Hello everyone, time for another review! This time I'll be talking about an agency service I used to be able to shop on Japanese websites as well as what I bought.

Samurai Buyer is a proxy agency that helps buyers that are not in Japan, buy from Japanese websites like Amazon.co.jp or Rakuten.co.jp. If you've ever seen something you've wanted to buy on google but then you find out it's on a Japanese website like those I stated above, chances are they will not be available to you if you live outside Japan. This is where Samurai Buyer comes in! I found out about this service a while back ago by youtuber Sharla when she made a video about how to buy from Japanese websites which I will link here. 

If you watch the video, she pretty much explains just how it works but in case you don't want to watch it, this is a breakdown of how it works:

Samurai Buyer has three services they offer 1) Proxy Service 2) Auction Service and 3) Transfer Service. 

 Proxy Service is what you use when you want to buy from either Amazon.co.jp or Rakuten.co.jp and do not ship internationally. Samurai Buyer will get it for you then send it to you for a fee. If what you want to buy is less than 5,000 yen then the service fee will be of 500. If the item(s) is more than 5,000 yen then the service fee would be 9% of the item price. Some shops have domestic free shipping which means that you don't have to pay twice for shipping just the international fee. The international shipping fee will depend on how heavy your item is so the lighter you buy the less you have to pay. They only ship EMS which is great since that shipping service is the fastest and most secure. 

The second service they have is their Auction Service. The auction service can be used when you want to bid on Yahoo Auction. Again since most shops do not ship internationally Samurai Buyer can bid on your behalf. I have not used their auction service so I'm not well versed on how it goes down but if you would like to use that service here is a link that can help you navigate through it.

The last service is their Transfer Service. You can use this service if you want to buy from another Japanese website that is not Amazon or Rakuten or cannot be bid on in Yahoo Auction. Again, I have not used this service yet so I cannot say for certain how it works but this link will help navigate and explain even more.

When I first heard about this website I went through their items and was surprised to see how much they had that I never thought I could buy. I wanted to buy something that I knew I wanted but could never buy. I decided on a new phone case for my iPhone 6s since I had always wanted a cute case but could never get because they never had for the phone I had at the time. 

So I went on their website and looked around for what I could like and ended up with one of my favorite anime, Hetalia. 

Nekotalia iPhone 6/6s case

I had seen this case a while back on AmiAmi but it had been sold out there as well as other places that did ship to me. I was so happy to find that I could get it via samurai buyer so I immediately ordered proxy shopping service. I hadn't noticed though that it said it would be available from 1-3 months. I paid for the case as well as the service fee and waited for when samurai buyer were to contact me for the next step. After a few weeks I grew concerned when I did not receive any new emails from them so I emailed them to inquire about my order. It took them about a day to get back to me because I had emailed them in a weekend. They said they were waiting on the shop to send them the case so they could inspect it and bill me for the international shipping. Knowing that relaxed me that I would be getting my case soon but I just needed to wait some more.

After a week I was sent an email to pay for the international shipping and once I paid that about a day or so passed I got one more email that contained my tracking number for it. It took four days to get to me which was great since I had waited over a month for it. It came in a good condition and not even the packaging was damage like it sometimes happens when you get something shipped.  

Here are a few pictures of the case and how it looks like from the inside with my phone in it.

Overall I'm really happy with Samurai Buyer and would definitely recommend it for anyone looking to buy from Japanese websites. Just remember to read everything on the page from where you are buying to make sure you are going to get it quickly and not wait for a month like what happened with me. The service was not as expensive as I thought it would be which was great and I hope that more people use this wonderful service. Until next time!