Luxury Fashion from Japan

How does the secondhand luxury market work in Japan?

Through licensed dealers who buy from Japanese owners and resell with a shop grade. Dealers in used goods must hold a 古物商 (kobutsushō) licence under the Secondhand Articles Dealer Act and verify the identity of the people they buy from; the brand-resale chains, pawnshops and department-store buy-back counters that hold that licence take in bags, watches and jewellery from Japanese owners and resell them. The channels differ in what they document: dealer stock carries a shop rank, an accessories checklist and a fixed price; pawnshop 質流れ stock is unredeemed pledges sold the same way; private listings on Mercari and Rakuma carry the marketplace grade and the owner's notes, and prices can be negotiated. None of them ship abroad, so an overseas buyer orders through OneMall, which supplies the Japanese address, pays in yen and forwards from our Japan warehouse.

What do the ranks N, S, A, AB, B and C mean on a Japanese luxury listing?

A condition scale defined by the shop that uses it, not an industry standard. Many Japanese brand-resale shops rank stock with letters — N for new, S for unused or near it, then A, AB, B and C in descending order — and each shop publishes its own definitions, so an A from one shop and an AB from another can describe the same bag. Read the shop's definition and the photos rather than comparing ranks between shops, and read the specific notes, which use the same vocabulary across brands.

• Nランク / Sランク — new / unused or near it
• Aランク / ABランク / Bランク / Cランク — descending condition, defined per shop
• 角スレ — corner scuffing
• 内側ベタつき — sticky lining
• 金具くすみ / 小傷 — tarnished / scratched hardware
• 付属品：箱・保存袋・ギャランティ — box, dust bag, card

Does OneMall verify that luxury items are genuine?

No. OneMall does not guarantee authenticity. OneMall is a proxy buying service, not the seller: items are bought on your behalf from Japanese shops and marketplace sellers, and what you receive is what that seller shipped. Provenance wording on a listing — 国内正規店購入 (bought at a Japanese boutique), 正規品 — is the seller's statement, and licensed dealers' identity checks apply to whom they buy from, not to the goods. The practical safeguards are the ones the Japanese market itself uses: dealer stock with the date code, stamp or serial photographed, accessories listed, and a shop rank whose definition you have read.

• 国内正規店購入 / 正規品 — the seller's statement
• 製造番号 / 刻印 / シリアル — date code, stamp, serial, shown in photos
• ギャランティカード / 保証書 — card or warranty, dated
• ランク + shop definition — read both

How do Japanese sellers date Louis Vuitton, CHANEL, Hermès, Gucci and Cartier?

By a brand-specific mark: Louis Vuitton date codes, CHANEL serial stickers, the Hermès blind stamp, the Gucci serial tag and Cartier hallmarks. Each of the five brands has its own page covering that mark, the line names in katakana and the search terms. Use them for a specific brand; the ranks, dealer licences and customs rules common to all five are covered on the OneMall luxury fashion category page.

Louis Vuitton from Japan: date codes and listing terms →

What does a luxury order from Japan cost, and what about customs and CITES?

The item price, a service fee and shipping, and then whatever your country charges at the border, which for luxury goods is the line to plan for. At order time you pay the yen price, OneMall's service fee, shown before you confirm, and the seller's domestic shipping if charged; when the item reaches our Japan warehouse you choose an international shipping method and pay for it, with the brand box optional. Import duty or tax is applied by your own country to the declared value, and a designer bag or watch is the kind of item where it usually applies. Exotic leathers — crocodile, alligator, lizard, python — are regulated under CITES, the Washington Convention, and OneMall's prohibited items list states that such items cannot be shipped, so do not order them.

Estimate shipping with the OneMall calculator →

How do I search Japanese sites for secondhand luxury?

Brand in katakana, then the model or line, then a condition or accessory word. Japanese dealers list under the katakana name and private sellers often under the Latin letters, so search both.

• ルイヴィトン / シャネル / エルメス / グッチ / カルティエ — brands in katakana
• ヴィンテージ / 廃盤 — vintage / discontinued
• 美品 / 未使用 / 付属品完備 — fine / unused / all accessories
• ランクA / ABランク — shop rank
• 質流れ — pawnshop stock