Streamline Customs Forms with Product Categories | How To

International shipments require customs forms. These documents include details such as content descriptions, harmonized codes, declared value, and country of manufacture. Customs forms help countries oversee the flow of goods in and out of their country. Learn more about customs forms.

Each item in the shipment must be listed separately on the customs form. Rather than manually updating details of the specific contents, ShippingEasy Product Categories can be used to streamline this process.

A Product Category is a tool that enables you to group similar products under a single description. Each Product Category has a unique set of attributes that can be used to automate shipping rules and track inventory.

Relating to customs forms, a Product Category can be used to define the following:

When an individual SKU is assigned to a Product Category, the category attributes are then applied to the customs form on orders containing that SKUs. This means that you don't need to maintain customs details for every SKU that you sell. Rather, you can have a smaller set of Product Categories that describe broader groups of products.

Simplify your customs forms:

How to use the Product Category description on customs forms

Once your Product Categories are set up, configure your International Shipments settings to use the category descriptions on your customs forms. This can greatly simplify the line item details on customs forms.

For example, if you sell phone cases, you may want to omit brand- or listing-specific details from the product descriptions on your customs forms.

Product Category Description	Product SKU Descriptions

To use the Product Category description on your customs forms:

1. Go to SETTINGS and select INTERNATIONAL SHIPMENTS.

   

2. Expand the Description menu and select Use product category description.

3. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page.