Dashboard Lite for business accounts

Business accounts provide access to core Dashboard Lite tools for duty cost estimation. Your postal operator handles order processing, shipment tracking, and billing, while Zonos works with your postal operator to remit collected duties to the U.S. Customs and Border Control (CBP).

Account overview 

• Streamlined toolset: Access to Item Quoter
• No payment method required: Your postal operator handles all billing and payments
• U.S. coverage: Calculate duty rates for U.S.-bound shipments based on your products

Available tools & features 

• Item Quoter: AI-powered U.S. commercial and postal duty calculations and Harmonized System (HS) code classifications
• Settings: Account configuration and team management

Not included: Orders, shipments, and invoices (handled by your postal operator)

Item Quoter 

Item Quoter uses AI-powered technology to generate accurate HS codes for your products. This tool helps you understand duty implications and costs before shipping, enabling better pricing and customer communication.

For online businesses without live duty calculation in checkout, Item Quoter provides duty rates to help determine appropriate product pricing strategies to account for international duties.

How to use Item Quoter:

1. Go to Item Quoter
2. Enter product information
   • Describe your item clearly
   • For duty cost calculations:
     • Select the country of origin (where manufactured)
     • Enter the product price
   • To improve accuracy: Click (+) to add image URL, category, and/or material
3. Select destination
   • Choose destination country (required for duty calculation)
   • Leave blank for universal 6-digit HS code
4. Generate duty rates
   • Click Get result
   • Review results including:
     • HS code (6–14 digits depending on country)
     • Confidence score
     • Duty rate and calculated duty amount

Understanding duty calculations

When you provide product price and country of origin, Item Quoter delivers comprehensive duty information including total duty costs and detailed breakdowns of individual rates that apply to your product. If your item is excluded from duties, the result will show "Duty exempt".

With the new Executive Order establishing different pricing structures for postal shipments, Item Quoter displays both commercial and postal-specific duty rates.

Use cases for business accounts

• Customer communication: Provide accurate U.S.duty estimates to customers
• Pricing strategy: Understand U.S.duty costs to adjust product pricing appropriately
• Compliance preparation: Ensure accurate HTS codes for customs documentation

Business account benefits 

As a business account user, your postal operator handles operational aspects while you focus on planning:

You handle: Product duty and HS classification, cost planning, and preparation

Your postal operator handles: Order processing, shipment tracking, billing, customer service, and customs clearance

Benefits: Simplified operations, reduced complexity, global reach through established networks, cost efficiency, and regulatory compliance management

Settings & account management 

Regardless of your integration type, you will have access to the following settings:

• General settings like business name and address
• Integrations, including the ability to set up a new integration
• Team management

To set up a new integration:

1. Go to Dashboard → Settings → Integrations
2. Click Connect an account
3. Create new account and select partner organization (e.g., Canada Post, Australia Post)

Once created, toggle between accounts using the Dashboard store switcher by clicking your store icon (top left) and selecting your store or clicking Switch store to search.

Note: When you link multiple accounts, they will share a single payment method. You cannot have different payment methods for each linked account.

Getting started with business accounts 

1. Set up your account through your postal operator: Complete basic profile information and account setup. You can also visit the Zonos website and hover over Partners to see if your postal operator is listed.
2. Start quoting products: Use Item Quoter to understand duty implications.