Landed-cost field notes

Answers for teams shipping Shopify orders across borders

Plain-English guides on HS codes, country of origin, duty-paid checkout, and EU and UK customs changes.

November 11, 2026

Protests: CBP Form 19 and the 180-Day Window

When CBP liquidates an entry and the duty is wrong, the importer has 180 days to protest. Miss the window and the liquidation becomes final, whatever the error was.

November 11, 2026

Drawback: Getting 99% of Your Duties Back on Re-Exported Goods

An importer who pays duty on goods and then exports them has paid duty on something that never entered the U.S. market. Drawback is the refund, 99 percent of the duties paid, and the importers who do not claim it are donating money to the Treasury.

November 10, 2026

Post-Entry Amendments: Fixing a Filed Entry Before Liquidation

The entry is filed, the duty is paid, and then the audit finds the wrong HTS code. The entry is not frozen. There is a correction window, it has a deadline, and the deadline is whichever comes first.

November 10, 2026

Reasonable Care: The Standard That Decides Your Penalty

The entry was wrong. The question CBP asks next is not whether it was wrong. It is whether you exercised reasonable care, and the answer decides whether the penalty is two times the duty loss, four times, or the full value of the goods.

November 9, 2026

CBP Form 29 in Practice: The Notice of Action That Changes Your Rate

A letter from Customs says your entry is being reclassified and the duty is going up. You have twenty days to answer, or the proposal becomes the liquidation, and silence is the most expensive response in the trade.

November 9, 2026

Reconciliation Entries: Fixing Value, Classification, and Origin in One Filing

You filed the entry on the best information you had, and now you know the value was wrong. The reconciliation entry is the way to fix it, and the deadline is 21 months, with no extensions.

November 8, 2026

CBP Form 28 vs Form 29: The Question and the Decision

A Form 28 means CBP has a question. A Form 29 means CBP has made up its mind. The difference decides how much time you have and what you can still do about it.

November 8, 2026

Forced Labor and UFLPA: The Detention Risk Importers Miss

A shipment can be detained at the port not because of what it is, but because of where its materials came from. The forced labor rules are the fastest-growing detention risk in 2026, and most importers are not ready for them.

November 7, 2026

Customs Audits: The Focused Assessment and What Triggers One

CBP does not audit at random. A focused assessment starts with a risk signal, and the importers who get one usually gave CBP the signal themselves.

November 7, 2026

Protest vs Petition: Two Ways to Challenge a CBP Decision

CBP liquidated your entry at a higher duty than you expected. You have two ways to fight it, and picking the wrong one wastes the 180 days you have.

November 6, 2026

Country of Origin Marking: The Four Tests Every Mark Has to Pass

Every article of foreign origin must be marked with the English name of its country of origin, in a conspicuous place, legibly, indelibly, and permanently, where the ultimate purchaser will see it. Miss any one of the four and the mark fails.

November 6, 2026

Binding Rulings: How to Ask CBP to Classify Your Product in Writing

A binding ruling is a written decision from CBP that tells you, in advance and with legal certainty, how your goods will be classified. It costs nothing to request, binds CBP at every port, and protects you from misclassification penalties.

November 5, 2026

Liquidation Is the Moment Tariff Arguments End. Watch Its Clock.

An entry is not final when the goods clear. It is final at liquidation, and the 180 day protest window that follows is the last road for classification and value arguments. Miss it and the entry's numbers become permanent.

November 5, 2026

AD/CVD Cash Deposits Are an Estimate Wearing a Rate

The cash deposit rate collected at entry for antidumping and countervailing duties is not the final duty. Commerce reviews reset the real liability later, sometimes years later, and the difference lands on the importer.

November 4, 2026

How to Read a Tariff Notice Without Getting the Date Wrong

Every tariff action has at least three dates in it and they do different jobs. Mixing up the effective date, the application date, and the in transit rule is how importers misprice a quarter.

November 4, 2026

Scope Rulings and EAPA Cases: The Two Doors Into an AD/CVD Fight

Think your product sits outside an antidumping order, or that a competitor is dodging one? Commerce answers the first question, CBP investigates the second, and confusing the two wastes a year.

November 3, 2026

Section 301 Exclusions: Extensions, Expirations, and the Entries in Between

USTR extends some Section 301 exclusions and lets others lapse, and the difference lands on specific entry dates. How to track which exclusion covers which entry and stop paying duties you do not owe.

November 3, 2026

Steel Content Reporting: The Number Your Supplier Owes You Before the Entry, Not After

Section 232 derivative duties turn on steel content value and melt and pour country. Importers who ask for that data after arrival own a problem no broker can file away.

October 12, 2026

Section 301 Exclusions: Tracking Expiry Before It Costs You Section 232 Steel Derivatives: Content Reporting Is the Part Everyone Gets Wrong Drawback Substitution: Same Kind and Quality Is a Test, Not a Slogan Tariff Stacking: The Order Rates Apply Is Not the Order You Add Them Continuous vs Single Transaction Bonds: The Breakeven Nobody Calculates Section 232 Steel Derivatives: Reporting Melt and Pour When You Do Not Own a Furnace USMCA Claims Get Verified Years Later: Keeping the Origin File That Survives Duty Drawback for Exporters: Recovering Duties on Goods That Leave Again Supplier Origin Declarations: What Counts as Proof When Customs Asks Tariffs and Working Capital: The Cash Cost Between Duty Paid and Price Recovered Currency Clauses in Supplier Contracts: Sharing Exchange Rate Risk on Tariff-Exposed Goods Foreign Trade Zones in a Tariff Spike: Timing Duty Instead of Avoiding It Mapping Tariff Exposure Across Supplier Tiers: Beyond Your Direct Imports Reading a Federal Register Tariff Notice Without Missing the Part That Costs You Derivative Products and Steel Tariffs: When Downstream Goods Get Pulled In From Announcement to Entry: How a Tariff Change Reaches Your Costs Repricing After a Tariff Change: Passing Costs Without Losing the Customer Reading a Tariff Schedule Change Notice Without Panicking Supplier Contracts and Tariff Clauses: Sharing Duty Risk on Paper Tariff Pass Through: How Much of a Duty Increase Reaches Prices Country Diversification: Spreading Sourcing Risk Beyond One Origin De Minimis Rule Changes Explained: The End of Easy Low Value Imports Negotiating With Suppliers When Tariffs Rise: Splitting the Pain Fairly Tariff Exclusion Processes Explained: How Requests Work Landed Cost Updates When Tariffs Change: A Working Routine Section 301 Tariffs Explained: Lists, Exclusions, and Why Rates Differ by Product When Sourcing Shifts Save Tariff Costs and When They Just Move Them Announcement, Publication, Effective: The Three Tariff Dates That Matter Landed Cost Scenario Planning When Tariffs Will Not Sit Still Section 232 Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum: What Derivative Products Mean for Buyers Rules of Origin in Trade Agreements: Why Made Somewhere Is a Legal Test Antidumping and Countervailing Duties: Basics Every Importer Misses Supplier Diversification as Tariff Insurance Customs Ruling Letters as Early Tariff Signals Mid Year Tariff Budget Reforecasting When Rates Move Faster Than Plans Reciprocal Tariff Rates by Country: How to Track Them Without the Headlines Currency swings and tariff exposure: why the exchange rate changes your duty bill De minimis changes: preparing your store for lower duty-free thresholds Section 301 exclusions: how to request relief on China-origin goods

Section 301 tariffs add 25 percent or more to China-origin goods, but exclusions can remove them. How the exclusion process works, what makes a request persuasive, and how to manage your tariff position while you wait.