Field guide No. 08 · Checkout
Cross-border tariff & duty automation
AI interprets. Rules calculate. The model never invents the rate.
Classification assist · rules engine · landed cost at checkout
Cross-border tariff & duty automation
Classification assist · rules engine · landed cost at checkout
The problem
Selling internationally is hard: per-country duties, VAT and GST, customs rules, restricted items and paperwork. Surprise landed costs cause refused deliveries and angry customers, so many merchants avoid international markets altogether.
The approach
Split the problem in two. AI reads messy product data and suggests HS codes, and reads regulation changes. A deterministic rules engine calculates duties and taxes from official tables, so every number is explainable and auditable.
How it works
Cross-border automation shows real-time landed cost at checkout, classifies products to HS codes, checks restricted items and generates customs documents. AI handles the fuzzy work of reading product data and regulations; a rules engine does the exact, auditable calculation from official tables.
Watch-outs
- Tariff regimes are changing fast. Monitor the regulatory sources as well as the rates.
- Classification errors carry penalties. Keep a human sign-off for low-confidence codes.
- Never let a language model output a duty rate directly.
Accelerators and stack
- Duty, tax and HS classification: Zonos, Avalara, TariffLens, GingerControl, Harmonize
- Cross-border platforms: Global-e, Passport, Flow, Borderfree (now part of Global-e)
What it takes to start
Catalog with materials and origin, target markets and current shipping data. A landed-cost pilot for one corridor in six to eight weeks.
Growth from new markets, plus fewer refused deliveries and support tickets.
In short
Questions
Why not let AI calculate the duty?
Because the answer must be exact and auditable. AI is good at interpreting; rules are good at arithmetic.
Which market should we open first?
The one where your landed cost is most competitive and returns are simplest. The pilot sizes that.
Next step
Bring one number you want to move.
Thirty minutes with the founder. You'll leave with a straight answer on whether AI is the right tool for it.
AI is… the Future.