New Online Marketplace "iichi" Brings Handmade Products by Japanese Craft-makers to the World with PayPal as the Exclusive Global Payment System

TOKYO, Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ --PayPal Japan announced today that "iichi" (iichi: http//www.iichi.com/ ), a new consumer-to-consumer marketplace targeting the overseas market offering high quality handmade products of artisans and craft-makers from all over Japan, has adopted one of the world's largest online payment service "PayPal™" as the exclusive global payment method.

Handmade products sold at new online marketplace 'iichi' embody rich Japanese culture and tradition

"iichi" is a marketplace based on the philosophy of contributing to the creative activities of artisans and the Japanese craftsmanship culture. The craft makers can easily create their own page on the "iichi" website to introduce or sell their work. Overseas buyers can then purchase the work directly from the craft makers through the website.

"iichi" aims to introduce and sell Japanese crafts internationally from its beginning, so its corporate keyword is "Handmade in Japan". Since many Japanese craft-makers want to be connected to the global marketplace, "iichi" is now available in English and accepts online payments via PayPal to open the marketplace for overseas buyers. "iichi" also ships to 40 countries around the world.

Handmade products found on the website vary from handicraft, jewelry, fashion items and art collections crafted by 50 participating craft makers, and there are approximately 200 handmade products at the time of its overseas launch. "iichi" is operated by iichi Limited Liability Partnership (iichi LLP), which was established by the Hakuhodo DY Group.

 "iichi" adopts PayPal as the exclusive payment system because it considers secure, reliable overseas payments as a very important service for the Japanese craft-makers. PayPal is a safer and more convenient way for online payments with over 100 million active users in 190 markets worldwide and supports payments in 25 currencies. Moreover, PayPal has a reliable track record as a global online payment service as cross-border transactions accounted for 25% of their total transactions globally last year. Based on these considerations, PayPal meets the requirement of the overseas payment system of "iichi".

Kentaro Iinuma, representative of iichi LLP says, "In the near future, people will seek new production and consumption lifestyle which focus on relationships between people and society. I think the shape of happiness in the next era is "pleasure of creation", "pleasure to help people", and "pleasure to connect with people and society". For craft makers, the greatest pleasure is to please people with their handmade products. "iichi" was born with the philosophy to create a service which helps craft makers to meet people who want their creations. The environment to develop cross border business in Japan is improving as the internet and social media are becoming popular. However, it is difficult to deal with hurdles of language, payment and shipment for individuals who want to introduce their works internationally but we aim to solve such problems through our translation service, overseas payments by PayPal and international shipping."

Kazumitsu Tanaka, a potter who is participating in the overseas marketplace of "iichi" says, "For individual crafters, it is difficult to introduce my own work internationally but "iichi" enables me to introduce and sell my work to overseas buyers. This is a chance for me to approach my work from a different angle as well as challenge myself to introduce my handmade products to people who appreciate craftsmanship."

About "iichi": http://www.iichi.com/about

About PayPal

PayPal is the faster, safer way to pay and get paid online. The service allows PayPal users to make payments for goods or services purchased without sharing financial information with the sellers, with the flexibility to pay using their account balances, bank accounts(Note1), credit cards or promotional financing(Note2). With over 100 million active accounts in 190 markets and 25 currencies around the world, PayPal enables global ecommerce.

More information about the company can be found at PayPal.com. PayPal is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. and its international headquarters is located in Singapore. PayPal is an eBay company.

Notes:

1. At present, bank accounts are not available as a funding source in some countries and territories including Japan.
2. At present, promotional financing is not available as a funding source in some countries and territories including Japan.