{"id":40493,"date":"2025-08-20T16:49:28","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T21:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shipnerd.net\/support\/?page_id=40493"},"modified":"2025-08-20T16:54:48","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T21:54:48","slug":"brokerage-101-understanding-brokerage-fees","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.shipnerd.net\/support\/import-export-shipping\/brokerage-101-understanding-brokerage-fees\/","title":{"rendered":"Brokerage 101: Understanding Brokerage Fees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Support Home<\/a> > Import & Export Shipping<\/a> ><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brokerage 101: Understanding Brokerage Fees<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

What is Brokerage?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When goods cross international borders (shipping internationally), they must clear customs. Couriers often act as customs brokers, handling the paperwork, calculating duties\/taxes, and advancing payments on your behalf. For this service, they charge brokerage fees – someone’s gotta do it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brokerage services include:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Preparing and submitting customs entry paperwork.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Calculating duties and taxes owed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Paying duties and taxes to customs on behalf of the importer and subsequently collecting on those fees paid.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Brokerage Fees<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Brokerage fees are the charges applied by a courier for handling the customs clearance process for your shipment — regardless of value. Starting August 29, 2025, all shipments will require either a formal or informal customs entry when entering the United States, meaning that brokerage fees will always apply even if the shipment is entered duty-free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Common Types of Brokerage Fees<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Entry Preparation Fee<\/strong> \u2013 Charged for filing the import entry with customs. This fee always applies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Disbursement Fee<\/strong> \u2013 Charged when the courier advances duties and taxes to customs on behalf of the importer – typically calculated as a percentage of the duties\/taxes advanced, with a minimum flat fee.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Additional Line Item Fees<\/strong> \u2013 Applied when an invoice contains multiple tariff codes requiring extra processing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Special Handling Fees<\/strong> \u2013 For shipments requiring extra effort to clear, such as food, pharmaceuticals, or restricted items (ie: FDA).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      How Brokerage Fees Work Together<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Fee Type<\/th>When It Applies<\/th>Example<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
      Entry Preparation Fee<\/td>Always<\/td>Every shipment<\/td><\/tr>
      Disbursement Fee<\/td>When duties\/taxes are owed<\/td>Goods with 5% duty<\/td><\/tr>
      Additional Line Item Fee<\/td>When multiple tariff codes<\/td>Apparel + electronics<\/td><\/tr>
      Special Handling Fee<\/td>For regulated goods<\/td>Food, FDA, Pharmaceuticals<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Example Scenarios<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Duty-free shipment under a trade agreement (ie: USCMA): Entry prep fee applies. No disbursement fee because no duties\/taxes are owed — depending on the commodity that you are shipping.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Shipment with duties owed: Entry prep fee + disbursement fee (for advancing duties) + applicable government fees & duties.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • High-value shipment with many tariff codes: Entry prep fee + additional line item fees + disbursement fee (if duties apply).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        • Brokerage fees are the collection of charges for customs clearance work.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Disbursement fees are one type of brokerage fee \u2014 they apply only if the courier advances duties\/taxes on your behalf and subsequently collecting the fees that they’ve advanced.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Entry prep fees will always apply (regardless of value) because all shipments need to be cleared by customs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Government-imposed fees (like MPF in the U.S.) may also apply in addition to courier brokerage fees.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Even duty-free goods can have brokerage fees \u2014 but not disbursement fees if no duties are paid.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          How ShipNerd Helps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

          We know brokerage fees can feel like surprise costs that eat into margins and frustrate your customers. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve worked hard to negotiate discounted brokerage rates<\/strong> with our courier partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          What this means for you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n
          • Lower Costs:<\/strong> You (and your customers) save money on the fees that always apply, like entry preparation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • More Predictability:<\/strong> By reducing and simplifying brokerage charges, you can estimate landed costs with more confidence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Better Experience for Your Customers:<\/strong> Lower brokerage fees mean fewer surprise charges at delivery, helping you keep buyers happy and coming back.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            We\u2019re committed to helping businesses of all sizes ship smarter \u2014 not just with competitive shipping rates, but also by tackling hidden costs like brokerage fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Support Home > Import & Export Shipping > Brokerage 101: Understanding Brokerage Fees What is Brokerage? When goods cross international borders (shipping internationally), they must clear customs. Couriers often act as customs brokers, handling the paperwork, calculating duties\/taxes, and advancing payments on your behalf. For this service, they charge brokerage fees – someone’s gotta do it! Brokerage services […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":275,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-no-title","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-40493","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shipnerd.net\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/40493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shipnerd.net\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shipnerd.net\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shipnerd.net\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shipnerd.net\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40493"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.shipnerd.net\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/40493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40503,"href":"https:\/\/www.shipnerd.net\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/40493\/revisions\/40503"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shipnerd.net\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shipnerd.net\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}