International orders

International orders have additional requirements compared to domestic orders, including:

Customs information: details like tariff codes, country of origin, and customs declaration information
Duties and taxes: depending on the destination country and the value of the goods, you might need to include information about duties and taxes
Recipient identification: some countries require the recipient’s identification number for customs clearance, such as a passport or national ID number

For more information about requirements for international shipping, see the International shipping article on the Shippit help centre.

Customs information

It’s important to declare customs information on your international orders. You can declare information like harmonised system (HS) codes, and country of origin in your order payload.

If you don’t include an HS code in your payload, Shippit attempts to determine the correct HS code to use based on your product description. If Shippit can’t determine an HS code with high enough accuracy, then it falls back to the default HS code you have set in your Shippit account. For more information about writing accurate product descriptions, see the product descriptions article on the Shippit help centre.

Export reason

Set the reason for exporting dutiable goods using the customs_clearance_attributes.export_reason field. The information here can affect how your shipment clears customs, and the tax imposed on your shipment. Valid options for the export_reason field are:

Export reason	Description
`Permanent`	Goods are being exported permanently and will not return to the origin country
`Temporary`	Goods are exported for a limited period and will return to the origin country
`Return For Repair`	Goods are being returned to the origin country for repair
`Used Exhibition Goods To Origin`	Exhibition goods are being returned to the origin country after use
`Intercompany Use`	Goods are being shipped between branches or subsidiaries of the same company
`Commercial Purpose Or Sale`	Goods are being exported for commercial purposes or sale
`Personal Belongings or Personal Use`	Goods are for personal use or are personal belongings
`Sample`	Goods are being exported as samples, not for sale
`Gift`	Goods are being exported as a gift
`Return To Origin`	Goods are being returned to the country of origin
`Warranty Replacement`	Goods are being exported as a replacement under warranty
`Diplomatic Goods`	Goods are for diplomatic use and may be exempt from certain duties or taxes
`Defence Material`	Goods are classified as defence material and may be subject to special regulations

If you are shipping goods to the United States of America, you also need to include a MID code for US Customs and Border Control to provide import clearance.

For an example of an international order payload, see the international examples section.

Incoterms

When you ship internationally, you can choose to pay the duties and taxes required, or have the package receiver pay them when they enter the destination country.

If the merchant is responsible for duties and taxes, ship your goods with a DDP (delivered duty paid) incoterm. If the package receiver is responsible for duties and taxes, ship your goods with a DAP (delivered at place) or DDU (delivered duty unpaid) incoterm.

Set the required incoterm for the order using the customs_clearance_attributes.incoterm field. Valid options for the incoterm field are:

Incoterm	Full Name	Description
`DDU`	Delivered Duty Unpaid	Receiver pays duties and taxes upon arrival
`DDP`	Delivered Duty Paid	Sender pays all duties and taxes before delivery
`EXW`	Ex Works	Buyer is responsible for all transport and customs from seller’s premises
`FCA`	Free Carrier	Seller delivers goods to a carrier or another person nominated by the buyer
`CPT`	Carriage Paid To	Seller pays carriage to the named destination, risk transfers to buyer upon handing to carrier
`CFR`	Cost and Freight	Seller pays costs and freight to destination port, risk transfers at shipment
`CIP`	Carriage and Insurance Paid To	Seller pays carriage and insurance to destination, risk transfers to buyer upon handing to carrier
`CIF`	Cost, Insurance and Freight	Seller pays costs, insurance, and freight to destination port, risk transfers at shipment
`DAF`	Delivered At Frontier	Seller delivers goods to a named border point before customs border
`DAT`	Delivered At Terminal	Seller delivers goods unloaded at a named terminal
`DAP`	Delivered At Place	Seller delivers goods ready for unloading at the named place, buyer pays duties and taxes
`DPU`	Delivered at Place Unloaded	Seller delivers goods unloaded at the named place
`DES`	Delivered Ex Ship	Seller delivers goods on board the ship at the destination port
`DEQ`	Delivered Ex Quay	Seller delivers goods on the quay at the destination port
`FAS`	Free Alongside Ship	Seller delivers goods alongside the vessel at the port of shipment
`FOB`	Free On Board	Seller delivers goods on board the vessel at the port of shipment

For more information about the different incoterms, see the incoterms article on the Shippit help centre.

Tax ID

Set the required tax ID for the order using customs_clearance_attributes.tax_id_type. Valid options for the tax ID field are:

Tax ID	Description	Notes
`EORI`	Economic Operators Registration and Identification number	Used in the EU for customs processes
`IOSS`	Import one-stop shop	EU VAT identification for ecommerce imports
`LVG`	Low value goods	Tax ID for low value imports, varies by country
`OSR`	One stop registration	Tax scheme for EU VAT compliance
`VOEC`	VAT on ecommerce	Norwegian VAT scheme for low value goods
`VAT/GST`	Value Added Tax or Goods and Services Tax	General tax ID for VAT or GST
`FTZ`	Free Trade Zone	Identification for goods in free trade zones
`DAN`	Deferment account number	Used for customs duty deferment
`TAN`	Tax account number	General tax identification number
`DTF`	Duty tax free	Identification for duty/tax free shipments
`EIN`	Employer Identification Number	US federal tax ID for businesses
`SSN`	Social Security Number	US individual tax ID
`DUN`	Dun & Bradstreet Number	Business identifier, sometimes used for customs
`FED`	Federal tax ID	US federal tax identification number
`STA`	State tax ID	US state-level tax identification number
`CNP`	Codice Numerico Personale	Italian personal tax code
`GBVAT`	United Kingdom VAT number
`NZ IRD`	New Zealand Inland Revenue Department number	NZ tax ID

Global-e

Global‑e is an end-to-end cross-border platform that handles checkout, payments, duties, taxes, shipping, and returns. This allows you to provide a localised shopping experience for your customers and manage your global operations from one dashboard.

You can allocate orders to Global‑e in much the same way as you would any other international carrier, but there are some important differences. International orders that are allocated to Global‑e have the carrier booked by Global‑e not Shippit. This means that Shippit receives the order, it uses a custom workflow that bypasses the usual quoting and carrier selection process.

It’s important that the order as it exists in Shippit matches exactly the way it exists in Global‑e. After it’s been created, you can’t modify the order in Shippit in any way. If the order changes in one system, without changing in the order, if can result in errors, or can create problems with the international shipment. If you experience errors, double check that the SKU field in the order payload matches exactly.

To prevent errors, when you create a Global‑e order, make sure that your order payload includes a carrier allocation of either GlobalE or GlobalEExpress. Additionally, you need to make sure that you have the correct order ID. The order ID can be either the Global‑e ID, or the merchant order ID. If you are using Shopify for checkout, use the merchant order ID in your order payload.

If you are using your own Global-e account (BYO), you also need to include the partner_platform and partner_platform_id fields in your order payload. For more information, see the Landed cost providers section. Note that the partner_platform field does not replace the GlobalE or GlobalEExpress carrier allocation, both are required. The carrier allocation controls how Shippit routes and books the order, while the partner_platform field identifies the landed cost provider for billing purposes.

NOTE: It’s not possible to book Global‑e orders through the Shippit web interface. All Global‑e orders must be booked using the API.

For more information about the features and benefits of using Global‑e for your international shipping, see the Global‑e article on the Shippit Help Centre.

Landed cost providers

If you use your own Zonos or Global-e account as a BYO account, you need to identify the platform in your order payload. This ensures that Shippit correctly attributes the landed cost calculations and applies the correct billing logic for duties and taxes. When an order includes partner_platform, Shippit’s billing behaviour changes: Shippit provides the shipping quote and displays the estimated duties and taxes, but does not invoice you for the duties and taxes. These are handled directly between you and your landed cost provider (either Zonos or Global-e).

Partner identification fields

When creating an international order for a BYO integration, include the following fields in your POST /orders payload:

Field	Type	Required	Description
`partner_platform`	string	Yes (for BYO)	The name of the landed cost provider. Supported values: `zonos`, `global-e`.
`partner_platform_id`	string	Yes (for BYO)	The unique order reference generated by the partner platform. For example, the Zonos Order ID.

Product attributes for BYO orders

To ensure accurate customs documentation and avoid delays, provide the following product-level attributes for every item in the items array. These fields are documented in the Customs information section above, but are especially important for BYO orders because mismatches between your landed cost provider’s data and the data in your Shippit order can cause classification errors or customs holds.

Field	Type	Required
`retail_price`	number	The retail price of the item.
`cost_price`	number	The wholesale or cost value of the item. Required if your product prices include duties and taxes (inclusive pricing) and you need to declare a different value at customs.
`tariff_codes`	string	The HS code for the item. While Shippit can auto-classify items, providing the exact code from your landed cost provider prevents classification mismatches.
`origin_country_code`	string	The 2-character ISO country code (e.g., AU, US) for where the product was manufactured.
`mid_code`	string	Mandatory for all shipments to the United States. Required for US Customs and Border Control clearance.

Differences between Zonos and Global-e

While both providers use the same partner_platform field, there are key differences in how they work with Shippit:

Zonos is carrier-agnostic: You choose your carrier through Shippit’s standard quoting and allocation process. Zonos handles the landed cost calculation and duty/tax billing separately.
Global-e manages carrier selection: Orders allocated to Global-e bypass Shippit’s quoting and carrier selection workflow. You must still include a carrier allocation of GlobalE or GlobalEExpress in your order payload, in addition to the partner_platform field.

For more information, see the Global-e section.

Cash on delivery

COD services are available for merchants with store addresses in Singapore and Malaysia, for these carriers:

Aramex Singapore and Malaysia
DHL
Ninja Van

To mark an order as being COD, pass these parameters to the Order endpoint:

cash_on_delivery_amount: used by the carrier to indicate the amount they need to collect on delivery
courier_allocation: specifies which carrier is handling the order. This must be a carrier that supports COD. You can skip this field if you include courier_type.
courier_type: specifies the preferred shipping service class for an order. The available options are standard or express. You can skip this field if you include courier_allocation.

Note that COD orders ignore authority to leave (ATL) requests. Someone must be present at the delivery address to pay for the delivery.

For more information on COD orders, see the Understanding cash on delivery article on the Shippit Help Centre.