According to Japanese press reports the service will be launched by Rakuten Auction, which was founded in December last year by the splitting of Rakuten's auction division. NTT DoCoMo holds a 40% stake in the Rakuten Auction unit.

Customers signed up to the system will be able to use the cameras on their mobile phones to take photos of goods and put them up for auction on the Internet.

Payments for goods bought on the Internet auctions will be made using "Osaifu Keitai" mobile phone payment system.