How to Sell on Amazon Japan: Registration, Fees, FBA and the ACP Rule (2026)

Amazon Japan is where most foreign brands should start selling in Japan — it’s the largest ecommerce site in the country by most estimates, the fees are almost entirely variable, FBA solves logistics and Prime expectations in one stroke, and Seller Central works in English. It is also the marketplace where one specific piece of paperwork — the import arrangement — stops more foreign sellers than everything else combined.

This is the implementation guide: account registration and identity verification, the fee stack as published, the FBA-and-customs reality (including the ACP requirement most guides skip), listing localization, and the launch sequence that works. For whether Amazon is the right first channel, see Amazon Japan vs Rakuten. Figures are as published in August 2026 and change.

Step 1: Registration and Identity Verification

• Route: new account at sell.amazon.co.jp, or — if you already sell on Amazon US/EU — add Japan via Sell Globally account linking, which keeps one login and lets tools span marketplaces.
• Documents: business registration, government ID for the primary contact/beneficial owner, an internationally usable credit card, and a bank account Amazon can pay out to (Japanese and US bank accounts are supported directly; other countries typically route via Amazon Currency Converter or a provider’s receiving account — see How to Get Paid).
• Seller Identity Verification (SIV): documents must match your declared country of residence, and Amazon may require a short video call. Mismatched or low-quality scans are the most common cause of delays — prepare clean documents before you start.
• Plan: Individual (¥100 per item sold) exists, but the Professional plan (¥4,900/month excl. tax) is the practical choice — it unlocks advertising, buy-box eligibility factors and bulk tools.

Step 2: The Fee Stack (as published)

Against Rakuten’s front-loaded fixed fees, Amazon’s stack means a slow start costs little — which is exactly why it’s the standard validation channel (Ecommerce in Japan covers the full sequencing logic).

Step 3: The Import Reality — ACP Before Inventory

This is where foreign FBA sellers get stuck. To place inventory in Amazon’s Japanese fulfillment centers you must import it, and:

• Amazon will not act as your Importer of Record. You cannot ship to an FBA warehouse with Amazon as consignee and expect customs clearance.
• Since October 2023, Japan Customs requires non-resident importers to appoint an Attorney for Customs Procedures (ACP) to act on their behalf — an ACP/IOR service, a Japanese distributor, or your own entity are the workable arrangements.
• Import costs land on you: duty and import consumption tax are settled at the border through your ACP arrangement; budget them into landed cost before setting prices.
• Regulated categories (food, cosmetics, electronics with the PSE mark, supplements) carry pre-market requirements that no marketplace onboarding will do for you — budget months, not weeks.

Arrange the ACP before your first inbound shipment — it’s days of paperwork done early and weeks of stuck cargo done late.

Step 4: Listings That Compete in Japanese

• Native Japanese, not machine translation: titles front-load the keyword and value in Japan’s full-width character budget; bullets carry the spec depth Japanese buyers read; and 翻訳臭 (“translation smell”) suppresses conversion here exactly as it does on your own site (Japanese Localization).
• Keyword research is its own job: Amazon Japan search behavior follows the same three-scripts reality as Google — rebuild terms natively (Japanese Keyword Research covers the method; marketplace suggest is one of its data sources).
• A+ content and store pages reward the information density Japanese shoppers expect — comparison tables, size guidance, certification badges.
• Reviews compound: Japanese buyers read critically and penalize operational misses; packaging and delivery precision are your review strategy (Selling to Japan).

Step 5: Launch Sequence

1. Pre-launch: SIV documents ready → account (or Sell Globally link) → ACP arranged → category approvals confirmed → native Japanese listings and keywords built.
2. Weeks 1–4: first FBA shipment in; Sponsored Products on exact-match Japanese terms for data; Japanese customer-service templates ready (FBA handles logistics contact, but product questions come to you).
3. Months 2–3: read conversion and search-term reports; fix listings before scaling spend; solicit early reviews within Amazon’s rules.
4. Month 3+: the funnel data now answers the bigger questions — add Rakuten for loyalty-driven repeat buyers (How to Sell on Rakuten) or an owned store for margin and brand (Shopify in Japan).

Where to Go Next

The marketplace decision lives in Amazon Japan vs Rakuten; the money side in How to Get Paid as a Foreign Seller; the full market map in Ecommerce in Japan; and the sister implementation guides in How to Sell on Rakuten and Shopify in Japan.