eBay & Rakuten Rakuma Expand Partnership To Bring Pre-Owned Fashion From Japan To US Market
eBay and Japanese marketplace app Rakuten Rakuma are expanding their partnership to bring authenticated, pre-owned fashion, handbags and jewelry to the US market after successful trial last year.
The companies announced the expansion in a press release this week, saying the full-scale launch of cross-border sales on eBay USA will begin in late February, enabling shoppers in the United States to purchase pre-loved fashion products from Rakuma Official Shops.
Products listed under the plan will be covered by eBay Authenticity Guarantee, introduced in 2020, which offers free appraisals for brand-name products. Initially available for handbags, the appraisal service will gradually expand to other categories.
Additionally, with the introduction of eBay Authenticity Guarantee, the price cap for items listed in the handbag category will be removed, encouraging merchants to list even more high-value products.
Rakuma began trialing cross-border sales with eBay in May 2024, starting with seven Rakuma Official Shops. The trial, aiming to expand customer channels for Rakuma Official Shops and promote merchants’ international sales, has since grown to over 30 shops listing products on eBay.
Rakuma Official Shops who wish to be considered to be featured on eBay must fill out an application and eligible items currently include: used goods and fashion items (including women's and men's clothing, watches, jewelry, shoes, leather accessories, bags, kimonos, etc.), items not prohibited by the Washington Convention (CITES) or eBay.
Items will be authenticated at eBay's Japan Authentication Hub to qualify for Authenticity Guarantee and interestingly, the application specifically states that Rakuma Official Shops must not currently have their own store on eBay, to avoid competing against the official Rakuma eBay account.
While this initiative could be mutually beneficial for both companies, a look at the Rakuma eBay store shows one downside - translation and data migration may make for listings which are not optimized for best performance or to attract US buyer attention.
For example, jewelry which does not have a specific bring seems to be populated using strange terms like "non-ring ring".
The move also comes at an uncertain time for cross border trade initiatives in general, as tariffs and de minimis exemption are up in the air at the moment due to changes being pushed through by the Trump administration early last week then paused on Friday to allow time to clear backlog of packages coming into the country and create systems to handle incoming packages going forward.
While those tariffs are not directly aimed at Japan, they have been broadly interpreted to apply to items with a Country of Origin of China, regardless of which country they ship, which could have much broader implications.
For example, many items shipping from the UK to the US through eBay's Global Shipping Program so prices jump last week due to the tariff situation, according to eBay.
Liz Morton
It's not clear yet how those changes will impact eBay's overall cross border trade business, or the Rakuten Rakuma partnership specifically, but there could be a negative impact just from the fact that American consumers may be hesitant to shop with international sellers in this uncertain environment.
Has tariff turmoil curtailed your international buying through eBay and if not, would you consider purchasing through this partnership with Rakuten? Let us know in the comments below!
