do i need a customs broker
Duty is the largest variable in a landed cost and the one no supplier can quote for you, because it depends on origin, classification and the duties in force on the day your goods clear. What a supplier can do is tell you what the customs value will be — which is where most of the argument starts.
Send the weight, colour, fit and quantity. We return a unit price per quantity tier within 24 hours.
A cotton knitted t-shirt is not classified by the word "t-shirt" but by construction: knitted or woven, fibre content, gender and whether it is a singlet or not. Different headings carry different rates, and additional duties can attach to a heading by origin.
This is why a broker asks for the garment spec rather than the product name. If a supplier tells you "we always ship as t-shirts" without a code, they are guessing, and you are the importer of record.
On FOB terms the customs value is the goods price at the port of export. On CIF terms the freight is inside the price, so duty is charged on the larger number — you pay duty on freight, which is why a "freight included" quote is not always cheaper.
This is a real and frequently overlooked cost: on a 41.5% rate, $0.60 of freight inside the CIF price becomes about $0.25 of extra duty per shirt.
Take a plain cotton tee at a FOB price of $2.60 with $0.55 of freight per piece. At a 16.5% rate the landed cost is $3.58. At 41.5% it is $4.23. At 54% it is $4.55.
The spread between the first and the last is 27% of landed cost — bigger than any quantity discount you will negotiate. It is also why a site that prints a single duty rate is publishing a number that will be wrong within a season.
A broker files the entry, applies the classification, calculates duty, arranges payment and releases the goods. They are licensed, and they charge per entry rather than per piece — which means their cost matters most on small shipments.
On a 100-piece order the entry fee can add $0.30–1.00 per shirt. On 5,000 pieces it is a rounding error. That is one reason small ocean shipments are inefficient and why stock inside the destination country exists at all.
Misclassification: shipping under a general textile heading to get a lower rate, then being reclassified on examination with penalties. Undervaluation: declaring below the invoice to reduce duty, which works until it does not. Missing origin documentation: losing a preferential rate you were entitled to because a certificate was never issued.
All three are the importer’s exposure, not the supplier’s. Ask two questions before the vessel sails: what is the HS code, and what is the declared value per unit.
| Classification | By fibre, knit and garment type — not by product name |
|---|---|
| Duty base | Customs value: goods only (FOB) or goods plus freight (CIF) |
| Broker fee | Per entry, roughly $100–200 plus disbursements |
| Scenarios on a $2.60 FOB tee | $3.58 / $4.23 / $4.55 landed at 16.5% / 41.5% / 54% |
| Who is liable | The importer of record — you |
| Ask before shipping | HS code and declared value per unit |
Practically yes for a commercial import. Filing your own entry is possible but the classification risk is yours and it is not worth saving a few hundred dollars.
No. It is charged on the customs value — the goods price, plus freight if the terms are CIF.
Yes for production runs depending on destination. On stock orders the price is ex-warehouse and freight is separate.
It depends on classification, origin and the duties in force at the time of import. We do not publish a rate because a stale one is worse than none — confirm with a broker.
Because freight inside the price raises the customs value, so you pay duty on the freight as well as the goods.
A fabric swatch and a sewn sample come before the bulk run, and finished goods are photographed before packing.