Zonos provides a checkout app that displays landed costs (including duties and taxes) to your international customers before purchase. When integrated with Starshipit, Zonos can also handle payment of these duties and taxes on your behalf.
This setup applies only to merchants with a paid Zonos subscription where Zonos collects and remits duties and taxes on your behalf. It does not apply if you are using the free Zonos + Australia Post or New Zealand Post accounts, or using Starshipit's Landed Cost Guarantee, where Starshipit collects and remits duties and taxes directly.
Before you begin
You must have:
- An active Zonos subscription that includes duties and tax collection and remittance.
- Your Zonos DDP account number for billing (provided by Zonos Support).
- The Zonos Shopify module installed and configured.
- Your Tax IDs (e.g., IOSS, VAT, EORI, GST) entered in both Zonos and Starshipit.
How it works
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At checkout: The Zonos Shopify module calculates and displays the total landed cost (product, shipping, duties, and taxes) to your customers. Customers prepay these charges as part of their purchase.
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Order flow: After checkout, both Zonos and Starshipit pull the same order data directly from Shopify.
- Zonos uses this order information to manage duties and tax collection and remittance.
- Starshipit imports the same order for fulfillment and label creation.
There is no direct data connection between Zonos and Starshipit.
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Within Starshipit: When your orders import from Shopify into Starshipit, you need to ensure:
- Each order is marked as DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) — meaning duties and taxes are prepaid.
- Your carrier integrations (e.g., DHL, FedEx, UPS) are configured so the payer of duties is your Zonos DDP account number.
- Your Tax IDs (e.g., IOSS, VAT, EORI, GST) are entered in Starshipit so they are sent with your customs data.
This ensures duties and taxes are billed to Zonos instead of your courier account, and your customs documentation includes the correct tax information.
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Courier transmission: When you print a label, Starshipit sends both the DDP Incoterm and your Zonos payer account to the courier via their API. Zonos is billed for duties and taxes when the shipment clears customs, and your customer will not be charged again at delivery.
Step 1: Add your tax IDs
Proper tax ID setup ensures duties and taxes are calculated and remitted correctly.
- In Zonos: Follow Zonos’ official documentation on adding tax IDs
- In Starshipit: Add the same tax IDs in Starshipit so they’re included on customs documents and courier data submissions.
Ensure your Tax IDs match between Zonos and Starshipit for each region you ship to, as some couriers validate tax identifiers electronically.
Step 2: Configure DDP using a rule
You can automatically apply DDP to all relevant shipments by creating a rule in Starshipit that sets “Sender Pays Duty (DDP)” based on your chosen conditions.
To create a DDP rule
- Go to Settings > Rules > Add new rule.
- Under Condition, choose when the rule should apply — e.g., If Destination Country = United States.
- Under Action, select Set Sender Pays Duty = True (DDP).
- Click Save Rule.
For more detail, see how you can configure your shipment’s DDP/DDU settings in Starshipit.
You can only configure duties to be paid by one payer — either Zonos or you (the sender). You cannot have some DDP shipments paid by Zonos and others by yourself within the same courier setup.
If you only use Zonos for a subset of orders, create a child account (for example, "Zonos Orders") and a rule to route those orders — e.g., If Country = United States → Allocate order to Zonos child account. Configure couriers in that child account with your Zonos DDP billing details.
Step 3: Configure each courier
DHL Express
- Go to Settings > Couriers > DHL Express > Advanced.
- Scroll to the Customs Invoice Section
- Enter your Zonos account number in the DHL Duty and Tax number field
- Click Save.
FedEx
- Go to Settings > Couriers > FedEx .
- Under Duty and Tax Payment Type, select Third Party from the drop down
- Enter your Zonos account number in the Duty and Tax number field
- Click Save.
What happens when you print
- The shipment is created with the DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) Incoterm.
- Starshipit sends your Zonos DDP account number and Tax IDs to the courier’s API.
- Zonos is billed for duties and taxes when the shipment clears customs.
Your customer will not be charged again at delivery.