[2025 E-commerce Review]

Top 10 Best-Selling Items and How the Four Product Safety Laws That Began in December Will Change the Common Sense of Online Shopping

There’s only a few days left until 2025. This year, the e-commerce industry has gone beyond mere “convenient shopping” and has played an even stronger role as a fundamental part of our daily lives (infrastructure).

However, behind the scenes, the previously taken-for-granted premise of “safety” has been shaken up, and laws and regulations have changed dramatically.

In this article, we look back at the top 10 best-selling products in the e-commerce market in 2025, and take a closer look at the revisions to the “Four Product Safety Laws” and the strengthening of regulations on overseas products that will determine the future of e-commerce.

Top 10 “Actual Best Sellers” on the E-commerce Market in 2025

Looking back at this year’s best-sellers, the two major keywords were “protecting your lifestyle against rising prices” and “re-importing inbound trends,” which sparked a stir on social media.

The end of 2025 will see the history of e-commerce change with the “Amendments to the Four Product Safety Laws”

The 2025 best-selling rankings include many products directly listed by overseas brands and manufacturers through large platforms. However, until now, there has been a kind of “loophole” in the idea that “because it is in the form of personal import, it is the user’s responsibility even if it does not meet Japanese safety standards (such as the PS mark).”

Until now, many consumers have purchased inexpensive electronic appliances and toys through overseas websites and apps as “personal imports.” However, this term “personal imports” has actually served as a cover for concealing serious safety risks. The “Four Revised Product Safety Laws,” which came into effect on December 25, 2025, address this “neglect in the name of personal responsibility.”

Why are regulations becoming stricter now?

Previous laws (such as the Consumer Product Safety Act and the Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act) mainly targeted importers based in Japan. As a result, in the case of sales methods similar to “personal imports,” where overseas sellers send products directly to Japanese consumers, products without the PSE mark or PSC mark, which are Japanese safety standards, were able to slip through inspections and arrive in Japan.

As a result, the following happened:

• A cheap mobile battery purchased through “personal import” caught fire and caused a fire.
• There has been a sharp increase in problems involving overseas-made toys containing harmful substances prohibited by Japanese standards ending up in the hands of children. Even when accidents occur, many children have simply accepted the situation, complaining that they “cannot contact the overseas seller” or “cannot provide assistance because the toys are privately imported.”

Building a platform to remove the barriers to personal imports

With this amendment, the government has made it mandatory for overseas sellers to appoint a “domestic administrator.” This will prevent overseas businesses from using the argument that “Japanese law does not apply because it is a personal import,” and will clarify where legal responsibility lies within Japan.

Furthermore, the law has strengthened the legal authority to request mall operators (platforms) such as Amazon, Rakuten, SHEIN, and Temu to remove listings for products that do not meet safety standards. This puts in place a system to stop the inflow of dangerous products disguised as “personal import agents.”

Three key points of the amendment

1. Mandatory Appointment of a “Domestic Administrator”：
   When overseas businesses sell products directly to Japan, they are now required to appoint a legally responsible contact point (domestic administrator) in Japan. This will prevent them from evading responsibility in the event of an accident.
2. Requesting Platforms to Remove Listings：
   The government (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) can now forcibly order mall operators to remove listings when it discovers dangerous products.
3. Establishment of the “Children’s PSC Mark”：
   A new safety standard mark has been introduced for products for infants and young children, which are particularly prone to accidents. Toys for children under three years old cannot be sold (listed) without this mark.

How will our shopping habits change in 2026?

As a result of this legal amendment, the following changes are expected to occur in the e-commerce market from 2026 onwards.

• Elimination of “cheap, bad” products: Cheap gadgets that don’t meet safety standards and beauty products containing questionable ingredients will be automatically removed from the market through AI detection and legal regulation.
• Trusted branding: The criteria for purchasing are whether there is a reliable domestic manager and whether the product has a mark.
• Impact on the second-hand market: Flea market apps such as Mercari will also be tightening their controls on transactions of regulated products (especially those aimed at children) that do not meet the standards.

Postscript: Consumers want the “power to choose”

While convenience reached its peak in 2025, it was also a year in which the idea that “safety is something you have to check for yourself” was called into question. With the law coming into effect on December 25th, the product lineup on e-commerce malls is likely to change dramatically.

The days of choosing something simply because it’s cheap are over; now we look at “who is guaranteeing safety and what kind of safety they are providing.” This is likely to be the smart way to shop in 2026.