How To: Using Zenmarket (Tutorial on buying a board game from Japan)

In this video you will learn how to buy a board game from a Japanese website using the forwarding service, Zenmarket.
Introduction and creating an account - (0:00)
Zenmarket Tour - (1:03)
Buying a game - (5:11)
Getting the game(s) shipped - (11:48)
Unboxing! - (16:48)
Outro - (17:50)
Check out my podcast, Trick Talkers, where we discuss all kinds of trick-taking, climbing, and shedding games! anchor.fm/tric...
Coming soon! Be on the lookout for my tips and tricks video on how to search for games on the various Japanese websites.
Background music by Bensound.com/royalty-free-music

[@Naru-Maki]

This video is so helpful and absolutely fantastic. So thrilled, this really is a game changer for importing games from Japan at its finest. Would love for you to also make a video covering the small organizers you showed at the end of the video all put together and your thoughts etc 😊

[@CardsUnbarred]

Oh man, how did I not see this comment?! Sorry I didn't respond sooner! But thanks for your high praise that you continue to give me that I don't deserve 😊 Oooh that's a great idea. Those boxes are so nice and don't really have a lot of info/reviews on them. I'll see if I can fit that into a video at some point. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@Naru-Maki]

@@CardsUnbarred I'm just excited for more content! You're great, please keep them coming. Super appreciate all of your videos, they've been great!

[@alexjones1378]

Thanks for taking the time to record this!

[@CardsUnbarred]

You are welcome! I hope it was helpful 😀

[@NKG_Grimm]

Thank you so much for this tutorial! It's been a while since I wanted to buy somenthing on zenmarket, but I always found it quite confusing, especially the funds and the auctions. Now I've tried to get some ichiban kuji things that I haven't found anywhere else!

[@CardsUnbarred]

You are so welcome! Yeah it looks daunting at first, but super easy once you know it. I'm glad you found this helpful and super happy it allowed you grab some harder to find stuff.

[@MohamadSobh]

This was super helpful, thank you!

[@CardsUnbarred]

You are very welcome! Happy shopping 😄

[@beebenson5139]

Really appreciated

[@CardsUnbarred]

Thanks for watching! Glad I could help.

[@supersayandarmanitan]

One of the most helpful videos I've seen in a while Btw what is the music in the unboxing section. It sounds so familiar

[@CardsUnbarred]

Oh my goodness, thank you for the super kind words! I'm glad it was helpful for you. Hopefully you snagged some good stuff! As far as the music goes, it's royalty free music from bensound.com and I don't remember the title since I made this a while ago 😅 it being royalty free means you've probably heard it as an intro to a podcast, a different KZbin channel, etc. maybe?

[@supersayandarmanitan]

@@CardsUnbarred no problem man. Told my mom about this and she think they'll send me bio chemical warfare 💀 Truly a boomer response

[@CardsUnbarred]

​@supersayandarmanitan 😂 I've never had any issues with my packages and the many packages that my friends have purchased, but I guess YMMV 😅

[@christianbank393]

Thanks so much for making this video! It does not look as daunting as I was imagining. The only question I had was: Can you start putting in requests for purchases before actually putting any money into your ZM account or do you have to have the money in there first? I'm looking forward to your tips and tricks video next! Another thing I was wondering: Is there a particular time of year you recommend starting an order? Perhaps a good time to find stuff in stock or lots of hot new releases? Thanks again.

[@CardsUnbarred]

You are welcome and thanks for watching 🥰Yes, you can put in the requests to purchase something before putting any money into your account! Yeahhhh I do need to get around to making that tips and tricks video! The rules videos have been on my to-do list that I keep forgetting to make the tips and tricks video 😅 Well I would say right off the bat waiting until right after one of the Tokyo Game Market (TGM) events is a good time of year for the hot new releases. TGM happens multiple times in the year and you can go here gamemarket.jp/access to see when the next one is! Otherwise, it is up to you when you want to start an order as the number of new releases outside of TGM is rather sparse. Most of these publishers/companies are very tiny and tend to only release their new games at a TGM.

[@user-cm4hq6nh8c]

Thanks for the review, I have a question, you only pay the shipping and wait for the package or you need to do more stuff to take the package, like go to customs and pay taxes or something like that?

[@CardsUnbarred]

That is going to be different based on whatever state/country you are in. You'd have to check with local, federal, country, laws to see what extras you may be charged for games. In the US (and for sure at least in Pennsylvania) once you pay for shipping and the games leave the warehouse there are no additional costs. Since I don't live in other countries or states I can't answer for what your country or state will make you pay there! I do believe, not 100% sure though, that additional VAT and taxes apply in the UK, not sure about other places. Hope that helps a little bit!

[@littlepup-ds3hr]

I’m very reluctant to use this site because I really don’t have a lot of money to work with lol… I mean I could afford it but what im worried about is refunding… do they usually respond to inquiries about refunds? Just worried in case something I order gets lost

[@CardsUnbarred]

I have personally never had anything get lost, damaged, etc. But, anytime I dealt with customer service they were very quick to response (as long as it wasn't over the weekend) and very helpful. However, I will add that their website states If it is something you are worried about and money is tight, then I wouldn't risk it. There are plenty of amazing games in the world that can be purchased at your local game store or online stores within your own country (or I am assuming that the case...dependent on where you live). And if not there are a lotttt of fantastic games that can be played with a standard deck of cards or proxied with said deck 😁

[@lisadt3042]

I’m nervous as my son wants to order from here….there must be some exorbitant fee for shipping added ? Nervous about using my credit card and putting money in the account? So have you purchased from this site on more than one occasion? Is it worth it? Thanks for any info you can provide for this nervous Mom 😊

[@CardsUnbarred]

Hey Lisa! Thanks so much for the question. Yes, I have used this site a handful of times and have bought well over 100 items at this point from there. Additionally, I am in a few Discord servers that have handfuls of people buying games from this site daily. They are a very reputable and trustworthy site/company! There are definitely other sites out there that will do a similar thing for possibly more or less money, so it comes down to doing your own research on which you would prefer using. Some other examples are Tenso, Buyee, Japan Rabbit, Worldshopping, Biginjap, and Sendico. I have used Buyee and Worldshopping and not the others (however, I know a bunch of people who use Tenso and really like it). Buyee and Worldshopping are going to be a little more expensive than zenmarket (not always, but on average), but they are even easier to use than zenmarket as they are typically integrated with the website you are buying from. All in all though, after having used a few of those myself and hearing different people's experience with the others I still find myself going back to zenmarket. They are easy enough to use and their customer service is great and their packing and protection of items is out of this world! The other sites might be faster at buying items or cheaper, but they tend to require a more hands on approach and possibly needing to know Japanese 😳 I hope this helps and makes you a little less nervous! You sound like a very cool mom for watching this video to help buy your son something this way 😎 Edit: Silly grammar!

[@lisadt3042]

@@CardsUnbarred thank you so much! I just intuitively found your channel and I’m so grateful you responded! Thank you for all the info of other markets and your opinion! 😊

[@CardsUnbarred]

@@lisadt3042 you are quite welcome and thanks for watching! I still haven't made the tips and tricks video, but one of these days I won't be so busy and I'll get around to it 😅 Anyway, good luck with your order and feel free to ask me any other questions if you have them in the future!

[@grant27833]

do you have to worry about any import fees?

[@CardsUnbarred]

Someone asked this below a while back, so to keep consistency in going to copy and paste my answer That is going to be different based on whatever state/country you are in. You'd have to check with local, federal, country, laws to see what extras you may be charged for games. In the US (and for sure at least in Pennsylvania) once you pay for shipping and the games leave the warehouse there are no additional costs. Since I don't live in other countries or states I can't answer for what your country or state will make you pay there! I do believe, not 100% sure though, that additional VAT and taxes apply in the UK, not sure about other places. Hope that helps a little bit!

[@stevewithington1787]

Just to add some additional clarity for UK buyers: if the total amount including shipping is less than £135 it usually won’t be stopped by customs, so no additional charges. If the total amount is over £135 then it will be stopped. The charges will be 20% VAT on the total amount including shipping, plus another charge (about £6-8) for another carrier to get it to your address for customs. So as an example, a £300 package would incur additional charges of £66-68 pounds. This rule of thumb is useful for calculating the ‘per game’ cost of the additional charges.