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Third party billing customs

Third-party billing for customs duties Shipping outside the EU and need a different party to pay duties and taxes? With third-party billing, you can now route customs fees to a third party — not the sender, not the receiver — directly when booking your shipment.

When you ship internationally with third-party billing, you can choose to bill those fees to a separate party entirely, as long as you provide that party's carrier account number at the time of booking.

This option is available for FedEx and UPS shipments.

How it works

  1. When booking an international shipment, select "Third-party billing" as the customs payment option.
  2. Choose the carrier (FedEx or UPS currently available).
  3. Enter the third party's carrier account number in the field provided.
  4. Complete the rest of your booking as usual.

Once the shipment clears customs, the carrier invoices the duties and taxes directly to the third-party account holder.

What you need before booking

  • The third party's carrier account number for the carrier you're shipping with (FedEx or UPS).
  • The third party's zipcode and country code registered to that account.
  • A clear agreement with the third party that they will accept the charges.

Without a valid carrier account number, the booking cannot be completed — this number is mandatory for the shipment to be created.

When is third-party billing useful?

Third-party billing can be useful when transportation charges and/or import duties and taxes should be invoiced to a carrier account that belongs to a party other than the sender or receiver. This requires the third party’s valid FedEx or UPS account details and does not replace the Incoterms or customs responsibility stated on the commercial invoice.

Things to keep in mind

  • The account number must belong to an active FedEx or UPS account.
  • The third party should be informed in advance — carriers may contact them to confirm acceptance of charges.
  • If the third party rejects the charges, liability falls back to the sender.
  • Third-party billing applies only to customs duties and import taxes. Freight charges are still billed through as normal.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Q: Which carriers offer third-party billing via Sendify?
    • A: Currently only FedEx and UPS.
  • Q: Can I change the billing party after booking?
    • A: No — the third-party account must be set at the time of booking. If you need to change it, either cancel the shipment and book it again, or contact our Support team if cancelling is no longer possible.
  • Q: Can it be used with all Incoterms?
    • A: No — DAP is not supported in combination with third-party billing.

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