The Specified Commercial Transactions Act was designed to protect the interests of customers making purchases either online, or through mail orders, and states that all sellers must display a page that provides basic information about their business and how it operates. Revised Specified Commercial Transactions Act came into effect in June 2022, which changed some obligations for online businesses serving Japanese consumers. You can find more information here.
We are fairly flexible about how this page is formatted, but you will want to make sure that it is clearly labeled and accessible from your homepage and payment area. Many of our users place this link in their footer or navigation bar, and generally title it “Notification based on the Specified Commercial Transactions Act”.
On this page, you will need to include the following:
Item Type | Explanation | Example |
Legal Name | For businesses, this is your registered trade name. If you are an individual, this is your registered trade name or full legal name. | ABC K.K. John Smith |
Address | The address of your place of business | 2-11-1 Nagatacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo-to 〒100-6178 |
Phone number | A phone number your customers can use to contact you in Japanese |
03-1234-5678 |
Email address | An email address your customers can use to contact you | contact@example.jp |
Director of operations | The head of your organization or business, or a designated company representative | John Smith |
Additional fees | Provide information about any fees that your customers may be subject to in addition to the cost of the product itself, including (but not limited to): shipping costs, processing fees, etc. | A flat-rate shipping cost of ¥1000 per box. |
Exchanges & Returns | All of our users must maintain a fair refund policy. Explain how you handle exchanges and refunds here. | Unopened items can be exchanged for items of equal or lesser value, while partial refunds will be given for opened items returned within 10 days of delivery. |
Delivery times | After a customer places an order, how long will it take for the delivery to reach them? | Orders will be processed within 3-5 business days, and products should be received within 14 days. |
Accepted payment methods | How can your customers pay? | Credit cards or via local bank transfer |
Payment period | How long do customers have to pay? | Credit card payments are processed immediately, while local bank transfers must be sent within 3 days of date of order. |
Value | What is the average cost (in yen) of your items? | ¥4,000 |
Depending on the products or services you are selling, you may want to also include the following:
Item Type | Explanation | Example |
Cut-off date | If you are only accepting payments up until a certain point (e.g. before an event takes place), state so here. | Payments accepted before March 21st. |
Available quantity | If you are only selling a fixed number of your product, state so here. | Limited to the first 200 customers only. |
Operating environment | If you are selling software, state the operating system requirements (e.g. disk space, operating system). | iOS 9.3, 64GB, iPhone 5 or later. |
Using Checkout or Payment Links, you can display the link in your payment page by setting your Specified Commercial Transactions Act disclosure page URL in Dashboard.
[Settings]
Go to “public details”
Register your page in “Commerce disclosures” at the bottom of the page
Customers can view the page from the “Commerce Disclosure” (特定商取引法に基づく表示) link at the bottom of the Checkout page.
If you are accepting Konbini payments, you must include the following:
The website must be accessible in Japanese language.
Support Phone Number must be a landline phone number or an IP-based phone number (050) connected to a landline. Mobile numbers are not allowed.
Support operating hours must be listed under contact information (TEL & Mail).
It’s preferable to keep all of this information on a single page.
The title of the page should include “特定商取引法に基づく表記”
If you are a sole proprietor and would like to add your business name as reference, please list the business owner name on the top of the page, then add the business name below. The owner name must always be listed on top.