Path: ccsf.homeunix.org!news.moat.net!newsfeed01.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: "John R. Yamamoto-Wilson" Newsgroups: fj.life.in-japan Subject: Re: Paypal & Paypal equivalents in Japan Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 12:07:56 +0900 Lines: 37 Message-ID: <42gmreF1is17nU1@individual.net> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-2022-jp" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: individual.net KO5dP0vjjGL0RraCQscyoAlJajPMvyxuHqah+D8MCljzxgucBi X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1409 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1409 Xref: ccsf.homeunix.org fj.life.in-japan:30952 Paul Blay wrote: > What "Paypal like" systems are popular in Japan None, as far as I know. Basically, in Japan cash is king. Credit cards cannot be used in most supermarkets, for example, and debit cards are hardly used at all. Added to that, there is widespread distrust of giving sensitive information over the internet, so people are unwilling to register credit card details with something like PayPal. The usual system of paying for items ordered online or by post is by post office transfer (yuubin furikae). Usually, you receive the goods before paying and there's a filled-out transfer form sent along with the goods when they arrive, though these days a lot of companies seem to be switching to prepayment (at least for first-time purchasers). > do any of them allow people not in Japan to use them? I don't think there is anything at present. The post office transfer system only works inside Japan, of course, and the administrative costs and bureaucratic hassles of cheques, regular money orders and bank transfers make them just not worth bothering with (except perhaps for amounts over about $10000). The only real option is an international postal money order, and even then most online sellers don't allow for that option (presumably because they're put off dealing with foreigners because of the language barrier). I am quite often approached by people not resident in Japan who are savvy enough to track down a copy of a book they are looking for (on Amazon Japan or elsewhere) but cannot purchase it because there is no provision for selling to buyers abroad and they are reduced to ordering via a Japan-based intermediary (me). -- John R. Yamamoto-Wilson http://rarebooksinjapan.com