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WooCommerce customs data for FedEx shipments

Customs data automation checks each international order against a product sheet of commodity codes, customs descriptions and countries of origin. It attaches those details to the FedEx shipment and holds any order with missing information for a person to complete.

An example of how the studio would build it. No live services are connected.

From an overseas order to a shipment with complete customs details.

  1. Step 01

    Order received

    WooCommerce reports a new paid order with a delivery address outside the UK.

  2. Step 02

    Products looked up

    Read each item’s commodity code, customs description, country of origin and value from a Google Sheet.

  3. Step 03

    Checks run

    Check every item has complete data, flag restricted goods and confirm whether you or the recipient pays duties and taxes.

  4. Step 04

    Shipment created

    Create the FedEx shipment with the customs details attached, using electronic trade documents where available.

  5. Step 05

    Gaps held

    Send any order with missing or uncertain data to a person before a label is made.

The result

International parcels leave with complete paperwork.

No label is created while any item lacks a commodity code, description or country of origin. Customs values come from what the customer actually paid, never from a figure chosen to lower duty.

Before we connect it.

Where this is useful

Useful for UK makers and online shops that sell to the EU, the US and beyond, where customs details are typed in by hand for each parcel. A sensible first version covers your best-selling products with checked commodity codes, with every other item routed to a person.

What we need to connect

  1. 01WooCommerce access to orders, products and shipping addresses.
  2. 02A Google Sheet with each product’s commodity code, customs description, country of origin and any restrictions, checked by someone who knows your goods.
  3. 03A FedEx account with API access, your EORI number and a decision on whether you or the customer pays duties and taxes.

What needs careful handling

Orders to Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man each have their own arrangements, so they follow a rule you agree rather than being treated as ordinary UK or overseas orders. EU deliveries may have import VAT collected at checkout or paid by the customer on delivery, and the shipment needs to say which. Commodity codes are the exporter’s responsibility and easy to get wrong, so the sheet is checked by a person and the automation never guesses a code.

Questions people ask.

Can it work out commodity codes for me?

It can point you to likely codes, but the final choice is yours, because the exporter is responsible for getting them right. The UK government’s online trade tariff is the usual place to check them.

Why FedEx rather than Royal Mail?

The approach works with any carrier that accepts customs data through its API, including Royal Mail. FedEx suits heavier or time-sensitive international parcels, and rules can send each order to whichever carrier fits it.

Order paid → Order fulfilled
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