Oh no!
Such a great source of rare release photos!
It is now geoblocked for Europe and UK! Nooo! 
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp
お知らせ
2022年4月6日 (水) よりYahoo! JAPANは欧州経済領域（EEA）およびイギリスからご利用いただけなくなりました
It seems Yahoo! Japan webmail is still accessible.
OK, we still have mercali but Yahoo! had slightly more editions available. But still good enough for my current search, actually… It seems that have sometimes more, now!
I wonder if this has something to do with the EU’s law requiring upload filters for illegal/pirated content… 
If that’s the case, they may expand this to include the United States if the SMART Copyright Act passes. 
Since it specifically references the EEA and the UK, it is more likely related to GDPR.
I highly doubt that. The GDPR has been in effect since 2018, and to my knowledge its requirements are easy to meet (hence the cookie notifications on most every website). This has to be motivated by something more recent and more serious, such as the aforementioned upload filter requirement or some change to the shipping process (e.g. issues with carriers or increased tax burdens for sellers).
I don’t understand what it is.
Upload?
Yahoo! Auctions is just a second hand stuff market place.
It must be that.
Now all incoming packets are taxed.
It already has become a nightmare, indeed, recently.
In fact I have no problem with paying the VAT tax.
But the fee that the carriers are adding on top of it, is ridiculously high, more expensive than the usual content.
The regulations themselves became enforceable in 2018, but the specific meaning and steps for compliance are continuously clarified by court decisions and specific complaints from people and regional Data Protection Authorities. It also goes lot beyond simple “cookie notifications”, they wouldn’t be the only company to refuse service to the EEA because they deem that cheaper than complying.
I specifically think it’s the GDPR because the UK, while not in the EU anymore, has adopted more or less the same rules (for now). Changes to the taxation of imported packages would not affect the UK though.
Most sellers upload images as part of their listings. Under this law, if Yahoo! Auctions is to be accessible in the EU, they need to install software to filter all uploads for infringing content (which is determined by a central database akin to YouTube’s ContentID system).
What images are intended to be blocked?
Cover artwork is typically copyrighted, so record labels, artists, photographers, illustrators, etc. could and would add those images to the database and auction sites would be required to block any (perceived) duplicates from being uploaded.
I just noticed CDJapan (via Japan Post) is no longer offering shipping to the UK or much of Europe. Can any users located in Europe verify if their website is still accessible? If it is, that may confirm my suspicions that this is about the upload filter law. All of CDJapan’s cover art is supplied by the manufacturers, so they don’t have to worry about user uploads like Yahoo! Auctions does. (I’m not so sure about their proxy shopping service, though…)
This is coming to the US too, unless greater minds prevail:
Works fine from DE. Besides, the shipping restrictions have other reasons:
https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/information/2022/0308_01_en.html
The photos are required on second hand stuff, to check the status of the stuff and decide if we buy or not.
We still have second hand stuff internet shops inside France, it doesn’t seem they have troubles with photos. At least not yet, maybe.
See also EBay. Which operates in Europe. A photo of an item for sale would not go under a copyright flag. Unless the EU has gone even more bonkers than the past. I can’t see anything in that news article that would stop you from selling stuff.
May be time to grab a VPN to access the Japanese sites.
A couple of thoughts:
An image of an item being offered for sale would seem to be protected as “fair use” of (copyrighted) coverart.
VPNs are used to bypass geo-restrictions.
VPN always sounds so simple but it was never simple each time I tried.
They’re pretty simple, I’m not trying to shill for the companies (Sign up to Surf Shark VPN and get 10% off with the discount code sound.and.vision.is.a.corporate.shill), but most of them are just simple Windows/Apple applications that you go in and press an “on” button and it just works.
In other news, Buyee still seems to work as a way to look at those websites without a VPN service:
https://buyee.jp/yahoo/shopping
This post was sponsored by SurfShark VPN™ /s
Oh yes indeed, yahuoku still works through buyee!
I’ve already used this service and also tensō tenso.com by the same company, they are quite cool.
Tensō is convenient to gather several stuff into a single package.
Buyee is nice to open lots of auctions that require an account with a good history (good ratings, high rank), otherwise.
But for my MB need of checking packaging information for releases, it’s now less direct. 
Indeed, not to drift off topic too much but Tenso is very well worth it and opens you up to the wonderfully dangerous world of Rakuten.co.jp
It was not difficult but, just in case it helps others, here are my new mercari search shortcuts for my browser.
The first one is too broad, you can ignore it.
The three others are sub-categories of the first one.
me
https://jp.mercari.com/search?keyword=%s&t1_category_id=5&category_id=5
mec
https://jp.mercari.com/search?keyword=%s&t1_category_id=5&category_id=75
mev
https://jp.mercari.com/search?keyword=%s&t1_category_id=5&category_id=74
mea
https://jp.mercari.com/search?keyword=%s&t1_category_id=5&category_id=1160
Ooh thats cool - I actually thought Mercari was super duper geoblocked, maybe i went via the wrong URL as always had to browse it via a proxy seller