Landed Cost Guide

Overview

Landed cost is the total amount of duties, taxes, and fees associated with an international shipment.

The EasyPost Landed Cost feature uses Zonos to calculate these costs before shipment purchase. For supported carrier services, landed cost calculations may also include a guarantee that locks in the quoted duties, taxes, and fees.

Landed cost is intended for merchants, marketplaces, and logistics platforms shipping internationally that need greater visibility into customs-related costs before purchasing a shipment.

Common use cases include:

Cross-border ecommerce checkout
International order confirmation
Duty and tax estimation before label purchase
Prepaid duties and taxes for Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) shipments

Note: Landed cost calculations are available only for international shipments.

Prerequisites

To enable Landed Cost functionality:

Accept the applicable Zonos Terms of Service.
Configure an eligible BYOCA carrier account with Zonos credentials.

Contact an EasyPost account representative or contact our Support team for access to Landed Cost.

Landed Cost Terminology

Term	Description
Landed cost	Total duties, taxes, and fees associated with an international shipment.
Duties	Government-imposed charges on imported goods based on factors such as product classification, origin, destination, and applicable trade agreements.
Taxes	VAT, GST, or other taxes applied by the destination country.
Fees	Additional customs processing or handling charges associated with an international shipment.
Guarantee	A commitment from Zonos that the quoted landed cost amount is locked in for an eligible shipment.
DDP	Delivered Duty Paid. Duties, taxes, and fees are paid by the shipper before delivery and are commonly included in checkout pricing. Landed cost guarantees are more commonly available for DDP-enabled services.
DDU	Delivered Duty Unpaid. Duties, taxes, and fees are paid by the recipient upon delivery.

How Landed Cost Works

Landed Cost can be used through the standard Shipment workflow.

Shipment Workflow

For eligible international shipments, EasyPost can calculate landed cost while retrieving carrier rates.

Create an international Shipment with customs information.
EasyPost retrieves Rates from eligible carrier accounts.
Supported Rates may include landed cost information.
Select a Rate containing the desired landed cost calculation.
Purchase the Shipment.
EasyPost activates the associated landed cost guarantee before purchasing the carrier label.
The purchased Shipment response includes landed cost information for the selected Rate.

If a Shipment does not meet Landed Cost eligibility requirements, Shipment creation and rating can still succeed. Landed cost information is omitted from ineligible Rates.

Landed Cost is currently returned during initial Shipment creation and on the selected Rate after purchase.

CustomsInfo

International shipments require CustomsInfo to calculate landed costs.

CustomsInfo should include accurate product descriptions, values, quantities, origin countries, and applicable Harmonized System (HS) tariff numbers.

Each CustomsItem valued over $20 USD requires an hs_tariff_number.

Incomplete or inaccurate CustomsInfo may prevent landed cost calculation or guarantee activation.

Landed Cost Guarantees

Creating a landed cost quote does not automatically activate a guarantee.

For supported carrier services, a quote may include guarantee information. In the standard Shipment workflow, EasyPost activates the guarantee during shipment purchase before purchasing the carrier label.

Once activated, Zonos honors the landed cost calculation from the time of quote through customs clearance for up to 90 days.

Guarantee availability varies by carrier and service level and is more commonly available for DDP-enabled services.

Unsupported carrier services may still return landed cost calculations without a guarantee.

Quote Lifecycle

Landed cost quotes are valid for a limited activation window.

Expired quotes cannot be activated.
Quotes should be recreated when shipment details change.
Quotes should be recreated when CustomsInfo changes.
Quotes should be recreated when shipping costs change.

The quote response includes expiration information when a guarantee is available.

Supported Carriers

The current Landed Cost workflow supports eligible BYOCA accounts for:

FedEx
UPS
DHL Express

Supported service levels vary by carrier.

Canada Post

Canada Post uses a separate Zonos integration for landed cost calculation. Zonos credentials configured on the Canada Post carrier account are used during Canada Post rating rather than through the EasyPost Landed Cost Service.

Canada Post Landed Cost is currently available through a separate configuration. For setup instructions, see the Canada Post Landed Cost with Zonos Help Center article.

Limitations

Landed Cost is available only for international shipments.
BYOCA carrier accounts are required for the Landed Cost Service workflow.
Landed cost information is returned during initial Shipment creation and is not refreshed automatically during re-rating.
One-Call Buy does not currently activate Landed Cost.
Guarantee availability depends on carrier and service level.
Canada Post uses a separate Landed Cost integration.