Cross-border guides

These guides explain what happens to goods when they cross a border: what the parcel pays, who pays it, which code and paperwork it needs, and what each country does differently. They're written for people who sell and ship online and the developers who build their checkouts, and every rule in them links to the official text it came from.

Rates and thresholds in the guides come from the same live data as border.bot's import rules by country, so a table here changes when the rule does. When you need a number for one product, the landed cost calculator works it out with every duty, tax and fee line, and the HS code classifier finds the code first if you don't have it.

Landed cost and tax#

• Landed cost and what goes into it: Landed cost is everything it takes to get an order to a buyer abroad: goods, shipping, duty, extra duties, import tax and fees, with US and EU examples.
• How customs duty is calculated: Ad valorem, specific, compound and mixed duties, and the customs value they're charged on (transaction value, CIF or FOB), worked through on real tariff lines.
• De minimis values by country: The value below which a country charges no duty or no import tax, how the two limits differ, what changed in 2025 and 2026, and every country's threshold.
• Import tax rates by country: How import VAT, GST and sales tax are charged on goods from abroad, the value each country taxes, who collects it on small parcels, and every current rate.
• VAT, GST and sales tax for cross-border sellers: How VAT, GST and US sales tax differ, who collects each on a cross-border order, and the seller schemes in the EU, UK, Australia, NZ, Norway and US states.
• DDP vs DAP for parcels: Delivered duty paid against delivered at place for parcels: what Incoterms 2020 say, who pays duty and tax, what a refused DAP parcel costs, and how to run DDP.
• US tariff changes since 2025: Every major US tariff change since January 2025, dated from the Federal Register: IEEPA and the courts, Sections 122, 232, 301, 338 and de minimis.

HS codes#

• HS codes: what they are and how the digits work: An HS code is the 6-digit product code customs use worldwide. How the digits are built, how the US, EU, UK and Canada extend them, and what a wrong code costs.

Origin and trade agreements#

• Country of origin: where goods are made, not where they ship from: Country of origin is where goods were made or last substantially transformed. How customs decide it, why it changes the duty, and when goods must be marked.
• Trade agreements and customs unions for cross-border sellers: How free trade agreements and customs unions cut duty, why goods must meet rules of origin, how to claim a preference, and the main agreements by region.

Paperwork and clearance#

• Commercial invoices for international shipments: What a commercial invoice must show for customs, field by field, with the US list in 19 CFR 141.86, EU and UK expectations, pro forma invoices and copies.
• Air waybill vs bill of lading: An air waybill covers air cargo for a named consignee; a bill of lading covers sea freight and, made out to order, is negotiable. Rules, house bills, fields.
• Customs clearance for ecommerce parcels: What happens to an ecommerce parcel at the border, step by step: advance data, risk checks, low-value entries in the US, EU and UK, duty, holds and delays.

Shipping#

• How to choose an international shipping carrier: Postal, express and consolidator networks compared for ecommerce: who clears customs, DDP billing, duty and clearance fees from carriers' own pages, tracking.
• Customs for postal parcels: How customs works for parcels sent by post: CN 22 and CN 23 forms, electronic advance data, who declares and pays, and what changed in 2025 and 2026.

Reference#

• ISO country codes for shipping and customs: ISO 3166-1 country codes in alpha-2, alpha-3 and numeric form, why the UK is GB, how customs code Kosovo and Northern Ireland, and a full table with currencies.
• ISO subdivision codes for states and provinces: ISO 3166-2 codes for US states and Canadian provinces, why the province decides Canada's GST, HST, PST or QST on imports, and how subdivision codes are built.
• Cross-border shipping and customs terms: Plain definitions of the customs, tax and shipping terms cross-border sellers meet, from ad valorem duty to wholly obtained, with links to the full guides.

Countries#

• Country import guides: How importing works in each country for an online seller: duty and tax thresholds, how charges are collected, IDs the buyer needs and what is restricted.

How these guides are kept current#

Every guide lists its sources at the bottom and shows the date it last changed. Customs rules moved a lot in 2025 and 2026, from the end of US de minimis to the EU's €3 duty on low-value parcels, so pages that state a rule say which date it was checked on. Tables of rates and thresholds are read from border.bot's live releases each time the page is built, not typed in.

The guides explain how the rules work. They aren't legal or tax advice, and they don't replace a ruling from a customs authority or a licensed customs broker for a specific shipment.