Help

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Otsukai？

Otsukai is a service that helps you get hold of Japan-exclusive items! You make a Request for the items you are looking for and our Japanese users will search for them and make you offers to get hold of them for you. Please check out our Getting Started for more details.

What do Friend / Request / Offer / Errand mean on Otsukai?

Request = This is a public appeal for Japanese items from our worldwide users. In order to make purchases on Otsukai, you first need to make a Request. Read more here: Placing a Request.

Friend = A user on the Japanese side of Otsukai. Friends are users of the website just like you! Friends will browse Requests made on Otsukai and make offers to purchase and ship items on your behalf.

Offer = An offer by a Friend to buy and ship an item from Japan to you. The price in the offer already includes all shipping and service charges. Read What does the offered price include? to find out more.

Errand = An Errand starts the moment you accept an offer and make payment. An Errand page will be created at this point, which will outline each step of your order and tell you what to do next. An Errand is completed once you and the Friend have rated each other.
IMPORTANT: Please remember that an Errand is not over once you receive the item. There are still steps you must take in order to complete the Errand and allow the Friend to receive their remittance. Read more at After Receiving your item.

Is Otsukai safe to use?

Yes!
Otsukai is here to help keep both you and the Friends safe.
The Japanese users do not receive any remittance until after you have marked the item as safely arrived, meaning that they can’t run off with your money without shipping the correct items.
If you would like to find out more, please check out the following page: Safety and Support.

Does the offered price include shipping?

All the prices you see on Otsukai already have the shipping and service charges included. The price you see is the final price.
For further information please see How does the Friend decide on the prices they offer me?

What can I Request on Otsukai?

You can Request any item that is exclusive to Japan!
There are a few items which cannot be purchased via Otsukai, so be sure to carefully check our guide on what can and cannot be Requested: What to Request or not Request.

Do I need to be able to understand Japanese?

You don’t need to be able to speak any Japanese to buy stuff from Japan, thanks to Otsukai!
Just make your Request in English (simple, clear English is best!) and the Friends can start making offers. The Otsukai support team is also here to help you, so if you are worried about a miscommunication or you would like us to translate something into Japanese for the Friend, just give us a shout!
Another benefit of Otsukai is the fact that the Friends and staff at Otsukai all speak Japanese, so they can help you if you are struggling to navigate a Japanese website with the goods you would like. Please do not hesitate to contact us!

Who is making the offers?

The people making the offers are called Friends on Otsukai. They are not staff members, but are users just like you! The only difference is that they are on the Japanese side of the website. The Friends are completely in charge of ordering, packaging and shipping your items. Otsukai acts as a middle-man to make sure transactions occur smoothly and safely. Feel free to contact our support team if you ever have any questions!

What payment methods are available?

Otsukai currently only accepts payment via PayPal. We have chosen PayPal due to its trustworthiness and flexibility.
Please see our Payment Methods and Fees page for a detailed description on how to pay on Otsukai.

I can’t log in!

If it’s your first time trying to log in, make sure you have clicked on the confirmation email sent to you. If you didn’t receive a confirmation email, go to resend and try again, making sure to check your email’s junk mail folder. If you still don’t receive a confirmation email, you may have mistyped your email address when you first signed up. Try signing up again with the correct address here If you think you have forgotten your password, you can reset it here.

What is the Otsukai support center? Is it a different website?

Otsukai currently uses a system called Freshdesk to connect to the support team.
This is actually a separate webpage to Otsukai, and therefore you do not need to log in with your Otsukai details. However, this also means that we can not see any of your Otsukai details when you email us.
This is why it is essential that you enter your correct email address when you contact us so that we can respond.
It is also important for you to write down details related to your inquiry, such as your unique username or the URL of your Request.
In some cases we may ask for a screenshot of your My Page in order to prove that you are indeed the holder of the Otsukai account. We ask for your cooperation in this when sensitive information is involved.

There is no need to log into Freshdesk in order to contact us or reply to our messages. You are welcome to make an account so that you can easily manage all correspondence between you and our team. However, please understand that we cannot help you with any inquiries regarding Freshdesk itself and you may need to contact the Freshdesk support in such cases.

Can I sell items on Otsukai?

You can only sell items on Otsukai if you are located within Japan.
If you are outside Japan then you can only purchase items at this point in time.
We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

I think my shipping address is incorrect! How do I confirm/change it?

Please see About Shipping for details on how to confirm and change your shipping address. Please bear in mind that Otsukai will only use the shipping address you have registered to the Otsukai website and will never use the shipping address registered to your PayPal account.

Please do NOT post your updated address as an Errand Message, as Friends can only ship to the exact address you have registered to the Otsukai database.

I want to directly message the Friend, how can I do it?

If you have any questions for the Friend, please leave a comment on your own Request. Read more about the commenting system here: Leaving comments on your Requests.

If for some reason you need to contact the Friend after accepting an offer, please use the Errand Messaging system which can be found on the Errand page for your order (browser version only). Read more about Errand Messages here.

At no point should you solicit the Friends into contacting you via email or social media. Posting your social media handles or other personal contact information is against the rules and will lead to a ban on your Otsukai account. Read more about this here: Can I contact the Friend directly?

I bought an item a while ago and haven’t heard anything! I’m worried!

First be sure to check out our steps here: How Does Otsukai work?
After accepting an offer on Otsukai (Step 3), you should be next contacted once the Friend has shipped the item (Step 4). You will receive an email titled [Otsukai] Your item has been shipped from Japan. In the vast majority of cases you will not receive any kind of contact between Steps 3 and 4.
You can get an estimate of how long it should take for your item to be shipped by going to the offer you accepted and checking the ‘estimated time until shipping’. Please understand that this is an estimate and not a deadline. For pre-orders, the Friend should have left a note on the offer with the estimated release date of the item. If not, feel free to contact the Otsukai support team.
See more at: How long does the buyer have to ship my requested items.

The Friend is asking me to make a purchase or payment outside of Otsukai

To ensure the safety of all users, Otsukai strictly prohibits the exchange of personal contact information or referral of users to third-party websites to complete transactions. This is to prevent scamming and fraudulent behavior, such as accepting payment on another website but refusing to ship, offering partial payment on a third-party website but not paying in full, etc.

If the support team discovers any messages or behavior of this kind, any relevant orders may be cancelled and related accounts may be restricted without notice.

Since we cannot monitor correspondence or payments that do not take place on Otsukai, we cannot provide support for any issues that may arise.

Any of the following actions will result in an order cancellation and/or account removal:

• Solicitation/sharing of links to a user's personal website, online store or other third party website to make or receive payments outside of Otsukai
• The sharing of any kind of information (social media handles/links, phone numbers, email addresses etc) with the intention of communicating outside of Otsukai in user profiles, Request/offer/Showroom descriptions, comments or Errand messages
• The inclusion of any of the above in an order's package
• Any other behavior deemed inappropriate by the support team

Please report any suspicious behavior to the support team.