[Important] 200,000 yen is the turning point! Great shipping methods

[Conclusion]

Delivery to Honshu and Kyushu: Under 200,000 yen... Postal service is cheap
・Over 200,000 yen...UPS is cheaper

Shipping to Hokkaido, Shikoku, and Okinawa - All product prices...Postal service is cheaper

If you just want the bottom line, this is it.

Below is an explanation of why this happens.

The key point is whether the total of the product price, insurance fee, and shipping fee is within or exceeds 200,000 yen .

All products arriving from overseas, regardless of whether they are personal or commercial imports, must go through customs. If the amount exceeds the duty-free amount, customs duties and associated fees will be incurred.

It is not widely known, but postal customs clearance fees change significantly at the 200,000 yen threshold. For amounts under 200,000 yen, it costs 200 yen, but for amounts over 200,000 yen, it costs 6,600 yen.
* Customs clearance fees for international mail (Japan Post)

・Under 200,000 yen	Postal customs clearance fee: 200 yen		UPS 1,210 yen
・Over 200,000 yen	Postal customs clearance fee: 6,600 yen		UPS 1,210 yen

So, I compared shipping costs and customs fees.

Specifically, the Austrian postal service will be abbreviated as "Post." The exchange rate will be 1 euro = 160 yen.

First, there is the post fee.

As you can see, the shipping fee itself is cheap, but when the total is over 200,000 yen, the additional customs fee of 6,600 yen has a huge impact.

Then compare it to UPS's rates.
The difference was calculated by subtracting the postal fee from the UPS fee . In other words, if the difference is positive, postal shipping is cheaper , and if it is negative, UPS is cheaper .

UPS charges the same rate for Honshu and Kyushu, but Hokkaido, Shikoku, and Okinawa are considered remote areas and incur additional charges, so the rates are calculated separately for the two regions.

In Honshu and Kyushu, Post is cheaper when the product price is less than 200,000 yen, and UPS is cheaper when the price is 200,000 yen or more .

For example, if you send a product in weight category 6.0 to Japan, it will cost 9,579 yen with UPS. On the other hand, if you use Austrian Post, it will cost 7,237 yen for items under 200,000 yen, which is 2,342 yen cheaper. However, if the item is over 200,000 yen, it will cost 13,637 yen, which means you will pay 4,058 yen more.

For Hokkaido, Shikoku and Okinawa, post is cheaper for all product prices, regardless of the product price.

Similarly, comparing items in weight category 6.0, UPS will cost 14,622 yen, but with the postal service it will be 7,237 yen for items under 200,000 yen and 13,637 yen for items over 200,000 yen, meaning postal shipping is 7,386 yen and 986 yen cheaper, respectively.

UPS delivers faster than other carriers, so it's not appropriate to compare costs alone. A good example of this is when flights were reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and mail took more than a month to arrive, while international courier services using their own vehicles delivered in roughly the same amount of time as usual.

However, I think it would be helpful to clearly show the basic price comparisons, so I've put them together. There are other comparison articles out there, so please take a look and decide for yourself.

*Ideally, it would be less confusing to display only one shipping method, but we have made it possible to choose for the following reasons.

1. The situation is different for Honshu and Kyushu, and for Hokkaido, Shikoku, and Okinawa, where remote area charges apply.
2. Due to large fluctuations in exchange rates, the price boundary for products priced around 200,000 yen can easily move.
3. The needs of people who want fast delivery and people who want cheap delivery are different.

*Although DHL's delivery quality is almost the same as UPS's, we do not use it because it always charges a tax payment fee of 1,980 yen (UPS's minimum fee is 1,210 yen).

*These prices will change when UPS or Austrian Post change their rates. Prices also fluctuate due to currency fluctuations. The price you add to your cart on the product page will be the latest price.