International shipments and the customs form
Fill the customs form on an international shipment, choose who pays duties, and print the invoice that travels with the box.
Updated October 5, 2026
When a shipment leaves its ship-from country, the order page adds a Customs forms card to that shipment. Parcello sends what you enter to the carrier with the label and turns it into a printable invoice.
Before you start
- A shipment is international when the ship-from location’s country (on the Locations page) differs from the delivery country.
- Optional: on the Locations page, fill the location’s Tax ID (EIN). It prints as the exporter’s tax ID on invoices and goes to the carrier.
- Pick a carrier that ships internationally: UPS, FedEx or Shippo. Estes and FedEx Freight are only offered when both addresses are in the United States.
Fill the customs form
- Open the order and expand the shipment.
- Check the rows under Commodities. Until you save anything, the rows are prefilled from the items packed in this shipment: description, quantity, unit value and weight. The note under the rows reads “Rows are prefilled from the items in this shipment. Add the HS code and country of origin for each.”
- Fill HS code and Country of mfg on every row. Parcello can’t know these, so they start blank.
- Choose the Invoice type, the Reason for export and who pays Duties and taxes.
- Check the Customs contact and, for EU or UK business buyers, add the Importer tax ID (optional).
- Click Create Labels as usual.
The form saves as you edit (text fields when you leave them). Create Labels stays disabled until every row has a description, quantity, unit value, HS code, country of origin and weight.
Commodity rows
Each row is one item or SKU. Use Add commodity row and Remove to change the list.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Description | What the item is, in plain words. Prefilled with the product and variant title. |
| Qty | Units of this item in the shipment. |
| HS code | The 6 to 10 digit Harmonized System code. Required. Dots are fine: UPS and FedEx receive digits only. |
| Country of mfg | The two-letter country where the item was made (US, CA, MX, CN). Required. |
| Unit value | Value of one unit. Prefilled with the order’s line price. Small values such as 0.03 are fine: UPS receives up to six decimals. |
| Currency | USD, CAD, EUR, GBP or MXN. The first row’s currency is used for the invoice totals, so keep all rows in one currency. |
| Weight each (lbs) | Weight of one unit. Prefilled from your box settings, else Shopify’s product weight. |
For a destination in the EU, each row also has three product identifier fields. See EU product identifiers.
The prefill counts a product packed in three boxes once, and 4 units packed 2 + 2 as 4. If one product’s boxes are split across two shipments, check the quantity.
Invoice type and reason for export
Choose Commercial Invoice for sales, or Pro forma Invoice for non-commercial shipments such as samples, gifts, returns or warranty replacements (marked as not for payment).
Reason for export has seven choices: Sale, Not sold, Gift, Sample, Return, Repair and Personal effects. The reason prints on the invoice and goes to the carrier.
Sold to (customs contact)
The sold-to party is the buyer or importer printed on the invoice. Customs and brokers contact it with clearance questions. It is prefilled from the delivery address exactly as the carrier receives it.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Company / name | Company, or the person’s name. Up to 35 characters. |
| Contact person | Who to ask. Up to 35 characters. |
| Phone | Digits only. Blank uses your location’s phone. |
| Email (optional) | Prefilled from the address or the order’s customer email. |
Edit these when another company buys or imports the goods. If the sold-to party isn’t at the delivery address, tick The sold-to party has a different address and enter its address: UPS receives it as the sold-to, FedEx as the importer of record, and Parcello’s invoice prints a Sold to / Importer block next to the consignee. Reset to delivery address brings back the prefilled values.
Duties and clearance
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Duties and taxes | Billed to the recipient (DAP) (the default) or Billed to my carrier account (DDP). The help text shows the terms of sale printed on the invoice. |
| Importer tax ID (optional) | The EORI or VAT number of the business receiving the goods. EU and UK customs entries need one; without it the carrier may hold the shipment and ask for it. Leave it blank for private individuals. |
| Recipient’s FedEx account for duties (optional) | FedEx shipments with duties billed to the recipient only. Bills duties and taxes to the recipient’s FedEx account instead of FedEx collecting them before delivery. |
What each carrier receives
| Carrier | Sent with the label |
|---|---|
| UPS | Commodity rows, invoice, reason for export, terms of sale, the customs contact as sold-to party, your EIN and the importer tax ID, and the USMCA certificate when added. With DDP, duties and taxes are billed to your UPS account. |
| FedEx | Commodity rows, reason for export, terms of sale, duties billing, your EIN and the importer tax ID, and the EU product identifiers. FedEx also generates its own commercial invoice (and USMCA certificate when added) and transmits it electronically. An edited customs contact is sent as the importer. |
| Shippo | Commodity rows, reason for export, terms of sale (DAP or DDP) and your EIN. The importer tax ID is not sent. Shippo returns a commercial invoice you can download. |
USPS through Shippo can’t ship an international shipment with more than one box. If you try, you’ll see: “USPS can’t ship an international shipment with more than one box: each box would need its own customs form. Pick a UPS, FedEx or DHL Express service instead.”
Documents after the label
Once the label exists, a Documents card appears on the shipment with a download button for each document:
- Download Commercial Invoice or Download Pro forma Invoice: Parcello’s invoice, with the incoterm, both tax IDs and the reason for export.
- Download USMCA Certificate of Origin: when you added one.
- Download Carrier-side invoice copy: when the carrier returned its own invoice (FedEx, Shippo).
The card also shows a reminder: “International shipment — attach the commercial invoice. Print the invoice below and attach it to the outside of the package in a document pouch. Customs may hold or return shipments without an attached invoice.”
Notes and limits
- The form locks when the label is created. The header shows Locked after label creation. To change anything, void the label, edit, and create a new one.
- When you void a label, the customs documents are hidden: the carrier’s electronic copy was voided too, so the paper copies are no longer valid.
- Return labels are offered for domestic shipments only.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| “Complete the customs form below before creating labels for this international shipment. It also generates the printable commercial invoice.” | A row is missing a field, usually the HS code or the country of origin | Fill every field on every row. |
| “Add the product identifiers (M-PID, NS-PID and S-PID) to every customs row below. EU customs needs them on shipments to consumers.” | EU destination with no importer tax ID | Fill the three identifiers, or add the importer’s tax ID for a business buyer. |
| “Customs data is locked after label creation. Void the labels to change.” | You edited after the label was created | Void the label, edit the form, create a new label. |