I was about to make payment for this Japanese site which sells snacks and other stuff but soon after checkout, there was 3 options. EMS, which is expensive, and the other two one said free shipping which is confusing, also I got an email once selected Paypal, seems pretty complicated to finalise payment.
Any idea how much airmail costs?
Any idea how much airmail costs?
I tried to buy a G-Shock watch (which is a relatively small item) from there before and the shipping itself ended up being about AU$120.
Ditched that idea.
Eventually got it from Amazon where shipping was about $80.
Even on Amazon, I end up ditching the contents of my cart a lot after I see the price of shipping. Sometimes it's higher than the price of the item(s) making it not worth it. I think it's the shipping quoting system that they use.
If you know exactly what you're looking for, try other online shops - I've found that some of the smaller online shops have much more reasonable shipping prices.
OP perhaps amend title to Rakuten.
I have bought from them. Once payment didn't go thru till AFTER I received the item. But generally no issues.
Tenso offers shipping discounts / free shipping when you spend over certain amounts. Rakuten's just like Amazon but for Japan.
I've only bought stuff from them domestically in Japan, but they're pretty good. Note that it's mostly an amalgamation of various sellers comparable to eBay etc. So check their feedback/reviews if there are any.
Have a look at their past deals — they do free international shipping offers every now and then.