When it comes to cross-border shipping, dealing with delays at customs can be a major setback, costing your business time and money. Setting your shipments up for a successful journey means learning how to properly value your goods to avoid complications at customs. From HS codes to product descriptions, we’ll explain everything you need to know in order to properly determine the value of your goods. In doing so, you can prepare for a smooth package journey, prevent fraudulent declarations, and keep your customers happy.
What is an undervalued good in international shipping?
Before we examine what you can do to avoid undervaluing a good, you need to know what this term means.
An undervalued good is any item declared on customs documents at a value lower than its actual price. This means key information used to determine the market value of the shipment is inaccurate. Valuing an item correctly is key to following customs regulations. It also helps you avoid complications during the clearance process, and ensures you pay any necessary tariffs before your shipment arrives at its destination.
What happens if I undervalue my items?
When you under-declare the value of your items, or categorise them incorrectly with Harmonized Shipping (HS) codes, you risk legal penalties, including fines, and even the potential seizure of your shipments. Repeat failure to value items correctly could also create bad relationships with customs officials, potentially leading to package delays in the future.
How do I value my items correctly to comply with international shipping laws?
There are several things to keep in mind before you ship a package internationally in order to comply with international shipping laws and avoid hold-ups at customs. Across the board, you must make sure all documentation, reporting, and relevant information is accurate and clear.
Please consider the accuracy and clarity of the following items:
- Package Value Reporting: Declare the true market value of items, including product price, shipping, and insurance
- Customs Documentation: Quantity, product description, selling channel URL, tax ID’s
- Recipient Information: Full name, company name if applicable, address, valid phone number
When assessing accurate package value reporting, you must make sure that the product price, shipping, and insurance information matches the actual transaction value on all documents.
It is also important to make sure your item is classified correctly. To ensure proper classification and make sure you’re paying the appropriate tariffs, always use the correct HS codes. These are used to bypass language barriers and streamline international shipping. Merchants can use GlobalPost’s free HS Code Lookup Tool to ensure precise classification.
Contact our support team
At GlobalPost, we appreciate your attention to this matter and your cooperation in ensuring future shipments include accurate and complete customs declaration details.
If you have any questions or require further clarification regarding shipment compliance, please do not hesitate to contact our GlobalPost Support Team at [email protected] or (888) 899-1255.