If you're shipping internationally, your packages always pass through customs. As the shipper, you'll want to declare exactly what you're shipping so your package reaches the recipient without any issues.
To make this easy, Shippo automatically creates a Customs Declaration for orders with international addresses, using the item information already on the order.
See "Carriers Supported by Shippo" to check which Shippo-supported carriers you can use to ship internationally from your country.
What are customs declarations?
A Customs Declaration is how you declare the items you're shipping across international borders. Items crossing borders are generally subject to import/export taxes, customs duties, and fees.
| Warning: When you declare items, don't be vague in your description. |
If a customs agency can't determine what's in your package, they can hold it for clarification, return it, or discard it. Vague descriptions include things like "gift," "bottle," "box," and "supplies."
To help your package clear customs successfully, be as descriptive as possible and don't leave your description open to interpretation.
Exceptions to customs declaration requirements
Sometimes a Customs Declaration isn't required, and you can opt out of including one. It's your responsibility as the shipper to include customs documentation when it's needed.
Two examples of exceptions:
- Shipping between certain European Union countries
- Shipping from the United States to US territories with some carriers (for example, US to Puerto Rico through USPS)
What is a commercial invoice?
A commercial invoice is a physical document used to declare your items for customs purposes. Shippo provides it a few ways:
- Included as part of the shipping label itself
- Included as a separate page (or pages) with the shipping label download
- Available to print by clicking Download Commercial Invoice on the Shipments page
- Sent electronically through a process called Paperless Trade, where you don't need a physical copy
What are customs fees?
Customs agencies use the commodity, quantity, value, country of manufacture, and other factors to determine duties and taxes on international shipments.
Customs fees (duties and taxes) aren't included in your Shippo rate. The customs agencies of the sending and receiving countries add them on after your package ships. Customs fees depend on many factors, so check out this article to get a sense of what your shipment's fees might come to.
Should I select DDU, DDP, or FCA?
Customs fees get paid by either the sender or the recipient, depending on the incoterm you select in your customs declaration. Shippo supports three options:
- DDU (Delivery Duties Unpaid)
- DDP (Delivery Duties Paid)
- FCA (Free Carrier)
| Note: If you have an IOSS number, select DDU as your incoterm to make sure customs fees get billed properly. |
DDU
DDU is Shippo's default option. It means your customer, the recipient, is responsible for paying customs charges before receiving the package. Since your recipient carries that responsibility, we recommend letting them know ahead of time.
- The carrier contacts the customer for payment instructions once charges are calculated and the package is ready for final delivery.
- If you enter your recipient's email and/or phone number in the Shippo web app during label purchase, UPS will contact them by email or text with a secure link to prepay customs fees before the package arrives, helping avoid missed deliveries. This option is only available in select countries.
- If a package arrives without prepayment, UPS requires the recipient to pay at delivery, by cash or money order only.
- If the recipient doesn't pay the assessed international brokerage charges for any reason, the shipper becomes responsible for the outstanding amount.
DDP
Choose DDP if you'd rather cover all customs fees on your customer's behalf, which is common when sending an international gift.
- USPS doesn't support DDP. All USPS international shipments go out as DDU.
- Customs charges get calculated and billed to you, the sender, roughly three weeks after shipment, through your carrier account or through Shippo if you used a Shippo carrier account.
- DHL Express and UPS charge an additional processing fee for DDP.
- UPS customs charges get invoiced directly to you after you purchase the shipping label.
| Carrier Policy Variations: How carriers handle unpaid duties and taxes can vary. Some carriers, like FedEx, UPS, and DHL, may bill the shipper if the recipient refuses delivery, can't be reached, or doesn't pay required charges. Shippo doesn't control these carrier policies. |
FCA
Free Carrier (FCA) is only supported by FedEx and DHL Express. With FCA, you deliver the goods, cleared for export, to a named place, and the shipment gets handed off to a carrier nominated by the buyer. Your buyer must nominate that carrier.
ECCN/Ear99
| Note: This field is only required if you're shipping from the US to China, Russia, or Venezuela. For any other destination, you don't need this number. |
ECCN codes are five-character alphanumeric designations on the Commerce Control List (CCL) in the United States, used to identify dual-use items for export control purposes. An ECCN categorizes items by the nature of the product, whether it's a commodity, software, or technology, along with its technical parameters.
If your item falls under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) but isn't listed on the CCL, it's designated Ear99 instead.
ECCN is commonly described as a 5-digit code, though in practice it can run up to 12 characters, in the format #A###.a.##.a. See the full Commerce Control List for details.
Shipping to the United States
Starting August 29, 2025, the US de minimis exemption no longer applies. This means:
- All international shipments inbound to the US require duties and taxes, regardless of value.
- The only exception is gifts under $100 USD.
- Duties and taxes must be collected before customs clearance.
What this means in Shippo:
- The Delivered Duty Unpaid (DDU) model, where the recipient pays at delivery, is no longer available in most cases.
- When selecting an incoterm, choose one of the following:
- DDP (Delivery Duty Paid): You, the shipper, pay duties and taxes upfront.
- DDU (Delivery Duty Unpaid): Use this only if your personal carrier account supports a Pre-Entry DDU workflow, where the recipient pays through a carrier-issued payment link before clearance. ("Pre-Entry DDU" doesn't appear as a separate incoterm option in Shippo, it uses the standard DDU option.)
- If recipients don't complete payment in time under Pre-Entry DDU, the shipment may get returned to the sender.
What you should do:
- Always complete your customs information (HS codes, product descriptions, declared values, country of origin).
- Check which carriers support DDP or Pre-Entry DDU from your origin region.
- Let your buyers or sellers know about these changes to avoid surprises or delays.
EU and Northern Ireland: goods description requirements (effective January 1, 2026)
When shipping to the European Union or Northern Ireland, customs authorities require detailed, accurate goods descriptions as part of the EU's Import Control System 2 (ICS2) program.
Starting January 1, 2026, stricter data quality requirements apply to goods descriptions submitted to EU and Northern Ireland customs. Shipments with overly generic descriptions, sometimes called "stop words," may get delayed, held, or rejected.
What are "stop words"?
"Stop words" are vague or overly broad terms that don't clearly describe the item on their own, for example:
- Clothing
- Apparel
- Accessories
- Parcel
- Merchandise
These terms are only accepted as part of a more detailed, accurate description.
How to write acceptable goods descriptions
To reduce the risk of delays or rejections, your goods description should clearly cover:
- What the item is
- What it's made of
- Its key characteristics or intended use
Examples:
- "Clothing" ❌ becomes "Women's cotton t-shirt" ✅
- "Accessories" ❌ becomes "Plastic phone case" ✅
Why this matters
EU customs authorities use goods descriptions to assess safety, security, and compliance before a shipment enters the region. Incomplete or generic descriptions can keep a shipment from processing successfully.
For more, review official guidance from the European Commission: Import Control System 2 (ICS2).
You may also need an EORI, TaxID, VAT number, or IOSS number. Filing the correct tax information helps your package pass through customs smoothly.
EORI
Any merchant moving goods into or out of the EU needs an EORI (Economic Operators Registration and Identification) number to have customs duties assessed properly. Each EU Member State can issue EORI numbers, but you only need one EORI to cover the entire EU, no matter how many Member States you ship to or from. Use your EORI number in all communications with EU customs where a customs identifier is required. For more, visit the European Commission website.
Since 2021, merchants moving goods into or out of the UK need a GB EORI number. VAT-registered businesses were automatically issued one in September 2019. Businesses without a GB EORI can apply for free.
TaxID/VAT
Tax ID and VAT codes determine how a merchant gets assessed for tax purposes. You may need multiple numbers depending on the countries you ship from and to.
The tax ID used in the United States is the EIN, or Employer Identification Number. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) guidelines require import/export filings to include the shipper's EIN.
VAT stands for Value Added Tax, used widely across Europe, the UK, and elsewhere in place of the EIN.
IOSS (FedEx, UPS, DHL Express, DHL eCommerce, and USPS only)
The EU's Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) platform simplifies VAT declaration and payment for B2C imports valued up to €150. Shipments valued over €150 are treated as DDU, with VAT determined at customs. This optional platform only requires registering with a single EU Member State to manage VAT across the entire EU, removing the need to register separately in every country you sell to.
If you're a non-EU-based supplier or marketplace selling to EU consumers, registering with IOSS lets you collect accurate VAT from the consumer at the point of sale, then declare and pay it through a periodic VAT return. If you collect VAT on your own site, pass your own IOSS ID. If a marketplace (like eBay Canada) collects VAT at the point of sale, pass the marketplace's IOSS ID instead.
Shipments with a valid IOSS can be validated by carriers and customs authorities, which can help the package move through customs faster.
If your company doesn't have an EU-based establishment and wants to register for IOSS, you'll need to appoint an intermediary to settle VAT through the platform.
Registering for IOSS isn't required. You can continue declaring and paying VAT on EU imports the way you do today.
| Note: IOSS only gets passed for UPS, FedEx, DHL Express, DHL eCommerce, USPS Priority Mail International, and USPS Priority Mail Express International shipments to Europe. |
You can add your TaxID/VAT, EORI, or IOSS to the customs declaration data in Shippo for any international order by editing the Customs Declaration.
New shipping requirements for Great Britain to Northern Ireland (effective May 1, 2025)
Starting May 1, 2025, the Windsor Framework, an agreement between the UK Government and the EU, introduces new requirements for shipments from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. To stay compliant, Shippo will collect additional data from merchants.
For all shipments from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, you'll now need to provide:
- Sender information: name and address of the sender in Great Britain
- Recipient information: name and address of the recipient in Northern Ireland
- Place of delivery: if different from the recipient's address, the delivery location in Northern Ireland
- Parcel details: description of goods, number of items, gross weight, and value of items
If you use Shippo's web app, you'll enter this information when creating shipping labels. If you use Shippo's API, see our API documentation for how to implement these new fields.
Under the Windsor Framework, shipments from Great Britain to Northern Ireland now follow the same rules as international shipments, which means additional fields apply where relevant, including:
- Tariff Code / HS Code / description of goods
- EORI number
VAT changes for the EU, effective July 2021
The EU eliminated its VAT de minimis threshold in July 2021. In other words, orders up to €150 used to be VAT-free. Now, VAT is due on all purchases, regardless of amount.
VAT changes for the UK, effective January 2021 (Brexit)
The UK eliminated its VAT de minimis threshold too. Orders up to £135 used to be VAT-free. Now, VAT is due on all purchases, regardless of amount.
Merchants must charge and collect VAT at the time of purchase, before shipment. This affects B2C (business-to-customer), B2B (business-to-business), and C2C (customer-to-customer) sales.
- B2C: Shipments up to £135 that used to have VAT waived must now be taxed. That VAT needs to be collected from the shopper and paid before shipment, which means sending shipments DDP (Shippo defaults to DDU, see "Customs Declarations in Shippo" for details). Merchants need to collect that tax amount (20%) from shoppers upfront, and register for a GB VAT number if they haven't already. VAT due gets paid periodically. More info: UK VAT Returns.
- B2B: Follow the same rules as today for shipments over £135.
-
C2C:
- Up to £39: exempt from duty and VAT.
- Between £39 and £135: exempt from duty, VAT paid by the shopper.
- Above £135: duty and VAT apply, paid by the shopper.