Dive Brief:
- FedEx has launched a tool enabling merchants to show a duty and tax guarantee to customers during checkout, combating instances of surprise import costs charged later on, according to a news release Wednesday.
- The tool, called FedEx Duty and Tax, is available as an app on Shopify for $99 a month. FedEx will cover instances of duties and taxes being higher than the amount shown at checkout, but no refunds will be issued if the actual duties and taxes are lower, per the app's Shopify page. The amount charged includes a service fee.
- The app is one piece of a larger suite of digital tools and capabilities FedEx announced called Global Trade Navigator. The collection aims to help shippers at each stage of international shipping, from preparing customs documents for upcoming shipments to tracking in-transit packages and reviewing post-delivery data, per FedEx's website.
Dive Insight:
As shippers navigate changes to tariff rates and customs regulations, unexpected shipping charges for products moving across borders have become a frequent thorn in shoppers' sides, according to FedEx. Sixty-eight percent of small- and medium-sized businesses see customers surprised by additional duties, taxes or fees upon delivery at least some of the time, per an April poll conducted as part of the 2026 FedEx Small Business Trade Index.
Other companies are also looking to help shippers improve import fee transparency. Rival UPS launched a similar service last year called UPS Global Checkout, which enables shoppers to see a guaranteed total landed cost before completing the purchase. Cross-border technology platform Zonos also has a Duty and Tax app on Shopify that calculates duties in checkout and pays any customs billing discrepancies.
Compared to competitors, FedEx Duty and Tax is "at parity or better" in terms of cost transparency at checkout, said Jason Brenner, FedEx's SVP of digital portfolio, in an interview with Supply Chain Dive. While he didn't offer specifics, Brenner added that there would be "more to come" in terms of the app's availability beyond Shopify.
"All of this is in the spirit of providing a better customer experience, reducing friction at those cross-border moments, and improving the recipient experience," he said.
FedEx isn't only tackling surprise international shipping charges. Beyond the Duty and Tax app, other tools featured in the logistics giant's Global Trade Navigator include:
- FedEx Trade Planner, which allows businesses to enter a product description, URL or image to find the relevant Harmonized System codes, estimate duties, taxes, and fees and see recommended customs documents through FedEx's website.
- New capabilities in FedEx Ship Manager enabling customers to review Harmonized System code classifications, customs values and country of manufacture details for products.
- Global Trade APIs, or Application Programming Interfaces. These include APIs to look up Harmonized System codes, estimate duties and taxes and source regulatory compliance requirements.
Shippers that can benefit from the mix of tools range from smaller businesses starting to ship internationally to enterprises integrating trade information into their workflows, per FedEx’s news release. The carrier has already been testing the capabilities with a small percentage of its customers prior to the announcement, Brenner said.
"The theme is we're effectively making international shipping as easy as domestic shipping, and we're getting a lot of wows," Brenner said of the suite's reception among shippers.
