Background on 2nd hand shops: Immense selecton domestically sourced? Low pay?
 

Just saw how crazy 2nd street expanded in Japan. Also, it shows so much stuff at a store. I know 2nd street and others give Japanese so little money compared to Mercari. Like Rip off prices...10-15% of value?
Or is some items sourced from outside Japan?

I see lots of tourists going crazy at those stores but the items are in good condition but they charge as much as new for US residents.

The only other alternative is to use japanese mercari. There are sites like Buyee that sends to your country. But I think some package forwarders will hold the package until next time you come to japan and they just ship domestically to your hotel?

Trends, fashion, luxury goods, collectible hobbies and a consumerist society has contributed to a lot of goods in the domestic market. There can be some marketing image of the minimalist Japanese aesthetic but when I spotted full color magazines dedicated to a brand's luxury bags being sold in bookstores a few decades ago, I realized the image and reality don't match up. If it did, Marie Kondo would have flopped. People are people and collectibles are collectibles. Some people with more disposable income will either need to curate (aka let go) their collections or pay for more storage/display space.

Japanese often want their collectibles to be in near mint condition, even if it is second hand. There's also a concept of mottainai to avoid waste and another about collectively maintaining cleanliness which I feel really drives home "buying (nice) things requires upkeep" mentality at a lot younger of an age. That and navigating the trash decision tree makes one think how one will get rid of the packaging & item itself when buying it.

Getting rid of trash in Japan is complicated and expensive. Rules are actually very regional, too. It can just be easier to take a working item in decent condition to a thrift store and be done with it without having to pay for additional specialty trash fees rather than using an online marketplace & have to figure out how to transport it. There was a recent Anton in Japan akiya video which discussed bulk trash fees and I found the comments more interesting than the (reasonable compared to my HCOL area) dump fees + kei truck rental. How trash is handled and charged in various places around the world definitely varies and people don't question "their local method" too much. Getting rid of household trash in Japan is a mental decision tree which then has to be set out exactly correctly early that morning, possibly on the 5th of the month while other items go out on the 1st & 14th. Japan also has a problem with illegal dumping which is evident when you get into the country side into the areas people won't be seen, not just from tourists broken suitcases.

It was my understanding that many Japanese second-hand recycle shops exist mainly as fronts for being a source for a tax write-off for a larger entity. Hence, this is why the prices for used goods are hardly less than the same exact product if buying it brand new, because the things on offer aren't really intended to ever sell much.

And noted by @freecia above, it is indeed a headache to unload trash in Japan, to the point that it can even be cheaper, faster, and more convenient to just pay someone to simply take it off your hands for a small fee. Yes, a lot of the junk on offer in those shops were either given to them for free, or the shop even received money to take it! It's pretty common in residential areas of any city to hear vans driving around blasting messages on loudspeakers saying that they are looking to take any unwanted crap you may have.

But back to the true purpose of those shops. Most Japanese people don't ever consider shopping there unless looking for a specific collectable, so most of the inventory sits there forever unsold. But the jacked-up value of those items when they are unable to sell can act as a type of loss on their accounts (even though it cost nothing to actually acquire), and this standing loss can balance out any profit taken elsewhere within the overall company, such that in the end they nullify each other and no income tax is ever paid on what is actually profitable.

But now with all the foreign tourists willing to buy anything, well sure, they'll take the sale on an overly inflated price, because PT Barnum was right about suckers.

@alan11. Does this include Komehyo?
Just passed their massive branch amongst the Pravda’s, LVs and Loewe stores on the Sakuradori side of Nagoya Station yesterday. MrLapLap mentioned that he’d seen one in Tokyo and asked his father if it was a rice shop, who then chuckled saying that this had also been his first assumption. Then again, it wasn’t that long ago when wealth was counted as koku of rice.

There are the shops like Komehyo which specialize in use luxury brands and those such as say, Book Off, which specialize in well, all sorts of stuff.

I believe part of it is being able to get rid of stuff easily while not having a guilty conscience about throwing away something that was quite expensive. Rules for disposal are also an issue - I've given away random things at work just because it was easier than potentially running afoul of garbage rules, plus I wouldn't feel bad about it.

There are many reasons these shops exist -- but that is for another thread. My wife and I use them if we are trying to source something specific -- like a discontinued Goyard bag -- or an ultraviolet Rimowa Salsa Air.... Otherwise they are there mostly for tourists -- but also as a useful place for people to receive some cash for a gift that was given that isn't of use -- which is quite common in night life in Tokyo...

And please don't get me started on the fees to dispose of something -- if it is larger than a small trash bag -- expect to buy stamps at 7/11 or it never leaves....

Hhehehe...try disposing of acid batteries.....