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 and Shipment Quoter (coming soon)
• 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 duty calculations and Harmonized System (HS) code classifications
• Shipment Quoter: Coming soon - Comprehensive landed cost calculations, including shipping and fees
• 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. Enable Item Quoter boost for enhanced data on vague descriptions
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 (0–100%)
     • 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 rates.

Use cases for business accounts

• Customer communication: Provide accurate duty estimates to customers
• Pricing strategy: Understand duty costs to adjust product pricing appropriately
• Compliance preparation: Ensure accurate HS codes for customs documentation
• Cost estimation: Plan for total landed costs in international markets

Shipment Quoter 

Coming soon

Shipment Quoter will generate comprehensive landed cost calculations showing the total cost to deliver products internationally. The system will combine product values, shipping costs, duties, taxes, and fees to provide transparent pricing for planning purposes.

Request a shipment quote

1. Start a new quote:
   • Go to Shipment Quoter and click New Quote
   • Select Manual quote
2. Enter shipping details
   • Ship-from address (edit in Settings if incorrect)
   • Ship-to address
3. Add products
   • Product description (auto-classification available)
   • Zonos auto-classifies using description; edit HS code if preferred
   • Country of origin, quantity, unit price
   • Optional — weight, dimensions for more accurate shipping estimates
   • For multiple items, click Save and add another and repeat
4. Click Get quote
5. Review comprehensive results
   • Expand quote total to see detailed breakdown:
     • Product subtotal
     • Estimated shipping costs
     • Total duties, taxes, and fees
     • Grand total cost
   • Expand Summary for detailed breakdown of individual duties, taxes, and fees

Quote management and planning

Edit and refine quotes: Modify quote details and click Quote again to generate updated cost estimates.

Use quotes for:

• Customer communication: Provide accurate total landed cost estimates to customers
• Business planning: Understand total costs for different markets
• Pricing strategy: Factor international duty, tax, fee, and shipping costs into your pricing model
• Market analysis: Compare costs across different destination countries
• Partnership discussions: Share cost data with postal operators

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.