Tenso vs Buyee: Same Company, and the One That Does More Work Costs Less

Search for a comparison of these two and you'll find them treated as rivals — different fee tables, different strengths, pick the one that suits you. That framing survives about ninety seconds of reading their own corporate page.

From tenso.com's Company Profile, under Main Business Activities:

Company Name: tenso, inc. Product Overseas Forwarding Service (tenso.com) Operation Proxy Purchasing Service (Buyee) Operation

One company, two products. tenso.com's footer carries a permanent link to Buyee under "Related Services," which is a strange thing for a competitor to do and an obvious thing for a sibling. The major shareholder is BEENOS Inc.

So the real question isn't which company to trust. It's which of one company's two products fits what you're doing — and once we priced them, that turned out to have a clearer answer than we expected.

What Each One Actually Does

The services solve different halves of the same problem, and the difference decides everything downstream.

tenso.com is a forwarding service. They give you a Japanese address. You go to the Japanese shop, you create the account, you pay with your own card, and you ship the parcel to that address. When it arrives, tenso forwards it abroad. They never touch the purchase.

Buyee is a proxy. You tell it what you want, and it buys the item with its own Japanese identity and payment method, receives it, and ships it on.

The intuition that follows is straightforward and, as it turns out, wrong: the service doing less work should cost less.

The Same Box, Priced Both Ways

We ran identical parameters through both companies' own shipping calculators on 16 August 2026 — 1,500g, 30 × 25 × 20 cm, destination United States. Nothing here is estimated by us; these are the numbers their own tools returned.

tenso.com:

Buyee:

Add Buyee's ¥500 purchase fee — the thing tenso doesn't charge because it isn't buying anything — and stand the economy options next to each other:

Look at the first row. ¥4,519 on both sides, to the yen. The same operator is quoting the same freight cost, split into two lines on one product and one line on the other. That's the clearest possible confirmation that you are dealing with one business.

Then look at the second row. Tenso wants ¥900 to forward a parcel you bought yourself. Buyee wants ¥500 to buy the item and forward it. The product that does strictly more work charges ¥400 less for it.

We double-checked this because it reads like an error. It isn't. The two products price on different axes, and at this weight the axes cross in Buyee's favour.

Why the Fees Land Differently

The structural difference is worth understanding, because it tells you when the answer flips.

tenso charges by weight. Their fee page puts it plainly: "tenso.com handling fee is 50 JPY up," determined by the actual weight of the package regardless of shipping method. Fifty yen is the floor; our 1.5kg box drew ¥900.

Buyee charges by order. ¥500, flat, whatever is in the box and whatever it weighs. Their fee page: "Even if the number of successful bids / purchases are more than 2, it is a flat rate of ¥500."

So the crossover is about mass, not money. A single lightweight thing — a keychain, a doujinshi, a set of trading cards — is where tenso's ¥50-up floor is at its most competitive. A 1/7 scale figure in retail packaging is not that. Scale figure boxes are large, light for their volume, and heavy enough in absolute terms to push you well up tenso's scale. Three figures in one consolidated box is worse again: the weight compounds and tenso's fee follows it, while Buyee's ¥500 sits still.

If you collect figures, your parcels are exactly the shape that costs the most on a weight-scaled fee.

The express lane closes the gap, and doesn't reverse it

The economy comparison is the one most people need, but the fast lane is worth a line because the answer changes shape.

tenso's express option is DHL at ¥7,748 plus the ¥900 handling fee — ¥8,648. Buyee's is Buyee Air Delivery at ¥6,848 plus a ¥1,200 clearance fee and the ¥500 purchase fee — ¥8,548.

That's ¥100 apart, which is close enough to call level, and it comes with a caveat we can't resolve: these are different carriers. DHL is DHL. What sits behind "Buyee Air Delivery" isn't stated anywhere on their site. Two prices this close, on services this differently described, are not really a comparison — if the express lane is what you need, the transit estimate (3–7 days at tenso, 2–7 at Buyee) and your own experience of DHL are better inputs than ¥100.

The economy row is the one that separates them, and it separates them by four times as much.

The Thing That Actually Inflates a Figure Shipment

Before the consolidation question, one mechanic that costs collectors more than every service fee on this page.

Both ECMS and DHL bill on volumetric weight — tenso publishes the formula as length × width × height in centimetres divided by 5,000, and states that for those two carriers the heavier of actual and volumetric weight is what you pay on. Japan Post services bill on actual weight, which is part of why losing them hurt.

Our test box makes the point on its own. At 30 × 25 × 20 cm it works out to 3kg volumetric against 1.5kg actual — so the freight was charged on double the weight the parcel really was. Scale figure packaging is mostly air by design, and blister trays are worse.

Now notice how the two fees respond to that differently. tenso's handling fee uses actual weight — their page is explicit that it's determined by actual weight regardless of shipping method — while the freight uses volumetric. So a big light box inflates your freight at both services, and your handling fee at tenso only in proportion to what it really weighs.

The practical instruction is the same either way and it's worth more than choosing a proxy: if you can safely remove a figure from an oversized outer box, the volumetric saving usually dwarfs the difference between these two companies. Both offer repacking-adjacent services, and collectors who keep boxes mint will not want to hear this — in which case, budget for the air you're shipping.

One more figure that applies to both, identically: a ¥2,800 customs clearance commission on packages declared over ¥200,000 sent via Japan Post services. Same amount, same threshold, at tenso and Buyee alike — and at One Map too. If you're assembling an expensive haul, that line is a reason to think about where you split it.

Consolidation Is Free at One and Not the Other

This is the difference that quietly matters most on a real haul, and it never appears in comparisons.

tenso charges for consolidation. From their Optional Services: an application fee of ¥200, plus a service fee of ¥300 for every added package.

Buyee consolidates for free. Their own materials state there is no charge for the consolidation service.

Put four parcels together — four preorders that finally released in the same month, say — and tenso's consolidation is ¥200 + (¥300 × 3) = ¥1,100 before anything ships. At Buyee that step is ¥0.

Stack that on the ¥400 already separating them and the gap on a four-parcel consolidated shipment is around ¥1,500, in favour of the service that also did the shopping.

A haul, costed end to end

Here's the shape of an ordinary collecting quarter. Three preorders land in the same month — three boxed figures, arriving as three separate parcels from three shops, going home in one consolidated box of roughly 4kg.

At tenso, you buy each of the three yourself, ship them to your Japanese address, then apply to consolidate: ¥200 to apply, ¥300 for each of the two added parcels — ¥800 — and a handling fee scaled to the 4kg that comes out the other end.

At Buyee, the three purchases are three orders at ¥500 each — ¥1,500 — and consolidation is free.

Here the numbers cross back, and it's worth being straight about it: on three separate purchases, Buyee's per-order fee stacks up while tenso's consolidation charge stays small. Tenso is cheaper on the fees for that particular haul. What you have to weigh against it is the handling fee on the combined weight, which is the number we can't table because tenso doesn't publish the bands, and the fact that you did the buying, the seller correspondence and the domestic shipping arrangements yourself, three times.

So the honest rule isn't "Buyee always." It's this: Buyee wins on weight and loses on order count. One heavy box beats three light purchases at Buyee; three light purchases beat one heavy box at tenso. Count your orders, weigh your parcel, and the answer falls out.

When Tenso Is Still the Right Answer

We would rather name this properly than pretend the pricing settles everything, because it doesn't.

Tenso's case is control, and control is occasionally worth more than ¥400.

There are purchases that only work under your own account:

• Store loyalty points and member pricing. If you have a balance at a Japanese retailer, a proxy can't spend it for you.
• Lotteries and member-limited releases. Ichiban Kuji entries, member-only preorder windows, and raffle allocations are frequently tied to an account with a purchase history. A proxy account is not your account.
• Shops that block proxies but accept domestic forwarding. Some retailers refuse proxy services by policy while shipping perfectly happily to any Japanese address — which is precisely the gap forwarding exists to fill.
• You want the transaction in your own name, with your own order history, your own support thread, and your own ability to cancel or amend without a middle layer.

That last one is not nothing. With a proxy, every conversation with the seller passes through someone else. With forwarding, you are the customer.

We could not compile a verified list of shops that block Buyee but allow tenso, and we're not going to invent one. If you already know you're in this situation, you already know which service you need.

What Neither Can Do For You

One finding from the quotes deserves separating out, because it applies whichever you pick and it surprises people every month.

For a US address, both services showed EMS, SAL, Surface Mail and Air Parcel as unavailable. Every Japan Post lane, on both products, greyed out. What's left is ECMS on the economy side and an express option — DHL at tenso, Buyee Air Delivery at Buyee.

That matches what we found looking at AmiAmi's shipping options to the US, where the same Japan Post services are absent from their own country table. Three operators, independently, showing the same hole. If a guide quotes you EMS rates from Japan to America, check when it was written.

For readers outside the US this is less dramatic — the Japan Post lanes are still there — but the ECMS-versus-express choice looks much the same everywhere.

What We Couldn't Confirm

Four things we'd rather flag than fill in.

Tenso's full handling fee table. Their page says "50 JPY up" and their calculator returned ¥900 for 1.5kg. The bands in between are not published anywhere we could find. If your parcel is much lighter or much heavier than ours, run their calculator rather than interpolating from our figure — and note that our number is one box on one day.

What "Buyee Air Delivery" actually is. It appears in their estimator as an express option at ¥6,848 with a ¥1,200 clearance fee. Whether it's a carrier partnership or something in-house, their page doesn't say.

Buyee's optional service prices. Protective packaging and the photo service are listed without figures on the fees page. We've been caught before publishing a number we couldn't stand behind, so there isn't one here.

Whether the ¥400 gap holds at other weights. It is one comparison at one weight to one country. The direction is structural — weight-scaled against flat-per-order — but the size of the gap is not a constant, and we haven't tested the ends of the range.

Which Should You Use?

FAQ

Are Tenso and Buyee the same company?

Yes. tenso, inc. lists both "Product Overseas Forwarding Service (tenso.com) Operation" and "Proxy Purchasing Service (Buyee) Operation" as its main business activities on its own company profile. BEENOS Inc. is the major shareholder.

Which is cheaper, Tenso or Buyee?

It depends on whether you're counting weight or orders. On the box we priced — 1.5kg to the US by ECMS — Buyee was ¥400 cheaper; the freight was identical at ¥4,519 on both and the difference was tenso's ¥900 weight-based handling fee against Buyee's ¥500 flat purchase fee. But Buyee charges that ¥500 on every order, so a quarter of three separate purchases is ¥1,500 there against ¥800 of consolidation fees at tenso. Heavy parcel, few orders: Buyee. Many small orders: tenso.

Why would a forwarding service cost more than a proxy?

Because they charge on different axes rather than different margins. Tenso scales with weight, Buyee doesn't scale at all. At light weights tenso's ¥50 floor is very competitive; at the weight of a boxed figure, it isn't.

Can I use my store points through Buyee?

No. A proxy buys with its own account. If you have a balance or member pricing at a Japanese retailer, forwarding through tenso is the only way to use it.

Can Buyee enter a lottery or member-only preorder for me?

Generally not in a way you can rely on, because allocation is usually tied to an account with its own history. This is the clearest case for forwarding.

Do both ship to the US now that Japan Post is gone?

Yes, but not by Japan Post. Both showed EMS, SAL, Surface and Air Parcel as unavailable to a US address in our quotes. ECMS is the economy option on both; the express option is DHL at tenso and Buyee Air Delivery at Buyee.

Is consolidation really free at Buyee?

Their own materials say there is no charge for the consolidation service. Tenso publishes ¥200 to apply plus ¥300 for every added package.

What about ZenMarket or One Map?

Different services and different structures again — ZenMarket charges per item by platform, One Map charges per item with inspection and 60 days of storage included. We've compared Buyee against One Map, ZenMarket against Buyee, and all five in one place.

The Bottom Line

The framing to discard is that these are competitors. They are one company's two answers to the same problem, priced on different axes, and the axes cross in a place that matters for anyone shipping boxed goods.

On a 1.5kg parcel to the United States, forwarding it yourself through tenso cost ¥5,419 and having Buyee buy and ship it cost ¥5,019. If your collection travels in retail boxes, the weight-scaled fee is working against you every single time.

But the reverse case is real and we'd rather you had it: Buyee's ¥500 is per order, so a quarter of many small separate purchases stacks up there while tenso's ¥200-plus-¥300 consolidation stays cheap. Buyee wins on weight and loses on order count. Count both before you decide.

What tenso owns outright is your name on the order — points, lotteries, member windows, and the shops that won't deal with proxies at all. That's a real reason and it has nothing to do with price. If none of it applies, and your parcel is heavier than your order count is high, the cheaper product is also the one that does the work for you.

If you're buying pre-owned, the grading is the expensive thing to get wrong — what AmiAmi's pre-owned ratings actually mean is the guide we'd read first.