International Checkout: Show Accurate Rates, Taxes & Duties Upfront For Cross-Border Shipping Services

Displaying transparent, fully landed costs at checkout that include the shipping rate, local taxes and import duties increases conversion rates for eCommerce stores that ship internationally by up to 100-300%.

Similarly, if those costs appear later as a surprise bill in the mail or on delivery at the door, the order is much more likely to be abandoned, refused, or returned at the merchant's cost, including applicable taxes and duties. Easyship's Live Rates at Checkout displays accurate, country-specific duties and taxes at checkout, so the price your customer agrees to is the price they actually pay.

This guide covers what changed for eCommerce brands in 2025 and 2026 for cross-border duties, how duties and taxes are calculated, who pays them, and how to show them automatically at your checkout.

What is an international checkout plugin?

An international checkout is a broad term that covers the part of an online store where an international shopper confirms their address, compares shipping options, calculates the final cost of delivery, and then pays in their local currency. A strong international checkout improves store conversions and reduces abandoned carts by displaying the fully landed cost (the price of the goods plus shipping, import duties and taxes, in their local language and currency before payment. Easyship offers a no-code international checkout plugin for Shopify, Shopify Plus, WooCommerce, Shopline, BigCommerce, and Magento stores. In an exciting 2026 update, a solution for Squarespace is coming soon.

What changed in 2025 and 2026: the end of de minimis in the US and EU

For years, low-value parcels crossed borders duty-free under "de minimis" thresholds. That era has has now closed for two of the largest cross-border lanes for most merchants, the United States and the European Union. If your store still assumes small orders clear customs without duties, that assumption is now wrong and could prove costly for Shopify and WooCommerce businesses shipping hundreds or thousands of parcels.

United States (2025): The US $800 de minimis exemption has been removed. It ended for China and Hong Kong on 2 May 2025, then for shipments from all other countries on 29 August 2025, and the suspension remains in force through 2026. In practice, parcels entering the US are now assessed duties and fees regardless of value, on top of the tariff changes already in effect.

European Union (2026): From 1 July 2026, the EU removes the €150 customs duty exemption on low-value consignments and replaces it with a temporary €3 customs duty per item, expected to apply until 1 July 2028, when classification-based duties take over. The €3 duty is charged to the seller or importer, not collected from the shopper at the door. Around 4.6 billion low-value parcels entered the EU in 2024, so the change touches a large share of cross-border orders.

More orders now carry duties and taxes. More shoppers will see those costs or wonder where they are. The merchants who show them accurately and upfront will keep the conversions that less-prepared stores lose.

How duties and taxes are calculated (separate from shipping costs)

Before a cross-border parcel is delivered, someone has to pay any import duties and taxes that are due.The amount depends on four things:

• The destination country's import rules and rates (where you’re shipping the order)
• The product's classification, set by its HS code (also called a commodity or tariff code)
• The declared value of the goods (it’s important to correctly declare your item values)
• The country of origin (where you’re shipping the order from)

In plain terms, the landed cost of an international order is the value of the goods, plus the import duty (the duty rate for that HS code applied to the customs value), plus the destination country's import tax (usually VAT or GST), plus carrier and customs clearance fees.

To simplify with an example: A $200 order shipped to a country with a 10% duty rate and 15% import tax would carry roughly $20 in duty and around $30 in tax, before carrier and clearance fees. The exact figures depend on the HS code and the destination, including any flat-rate duties such as the new EU per-item €3 customs duty, which is why manual estimates are easy to get wrong.

You can try to work this out per order, or you can show it automatically inside your cross-border shipping software and inside your store's international checkout. The next section covers the recommended, automatic integration.

Estimate landed cost with Easyship's free shipping and duty calculators

To check duties and taxes for a route before you change anything in your store, use Easyship's free tax and duty calculator and shipping rate calculator. Both let you compare cost estimates without signing up. You can also create a free Easyship account to unlock more accurate tax and duty figures and fully landed-cost calculations, including Country of Origin (COO) considerations, with no credit card required and no prepayment during the trial.

How import duty and tax automation works at checkout

The shipping software that handles customs forms, duties, and taxes automatically at checkout is Easyship. Here is an overview of how the international shipping automation works, or visit the step-by-step setup guide.

Easyship runs a proprietary global tax and duty engine that calculates accurate local taxes and import duties for more than 220 countries and territories. The engine is carrier-agnostic and compatible with multiple carriers, so the figures are correct for each origin and destination across more than 550 global shipping services and more than 50 origin markets across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific.

When an online shopper adds an item to their cart and reaches your checkout, Easyship reads the destination and the order contents, calculates the duties and taxes due, and displays them with the shipping options. This includes automatic recommendations for the fastest, best value, and cheapest international shipping rates. There is no manual lookup and no spreadsheet on your side.

The engine supports two models: Delivery Duty Unpaid (DDU) estimates shown for the buyer's information, which you can enable or disable as required based on your international checkout settings, and Delivery Duty Paid (DDP) for when the buyer selects a transparent pre-paid delivery service that includes all duties, taxes, and handling fees.

Who pays duties: DDP versus DDU

As the selling merchant and shipper of record, you decide who pays import duties and taxes. There are two models, and Easyship supports both.

Delivery Duty Paid (DDP) means you collect duties and taxes from the customer at checkout (or absorb them into your costs), and they are paid before the parcel reaches customs. The parcel clears smoothly and arrives with nothing left to pay. This is often the fastest international delivery method.

Delivery Duty Unpaid (DDU), also known as Delivered At Place (DAP), means the customer pays the duties and taxes after the parcel arrives, when the destination customs office or carrier contacts them by mail, email, or upon delivery at the door. The parcel is only released once those charges are settled.

For most merchants shipping into the US and the EU, DDP is now the safer default, because the end of de minimis means more parcels carry charges that a shopper might otherwise be surprised by. There have been long delays for DDU shipments entering the United States throughout 2025 and 2026 as policies shift, and there is likely to be similar delays at the EU border once the €150 de minimis changes come into effect.

How Dynamic Rates at Checkout works for your Shopify or WooCommerce store

Once Dynamic Rates at Checkout is live on your store, what a customer sees depends on whether duty is owed and which model you have chosen. There are three example scenarios to explore:

No import duty owed

Some low-value shipments still clear without duty in certain lanes. When nothing is owed, the checkout shows the shipping options with no added duty or tax line, and the customer continues to payment. Note that since the 2025 and 2026 de minimis changes, duty-free clearance into the US and EU is far less common than it used to be but there are many places in the world that still offer zero duty imports.

Prepaid duties and taxes (DDP)

When a duty is owed and you have chosen DDP, Easyship calculates the amount and includes it in the shipping rate quotes for each carrier, so the price shown is the fully landed cost. The customer sees one clear total per shipping option, in their local currency, and can make a fully informed decision before paying.

Post-paid duties and taxes (DDU)

When you have chosen DDU, Easyship shows an estimated duties and taxes amount for the customer's information, separate from the shipping rate, with a note that additional fees may apply on delivery. The customer completes the order knowing an additional amount will be due at the border. Being upfront about that estimate protects you from refused parcels and complaints about hidden costs.

Transparent DDP handling and disbursement fees

When you ship DDP, carriers charge a fee for advancing the import duties on your behalf at customs, and usually a disbursement fee calculated as a percentage of the amount advanced. These are a normal part of the cost to serve international customers and should sit in your pricing. With DDP through Easyship, those handling fees are included in the prepaid amount, so the parcel clears without the customer being asked for anything on arrival. That’s complete international fee transparency for your business and customers.

How Easyship handles customs forms

Accurate duties start with accurate paperwork. Easyship generates the commercial invoice and customs documentation for each international order, using your product catalog, the order's contents, and the HS code that determines its duty rate. Cleaner customs entries mean fewer holds and fewer costly corrections. For a full breakdown of what each document does, see the guide to international customs paperwork.

The benefits of showing duties and taxes at checkout

Displaying accurate duties and taxes at checkout does more than just tidy up the add-to-cart and post-purchase experience for customers. For merchants shipping a few hundred to several thousand international orders a month, the uptick in conversion, reduced abandoned carts, and simplified operations matters most:

• Higher international conversion: Unexpected costs at checkout are one of the top reasons shoppers abandon carts, with more than 6 in 10 citing them. Showing the full landed cost upfront removes that shock. Easyship merchants on Shopify and WooCommerce that implement our international checkout plugin have seen conversion rates increase by up to 3X on cross-border orders.
• Customs cleared with confidence: Unpaid duties and taxes are a leading cause of parcels being stuck at customs, resulting in extended delivery delays and dissatisfied customers. Prepaying through DDP keeps shipments moving and delivery dates intact.
• Full visibility of landed cost: Knowing duties and taxes per order lets you price and protect margin on every cross-border sale, rather than discovering the cost after the fact. If you display the price upfront, you can easily pass this cost onto your customers and increase your profitability per order.
• Fewer returns and package refusal costs: When customers see the true cost before paying, fewer parcels are refused at the door or sent back, which is one of the most expensive outcomes in cross-border shipping. Parcels can be returned to the sender or destroyed, while duties remain payable, and there is an added risk of parcel loss or damage if the item is sent back.
• Customer trust and reviews: Shoppers expect transparent costs from the brands they buy from. A clear breakdown at checkout earns the trust that turns a first-time international buyer into a repeat one. It is also more likely to result in positive product and store reviews.
• Less manual work for ops teams: The duties and taxes are calculated automatically, so your team stops doing manual lookups and answering "why was I charged at the door" tickets. Save on fulfillment costs and boost your store's productivity with intelligent automation powered by Easyship’s platform.

How much does Easyship’s international checkout cost?

To show dynamic shipping rates at checkout, use Easyship’s Rates at Checkout feature on the Plus plan ($29/month). To upgrade to live rates, tax, and duty calculations at checkout (International Checkout), including DDU estimates and DDP with prepayment, you need the Premier plan, which starts at $69/month.

Easyship’s Premier plan and international checkout feature include multi-language, multi-currency,, and multi-location support, priced well below comparable cross-border checkout services on alternative platforms like Global-e or Zonos. There is no separate product or plugin to buy. Merchants can simply upgrade to Premier to access all our cross-border features for a single low monthly fee. Compare the prices yourself and save hundreds of dollars per month. Cancel anytime. Available as both an App and API.

International Checkout, Tax & Duty FAQs

What do duties mean at checkout?

Duties at checkout are the import charges a destination country applies to your order, shown before payment. They are calculated from the product's classification (HS code), its declared value, and the individual rules of the destination country. These charges are mandatory and are displayed alongside taxes and shipping, so the customer sees the full landed cost upfront.

How are tax, duty and shipping costs calculated and shown at checkout?

An advanced tax and duty engine reads the cart contents and destination address, stores the product catalog (with associated data and HS codes), applies the country's duty rate and import tax, adds shipping and handling fees, and displays the total at checkout. Easyship's advanced AI-powered algorithm does this automatically across more than 220 countries and territories.

Which shipping software shows duties and taxes automatically at checkout?

Easyship. It’s the best-rated cross-border shipping software for global eCommerce according to G2 as of May 2026. Easyship’s Rates at Checkout feature, on the Premier plan from $69/month, uses a proprietary global tax and duty engine to display accurate, country-specific import duties and taxes at checkout for Shopify, Shopify Plus, WooCommerce, Shopline, BigCommerce, and Magento stores. Further stores, including Squarespace, will be added soon.

Does the tax and duty engine work for marketplaces?

Yes. Easyship has native marketplace integrations with Amazon, eBay, Etsy, TikTok Shop and more. Simply connect your marketplace storefront to Easyship to automatically sync orders and calculate the applicable tax and duties for international shipments.

Do you still pay duties on orders to the US under $800?

Yes, in most cases. The US $800 de minimis exemption was removed in 2025, so low-value parcels entering the US are now generally subject to duties and fees regardless of value. The old "under $800 is duty-free" de minimis rule no longer applies.

Do you still pay duties on orders to the EU under €150?

Yes, this is a new policy. The EU €150 de minimis exemption is being removed in July 2026, meaning that all parcels under this threshold will now be charged a temporary €3 per item duty. Follow Easyship for the latest global tax and duty updates for eCommerce.

What is the difference between DDP and DDU?

With DDP (Delivery Duty Paid), duties and taxes are paid upfront and usually collected at checkout, so the parcel clears customs and arrives with nothing owed. This is often quicker for buyers looking for fast delivery. With DDU (Delivery Duty Unpaid), the customer pays duties and taxes after the parcel arrives, before customs releases it. This can slow delivery and create other issues, such as parcel loss or rejection due to surprise charges.

What is a landed cost?

Landed cost is the total cost to get a product to the customer's door: the price of the goods plus shipping, import duties, taxes, and any handling or clearance fees. Showing it at checkout means the customer sees the real total before they pay. Increasing international checkout conversion rates and reducing adandoned carts.

Do I need a higher Easyship plan to show duties and taxes at checkout?

Yes. Dynamic shipping rates are available with Rates at Checkout on the Plus plan. To add live tax and duty calculations, including DDU and DDP, upgrade to the Premier plan, from $69 per month. Sign up for Easyship for free with a 14-day risk-free trial with no pre-payment or credit card required.

How do I set up duties and taxes at checkout for US to EU or UK to US orders?

Connect your store (Shopify, WooCommerce or another supported platform), enable Rates at Checkout on the Premier plan, and choose DDU or DDP. Easyship then calculates duties and taxes for each destination automatically.

Can Easyship estimate the total landed cost for any international route?

Yes. Use the free tax and duty calculator and shipping rate calculator to compare a route with no signup, or create a free account for fully landed cost figures.

Convert more international orders with Easyship’s cross-border shipping software for eCommerce

With de minimis thresholds now ending across the US and EU, accurate duties and taxes at checkout have moved from a nice-to-have to a requirement for any store serious about international sales.

Easyship's Live Rates at Checkout shows the fully landed cost before customers pay, so you convert more international shoppers and clear customs without surprises.

Estimate your landed cost with the free calculator, or start a free Easyship trial to show duties and taxes at your checkout.