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How to Buy from Rakuten Japan and Ship OverseasRakuten Global Express in 7 steps

The most direct way to get something from Rakuten Japan to your country is Rakuten's own forwarding service, Rakuten Global Express. You order on Rakuten Ichiba with its Kawasaki warehouse as the delivery address, and the warehouse combines your orders and ships them abroad. Signing up is free, but you must verify your ID before anything can leave Japan. Everything below comes from the official pages I read on October 26, 2026.

How do you buy from Rakuten Japan and ship overseas?

Found something on Rakuten Japan? Put it in your cart first. You can set up forwarding later at your own pace, without rushing every step on the spot or losing the item you found. When you are ready, follow these steps.

1. Create a free account. If you already have a Rakuten Japan member ID, log in with it.
2. Verify your ID. Under Japan's Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds, everyone has had to verify since April 1, 2013, including people who live abroad. You can shop before you verify, but nothing ships until you do.
3. Find your shopping address on My Page. It is your own address at the warehouse, for use with this service only.
4. Order on Rakuten Ichiba. Enter the shopping address as the delivery address and pay by credit card. Cash on delivery, freight collect and e-collect are not accepted.
5. Wait for the parcel to arrive. Rakuten Ichiba parcels show up on My Page automatically, a little while after they reach the warehouse. Storage is free for one month in principle.
6. Combine orders. Several orders can go out as one parcel at no extra handling fee. Auto-packing cannot combine parcels, so request packing by hand if you want to combine.
7. Pick a method, pay and ship. The service offers Economy Air, Standard Express, Super Express and Sea Mail, though not every method serves every country. Fees are paid with the card on your Rakuten account, PayPal or Rakuten points.

The "delivery date" you can choose at checkout is the date the parcel reaches the warehouse in Japan, not your home. It trips up a lot of first-timers.

What do you need for Rakuten Global Express ID verification?

There are two ways. Face verification needs one driver's license or ID card that shows your photo, name, date of birth and address together, and takes about 5 to 10 minutes. It is not available in every country or region. If your card is missing any of that, or has handwritten parts, you upload documents instead, which takes about a week.

Uploads must be JPEG or PNG and 5MB or less. PDF is not accepted. Documents in the language of your country are fine. Documents in a family member's name, and mailed copies, are not accepted. After you verify, your first shipment can only go to the verified name and address. You can add other addresses after that.

How much does shipping from Rakuten Japan cost?

The fee depends on weight and box size. On the official shipping estimate, enter the destination, postal code, weight in grams and the box size in cm to see a price for each method. The quote leaves out optional services, import duty and other taxes, and the final fee can differ. As one example, the top page shows 3 bottles of sake (5,120g) sent to Taiwan by Standard Express in 2 days for JPY 10,440, and says it is only an example.

I run the estimate once, then decide whether to wait for a few more orders. Combining is free and storage is free for a month, so that month is your window to bundle. After a month with no shipping request, the parcel is disposed of and a fee is charged.

Will you pay import duty?

That depends on your country, and the quote does not include it. Two examples: the Taiwan country page says goods worth NT$2,000 or less are duty-free, up to six times per half-year. For the US, when this site checked on October 19, 2026, the RGX US page ruled out Economy Air and limited Standard Express and Sea Mail to parcels over JPY 410,000, and US Customs (CBP) said the duty-free treatment for parcels of 800 dollars or less was suspended. Check your own customs office before you order.

What can't Rakuten Global Express ship?

From the official banned-items page: power banks count as stand-alone batteries and cannot go by international post. Other lithium batteries must be inside the device, with packs under 100Wh, cells under 20Wh and two per parcel at most. Spray cans, gas canisters, lighter fuel, drinks of 25% alcohol or more, perfume and nail polish cannot be sent, and chilled or frozen goods are not accepted. Each country page adds its own rules.

Golf clubs: The packing-options page uses golf clubs as its own example of long items that do not fit a normal box. The warehouse decides whether special packing is needed, and it costs JPY 1,500 when it is. A parcel that is too big or heavy may not be packable at all, and the page gives no length limit, so ask the customer center before you buy a full set or long clubs. Rangefinders and golf watches have built-in lithium batteries, so the battery rules below apply.

An item missing from the list is not guaranteed to ship. Check both the quote screen and the banned-items page before you order.

Don’t want to handle forwarding yourself? Buyee is another option

With Rakuten Global Express you place the order on Rakuten yourself and forward it. Buyee works the other way: you order on Buyee’s site, Buyee buys from the Japanese shop for you, and ships the parcel from its warehouse. Its top page lists Rakuten Ichiba, Amazon, Mercari, Rakuten Rakuma and ZOZOTOWN, and the site works in English and Chinese.

For Taiwan there is also convenience-store pickup: Buyee can send a parcel to a FamilyMart or 7-Eleven store by Buyee air or Japan Post (EMS/AIR). Parcels must fit 30 x 30 x 45cm, 105cm for the three sides combined, and 9kg. The store holds it for 7 days and you need photo ID to collect it. Outlying islands are not covered; choose Japan Post to your home address instead.

Buyee or Rakuten Global Express? Buyee adds a JPY 500 fee per order, while Rakuten Global Express does not charge a fee for combined packing (see the table above). Compare the shipping estimates before you choose. With either one, import duty in Taiwan is yours to pay, and Buyee says plainly that you cannot refuse a parcel because the duty is high.

Note: Buyee warns that fake sites and social accounts use its name. Go in through buyee.jp and avoid links you cannot trace. For batteries, read Buyee’s lithium-battery page before you order.

ZenMarket: a flat fee per item

ZenMarket is another buying agent based in Japan. It can buy from Rakuten Ichiba, Rakuten Rakuma, Amazon, Mercari and Japanese auctions (JDirectItems Auction, the former Yahoo! Auctions). Prices can be shown in New Taiwan dollars.

Compared with Buyee: Buyee charges JPY 500 per order, ZenMarket charges JPY 300 to 800 per item. Buying many items from one shop favors Buyee, because its fee does not grow with the item count; for a single item, compare the totals on the day. Storage differs too: Buyee is free for 30 days after arrival, ZenMarket charges nothing extra for the first 60 days. Use each service’s official shipping estimate to compare.

Bibian: Chinese-language site, NT$ card payment, no consolidation step

Bibian is a Japan buying service owned by the PChome group (its site says it is run by Bibian Co., Ltd. in Japan) and you can sign up with a PChome account. Its site lists JDirectItems Auction (the former Yahoo! Auctions), Mercari (free shipping up to 1kg), JDirectItems Fleamarket (free shipping up to 3kg), Rakuten Rakuma, ZOZOTOWN, and an on-demand shopping cart that reaches more than 200 Japanese shops. Drugstore goods are sold in Chinese through its own Bibian Japan Goods section.

Compared with Buyee and ZenMarket: Bibian belongs to a Taiwanese group, takes NT$ cards and offers Chinese-language support. Rakuten Ichiba is not listed as a separate shop on its pages, so for Rakuten Ichiba goods use Rakuten Global Express above, or check in the on-demand cart whether the shop is open there. Each service charges its fees differently, so compare their own estimates before you order.

More reading

To compare buying agents and local dealers, see How to buy Japanese golf clubs from outside Japan. To pick gear, start with Driver rankings 2026.

Links to Rakuten Global Express are plain links. This site earns nothing from that service, and the Buyee link is a plain link as well.