How to ship to the US with Japan Post (DDP) using Zonos

This integration is currently in beta. Please allow a little more time before Zonos makes Japan Post Verified Accounts available to everyone. We will share updates on general availability as they become known.

Overview

Ship&co integrates with Zonos to enable DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) shipments via Japan Post International to the United States. Zonos handles duty calculation, collection, and remittance to US Customs on your behalf. Please refer to the Zonos offical page for billing and payments for the duties and postal clearance fees.

This integration supports Japan → US shipments only.

Why Zonos is Required

As of August 2025, a U.S. presidential executive order ended the duty-free (de minimis) treatment for postal shipments to the United States. US duties must now be prepaid before the parcel leaves Japan, based on the shipment value:

Documents and bona fide gifts under US$100: No prepayment required.
US$100 up to US$800: Duties must be prepaid. The label is marked DDP with a Declaration ID. Even if a shipment calculates to zero duty, it must still be processed through Zonos to receive a Declaration ID, and a postal clearance fee applies.
Over US$800: Prepayment is not required.

Postal shipments to the US are charged Section 122 tariff rates (a flat 10% surcharge as of February 24, 2026). MFN (standard duty) rates do not yet apply to postal clearance.

To ship to the U.S. via Japan Post on Ship&co, you need a Zonos Verified Account linked to Ship&co. Zonos calculates and prepays the U.S. duties, and a compliant DDP label is generated directly from Ship&co. This is convenient for businesses that ship to the U.S. on a regular basis. A postage deferred payment contract (料金後納契約) with Japan Post is required in advance.

Please follow the steps below to get started.

Step 1 — Create a Zonos Verified Account for Japan Post and Obtain an Account key

Go to account.zonos.com and sign up for a Verified Account.
Under Account → Billing, add a credit card — this is required to activate your account key
Under Account → General, enter your Japan Post shipper identifier (your ゆうびんビズカード number) — this is required to use Zonos services for JapanPost shipments.
Once both steps are complete, your "Account key" is visible under Account → Integrations → Account key (The "API key" also shown on the screen is not required for this process.)

Step 2 — Add Zonos to Ship&co

In Ship&co, go to the Carriers page
Click the Zonos icon in the "Add a new Carrier" section
Enter your Zonos Verified Account Key in the Account Key field
Save — you can also select which JapanPost services you want to use from the Zonos carrier settings

Only one Zonos account can be added per Ship&co account.

Step 3 — Create a Shipping Label

When creating a shipping label for an order from Japan to the US, select Zonos as the carrier to create a Japan Post DDP shipment.

DDP / Duty Paid must be enabled — shipments without DDP is blocked
Only single-parcel shipments are supported
Shipping rates will show as N/A next to Zonos services — Zonos API does not provide rate estimates. Shipping costs are paid directly to Japan Post and follow the same rates as Japan Post Interntational. If you have a Japan Post International carrier enabled in Ship&co, you can refer to the rates shown next to Japan Post services as a guide.

Available Shipping Services

Air: EMS (goods), Air Packet, Letters/Others, Letters/Others (Registered), Postal Parcel, Printed Matter, Printed Matter (Registered), Small Packet
Surface: Letters/Others, Postal Parcel, Printed Matter, Small Packet

Labels & Customs Clearance

Labels are generated as PDF, similar to standard Japan Post International labels, but with "DDP" and a declaration ID printed at the top
The carrier shown on your store fulfillment (Shopify, Amazon, etc.) will be "Japan Post", not Zonos — this is expected
For EMS and Postal Parcel services: no separate customs invoice is generated, as it is embedded in the Japan Post label
For all other services (except for EMS and Postal Parcel): Ship&co formatted invoice for customs clearance is generated normally

Deleting (Canceling) a Label

If you cancel after issuing a DDP label, it will be treated as Void on Ship&co's "Shipments" screen, and the order data will reappear on the "Orders" screen. You can make any necessary edits there and issue a new label.

Please note that canceling on Ship&co does not mark the label as Void on the Zonos / Japan Post side. However, rest assured that no customs duties will be charged to your Verified Account unless the label is scanned by Japan Post. No shipping charges will be incurred for labels that are not actually used for shipment.

For Ship&co API users

Carrier value: zonos
customs.duty_paid must be true (required)
Credentials: { "account_key": "your_verified_account_key" }
Service name format: zonos_japan_post_[air|surface]_[service]
Example: EMS — zonos_japanpost_ems

Common Errors

DDP_REQUIRED — Please enable the DDP (prepaid duties) option before creating a label
DDP Not Available — This DDP service cannot be used for shipments where the product value exceeds 800 USD.
Services not showing — Please check that your origin warehouse is in Japan and destination is the US
Invalid credentials — Verify the Account Key in your Zonos dashboard under Integrations
Duplicate account error — Only one Zonos integration is allowed per Ship&co account

Accepting Post Offices

International Mail using DDP labels can only be submitted at designated post offices. For the latest information on designated post offices, please check the Japan Post page.

Zonos Verified Account Billing

There is no paid subscription for the Zonos Verified Account itself — no recurring plan fee. The credit card on file is simply auto-billed for the duties Zonos collects, plus a per-shipment postal clearance fee.

Billing runs daily for new shipments.
The postal clearance fee is shown in your Zonos Dashboard under Settings → Billing → Plan.
No customs duties or fees are charged for labels that are never used for shipment (see "Deleting (Canceling) a Label" below).

For full details on billing and payments, please refer to the Zonos billing and payments documentation.

Questions?

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