BuySell Technologies, the Tokyo-listed reuse and buyback group (code 7685), says AI automation will let it drop plans for about 50 call-centre positions next year. It puts the expected labor-cost benefit at about ¥600mn across two departments. The figure comes from a topics section in its September monthly disclosure, dated October 19, 2026.
What AI already handles
In its call-centre department, which handles compliance, the company says AI already replaces about 70% of what it calls "settlement calls". The company explains these as a proprietary arrangement: in home-visit buying, assessors do not sign contracts with customers. Instead, staff in an independent department conclude the contract by phone.
AI is also being rolled out for "follow-up calls", made after an appraisal to collect customer feedback, assess the appraiser and check satisfaction. The company says about 40% of these are now handled by AI. The disclosure does not define the denominator for either percentage.
The savings claim
The company says it would previously have added staff as inquiries and home visits grew. With AI automation, it is cutting next year's headcount plan by about 50 people and expects the call-centre department to contribute about ¥300mn in labor-cost efficiency.
The marketing department, which supports home-visit buying, supplies the other roughly ¥300mn. The company says it runs with about half the staff it had when the Fukuchan marketing team was merged in 2025, even as home visits this fiscal year run at about 120% of the prior year. Together the two departments are expected to yield about ¥600mn in labor-cost restraint next year.
These are forecasts of avoided hiring, not realized savings. A smaller hiring plan is not the same as job cuts, and the company does not describe any layoffs. Management adds that it wants to shift growth-related workload in other departments to AI, to lower the ratio of labor costs to gross profit and so the selling and administrative expense ratio.
The volume behind it
The automation is meant to absorb a growing load. September home visits reached 48,787, or 123% of the year-earlier level and the highest of the current fiscal year. The company says October, normally one of its two busiest months along with November, is progressing steadily against a plan that exceeds September's visit count.
The company says its figures are preliminary, unaudited and may be revised later. Its next monthly update, covering October, is scheduled for November 13, 2026.