Resale Ticket Shops in Japan aka Discount Ticket Shops or Kinken Shops are ways Japanese buy and sell discounted tickets. Japanese sell unwanted tickets to these resale ticket shops for cash. These discount ticket shops have all sorts of tickets such as train tickets, shinkansen tickets, department store vouchers, concert tickets, movie tickets, coupons, Tokyo Skytree tickets, and even baseball game tickets. Any ticket that you can think of in Japan, the KinKen shops probably sell it, and more than likely sell it at a discounted price. Japanese usually sell tickets when they can’t use it and the shops offer cash for these tickets on the spot. The discount ticket shop will then resell the tickets for a profit.
Also, ticket shops will buy specific Shinkansen train tickets from customers which allows customers to convert their credit card balance into Cash right away for just a small fee. This credit card to cash exchange is hard to get anywhere else in Japan and is almost like an 2-step ATM machine.
The Japanese will buy Shinkansen tickets with their credit card and get a cash return rate between 97%-93% depending on the resale ticket shop and the type or value of Shinkansen ticket the customer purchases.
In this video, I go undercover to show you how the ticket buy and sell process works. When I went to the Discount Ticket Shop they offered me several price options to buy Shinkansen tickets, called Kaisuken 回数件, which is a booklet of 6 Shinkansen 1-way tickets. The price varied depending on the train stations. I went for the cheapest train ticket booklet, which was 17,000 yen about $150 USD, but some train booklet prices were more than $1000 USD. So when customers are strapped for Japanese Yen, this is one way to use their credit card to quickly get cash.
The train tickets are valid for use for about 3 months so it gives the discount shops plenty of time to resell the Shinkansen tickets. Furthermore, the resale shops in Japan resell the tickets individually allowing them to make an additional profit on top of the 3%-7% they already made by buying tickets from customers. The Kinken shops take the risk of not being able to sell all the tickets, but they are able hedge their risk by asking customers to purchase specific type of Shinkansen tickets that are popular.
Japan Resale ticket shops though also have a secret black-market side. Criminals use these Kinken shops to resell stolen or counterfeit tickets. And some companies use these shops to evade taxes by cashing out business expensed tickets. While these Japan discount ticket shops can be used for illegal buying and selling of tickets, these shops are quite legal and operate under the law and in plain site. They’re even required to register their shops with the police.
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Do they do tickets for Sumo tournaments?
Ehhh, seems pretty shady, > wouldn't
Brush your durn hair!!!
That's pretty neat. Last year my credit card wouldn't work at the hotel. I'm coming back to Japan next week, if the card doesn't work again then this may be an option if the card will work elsewhere.
Where is the shop…
Do the Kinken shops sell USJ Express pass tickets?
If I have to think this logically, I think the ticket shops are like pawn shops. You might get, say, a pair of tickets to a show but you cannot attend due to problems showing up unexpectedly. You can sell those tickets for quick cash instead of letting it go to waste.
If just for travelling around, like for vacation, do you recommend to use this?? seems like a lot of saving can be done here.
This is called gestun in Indonesia, basically convert your credit card transaction into cash
I buy baseball tickets from a well known site that actually works with the various sporting entities. Far as I'm concerned, as long as the tickets are real and the seller ensures that every ticket is legit, I don't see what the problem is. Not real sure about undercover stuff, seems like it could get you in some trouble, legit or the "going to bust your knees" kind.
Huh? I'm surprised people would even consider that just to get some cash. My main three recommendations to getting some generally accepted payment method in Tokyo would be:
1) 7-11 ATMs, there's no service fees so you pay only the conversion rate of your home bank (plus anything on top they may charge for withdrawal; for me this is a total of 1,5%)
2) Use Suica card on an iPhone, which can be recharged with Apple Pay (worst case you have to pay a conversion rate); Suica is as good as cash in places where they don't accept credit cards, there's only very few places where neither IC nor CC work
3) If you meet with friends, take over the bill, and let them cash you out (again, this will only cost the conversion rate; if it happens to be high with your CC issuer you can also use the conversion service of CC provider in the shop but this is quite often in the order of 3-4% and they will not tell you in advance how much it is, still a lot less hassle than Kinken shops)
This is such a hack for hitting a set spending amount for new credit cards to get the signup bonus… wow!
4% mark up not bad
Tokyo DIsneyland has its own discount tickets for that day near them. That is why they hate to have people buying cheaper tickets but the main reason is, is that they are Koreans. Koreans run Tokyo Disneyland. That is why I stopped going there.
Hey Paolo,
Could you please make a video on groceries items available in Tokyo (like veggies, milk, curd and their prices)? It will be really helpful since a group of us from India are coming over to Japan for a job and many of us are vegetarians. Thank you.
I read in Disney website that in order to enter the park you must show ID (passport), if the name on the ticket doesn't match the ID, they know you buy resale ticket, and you can't enter the park. Correct me if I'm wrong.