Not a support question — just sharing notes after a year of buying used networking/homelab bits out of Japan, since a few people here have asked where I get cheap hardware to tinker with alongside my GL.iNet gear.
If you've ever browsed Japanese reuse chains like Hard-Off (and the online marketplaces), you know Japan is a goldmine for cheap secondhand electronics: mini-PCs, mobile/pocket routers, SBCs, USB-Ethernet adapters, managed switches, and travel gadgets, often at a fraction of what the same thing costs used in the West. Domestic turnover is huge and the Japanese market prices used gear aggressively.
Where the deals are
- Hard-Off / junk corners — "ジャンク" means untested/as-is, not broken. Plenty of it works fine; you're paying for the seller not guaranteeing it. Great for mini-PCs and thin clients to run OpenWrt/homelab.
- Yahoo! Auctions Japan & Mercari JP — the deepest pools for mobile routers, SBCs and networking odds and ends. Almost all sellers are domestic-only, which is the real hurdle from overseas.
Caveats I learned the hard way
- Voltage: Japan is 100V. Most switching PSUs are 100–240V (check the label), but some older bricks are 100V-only.
- Region/bands: a Japanese LTE/5G mobile router may not carry your carrier's bands — verify before buying. Wi-Fi/Ethernet gear is fine.
- Junk = untested: budget for the odd dud. Buy from sellers with good ratings and clear photos.
- Domestic-only sellers: you'll need a forwarding/proxy service to receive from these sellers and consolidate multiple wins into one international box (customs + shipping add up otherwise).
For consolidating buys I've been using OneMall as the proxy/forwarding layer — you can search Japanese listings in English and it handles the domestic-only sellers. Handy for a quick price sanity-check: mini-PCs and mobile routers.
Not affiliated with any shop — just what's worked for me. Happy to answer questions if anyone's tried the same.