One Map by FROM JAPAN Review: Fees, Shipping to the UK and the 500 FJ Points Referral

FROM JAPAN, now branded One Map by FROM JAPAN, is a proxy shopping and bidding service. You find an item on a Japanese store, flea market or auction site; FROM JAPAN buys it, the seller ships it to FROM JAPAN's warehouse in Japan, and FROM JAPAN sends it on to you. Its sister service FROM USA does the same for American stores. It has run since 2004 and says it has delivered more than 17 million items from over 5,000 sites to customers in more than 190 countries and regions.

You paste an item URL or search by keyword across Mercari JP, JDirectItems Auction and Fleamarket, Rakuten, Rakuten Rakuma, Amazon, SNKRDUNK and hobby specialists such as Surugaya, Mandarake and Lashinban. The service is run by FROM JAPAN Co., Ltd. with its group company ONE MAP INC. Under its terms FROM JAPAN buys the item and sells it on to you rather than acting as your agent, which is why refunds and compensation run through FROM JAPAN, not the original shop.

Payment comes in two parts. Charge 1 is the item price, paid when you order, with Japan's 10% consumption tax added at cost when a listing excludes it. Charge 2 comes once the item reaches the warehouse and you choose how to ship it: Japanese domestic shipping at actual cost, the ¥500 handling fee per item, international shipping and any extras, such as three photos for ¥500 or repacking from ¥1,500.

Once Charge 2 is issued it must be paid within 30 days, or FROM JAPAN may sell or dispose of the items. Before that, the plan's 60 days of free storage are what make consolidation work: let several orders arrive, then ship them together and pay international postage once. Packages worth more than ¥200,000 sent by Japan Post carry a ¥2,800 export clearance fee.

The handling fee is ¥500 per item, charged once when you buy several units of the same item together. It pays for the Product Protection Plan: 60 days' free storage, consolidation, cover for loss or damage on the way to the warehouse and on the way to you, and a check that the right item arrived without significant damage.

Claims have conditions. Report damage or missing items to customer service within 7 days of the parcel arriving; compensation is capped at the value on the delivery slip and refunded in FJ Points, whatever you paid with. Shipments without tracking can't be compensated, and small-packet shipping is only offered for items under ¥30,000.

Take three Mercari JP items costing ¥10,000 together, with the sellers covering domestic shipping. Charge 1 is ¥10,000; Charge 2 adds ¥1,500 in handling fees plus international postage. At Japan Post's published EMS rate to the UK, one consolidated parcel of up to 2 kg costs ¥6,700, so the order totals ¥18,200, about £86.82 at the ECB rate of 23 October 2026 (£1 = ¥209.62).

Sent as three separate 700 g parcels, EMS would cost ¥10,950 and the order ¥22,450, about £107.10, so consolidating saves ¥4,250, about £20. FROM JAPAN's Fee Calculator quotes its own price for each method and weight before you buy, and the cheapest option changes with size, so check it rather than assuming EMS. Next to that bill, the 500-point referral is worth £2.39.

GOV.UK says VAT is due on all goods sent to Great Britain except gifts worth £39 or less. For goods worth £135 or less that you buy yourself, the seller includes the VAT in the price and there's no customs duty on non-excise goods. Above £135, the courier collects VAT, any duty and its own handling fee before delivery, and returns the parcel if the bill is unpaid after about three weeks. FROM JAPAN collects estimated duties before dispatch for some destinations and shipping methods, so read what the shipping screen adds.

Some goods can't be sent at all, such as lithium batteries to certain countries, so read the prohibited-items list before you bid. If you pay by PayPal, the item can only ship to the country registered on your PayPal account at the time of payment.

Sign up for One Map through our link and make a purchase on FROM JAPAN, and you receive 500 FJ Points. One point is worth ¥1 on FROM JAPAN, so the reward covers ¥500 of a later order: one item's handling fee, or a slice of shipping. Open the link and register in the same browser, because FROM JAPAN warns that an introduction may not be recognised otherwise.

The points arrive 2 months after your items are dispatched from the warehouse, so they can't reduce your first order. Purchases and auctions on FROM USA don't count, and the points can't be spent there. FROM JAPAN publishes no minimum order value or end date for the programme and makes the final decision on points awarded. FJ Points can't be cashed out, transferred or combined, are lost if you close your account, and all expire after a year without a new trade.

Disclosure: the link on this page is BonusRoam's own refer-a-friend link, so FROM JAPAN gives us FJ Points too once your first order ships.

FROM JAPAN takes Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Alipay, a prepaid deposit and FJ Points, and charges no payment fees; JCB works only for cards registered on or before 1 May 2021. FJ Points can pay all or part of Charge 1 and Charge 2. Everything is priced in yen, so pay with a card that has no foreign transaction fee.

Auctions have their own rules. JDirectItems Auction bidding has a monthly limit, above which only a deposit or FJ Points can be used, and if your chosen payment fails on a won auction you have 48 hours to pay. Bid only what you'd still be happy to pay with Charge 2 to come.

The check confirms that the right item arrived without significant damage. It doesn't test whether the item works, look for subtle flaws or verify authenticity, and second-hand items with existing stains, scratches or wear aren't covered.

Trading cards bought from private sellers on JDirectItems Auction, Rakuma or Mercari JP that turn out to be swapped, re-shrink-wrapped or opened aren't covered, even when they differ from the listing. For high-value cards and branded goods, buy from shops with return policies or from sellers with long feedback histories, and screenshot the listing before you pay.

On 24 October 2026 FROM JAPAN's Trustpilot profile scored 4.3 from 2,135 reviews, 411 of them from the past year; 71% gave five stars and 12% one star. FROM JAPAN replied to 86% of negative reviews, although Trustpilot notes it hasn't invited reviews recently. It has no dedicated app to rate it by.

Praise centres on responsive support, quick dispatch, careful packing and clear cost breakdowns. The recurring complaints are slow order placement that loses fast-selling or limited items, packaging that either inflates shipping with oversized boxes or leaves parcels crushed, damage and loss claims refused or limited, high international shipping, and support replies that are slow or generic.

Sign up if you already want something sold in Japan that won't ship to the UK, such as a Mercari JP listing, a Surugaya or Mandarake find or an auction lot, and you expect to order again within a year so the points get used. Batch your buys into one parcel and price it in the Fee Calculator first.

Skip it if the reward is the only draw: ¥500 doesn't justify an order with international shipping attached. Be careful with high-value trading cards and branded goods from private sellers, which the check doesn't authenticate, and with parcels over £135, where VAT, duty and a courier fee land on top.