While getting onaholes as an alien living in Japan is pretty easy, cheap and fast, things get a bit more complicated when you’re not living in Japan.
Depending on your situation, your options are:
- buying the products from a Japanese shop shipping internationally (with slower or more expensive shipping, and possible import duties and customs fees)
- buying the products from a locally implanted shop (at a significant price bump)
- bringing back “souvenirs” from your pilgrimage to Japan (with the awkwardness during luggage checks at the airports)
- buying “undercover” at eBay or second-hand reseller
The thorn in the shoe being that all onaholes (including more shady ones) are sold on Amazon Japan, at unbeatable prices, sold and shipped by Amazon.co.jp (not marketplace items), with free shipping for orders over ¥ 2000, and… you can save 10% to 15% by subscribing to products and receiving a fresh new onahole each month (that’s convenient for limited use products such as Tenga cups).
Dipping toe inside sexual wellness
As with all Amazon websites, getting to the erotica category is sometimes a bit of a maze, so here you go:
https://www.amazon.co.jp/b/?node=171288011
Oh, if you prefer English text instead of Japanese:
A swift click on “Yes” takes you past the curtain into the adult world. Well despite this, many things are not translated. But you can easily guess the various categories: “most popular”, “newest arrivals”, “top sellers in category X”, …
Feel free to take a look around, the variety of adult products is huge even when you restrict to “Prime-available only” or “Sold by Amazon.co.jp”. For example: kawaii nipple vibrators, the blowjob machine you dreamed about, “Smart Boy” condoms with a bald eagle on the box, and the cutest clit sucker ever
The onahole realm
On Amazon, there’s no such thing as “onahole” (romanized). Instead, you’ll get to the “Sex Sleeves Hole” category. And to save you the trouble of finding the correct menu item:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/s/?rh=n%3A160384011%2Cn%3A!161669011%2Cn%3A171288011%2Cn%3A2132581051
Just a quick quote:
1-32 of over 6,000 results for Health & Personal Care : Sexual Wellness : Hole
With the fast pace of new product release, you could well use one new onahole each day and you would never run out of new toys to use during your entire lifetime.
The current bestsellers are:
That ranking rarely changes, I’ve seen the Tenga Deepthroat, Ride Virgin Loop and Toysheart Seventeen Bordeaux up there for years. Don’t miss out on the two latter 😉
And those prices… If you’re luckily living in Japan, you can get a very recommended toy such as La Bocca Della Verità for 2255 JPY and free shipping. That’s 20.22 USD at current rates. Best alternative is OtonaJP with 23 USD, and you immediately reach 30 USD with a foreign shop such as CoolMST, Toydemon or Motsutoys shipping not included.
The caveats
Of course, it is very tempting to put plenty toys in the cart, register, proceed to checkout.
But until not so long ago, upon reaching the shipping address and order review, you got a “Some items can’t be shipped to the selected address” kind of message. Effectively, no “sexual wellness” products could be shipped by Amazon outside Japan, regardless of the other country’s import restrictions on such goods.
One possibility is to use a forwarding service such as Tenso or Yokatta or Big in Japan : Amazon delivers to their facility, where the package gets repackaged, and shipped anew to the final destination. Of course, at a price: processing and shipping.
And then there’s customs: it can be a rough ride importing an adult product with as illustration a character with child-like appearance, and many countries can have subjective regulations against importing “obscene goods”.
And if that’s cleared, comes one hurdle that’s not easy to avoid: import fees. See, packages must mention the value of the content. And this varies widely among countries. While trade between EU countries is tax/duty free (yay Schengen), Japan just so happens to not be an EU country, and this sucks because for example France:
- applies VAT (20%) and generally starting 25 € in value (so, at least 5 € VAT to pay)
- if the above happens, then there are processing fees (adding about 10 €)
- and starting 150 € of value, there are import duties applied on top
In my experience, shipping gets through smooth for small packets shipped in SAL or Airmail and whose value is below ~100 € (that’s about 3 average size onaholes). Faster shipping options such as EMS are almost guaranteed hit by VAT payment requirement, and this can as well mean giving money to the delivery guy than having to send out a check to Roissy customs service so the packet gets unlocked. In the end, it can take more time than the slow SAL/Airmail shipping option.
All those little pesky details I kept in mind, as I was suddenly noticing Amazon Japan didn’t seem to block international shipping of adult products anymore…
Amazon Global shipping, doing the math
So here you are, cart filled with colorful goods, proceeding to checkout. Shipping method: “AmazonGlobal International Shipping”. You really thought free shipping applied to international shipping? Of course not. (not yet? hyperloop please).
It’s usually not too hefty, the shipping for your usual onahole order should float at 10-30 $.
Good, quick look at the grand total, and…. ow.
To sum up: for 28.33 EUR of toys, there’s 11.52 EUR shipping, and whooping 87.65 EUR import fees deposit.
I’ll link you to the Amazon international shipping terms & conditions, who explain what is this about: by placing the order, you mandate Amazon to handle import fees in your stead, and to do this they ask you to make a deposit of the expected possible fees. What remains from the deposit is then reimbursed about 60 days later.
And this is why I make this post now, for an order dated 11 February: Amazon confirmed me the 4th April the amount of the deposit that will be refunded.
Only 8.33 EUR of import fees, that wasn’t too harsh. The total cost gets at 48.18 EUR, which makes it a viable onahole buying option.
Even more so since now it correctly estimates the import fees deposit?
See, for Bocca Della Verità the Amazon option amounts to 33,80 EUR (not counting the import fees deposit refund) for delivery next week, whereas the cheapest alternative is OtonaJP with cheapest SAL shipping (4-8 weeks) and the small discount with SEPA transfer payment, not counting possible import fees:
So, that was the adventure 🙂
Specific warnings about Amazon
Now before you go into an onahole buying frenzy on Amazon.co.jp, a few words of caution:
As much as possible, pick products that mention “Ships from and sold by Amazon.co.jp.”. That way, you have the guarantee it comes in an Amazon box, and if a refund is necessary it’s the Amazon customer service that can handle it all. Also, I expect Amazon to do better origin control when it stocks products than third-party sellers who use Amazon for shipment or just payment processor. It’s not a guarantee against counterfeit products, they’re just less likely in a flooded local market where original products are already so cheap. In that respect, it’s not as safe as buying from a reputable sexshop such as OtonaJP or Motsutoys.
While the Amazon box may provide a bit of privacy/deniability upon arrival at the family house for your “Health & personal care item”, and the package may be not put into as much scrutiny by customs, it’s still a bit of a devil’s pact: Amazon is a huge global corporation gathering all private data it can, and you’re possibly unwilling to feed Amazon’s algorithms with your adult toy buying habits.
And more generally speaking, increasingly relying on Amazon for various services (online buying, photo storage, cloud computing, groceries delivery, video on demand, Alexa, ebooks, Twitch, …) cuts off potential competitors from revenues or opportunities, effectively putting Amazon into a monopolistic position.
So please, only buy products from Amazon.co.jp if they are not available in smaller shops such as OtonaJP, CoolMST, Motsutoys, Toydemon, … Thanks 💕
I just received my order from amazon.co.jp and I’m very happy about the experience.
1) First off I didn’t have to deal with expensive (and/or embarrassing) customs since the VAT and customs handling fee were baked into the shipping fee at checkout. No one opened my package. This might only be applicable for Norway since we’re not in the EU, I don’t know. At least there were no hidden costs.
2) I received my order in 8 days. That’s pretty great.
3) Discreet packaging. My items were packed in a standard Amazon brown box and it just said “Health & Personal Care Item” on the outside label. If customs should decide to open my box anyway so be it, but I’d rather not the name of my items be visible to post office clerks or anyone else.
3) Selection. Even if you’re careful to only order items that are both sold and shipped by Amazon.co.jp the selection is incredible. Pretty much everything is eligible for international shipping too. The only downside is that they won’t remove your packaging, so in that sense you’re limited to fewer onaholes if you want to stay safe.
4) Price. I got the OFFPAKO! onahole from Toys’ Heart, a bottle of Onatsuyu Pussy Juice and a REND drying stick for a total of ¥6,068 or €43,5. That’s including shipping, customs handling and 25% VAT. That’s much, much cheaper than other vendors.
All things considered I can’t see a good enough reason for me to order from another store, even though I’d like to support the specialist shops over Amazon. The only reason would be if I wanted to get an onahole where I’d need the packaging removed.
I don’t know if there is any change on the amazon.co.jp, but i live in Belgium and i just paid the price of my items + the shipping & Handling fee (Total 19.237 JPY + 2277 JPY) (nothing about importing fees).
Which is much cheaper for me than Otonajp which asks me almost 100 € for my delivery.
Oh yeah, a fast delivery too, “Arriving Jan 12 – Jan 14”.
Now I hope I have no problem with the Belgian customs.
Ok after some research i have my respond concerning the Custom (only for EU).
Amazon.co.jp use a new system (Import One Stop Shop) for shipping to EU This concerns shipments of less than 150 € HT. VAT is already charged to the customer when the Amazon invoice is issued.
Hi! Thanks for share any information.
Can I asking you a questions for buy Japanese onaho from Amazon jp?
When I buy some onaho on Amazon jp. Its be possible to get secret of what’s inside the box right?
Pls reply for it.
Thank u.
I don’t wanna my co-residents to know what I bought on Amazon.
If I remember correctly, the content description on the packet label is something like “plastic figure” or “rubber toy”. Be warned that Amazon Japan adds a paper slip inside the box with the full list of products included, you may want to destroy that slip 🙂
If your co-residents wonder what you received, you can get yourself a plausible deniability by adding an actual plastic figure in your order (a Nendoroid, a Naruto figure, a Rilakkuma plush, whatever collectible toy one would need to import from Japan)
Thank you for your reply bro. I got it. So you mean what is certain is that people cannot tell from the outside of the box that the contents are adult products, right?
I decided will buy some figure with my onaho.hahaha
Hi! I was looking onto buying an onahole from amazon jp
What I wanted to ask it how does amazon label the item?
I understand it says “Health & personal care item” but does it label it as a toy? as a sex toy? or how will it show in the customs declaration which is my biggest issue as DHL tends to call you to ask you what are you importing if the item label is not clear enough. I got a phone call from them one time when I was importing some trading card sleeves because they couldn’t tell what it was but it receive the items without any issues.
So I want to buy just cheap onahole to try them out however I’m worried it might be denied entry by customs.
It would show exactly like that on the paperwork: “Health & personal care item”.
If anyone asks, don’t try to weasel your way out or beat around the bush: it’s a plastic rubber masturbation sleeve, very exactly.
Yes it’s a bit embarrassing. But yes they don’t give a fuck, they saw much much more bizarre things getting shipped (spider babies, fossils, used panties, hand spinners, 23andMe samples, pangolin scales, Bad Dragon dildos, human hair wigs, Seagate SSHDs, ….).
I tried ordering from amazon.co.jp and it didn’t go well, my package got returned.
So on May 17th, I made this order:
https://imgur.com/hhHD4Bu
5 medimum tier onaholes +1 bottle of lube with lightning fast DHL shipping for 150 EUR? Sound very attractive, too bad I never received it.
I was supposed to get the package on 23rd, and 1-2 days before, when it arrived at my country’s customs (Spain), I got a call asking what I’m importing (ugh, I was hoping that wouldn’t happen with “customs clearance”). I said “rubber goods”, he asked for more detail, I said “they’re like for massage”. I didn’t wanna tell exactly what it was since it’s a bit embarrasing. He then asked if the goods were for beauty, I said no, then he said there is a sanction for lying, and they would have to check the package (on the invoice it said HEALTH & BEAUTY). They emailed me asking me my information (Name, ID, etc.) and the invoice, which I grabbed from amazon.co.jp.
So looking then at the tracking information, the package traveled to Germany, then back to Spain, then back to the city where I got called from customs, and at one point in the [+] for more information it said something of the sort like “Contacting the seller since the documentation is insufficient”, after a few days, the tracking said it is being returned…
I got no explanation from DHL or customs, I asked amazon.co.jp about when I’m getting a refund and why it was being returned (if the package arrives to the seller and the refund process still hasn’t started, you might wanna contact them), and they said this:
“We’ve got a report from DHL about the situation of the delivery status and confirmed that due to containing adult products, the custom at destination country did not admit to import the parcel and confiscate it. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.
Please note that it is by the judgement of the custom and you may need to confirm the laws and regulations for importing products with customs at your country for further information.”
I never had issues with receiving adult toys until now, sure most packages are labeled as “toys” or something like that, but sometimes I get customs requesting me documentation and explanation about the goods, I give them everything in detail, even links to the products, and I got my goods after paying the import fees, so I don’t know if it is some sort of problem with amazon.co.jp seller’s not having the needed paperwork for customs clearance or some of the onaholes were problematic (I’ve received many loli themed onaholes and never had an issue tho). I tried adding the same products again on my cart for buying, and this time it said “one item cannot be shipped to this address”. It was the “G PROJECT GOKU-HIDA VIRGIN”. I don’t know, maybe because the product had “VIRGIN” in its name gave a problem, but I doubt is that.
Anyway, this really sucks since it did look like Amazon.co.jp could have been a good choice to buy onaholes from, but I doubt I’ll buy again. Maybe I’ll give it a try with just 1 onahole and nothing else, but that’s BS, if I make an order I wanna buy several. Maybe it was my fault for not telling what I was importing exactly on the customs call, idk.
If you guys had similar experiences, please share.
Yeah don’t even try to weasel your way past customs about package contents. They are “health products”, and if they want more specific details then upright say: “they are sextoys” (or better yet: “penis sleeves”). They see ugly shit daily at work, they can handle sextoys with anime characters 😏 and of course that’s not illegal in Spain, AFAIK.
I had the same problems as you and I like in the same country as you (lol). I wrote it the 2019 April 20 at 15:34 here in this page and nobody replied so I thought that I was the only one with problems.
I tried to buy more than 6 times and every single time the package was returned to Amazon JP. I contacted DHL and I have almost the same conversation as you.
After 2 months of conversations I finally have some updates and probably a solution, if you want to talk about it send me an email (is my nickname twice at gmail . com) and we can chat on Discord.
Damn, 6 times and still getting returned… well, I’d like to hear a solution. Why not do it here though, so you can share it with everbody?
So any updates for solutions?
Not really, but I tried using a proxy service, zenmarket.jp.
I bought 4 of these (DIY powder lubricant)
https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07JF6CRQS
and this big hip
https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B07KR4KD1C?ie=UTF8&redirect=true
When I get the results, I’ll post here.
So, I got the package today.
First, I used UPS for shipping method, since it had the best price and it was fast, but I got told from Zenmarket that they don’t allow the lube powder, as well as DHL or FeDex. So I switched shipping to Airmail, which cost 89 EUR, quite expensive, but I got the package in less than 2 weeks. I had to pay customs, 36 EUR, which for a product cost of 81 EUR, it is expensive, but at least it was just that, pay customs, no paperwork, and just got the package. It wasn’t opened or anything, so all good. I’ll post on my Twitter soon about the stuff I got 🙂
So, I’d say I recommend Zenmarket.jp for onaho goodies, and I’d use Airmail over any other delivering method (aside from maybe SAL).
Btw, Zenmarket is not very discrete, in the item description it says “Silicon doll, Powder for making lotion”, so keep that in mind.
living in Canada and just had my amazon package confiscated. amazon Japan only responds with standard texts and now it seems i have to chase them to get my money back or hopefully my package. It was a bad idea ordering from them 🙁
Did you eventually get your package?
International shipping is part of my work (in France) : so here is my suggestion for the bad estimation of the “Import fee deposit” :
Value of each step of the customs duties include (mostly) the steps before :
– Vat value = (value of the item + shipping + other thing on more complicated shippings) x VAT%
– Import value = (The step before + Vat Value) x import%
– Add processing fee + VAT on processing fees and you have a rought estimate of the process.
DHL processing fees are often 15-25€. I think they have a deal with Amazon.jp here.
Thank you, great post
Sorry forgot to explain the bas estimation in the end…
Maybe the processing from Amazon.jp had a bug and used the public prices of DHL instead of negociated prices.
So instead of : 20 +20 € = 8€ VAT and not fees
You get : 20 + 200 € = 44 € VAT + fees
I personally can not even think of ordering at amazon. I always request package removal at otonajp and when i request, they even send me a picture of the items before shipping to ease my mind that the package is really removed. At amazon you can never expect such service, you can not even leave a comment. Also, you have very limited choice in shipping methods when otonajp even offered me shipping by ferry (which takes too long anyway), the point is that personally to save a few bucks i see no point in taking the risk and trouble in ordering something so personal from amazon. If you are worried about saving a few dollars, i recommend you using your hand.
This is good to know. Been looking at the Japan marketplace and saw some cool things but I don;t think I will pull the trigger anytime soon. Plus being in Canada has it’s issues as well so I may not even end up using Amazon and stick with Otona Sekai (if they are still around) and OtonaJP.
This Article is an eye opener though. Thank you.
I live in the US and I’ve recently been using Amazon Japan to order onaholes and all that stuff. OtonaJP has been hiking up their prices and shipping costs to those living in the US so they’re getting to the point where I can’t order from them anymore no matter how much I like the website.
An example is the insert air pillow + 4 covers comes out to around $90 ($80 if I use the “easter” discount code currently in effect as of 4/19) but then it’s $110 SHIPPING. So the grand total comes out to almost $200.
MEANWHILE on Amazon Japan I can order the insert air pillow + TEN covers and the grand total comes out to $170 + $32 shipping for a grand total of $202. This is all without a 3rd party forwarding company (besides Amazon using DHL).
I like otonaJP I really do and I love the little thank you cards they send with the pieces of candy. My first order from them was a single onahole (Venus Strike from Ride Japan) and it costed me $20 + $22 shipping but I can’t justify those shipping costs anymore. A single onahole will now cost you the price of the onahole + $40-55 in shipping. Double what it costed before. Maybe it’s better in other countries I dunno.
Kinda wondered: for those items, DHL express shipping costs 158 USD to Europe XD Being in a hurry costs lots of money!
I’d rather pick the airmail option at 26 USD, even if it means 10 more days until arrival !
It’s just weird when my last order from Amazon Japan was like $22 for a $70 order and they also used DHL to ship. I’m really curious as to why otonaJP is so expensive now.
Comparing the biggest online retailer worldwide with a small shop such as otonajp seems quite unfair, doesn’t it? Check dhl express prices on their webiste, otonajp is still way cheaper but comparing a company which probably ships out a few hundred packages a month with amazon which probably ship millions on a daily base is not just unfair but also funny.
There’s no “one size fits all” option for buying onaholes, and obviously OtonaJP can’t have as big a warehouse than Amazon, and Amazon can’t have as good customer service than OtonaJP 🙂 Those differences can be relevant for many reasons and are worth looking into (and price is not everything), in the end it’s up to the user to pick the best fitting option.
Omg Im astonished by the stories from amazonJP so let me tell you from my experience:
Im a loyal otonaJP customer right from the beginning of their shop. I had really nice experience with them first couple of years (Good service, Nice website, best prices, etc), but less than 2 years ago something really weird happened; I ordered a big order from them, I checked my shipping information and the track number and ALL OF A SUDDEN I saw that the shipping was sent via EMS (Which is the most expensive and fastest shipping). I was like “What the heck?!” cause I was sure I didnt choose EMS. I always chose the SAL / small aur package which isnt expensive and pretty fast (usually up to a month) provided also by a track number. Now I was ready for the worst cause I was busy a lot at my job and I didnt want my family to accept the package (!!!!) – the SAL is sent to the local post and then I grab it by myself when I am comfortable. I contacted immediately otonajp and asked then something like “wtf guys are you doing?” lol
And let me remind you, I didnt choose it AND OTONAJP DIDNT NOTIFY ME ABOUT CHANGING THE SHIPPING METHOD!
One of the reasons why I was mad is because it came after more than a week (which should be up to a week) PLUS I knew I will have to fees for the fast shipping to EMS which ofc I did.
Now lets cut the sh*t I went through (my family ALMOST got the package) -after a lot of hassle I got the package after around 2 weeks and contacted otonajp and told them about my horrible experience and they told me they can refund me the fees I paid with their “otona points” (well, i guess its better than nothing), But guess WHAT – the story didnt end here.
When I opened the package I was astonished to figure out that I got a 55$ NPG onahole instead of a regular 21$ I ordered :O
So I made an excuse for them 😉
Now why am I also telling you this here, I was planning to start ordering from AmazonJP not only because because of that but also after my recent Black Friday order I realized they removed the SAL Option (1-3 weeks) and placed a Surface/sea sh*t mail WHICH CAN TAKE 4-6 MONTHS WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF , Now I didnt pay attention to this but now its too late, fml :’)
On top of that sh*tcake, With the cheapest shipping option annnnnd with their “crazy” 22% discount I paid more than what I would have paid on amazon PLUS I would get it from amazon after 2-3 weeks at most!
NOW TELL ME AMAZONJP ISNT WORTH IT
Also, if anyone can tell me about their experience with AmazonJP I would be happy to hear, and Im asking about the shipping and packaging cause I heard that they dont wrap the good well and write exactly the nane of the toys or something like that (Not talking about the import fees or package checking, im pretty sure it wont happen in my country 😉
ty for the great article. i’m located in usa, so i thought i might share this experience. i decided to try ordering the gigantic “real body julia” from amazon.jp, along with a bottle of puniana juice. the shipping was more than $300 for the 40lb julia!!! but overall it was still a way better price than anywhere else. anyways…
“juice” arrived without issue, even with questionable label. julia, on the other hand, was mysteriously returned to sender before arriving to me. after some research and help from customer service, i was told my order “was restricted to exporting regulations at the custom”. i didn’t know sexual wellness products were a restricted export? maybe my item was targeted because it was so large and heavy? i couldn’t get any more info, so who knows…
supposedly amazon will refund me (hopefully the shipping fee as well ahhh)? but i wonder if this can be an issue with any imported onahole to usa? or maybe i just got unlucky.
The same thing happened to me a month ago, but buying a PPP newnew (ニューニュー ) but sending it to Europe (SP). Amazon said to me that it was because “regulations at customs” and they told me try to buy it again. I don’t know what is happening but its so annoying to see this… “random returns”.
I got my money back (I just had to wait 5 days) and I’m thinking to try to buy it again, but I don’t know what to do.
hardly see much reviews on this site these days? so many quality onaholes released lately…
Can’t speak for the other authors, but in my case I’m about halfways evaluating an onahole. I’d like to make a review after more than just a handful uses, but that onahole requires having a stiff boner, something I not always get these busy/tiring days :/
And more toys patiently waiting in the boxes.
About the import fees deposit, it goes “crazy” when your order go over around 20€ only for some EU countries. France of course but not Germany or Italy somehow for exemple.
I tried to email amazon.co.jp support to ask about that difference but they just said “we refund IFD if the deposit is not used”. My theory is some shenanigans between the carrier DHL and roissy french airport’s custom service….
50€ deposit for a 24€ hole is not really fair even if he get refunded…
Thanks for the article.
This may come as off-topic, but I’m currently in Japan and I bought my first onahole (one related to JULIA, not JULIA + though). I probably will buy another one.
Do you think it may pose some problems coming back to Europe with it? I will avoid any Loli looking one though.
thanks
You mean, at the airport? Should be no problem 🙂