Background
I’ve always loved second-hand stores in Japan, like Second Street(country side Second streets have a lot more than clothes!) and the various OFF stores. Especially out in the countryside, you can find some interesting stuff and great deals. However, in my tiny town of Takko-machi, we don’t have anything like that, and I don’t have a car.
So I dove into second-hand online shopping on Mercari and Yahoo! Flea Market, and it’s been one of my best decisions since coming to Japan.
The Biggest Benefit: Saving Money
There are a few clear advantages to buying second-hand. The most important to me, though, is that it’s cheaper than buying new! If there’s anything I plan on buying on Amazon, like JLPT study books, exercise clothes, or phone cases, I always make sure to check the flea-market sites first. Chances are you can find it cheaper, or maybe you can find a higher-tier item than what you could have bought new.
For example, I was looking for a new work bag last month. I could have bought a cheap bag on Amazon, but I checked Mercari first. I was able to grab a nice made-in-Japan Porter bag for the same price as the Amazon bags.
Even compared to in-person stores, it’s a lot cheaper. From what I’ve seen, those stores often price their items by referencing average prices on these sites anyway. So, if you want below-average prices, you need to look online.
Some of My Best Finds
Desk and computer
Almost everything in this setup was bought on Mercari, or other used market store. And by evertyhing, i mean it. Manual Nittori standing desk I got for ¥10,000 and a fancy Steelcase leap v2 office chair for ¥20,000, my entire desktop computer, monitors, mouse, all used!
Bike
This is also a Frankenstein bicycle that was bought online and consists entirely of used accessories. The shipping definitely drove the price up, but considering my car-lessness and where I live, it was a great deal for a bike in my size with disc breaks (¥50000)!
Camera
I’ve been getting into photography recently, so I got a Sony a6300 online and a Sigma 18–50mm Contemporary lens for a great price. I paid almost exactly ¥100000 yen for the whole package, or around 650$. They were in great shape of course! Which is the case with most things I have found, often even the original box is included.
Ties
When I learned that ties with cute animal patterns and such existed, I went a little overboard. I don’t really even wear them. I have a tie museum in my closet now, though. In total, I have around 50 now. Ties also happen to be an item that lose a ton of value once they get used, or a get a little stain, so I have plenty of designer brands too!
Cat pin
This is a great example of a treasure that I would never have found in person. This necktie pin isn’t sold in person anymore, and I’ve never seen any other listings for this online either! Which is tragic because its from a whole line of pins by Beams, and I really want the other versions.
Selling: Getting Some of Your Money Back
When it comes to selling, it’s a great way to recover funds. It’s perfect for those times when you buy something, use it once, and then it goes into storage. For example, I bought a fancy BURTLE air jacket. You know those jackets outdoor workers wear to keep cool in summer while doing hard work outdoors It was great, but it was just soooo loud. I was a sound menace everywhere I went, and the styling wasn’t really the best either, atleast according to my girlfriend.
So I sold it on Mercari, and I was only down ¥1,500. A reasonable price to pay to try something I had always wanted to try, in my opinion.
Buying
When it comes to finding things on flea-market sites, it’s pretty simple. You search for what you want, hopefully there are listings, and you buy it. The shipping isn’t as consistent as Amazon, of course, but most people are pretty quick.
Mercari vs. Yahoo! Flea Market
The biggest difference between these two is how popular they are. Mercari has more users, so it has more listings and more competition for buying. Sellers often list their items on both platforms, though, and since Yahoo! Flea Market has lower fees, sometimes the exact same listing is cheaper there. It’s worth checking both sites.
As of September 2026, Mercari’s standard selling fee is 10% of the sale price, while Yahoo! Flea Market’s standard fee is 5%. Fees and promotions can change, so check the Mercari fee guide and Yahoo! Flea Market fee information for the current details.
Search in Japanese
First is finding what you want. While Mercari does have English support, it’s still a bit spotty. Since most listings are originally in Japanese, you’re putting your trust in the translation to match your words with what you’re looking for. I recommend searching in Japanese, even if that means throwing the item name into an external translator first. Chances are, if your search returned no results at all, this is the fix.
Try Different Search Terms
It’s also worth searching with many variations of terms. Since it’s mostly normal people listing things, they might not use the exact name, might use the wrong name, or might put it in the wrong category. So, if you’re looking for a Nike shirt, you might be able to find a hidden deal just by searching “sports shirt” and looking at the images. Just be sure to confirm with the seller first that it’s a mistake and that they’re not intentionally trying to send you a different item from the pictures.
Coupons!
As a new user these sites flood you with coupons which make things even cheaper! Just make sure to confirm the limits. They often send out nice looking coupons like 50% off, but with an upper limit of 200 yen, making them effectively 200 yen off coupon. However, Yahoo flee market in particular gives some decen’t discounts i’ve noticed.
Junk doesn’t always mean broken
This is for sure a riskier tip, because most of the time, junk does mean broken. However after years of used item shopping, you get a feel of when people are using Junk to mean broken but with false hope it might not be, and to legitimately mean they don’t know if it works. Especially with electronics, i’ve bought junk multiple times expecting a repair project, just to find out it works perfectly fine, or just had a dead battery.
Set Up Alerts
Next, alerts! If you want the absolute best deal, or if you’re just searching for something more niche, it’s worth using alerts. You can usually receive emails or even push notifications on your phone. The actually good deals get snapped up fast by other savvy shoppers or resellers, but if you’re fast, you can get something great!
Just be careful not to get too excited and buy some useless junk because you didn’t read the description fully before pressing buy. Like me.
Sellers with the best deal
Last, figure out what a good seller looks like. The best deals come from people selling their old stuff at home. They’re also usually willing to give you discounts if you haggle, because they often just want to get rid of it. I know i’ve accepted price negotiations because I just wanted to be over with selling something. On the other hand, resellers and shops have margins to hit and set their prices pretty strictly. You can still get it cheaper than new, but it’s more limited.
The best way to figure this out is by looking at their sales history, if it isn’t hidden. If it’s random household items sold months apart with not-great photos, it stinks of a good deal! Of course, they often ship slower, package things strangely, and don’t always write clear listing descriptions, so approach carefully. Still, this is where you can find some of the best deals.
Watch Out for Pay-on-Delivery Shipping
One thing that bit me a few times is pay-on-delivery shipping. Sellers have the option to ship items this way, which just means that rather than the seller paying for shipping, the buyer pays the shipping cost when the item arrives. In Japanese, look for 着払い (chakubarai).
People don’t like it because the price can be hard to predict, and it makes things look cheaper than they really are, so sellers rarely actually use it. However, I’ve made the mistake of buying something too fast because it seemed like a deal, just to get stuck with a pricey shipping bill when I received the item.
There might be other tools out there, but personally I made a simple pay-on-delivery warning extension for Chrome that puts a message on screen if something uses pay-on-delivery shipping. You can find Mercari Payment Warning in the Chrome Web Store.
Selling
Selling is often seen as scary mostly because of one thing: mailing. It was for me, too. Have you ever seen a mail slip? Terrifying stuff for anyone who hasn’t lived here too long, even with a translator.
However, that problem is almost completely nonexistent when it comes to these sites. Often it just comes down to scanning a QR code, and the label is printed for you. You can even have the delivery company come to your house to take and label the package (Yamato)! All you need to do is package it.
Mercari vs. Yahoo! Flea Market
The biggest difference between selling on these two sites is the fee and reach. As of September 2026, Yahoo! Flea Market’s standard selling fee is half of Mercari’s, but it’s less popular, so it can take longer to sell or require a lower price.
Some people list their items on both at the same time since the platforms have separate user bases. If you do this, check each platform’s current rules, keep close track of both listings, and remove the other listing immediately if the item sells on one.
Whichever you use, I recommend verifying your identity first. It reassures people that you can be trusted.
Making the Listing
First is the listing, though. Once you do your first few, you should have a template that you can copy and paste for future sales. There are four main steps to the process that I’ll highlight: pictures, description, price, and packaging after the sale.
Pictures
Pictures are, in my opinion, the most important part of the process. I’ve seen it many times: items in great condition at a steal of a price just never sell, while some overpriced junk sells for more because of the pictures.
You should make your item look good and cover every nook and cranny, especially any defects. You want to assure buyers that you aren’t hiding anything and that they know what they’re paying for. These sites also often have plenty of editing tools, so you can make the photos look nice and put labels in the cover image, like the size in the case of clothing, so buyers can see it at a glance. If you plan to sell a lot, I recommend getting a cheap photo lightbox on Amazon.
Description
It’s tempting to just use the auto-generated descriptions, but I recommend writing one out fully. Give a description of the condition, when you bought it, how often you used it, and why you’re getting rid of it.
My best tip is to check successful listings of the same item you’re selling. There’s even a button on Mercari that helps you copy a listing! Use those listings to understand the shape of a good description, then write your own version so it accurately describes your item. Once you get a good idea of that shape, you can copy and paste your own template across listings.
Price
For pricing, my biggest tip is to price just above the price you want. Not so high that people skip it, but high enough that you’re willing to accept a discount when you inevitably get flooded with price-reduction requests.
Packaging
Last is packaging. I recommend reusing old packages and materials as much as you can. Whenever I buy something online, I keep the packaging materials in good condition and put them in a box for later.
As for packing items, I recommend three main things to look at: make sure it won’t be crushed, make sure it’s waterproofed in some way, and make sure it won’t bounce around in the package.
Shipping
Generally, you have two main options: Japan Post or Yamato. Personally, I use Japan Post exclusively because there’s no Yamato office near me. Once I sell something, I just select the box size from the list.
If it’s one of the prepaid boxes, you need to grab it from the post office, though I’ve seen them at Daiso and convenience stores, too. If it’s Yu-Packet Post slips, you prepare your own box or packaging within the size limits, stick the sticker on, scan the QR code, and shove it into a mailbox.
The only slightly complicated is when you need size 60 or up. In that case, you provide your own box, and when you scan your code at the machine, it prints three labels. You just give them to the staff at the front, and the postal workers stick them on for you. Easy peasy.
Yu-Packet poster stickers are also a little complicated in that you need to use your own packaging, which has to fit in the mail box and be under 2KG. Other than that, you just slap on the sticker, scan it, and drop it in.
Shipping options, size limits, and prices change, so check the current chart inside the app and measure the finished package before choosing a method.
Other Sites
Besides Mercari and Yahoo! Flea Market, there are lots of other sites that I haven’t used much myself. HARD-OFF and Second Street even have their own online sites. They’re rarely cheaper, but you can still find decent deals, and they have the advantage of items being checked first and possibly having a warranty as well.
Warnings
Of course, there are always risks when shopping from unofficial stores and buying from real people. If you’re careful, it’s usually fine. I’ve bought and sold hundreds of items now and have never had a major scam or dispute. However, there are scammers out there, both buyers and sellers. So check reviews, take lots of pictures of everything, be very clear in descriptions, and be sure to clarify information in the comments before buying.
People also make mistakes unintentionally. I’ve had people send me the wrong item, package it poorly so it breaks, or not mention something about its functionality. Most people are kind and willing to fix things, but always take lots of pictures just in case so you have evidence to back yourself up.
Taxes
This is where you should probably do your own research in case things change, and cause i’m not an expert. Japan’s National Tax Agency says that income from selling ordinary personal-use household goods, such as furniture and clothing, is generally not taxable. There’s an exception for certain high-value items, including precious metals, jewelry, artwork, and antiques worth more than ¥300,000 per item or set.
So, if you’re just selling your old stuff, you probably don’t need to worry about it. If you’re regularly buying things to resell for profit, that can be treated differently and may need to be declared. Check the National Tax Agency guidance, and ask a tax office or qualified professional about your own situation. This article is general information, not tax advice.
Conclusion
You can get some great deals on online flea-market sites. They’re also great for giving items a new life instead of letting them rot away until they’re thrown out, and for making some cash back as well. You can also find treasures that you won’t find anywhere else!
