There has been a major change to Amazon Japan shipping rates. For the first time, and minimum threshold for free shipping has been implemented.
Below is the message sent from Amazon.
Announcing partial changes in Standard Shipping Rates for orders shipped by Amazon.co.jp
Effective April 6, 2016, domestic Standard Shipping Rates for orders having a total price of less than JPY 2,000 have changed. This applies to all orders shipped by Amazon.co.jp including FBA orders. Standard Shipping will continue to be free for orders having a total amount of JPY 2,000 or more, or orders including Books, that are shipped to Japan by Amazon.co.jp. Amazon Prime Membership benefits such as free Expedited Shipping options will remain unchanged.
As mentioned in my “quick tip #19” Amazon JP has had free shipping for all FBA orders. They are now imposing a 2,000 yen minimum. As there is still a small percentage of Prime members in japan, I’d expect this to heavily impact sales of products under 2,000 yen.
*This post originated from a post in the Amazon Japan Facebook group, “Amazon Japan PL”. The information may well have changed by the time you read this. Please check the DATE of the post before you make any decisions based on this information!