Mercari Japan from Overseas: Global App or Proxy, by Country

Ask this question in 2024 and there was one answer: no, use a proxy. That is no longer true for everyone. As of August 2026, whether you can buy from Mercari Japan directly depends on where you live — Mercari’s own Global App reaches Japanese listings in the United States, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and every other country still routes through a third-party proxy service. Nearly every English guide on this topic still says “you need a proxy, full stop.” That is now out of date for three markets and still correct for the rest of the world.

Can I buy from Mercari Japan from overseas?

Yes — but the route is decided by your address, not by your card. Here is the whole decision in one table, based on what Mercari has announced on its own press pages.

One caveat on that last row, and it matters: Mercari has announced three Global App markets, and we could not confirm any others on a Mercari page as of August 2026. Mercari says it aims to reach over 50 countries and regions by 2028 and more than 100 markets in the mid-to-long term, but it has not published which ones come next or when. If a site tells you the Global App works in your country and Mercari’s press page does not, believe the press page.

Is the Mercari Global App available in my country?

The short version: three markets, and a stated ambition. Here is how Mercari actually got here, which is the fastest way to judge how quickly a fourth market might arrive.

Note what the 2019 row means for everyone outside the three live markets. Mercari’s crossborder business has technically served 100-plus countries for years — but it served them through proxy operators. That is the layer the Global App removes, and it has only been removed in three places so far.

US buyers: you now have two Mercari apps, and they are not the same

This is the one that actually costs money, and it is new.

Mercari itself frames the two apps as serving different jobs: the US app centered on C2C transactions within the US, the Global App tailored to crossborder transactions. The bridge between them is going away — the Mercari x Japan feature that had let US app users search Japanese listings since August 2024 is being integrated into the Global App. So the habit of tapping “Japan” inside the old app is the exact habit that will quietly stop working.

Do I still need a proxy for Mercari?

Outside the US, Taiwan and Hong Kong: yes, and nothing about the Global App changes your math. Inside those three: no, not for Mercari — but possibly still for everything else you want.

Here is the honest cost comparison. The proxy figures are published rates we verified against each company’s own fee page; the Global App column is deliberately empty of numbers, because Mercari published none.

Where the proxy fee structures really hurt is a want list spread across many sellers, since Buyee bills per order and the per-item services bill per item. We broke that down in detail in what the headline proxy rate hides — the shape of your basket decides more than the advertised rate does.

Mercari also puts three things on the Global App’s side of the ledger that proxies generally do not include: a full inspection process in which Mercari checks all items before shipping, in-app package tracking, and a free compensation service for damage or loss in transit on all items. Note carefully what that inspection is and is not — Mercari describes an optional authentication service, where purchased items are authenticated and only items that pass can be sent to buyers, as a planned feature, not a live one. Same for the auction and pre-order features. Do not buy a raw vintage card on the assumption that authentication is already switched on.

What the Global App does not solve

Direct access is a real upgrade. It is also narrower than “you can now buy from Japan.”

That last one deserves a sentence of its own, because it is the difference between a card that arrives as described and a card that does not. Japanese listings describe condition in shorthand, and the photos rarely show corners, edges or surface properly. Getting one specific extra photo before you commit is the cheapest insurance in this hobby — and it is a thing you do in the seller’s language, on the seller’s terms. We covered exactly how the Mercari and Yahoo! question boxes work, and which proxies will relay a question at all. Two of the four big services flatly will not.

If you are weighing which Japanese platform your card even lives on before you worry about the route, start with our comparison of Mercari versus Yahoo! Auctions for cards. Picking the wrong platform is a more expensive mistake than picking the wrong app.

Does the Global App change customs and duty?

No. Removing a proxy removes a Japanese intermediary; it does not remove your own country’s border. Import duty, sales tax or VAT, and any handling fee your carrier charges on delivery are set by where the parcel lands, not by who bought it in Japan. A parcel that arrives from the Global App and a parcel that arrives from Buyee cross the same line under the same rules.

That is worth saying plainly because the “cheaper” framing invites people to skip the landed-cost math entirely. Whatever route you take, the number that matters is the total on your doorstep — see how import tax and customs actually work on cards from Japan and add it before you compare anything.

The one-line version

If you are in the US, Taiwan or Hong Kong, the Global App is now the default route to Mercari Japan and you should confirm you are in the right app before you buy. Everywhere else, as of August 2026, nothing has changed: proxies, published fees, same math as last year. And in every market, the Global App reaches Mercari — not all of Japan.