Shipping Guide for Sellers - Japan

By default, shipping is completely free for the seller. Whatnot will provide you with prepaid shipping labels to ship your items. The shipping label provided covers the aggregate weight & dimensions of the items in the package as well as the weight of the packaging. 

You can find general shipping guidance here. It covers common questions sellers on Whatnot have about shipping. 

Shipping in Japan

We are going to add Japan-specific shipping details for intra-Japan shipments when we launch domestically. For now, we only offer shipments from Japan to the US, AU, UK, and EU.

International shipments

Whatnot partners with Fedex for international shipments originating in Japan. Japanese sellers are able to ship to the US, AU, UK, and EU.  

Fedex bases their pricing on both weight and package dimensions. Buyers are charged based on the list of prices found here.  Japan post charges based on the heavier of the cubic weight or physical weight of the package (detail). 

When you list items, you can utilise standard category shipping profiles which Whatnot has pre-defined for you for ease. These profiles are a best-effort to accurately reflect both the dimensions & weight of commonly shipped items on Whatnot. We will continuously update (and add to) these profiles as appropriate. Note that you do not need to add weight for packaging materials. Our system automatically adds a buffer weight to each package to account for packing materials. You can find a list of all existing standard category shipping profiles in Japan here.

In case you sell items for which we do not have predefined standard shipping profiles you can create your own. We call these Custom Shipping Profiles. See a detailed explanation here.

Whatnot’s Smart Bundling™ algorithm bundles orders into one package when a buyer purchases multiple items from the same livestream. In Japan, bundling logic depends on both weight and dimension. Buyers pay a shipping fee for their first purchase. Then, as they buy more in the same stream, they are charged only for the extra weight of the new items. Our algorithm fits as many items as possible into one package. Once either the weight or dimension limit is exceeded as a result of bundling, another package is created

Customs

When shipping internationally, there are duties, taxes, and fees that may apply to each shipment. For shipments originating in Japan and shipped to US, UK, AU, EU, Whatnot ensures all charges are fully paid upfront to ensure a smooth and quick customs experience. Buyers will see all relevant charges at the time of purchasing.