Some people may be thinking, "I want to start an online store without spending money," or "I don't have much budget, but I still want to try selling overseas."
Cafe24 is an e-commerce cart that lets you open and run an online store with no fixed costs. On top of that, it comes with the services needed for overseas sales as standard.
This article explains everything from Cafe24's features to its pros and cons in detail. We also introduce its main available features and apps, along with usage fees, so if you're curious about Cafe24, please use this as a reference.
What Is Cafe24?
Image source: Cafe24
Cafe24 is an online store building service provided by CAFE24 JAPAN K.K. You can open and start running an e-commerce site with no fixed costs. It also has locations overseas, including South Korea, China, and Taiwan, making it an e-commerce cart that's also strong for selling products internationally.
Features of Cafe24
Here we introduce the main features of Cafe24.
No Setup Fee, Monthly Fee, or Sales Commission at All
Cafe24 has no setup fee, monthly fee, or sales commission at all. As long as you don't use paid templates or paid options, you generally won't incur any fees even after you start operating. Since many e-commerce carts charge at least one of a setup fee, monthly fee, or sales commission, not having any of these costs is a major feature of Cafe24.
You Can Open a Shop with Simple Operations
Image source: Cafe24
Cafe24 offers more than 100 design templates, including both free and paid options. After choosing a design that fits your products, you can open your online store with simple operations alone, such as clicking and drag-and-drop.
By using Cafe24's "Smart Design Support," you can pick up the basic knowledge of HTML and other skills needed for design editing, so even beginners can relatively easily recreate the design they want.
You Can Run and Manage Your Shop from a Mobile Device
Cafe24's admin panel can also be accessed from a mobile device. You can check sales data and order information and manage inventory, just as you would from a computer. With Cafe24, you can easily manage your products even while you're out and about.
Cross-Border E-Commerce Can Be Handled Entirely with Cafe24's Own Services
Image source: Cafe24
Cafe24 provides the services needed for cross-border e-commerce, including cross-border shop building, overseas payment services, automatic translation of product information, international shipping, and overseas operations outsourcing. This means you can handle overseas sales entirely with Cafe24 alone.
Extending Functionality Is Easy with "Cafe24 Store"
Cafe24 offers a dedicated app store called "Cafe24 Store" for extending your shop's functionality. It's stocked with apps useful for logistics, inventory and order management, and strengthening customer communication. This means you can run a highly functional shop by using apps from "Cafe24 Store," without needing to consider integrating with external services.
You Can Use Sales Channels Such as Facebook and Google
Cafe24 offers sales channels such as the Facebook channel and Google channel.
| Sales Channel | Overview |
|---|---|
| Facebook channel | Lets you open a shop on Facebook and Instagram |
| Google channel | Lets you display products across Google services (YouTube, the Search tab, the Shopping tab, and more) |
Sales channels can be integrated with the product information you're selling in your shop. Because you can optimize the product feed shown to each user, they help with acquiring new customers.
Benefits of Cafe24
Using Cafe24 comes with a variety of benefits. Here, we explain the benefits you get from using Cafe24.
Easy Customer Acquisition Through a Variety of Sales Channels
Image source: Cafe24
A major benefit of Cafe24 is that it offers sales channels such as the Facebook channel and Google channel.
The Facebook channel includes features for showing each user products suited to them and for easily creating ads that match your campaign objectives.
With the Google channel, you can manage all of Google's services in conjunction with Cafe24. You can also run promotional and PR strategies suited to your budget, from free listings to paid shopping ads. Using sales channels like these can be expected to lead to more efficient acquisition of new customers.
You Can Easily Start Selling Products Overseas
Cafe24 also comes with the services needed for selling products overseas, as follows.
- Cross-border e-commerce shop building
- Overseas payment services
- Automatic translation of product information
- International shipping
- Overseas operations outsourcing service
With Cafe24, once you register a product in your base shop, the product data is automatically reflected across all your shops, saving you the trouble of separately registering products for overseas markets.
Because it integrates with "PayPal," an overseas payment service that supports 100 currencies, it can handle payments across a wide range of regions. It supports multiple languages, including Japanese, English, Chinese (Simplified/Traditional), Korean, Vietnamese, Spanish, and Portuguese, and product information written in Japanese can be automatically translated with a single click.
Cafe24 also supports international shipping. By selecting and registering a shipping company, you can smoothly arrange overseas deliveries. Thanks to these services, starting to sell products overseas is also easy.
You Can Run Up to 15 Online Stores for Free
With Cafe24, you can open and run up to 15 e-commerce sites for free. With many other e-commerce carts, you often can't run multiple e-commerce sites under a single domain. And even when running multiple e-commerce sites is possible, many carts charge a fee for each additional site.
Because Cafe24 lets you open and run up to 15 sites for free, it's very convenient if you have multiple brands or are considering expanding your online store into multiple locations as you grow.
*This information is based on details as of July 2025.
Drawbacks of Cafe24
While Cafe24 has many benefits, such as ease of customer acquisition and being able to easily start selling overseas, it also has some drawbacks. Here, we introduce the drawbacks of Cafe24.
Few Available Apps
Image source: Cafe24
"Cafe24 Store," where apps convenient for running your Cafe24 shop are gathered, had only about 30 apps as of July 2025.
By comparison, Shopify's app store has more than 16,000 diverse apps. If you prioritize extensibility, it may be better to use an e-commerce cart like Shopify that offers a rich selection of apps.
*This information is based on details as of July 2025.
Few Free Design Options
Another drawback of Cafe24 is that it has few free design templates. As of July 2025, only 9 free designs are available. Including paid templates, there are more than 100 designs, but using them incurs an additional cost of roughly tens of thousands to several hundred thousand yen.
If you want to build a stylishly designed shop while keeping costs as low as possible, it may be worth considering a different e-commerce cart with a richer selection of free templates.
*This information is based on details as of July 2025.
Using Options Incurs Costs
Cafe24 offers optional services that let you upgrade your shop. By using these optional services, you can increase the number of operator accounts or bulletin boards, register a domain, and otherwise adjust your e-commerce site to be more usable as your shop grows.
However, using these options incurs an additional cost. Many cost roughly a few thousand to tens of thousands of yen per month, and depending on your shop's situation, this can become a significant burden.
Convenient Features of Cafe24
Cafe24 mainly offers the following features.
| Feature Category | Main Features |
|---|---|
| Opening an online store | Shop information settings Domain settings Shipping settings SEO settings |
| Selling products / sales preparation | Product registration Product category/option management Homepage product rotation Direct purchase URL |
| Sales channels | Facebook channel Google channel Market Plus |
| Sales / data analytics | Product information/inventory management Order management Shipping management Cancellation, exchange, and return processing SERA |
Reference: Cafe24
*This information is based on details as of July 2025.
Cafe24 comes with the basic features needed everywhere from opening an online store through running, analyzing, and improving it. Because shop information, shipping information, product registration, and more can be set up through simple operations, it's an e-commerce cart that's easy to use even for beginners.
Main Apps Available in Cafe24 Store
Here we introduce the main apps available in Cafe24 Store.
| App Name | Overview |
|---|---|
| Channel Talk | Chat-based customer service tool |
| Datarize | CRM marketing tool |
| WorldShopping BIZ | A service offering multilingual customer support, international shipping to 228 countries and regions worldwide, and protection against fraudulent payments from overseas |
| AfterShip Tracking | A tool that lets you check real-time shipping status |
| Multi-Shipping | A tool that enables setting multiple delivery addresses |
| Zotabox | A tool that lets you add more than 20 promotional sales tools to your website |
| Personal Customs Clearance Code | A tool that streamlines customs clearance procedures |
| Influencer Rewards | A tool for having influencers promote your shop and rewarding them based on order counts and visit counts |
| EZ Way Verification App | A tool that helps shorten customs clearance procedures in Taiwan |
| SERA | A tool that lets you check order status in real time |
| Order Form Creation App | A tool that lets you create order forms on behalf of customers |
Reference: Cafe24
Cafe24 gathers together apps that are convenient for customer communication, overseas sales, multiple shipments, shop analytics, and more. Even when the basic features start to feel insufficient, using apps from "Cafe24 Store" can help you achieve comfortable shop operations.
That said, as of July 2025, only about 30 apps are available, which is relatively few. This means that even after adding apps from "Cafe24 Store," you may not be able to achieve exactly the shop operations you envision.
As your shop grows in scale, we recommend considering an e-commerce cart with greater extensibility.
*This information is based on details as of July 2025.
Cafe24 Usage Fees
We introduce Cafe24's usage fees in detail, divided into three categories: base fees, optional service fees, and payment processing fees.
Base Fees
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Setup Fee | ¥0 |
| Monthly Fee | ¥0 |
| Sales Commission | ¥0 |
| Storage Provided | Unlimited |
| Number of Registered Products | Unlimited |
| Cross-Border E-Commerce | Supported |
| Multi-Language Support | 8 languages |
| Mobile Support | Yes |
| SSL | Supported |
| Product Description Editing Tool | ¥0 |
| Design Editing Tool | ¥0 |
Reference: Cafe24
*This information is based on details as of July 2025.
Cafe24 has no setup fee, monthly fee, or sales commission at all. Since there are no limits on storage or product registration, you can freely add whichever products you want to sell.
It supports 8 languages as standard, letting you open and run a cross-border e-commerce shop without incurring additional costs.
Optional Service Fees
| Item | Base | Additional Option | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of operator accounts | Free (up to 10) | ¥102 (per person/month) | Lets you add operator accounts |
| Number of bulletin boards | Free (up to 13) | ¥20 (per board/month) | Lets you add bulletin boards where you can freely post announcements, campaign information, and more |
| Bulletin board storage | Free (up to 300MB) | ¥51 (per 100MB/month) | Lets you allocate added storage to each bulletin board |
| Domain | - | Paid (from ¥1,518/year) | Enables domain registration, renewal, and management |
| Email distribution service | - | Paid (from ¥5,940/3 months) | Lets you use a cloud-based email distribution service |
| Product curation | - | Paid (from ¥4,900/month) | Lets you use advanced product detail search and display features |
| SERA | - | Paid (¥16,500/month) | Lets you use a statistics tool that shows real-time order data directly on your shop screen |
Reference: Cafe24
*This information is based on details as of July 2025.
By using optional services, you can set up a custom domain and add email distribution services, advanced product detail search features, and more. You can also gain access to a convenient analytics tool that lets you check order data in real time.
Payment Processing Fees
| Payment Service | Setup Fee | Monthly Fee | Supported Payment Methods |
|---|---|---|---|
| PayPal | Free | Free | PayPal |
| ZEUS | Free | Free | Credit card Convenience store payment Bank transfer |
| SB Payment Service | Free | Free and up | Credit card Convenience store payment Carrier billing Pay-easy PayPay |
| Epsilon byGMO | Free | Corporate: ¥2,750 Individual: ¥1,100 |
Credit card Convenience store payment |
| NP Atobarai (Deferred Payment) | Free | Free and up | Deferred payment (convenience store payment/bank transfer/post office/LINE Pay) |
| Cafe24 Payment by Stripe | Free | ¥400 | Credit card |
| Amazon Pay | Free | Free | Amazon Pay |
| Aplus | Free | Free | Alipay+ PayPay Merpay |
Reference: Cafe24
*This information is based on details as of July 2025.
Payment processing fees vary depending on the payment service provider you integrate with. The available payment methods also vary significantly by provider, so be sure to check the fees and available payment methods before integrating.
How to Open an Online Store with Cafe24
With Cafe24, you can open an online store by following the steps below.
- Click "Start for Free"
- Create an administrator account
- Enter your shop ID and complete account registration
- Select your product category and set your shop name
- Complete each of the displayed settings, such as basic shop information and payment service applications
By following the steps above, you can open your online store.
Cafe24 Is a Service That Lets You Open and Run an Online Store with Zero Fixed Costs
Cafe24 is an online store building service provided by CAFE24 JAPAN K.K., and its appeal lies in letting you start running an online store without incurring fixed costs.
It supports 8 languages, including English, Chinese, Korean, and Spanish, and comes with features convenient for overseas sales, such as overseas payment services and automatic translation of product information, making it easy to start cross-border e-commerce as well.
However, it also has drawbacks, such as having few free design templates and few apps available for extending functionality.
Before using Cafe24, be sure to carefully check whether it can achieve the shop operations you envision.
