Happy New Year!

2023 is the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese zodiac, symbolizing calmness and good fortune. In Japan, the Chinese zodiac is still widely followed for divination and personality analysis, despite using the Gregorian calendar for the new year.

Cart Improvements

• Solved Yahoo!Auctions failures to get product details by using a proxy
• Allow customers to start editing cart item details before Rabbot has finished trying to gather product title, price, and image
• Fixed an issue with "add to cart" loading indefinitely
• Allow customers to select DHL and FedEx insurance during checkout

Various improvements and bug fixes

• Improved load-time for Japan Rabbit Wallet by optimizing queries
• Fixed an issue with Auth0
• Improved the contrast of the alert on the customs value page
• Set login sessions management to the maximum number of days allowed
• Cleaned up orders with duplicate package items
• Updated Japan Post international shipping rules for Japan Rabbit
• Fixed an issue where payment was being charged twice

Improvements to internal operations

• Added an option to manually trigger deploys from the GitHub UI
• Added an alert bar to the user profile page of disabled accounts
• Populated the "created_at" column in the refunds table
• Created a role for offsite Mercari receivers
• Added fields to the Airtable error logging to record the proxy used in Rabbot failures
• Increased the timeout of the "add-product-information" function to prevent it from timing out before Rabbot

Created a changelog

We created this changelog you're reading 🎉 It was built with Sanity and Nuxt and receives webhooks from Linear when issues are released.

We improved our Rabbots ability to get product details

• Fixed a Rabbot issue that was preventing the correct price from being retrieved from adidas.jp
• Fixed an issue with Rabbot getting prices from rakuten.co.jp
• Reprogrammed our Rabbot to get the correct price on Melonbooks
• Fixed a Rabbot issue when trying to capture Mercari images
• Trained Rabbot to click the booth.pm 18+ popover
• Created better analytics to monitor and prioritize Rabbot issues

Various enhancements to improve our service

• Fixed an issue where the Photo Fee was not being charged
• Fixed a Package status issue that was stuck in processing
• Rebranded our Trustpilot page
• Updated the melonbooks banner image
• Moved Rabbot error logging to a single user account in Airtable

Various enhancements to improve our Engineering Team velocity

• Asserted Algolia data to resolve E2E test failures
• Fixed the "syncUser:no mutations exist" error that occurred when logging in
• Fixed an issue where BirdEatsBug failed to add an error to Linear
• Fixed a Hasura PG connection refused error in int tests
• Fixed an issue where the region code was incorrect on the Japan Post shipping report
• Pre-built functions before deploying
• Prevented analytics.track from sending too many events
• Refactored our deploy scripts so that cloud functions and Hasura only deploy when updated
• Removed the "addImageInformationToCartItem" event in Hasura and the code base
• Split and reordered workflow jobs and their steps for better parallelization
• Updated Airtable storage for Rabbot error log
• Updated the Auth0 SPA SDK
• Updated the Glitch script to push the Linear title to the Sanity changelog draft post
• Updated Hasura to v2.15
• Updated the Hasura version
• Upgraded Cypress to the latest version
• Upgraded the node setup and added dependency caching in the GitHub workflow

Reduced Per Item Fee

Reduced Per Item Fee from $2.00 to $1.00.

Hopping mad about a Japan Rabbit bug?

Try our new bug reporting tool.

We've added a 'Report a Bug' feature to Japan Rabbit. This new tool makes it easy for you to report any issues you encounter while using the app. Our engineers will use the information you provide to help identify and fix the problem as quickly as possible.

To access the 'Report a Bug' feature, simply click the 'Report a Bug' in the top right menu of Japan Rabbit. From there, you can start a screen recording or take a screenshot, give your issue a title, and provide any additional details that might help our engineers.

We understand that any issue you encounter while using Japan Rabbit can be frustrating, and that's why we've added the 'Report a Bug' feature. This tool makes it easy for you to report any problems you encounter, and our engineers will use the information you provide to help resolve them as quickly as possible. So don't hesitate to use the 'Report a Bug' feature if you run into any issues.

Minor enhancements

• Allow customers to delete addresses and give them more control over their address information.
• Improved error feedback on User Sign In
• Displayed a more informative disposed message for packages where only some items have been disposed
• Optimized website to improve loading time

Updates and bug fixes to improve reliability and performance

• Added new customs types
• Fixed status of packages that have been consolidated and shipped, but were still showing as pending in the Received mailbox
• Updated the status correctly after customers pay for adjustments or fail payment requests.
• Changed status of an Order to Completed after fully purchasing it, requesting additional payment and receiving payment from customer
• Fixed issues with E2E tests failing.
• Fixed the input event bugs in the Arrival Barcode Scanning.
• Add and delete customs types.
• Add payment information on Service Task Details: This will allow staff to easily view payment details for each task.
• Added ability to save user notes for disabled accounts.
• Corrected sorting order on dashboard for "Closed" tasks
• Fixed issue making it unable to "Continue to Purchase" on orders
• Aggregate completed task at bottom of "My Tasks" on the dashboard
• Fixed bug in issuing credit to customer
• Improved UI of Order Expenses, auto-stripped out commas and kept figures intact when pasting amount
• Add cart item limit.
• Change the SEE IN STRIPE link to open in new window
• Changed the environment variable so that staging and dev do not use the production pub/nub queue for fulfillment.
• Fixed a bug that prevented some customers from making payments after adjustments.
• Fixed an issue that prevented successful barcode scans when attempting to receive an item with unreceived items in the order.
• Fixed images of the items in the Received mailbox
• Fixed issue with imgix image requests returning 404 errors
• Fixed page information in search results after move to Cloudflare (from netlify)
• Fixed static site 404 page
• Fixed the Auth0 top link in the reset password email
• Fixed the lag in Match & Verify
• Improve UI of Service task picking list. Add location ID.
• Prevented duplicate package barcodes
• Removed broken "Add discount" option before capturing payment on an order
• Refactor GraphQL subscriptions, queries & mutations. This improved performance and scalability of the application.
• Refactored the Melonbook banner service for Japan Rabbit
• Improved performance of the Measuring Step by refactoring the Mutation causing delays.
• Refactored the receiving workflow to eliminate temp_id barcodes and address multiple related issues.
• Removed completed service tasks from service task list.
• Resolved loading issues on the Receiving Past Due page.
• Reviewed ahrefs audit for japanrabbit.com
• Updated call to action links on the White Rabbit Express website that link to japanrabbit.com.
• Updated permissions for receiving staff in Admin
• Updated staging auction pricing to be the same as production
• Upgraded apollo-client to the latest version

We've lowered our Consolidation Fee

We updated our Consolidation Fee to be more cost-effective for you. The cost of consolidation has been reduced from $3.00 to $2.50 per package. Additionally, we will now only charge a maximum of $12.50 per consolidation, regardless of the number of packages.

Consolidating two or more packages from the same order continues to be free of charge.

Auto-complete shipping address

We've integrated the Google Address API to make shipping address entry faster.

Show item price in yen on order details

Added price in yen to order details. This was a popular request from our product feedback community.

Other Improvments

• Updated the home page frequently asked questions (FAQ)
• Shortened login message
• Added new customs type for TOY AIRSOFT GUN
• Added "Auction Lost" as a cancellation reason for an item
• Corrected wording on payment update
• Fixed issue where clicking on “Japan Rabbit” in Help Docs did not always navigate to homepage
• Added pop-over to request full name after sign up
• Added account setting for editing name
• Improved responsiveness when adding an item to a cart
• Improved cart's add item loading animation
• Addressed issue where support chat button was obstructing view
• Improved mobile compatibility of Update Item window
• Displayed prices in yen in cart view
• Enabled button for validation trigger on shipping calculator
• Ensured shipping calculator is accessible by customers and staff users

Housekeeping 🧹

• Made "Domestic shipping" the default expense for purchases
• Updated style for tasks on dashboard
• Added "Add Customs to Purchase Item" analytics event
• Improved packing station ID management
• Addressed inability to change "Assigned to" once purchase was completed
• Added payment information to Package Details and User Details
• Added order ID to order page
• Disabled Slack notification for new orders
• Removed count of items pending arrival from our internal dashboard to improve performance

Squashed bugs 🪲

• Addressed issue where customers were unable to sign up
• Fixed issue where packages had the wrong status
• Fixed issue where orders had the wrong status
• Addressed issue where [email protected] failed to forward emails
• Fixed issue where customers were unable to pay for adjustments after payment method had been removed
• Addressed issue where refunds to PayPal were not possible
• Resolved "unexpected error" when trying to change password
• Fixed issue where only "Seamail" shipping option was displayed
• Addressed issue where customers were unable to add PayPal or credit card as payment method
• Fixed issue where wrong location was reflected in fulfillment
• Resolved issue where tax number was not pushing to fulfillment
• Fixed incorrect address on shipment page
• Addressed issue where "Backoffice" card did not always appear on dashboard for admins
• Resolved issue where canceled orders were showing up as completed
• Resolved issue where station number and menu button overlapped on mobile view
• Fixed issue with too many event types in Amplitude
• Fixed cart's add item loading animation state issue
• Fixed issue where "See In Stripe" button linked to test environment
• Fixed navigation/router issue between service task and package
• Fixed slow performance of "Match & Verify" receiving process
• Fixed broken order URL in "Match and Verify" feature

PayPal is no longer available

We no longer accept PayPal as a payment method. We’re working with PayPal to resolve this issue, and will update this help docs page if the situation changes.

We continue to accept payment through credit and debit cards via Stripe. For high-value items, we also may request payment through a bank wire transfer.

Wallet refunds now work with PayPal

• Added Paypal as a refund option for the Wallet

Setup a recurring NPS survey

Japan Rabbit uses Net Promoter Score (NPS) to measure customer loyalty and satisfaction over time. NPS is calculated by asking customers to rate their likelihood to recommend our product or service to others on a scale of 0 to 10. Customers who give a rating of 9 or 10 are considered Promoters and are more likely to continue doing business with us and refer others to us. On the other hand, customers who give a rating of 0 to 6 are considered Detractors and are less likely to remain loyal to our company. We calculate our NPS by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. A high NPS is a positive sign for our company, indicating that our customers are loyal and satisfied.

Polished UI and fixed bugs to better serve you

• Fixed an issue where the wallet was not loading
• Improved the mobile view to make it easier for customers to access the confirm button
• Updated the copy on the cart item page for when the wrong product is selected.
• Added a deselect/select all button to the purchase page
• Changed the text of the Request Early Access button
• Fixed an issue where scraping was not returning on review cart page
• Improved the functionality of the Japan Rabbit Wallet ledger
• Included the region when sending shipments to fulfillment
• Implemented a fix to prevent duplicate items in consolidation requests
• Re-enabled the Auth0 verification email now that the onboarding done

Lots of bug fixes

We focused on improving internal operations to better serve you, dear customer.

• Fixed a log-in error
• Fixed the og:image on the homepage
• Added a station selector for barcode printing
• Called the pubnub endpoint for barcode printing
• Fixed a bug with the accrual of storage fees
• Created a schema for marketing landing pages
• Ported the landing pages to Nuxt
• Created a system for quickly addressing scraping failures
• Fixed an issue with the Shipping Calculator not loading countries
• Added the appropriate customs type for alcoholic drinks
• Added 'price' and 'quantity' to analytics for 'purchase' events
• Gave the Receiving role the ability to batch create barcodes for arrival scanning
• Added hyperlinks to the order page
• Added the postal code to the Japan Rabbit site.

See your Japan Rabbit Wallet funds during checkout

Added the ability for customers to view their Japan Rabbit Wallet funds during checkout.

Various UI and style improvement

• Updated the home page footer graphic
• Fixed an issue where disabled and added users were not appearing correctly in the card assign UI
• Added a link from the order items page to the packages page
• Added an alert bar on the staging site to make it clear that it is a staging environment
• Improved the style of alerts in the UI.
• Changed the Early Access form to reflect the new workflow.

Lots of bug fixes so our Ops Team can better serve you

• Added Google Analytics v4 page view and ecommerce events
• Gave the ability to delete and edit expenses on orders after they have been completed
• Enabled the ability to delete domestic shipping expenses after capture
• Allowed text selection for copying during the Receiving process
• Fixed a bug in our match-and-verify workflow (admin)
• Fixed an issue where gamers scraping was picking the wrong price
• Addressed a problem with address lines being truncated after being pushed to Fulfillment
• Fixed an issue where customers' Package Details were showing a shipping transaction fee equivalent to the shipping fee
• Improved the Storage Reminder email link to the pricing page
• Hidden options when an image is missing in the Cart
• Improved the navigation UI in the Wallet
• Enhanced the style of the Purchasing view
• Continued improving the style of the Purchasing view
• Inverted the logo on the staging site
• Normalized the capitalization on the home page
• Removed the link from the order number on the Purchasing view
• Made it so that both thumbnails are shown during Receiving
• Added the package ID to the admin order page
• Stopped running tests on merge to production
• Updated the footer image.

In June, we celebrate onboarding our first customers

After nearly two-years of work, in June 2022, we onboarded our first Japan Rabbit customers. A big thank you to those of your who volunteered for our Early Access Program. You helped us find a lot of issues.

We added a feature to allow customers to declare their own Customs value.

This is something we never had in White Rabbit Express.

We polished our UI/UX

• Improved the design of the Pricing page
• Updated the 404 graphic
• Changed the style of the Add Address feature in the Checkout process
• Updated the style and color of the popover to match the brand style
• Made various style and copy edits to the Customer UI
• Added a total to the customs value
• Updated the placeholder image for missing items
• Improved the copywriting on the Customs page
• Improved the animation and text on the cart loading page
• Enhanced the copy on Checkout validation issues
• Improved the design of the Order Success page, including adding a graphic and confetti
• Improved the payment method selection process
• Improved the pre-approval explainer in the Checkout process.

And, we crushed dozens of bugs, to serve you better. 🐞🔨

• Add "count from customs queue" to Dashboard
• Add link to Service Task details on Service Task page
• Add tests for allowing customers to declare their own customs value
• Add back "Edit Cart" link after it was removed during redesign
• Allow buyers to add notes for receiving and packing teams
• Update copy about credits in Wallet
• Convert metrics to list view on Admin Dashboard
• Create mocks for testing scraping functionality
• Disable Auth0 verification emails during Early Access onboarding
• Fix bug where assigned credit card is not available for purchasing
• Fix bug with customs on Purchase History page
• Fix bug where fulfillment staff cannot print more than one barcode at a time
• Fix issue with invalid order total calculation
• Fix bug where customers see "NEW" packages on Order Details page (should only see "RECEIVED" and beyond)
• Fix issue with adding PayPal as a payment method.
• Fix issue with missing input control for setting customs type
• Fix "no rates" and "internal error" messages during checkout shipping estimate
• Fix routing issues on fees page
• Fix link to service fees on home page
• Format display of storage bins on all views
• Hide address selector if no address is present on Checkout page
• Hide Terms of Service checkboxes after first order on Checkout page
• Make it easier to discover how to end impersonation (admin feature)
• Make title in match-verify link to product page and remove shop link
• Link product title to product page in Receiving view
• Make UI improvements to Customs category selection tool
• Move status badge from Receiving view to prevent it from blocking images
• Post to Slack when a new order is created
• Prevent cart checkout when user's primary address is from a blacklisted country
• Remove Help Scout integration
• Remove welcome message from Front Chat
• Show country and payment method on Purchasing view
• Show item details during "review and checkout" step on Checkout page
• Show photo and item info during measure step on Receiving view
• Show receiving and arrival queue metrics on Dashboard
• Simplify validation on Checkout page
• Tidy up dashboard design on Admin page
• Update badges to use accent blue color
• Update cart style
• Update company address in iubenda Terms of Service
• Update header style on Admin page

Introducing Japan Rabbit

White Rabbit Express unveils a new name, logo, and platform in a complete brand overhaul.

YOKOHAMA (JAPAN) JUNE 01, 2022

Inside

• Announcing our rebranding
• New Features of the Japan Rabbit proxy service
• Japan Rabbit Pricing
• More to come

Welcome to Japan Rabbit

We launched White Rabbit Express in 2005 to make buying from Japan simple and easy. Today, we announce the completion of an extensive rebranding effort in response to accelerated company growth and a renewal of its product vision.

The new two-word Japan Rabbit brand name is shorter, punchier, and more descriptive than its predecessor — while retaining the equity built up in the word "Rabbit” over almost two decades. The Japanese aspect of the brand is further reinforced with Japan Rabbit Red and its association with the Japanese flag.

Japan Rabbit is launching with a completely redesigned and re-engineered interface and backend that provide customers with various new ways to manage their orders and packages better. The new platform combines innovative features, playful branding enhancements and the company's traditionally high levels of customer service* into what is a delightful user experience overall.

New Features of the Japan Rabbit proxy service

• The Japan Rabbit shopping cart can retrieve product images, titles, and prices from submitted URLs, reducing the effort to create an order.
• Items from different shops are organized into separate carts, making managing orders easier.
• Customers can now set their Customs value during shipping checkout.
• Customers can specify an allowance for incidentals like domestic shipping, sales tax, and payment fees, reducing delays and back-and-forth communication.
• Cancel an order with a click; contacting customer support is no longer necessary.
• The Japan Rabbit Wallet simplifies order adjustments by reducing the number of payments and refunds. Refunds will now appear as credit in your Japan Rabbit Wallet. And, any funds your Japan Rabbit Wallet will automatically be applied to your next payment. Or, you can still withdrawal the funds back to your payment methods if needed.
• Package Split allows customers to split the contents of a received package to ship separately. And,
• Customers can initiate photo, consolidation, and disposal requests right from the Package view.
• People and businesses using the Blackship.com (http://blackship.com/) package forwarding service can shift Japan Rabbit packages to their Blackship Mailbox for consolidated shipping.
• Japan Rabbit shipping add-ons include Price Tag Removal, Extra Padding, Fragile Tape, and Discreet Packaging.
• Shipping methods include service options provided by Japan Post, DHL, and FedEx.
• Japan Rabbit accepts payment by credit and debit card and PayPal.

We plan to launch many more features in the coming months, and we welcome your input in setting the future direction of Japan Rabbit with our new Product Feedback (http://feedback.japanrabbit.com/) page.

Japan Rabbit Pricing

Japan Rabbit pricing differs from White Rabbit Express in several ways.

• Consolidation Fee. Consolidating multiple packages into a single shipment can save big bucks on shipping fees. We charge $3.00 for consolidating packages from two or more separate orders. Consolidating two or more packages from the same order costs nothing.
• We've adjusted our per item fee from $1.00 to $2.00
• We've eliminated our $4.00 per shop fee to offset these changes; and,
• We've introduced a sliding service fee, designed so that the more you spend per order, the lower your effective service fee as a percentage of your total order.

All service fees are shown on our new pricing page

Commenting on the Japan Rabbit rebranding, founder and CEO Max Hodges said, "Global eCommerce from Japan is accelerating fast. Companies must be on the front foot to handle the rapidly expanding opportunities. Our new brand and our enhanced platform perfectly illustrate our growing ambitions. This is a significant milestone for us."

As part of the rebranding, Japan Rabbit is also launching a Discord community in 2023 Q1. The aim is to create a space for people to connect, swap information, and build relationships around a shared love of Japanese products and cultural interests.

About White Rabbit Japan

White Rabbit Japan is working to elevate eCommerce between Japan-based sellers and overseas buyers. Our flagship products, Japan Rabbit and Blackship, serve a global market of businesses and individuals in 140+ countries. We combine exceptional customer service and innovative technology to make buying from Japan as easy as possible.