Choose your solution
Zonos simplifies international commerce and shipping with with solutions that allow businesses to easily sell internationally without extra hassle.
We currently offer 2 methods of U.S. duty payments (with no subscription required):
For businesses
Automatic billing with Zonos (recommended)
No subscription required
Sign up for a Zonos Verified Account to get started.
Every U.S.-bound shipment includes duties validation through a Declaration ID, and Canada Post can issue labels instantly. Your account now also includes free tools to collect the additional U.S. product data postal shipments must provide.
What you get
How it works
Five steps. Steps 1 through 4 are one-time setup. Step 5 is what happens on every shipment.
| Step 1
Create your Verified Account and add billing
Sign up with your Zonos Verified Account referral link, add your business information, and add a payment method. Once your billing is approved, your Zonos Account Key appears in Dashboard under Settings → Integrations. This step now also collects the business information used by the U.S. product data tools below.
| Step 2
NEW
Connect your Catalog once
You have two ways to do this:
Download Zonos Sync and connect your store. Your products and orders sync automatically, so Zonos always has the order and shipment data it needs to match against what Canada Post sends over—no extra step later. Etsy, eBay, and WooCommerce connections are available now, followed by Amazon, Shopify, BigCommerce, and more.
Either way, Zonos then knows what you sell, and can tell you which items need more information before they can be shipped to the U.S.
| Step 3
NEW
See which products need more data
Zonos checks every product in your Catalog and flags the ones that need attention, with the reason attached—melt and pour data for a steel product, FDA details for a cosmetic. Anything without a flag is good to go.
The checks cover both sides of U.S. entry: the agencies that control what is allowed in, such as the FDA and CPSC, and the tariff programs that decide what you pay, such as Section 232.
| Step 4
NEW
Add the details for the flagged products
There are two ways to fill the gaps, and both save what you provide to the product so you never answer twice.
Zonos Clarify Zonos AI tells you what each flagged product is actually required to provide, and infers likely answers from the product information you already have—so you review and correct instead of starting from scratch.
For requirements that paperwork satisfies, you can upload documents directly to your Catalog: certificates of origin, metal origin records for Section 232 metal goods (melt and pour for steel, smelt and cast for aluminum), and trade agreement documentation. Upload a document once and link it to every product it covers.
| Step 5
Ship and get billed as usual
Ship as you normally do—from Snap Ship, Shipping Manager, your API integration, or ShipStation. Canada Post issues your label once your Declaration ID confirms duties are covered, and Zonos bills your Account Key for the duty and processing/clearance fee once we receive the shipment data from the post.
| Also included
NEW
Zonos comes to you when a detail is missing
You do not have to keep the Catalog perfect on your own. Zonos checks each U.S.-bound shipment against what you have already provided, and if something is missing, emails you a link to the one question that needs answering. Your answer is saved to the product, so it is not asked again.
For individuals and small businesses
Manually pay duties per shipment using the Zonos Prepay app
No subscription required
Download the Zonos Prepay app, available on iOS, Android, and web.
The free Zonos Prepay app lets you create a customs declaration, calculate duties, and pay securely in CAD. You’ll receive a Declaration ID and QR code to present at the counter or in the Canada Post online shipping tools. Without a Declaration ID, your shipment cannot be accepted.
About the app:
Who is Zonos?
Zonos is the global leader in cross-border technology.
Zonos specializes in helping ecommerce and supply chain business grow internationally, making cross-border simple, transparent, and compliant. From APIs used by global carriers to ecommerce integrations that calculate and collect duties and taxes at checkout, Zonos has been helping businesses expand internationally for over a decade.
Why do I need to provide U.S. product data now when I haven't had to before?
Because the postal channel is being brought in line with commercial shipping. Importers using commercial carriers have supplied this kind of product detail for years, while postal parcels moved under a simpler process that did not ask for it.
Three changes closed that gap:
- Section 232 tariffs, which cover goods including steel, aluminum, and pharmaceuticals, began applying to postal shipments on July 24, 2026; for metal goods, the rate depends on where the metal was originally made.
- U.S. agency review, from bodies such as the FDA and CPSC, reaches postal shipments on October 22, 2026, and can start applying sooner.
- Free trade agreements became available to postal parcels under $2,500 USD for the first time, including CUSMA/USMCA, and claiming a rate requires supporting documentation.
Nothing about your products has changed. What changed is how much detail U.S. entry asks for when a parcel arrives by post.
Do I need a Verified Account just for these new data-collection tools?
Not necessarily. You can still ship to the U.S. via Canada Post using the Zonos Prepay app, which handles duty prepayment per shipment without a Verified Account. The Catalog, Zonos Clarify, and document upload tools described here are specific to the Verified Account (automatic billing) path—if you already use a Verified Account for billing, these tools are included in that same free account at no extra cost.
What does it cost to use Catalog, Clarify, and document upload?
Nothing. There is no subscription fee and no per-shipment charge for Catalog, Zonos Clarify, or uploading documents. They're included in the same free Verified Account you use for Canada Post billing.
How do I know which of my products need more data?
You do not have to work it out yourself. Once your products are in your Catalog (via Zonos Sync or a CSV upload), Zonos flags the ones that need attention, with the reason attached—melt and pour data, or FDA details.
This is the main reason to connect your Catalog early: until your products have been assessed, you will not know how much of your range the new requirements actually touch.
What happens if my product names don't match the goods description on my Canada Post shipment?
The shipment is handled as though you never provided the extra information, because nothing connects the shipped goods to the product you documented with Zonos.
The product name in your Catalog has to match the goods description you send with the customs data exactly—same wording, same abbreviations, no extra or missing characters. If you find a mismatch, correct the product name in your Catalog to match what your shipping system actually sends.
Can I connect my store instead of uploading a CSV?
Yes, using Zonos Sync. Etsy, eBay, and WooCommerce connections are available now, followed by Amazon, Shopify, BigCommerce, and more.
Zonos Sync pulls your products and orders into your Catalog automatically and keeps it current as you add and change products. CSV upload works for any platform, and it is the route to use if yours isn't connected yet.
Starting with a CSV is not wasted work either—products you upload keep their details if you connect a store later.
What is Zonos Clarify?
Zonos Clarify identifies the additional product-specific details a given item is required to provide, and asks you for them.
That is the gap it fills. Requirements sit with different U.S. agencies and vary product by product, so checking a whole catalog yourself is a slow job—which is why most shippers are supplying nothing, not because they are unwilling. Clarify works it out per product: a cosmetic draws FDA questions, a children's toy draws CPSC questions about materials and small parts.
It also infers the likely answers from the product information you already have, so you can move through a lot of products quickly—reviewing what Zonos proposes and correcting anything that needs it before you submit, instead of selecting every answer for every product. Every answer is saved to the product and reused.
What documents can I upload, and which trade agreements are supported?
You can upload certificates of origin, metal origin documentation for Section 232 metal goods (country of melt and pour for steel, country of smelt and cast for aluminum), and free trade agreement documentation.
Supported agreements at launch: CUSMA/USMCA, U.S.–Australia, U.S.–Korea, and U.S.–Israel.
Documents can be attached at the organization level or linked to specific products, so one certificate can cover everything it applies to.
What is a PGA, and why does it matter to a postal shipment?
A partner government agency (PGA) is a U.S. agency other than CBP with authority over what may be imported—the FDA for food, drugs, and cosmetics, the CPSC for consumer products, and others.
PGA review has applied to commercial shipments for years. As of October 22, 2026 it reaches the postal channel, which means a regulated product may need additional data before it can be entered.
What is country of melt and pour, or smelt and cast, and why is Zonos asking for it?
It is where the metal in a product was originally made, which is frequently not the country the finished product was made in. Steel uses the country of melt and pour. Aluminum uses the country of smelt and cast. Copper reporting begins July 30, 2026.
Reporting it is mandatory on goods subject to Section 232, and the cost of not having it is severe: aluminum declared with an unknown country of smelt or cast is charged 200%, the rate applied to Russian metal.
It is also worth knowing that Section 232 duty is charged on the full customs value of an article, not on the value of the metal inside it. So this data is not about shrinking the amount that gets taxed; it is about not being charged a punitive rate, and about qualifying for lower tiers where you can. Recording it once, per product, means every shipment carries the right answer.
Canada Post + Zonos
Starting August 29, 2025, a U.S. executive order requires duty to be paid on all shipments into the United States, and as of July 24, 2026, the duty prepayment threshold has risen from $800 to $2,500 USD—so if you're shipping parcels from Canada to the United States, you must prepay duties before your parcel crosses the border.
The U.S. is also starting to require more product-specific data on certain shipments—things like metal origin details for Section 232, FDA and CPSC information, and free trade agreement documentation. To support small businesses and merchants, Canada Post has partnered with Zonos® to help you meet both the duty prepayment requirement and these newer data requirements, whether you ship occasionally or at scale.
See how we help both businesses and individuals