items in person.

Lastly, as I explained, remember that second-hand shopping is awesome in Japan. Thanks to the lovely culture of respect that extends to items, and an aversion to seeming bad/rude that keeps people honest in trade, you’re likely to find used items in better condition than you’d find elsewhere.