Selling on Rakuten Ichiba

[Porky]

Hi
I am interested in selling Uk products into Japan on Rakuten Marketplace.

Ideally I want an FBA type arrangement where I ship the stock in bulk to Japan and they do the rest.

Anyone have experience of this and would you be so kind as to share how you do it for best effect- thanks very much in advance

 

[cockypea]

Rakuten’s a tricky one, not quite plug-and-play like Amazon FBA. You’ll likely need a local partner or fulfillment service to handle logistics and returns. Curious – are you already registered as a cross-border seller there, or just exploring options for entry first?

 

[Porky]

Exploring options for entry first.

I have some product lines i believe would do well in Japan. I could go down the AMazon FBA route but wanted an alternative,

A platform like Rakutan could do well but as you say it does need a fulfilment service - i certainly dont want to be shipping per unit sale from the UK

 

[cockypea]

Rakuten’s its own beast – way more hands-on than FBA. You’ll probably need a local intermediary to clear customs, store stock, and deal with customer returns. Are you aiming to list through Rakuten Global Market or planning a Japan-based entity setup? That part changes everything logistics-wise.

 

[Porky]

Not thought deep enough about best way forward.

Ideally, I just want to ship say 340 units to start with (150 of one type, 120 of another, 70 of another) and see how well they sell on Rakuten.

I need an FBA type option where I just ship from UK direct to Japan and they deal with sales and returns locally.

Perhaps I just have to suck it up and go Amazon Japan.