Customs Brokerage Fee Estimator

The entry itself (classification, valuation, filing the declaration), then extras by event: additional HS lines beyond the included few, ISF/security filings, bond procurement, exam coordination, PGA filings (FDA, USDA…), storage arrangement, after-hours work, and the disbursement percentage when they front your duties. Each is legitimate work; the billing model just rewards importers who know which lines they can engineer away.

Pay customs directly: US importers enroll in ACH (statement processing) so duties pull from their own account; Canada's CARM/PAD, UK duty deferment accounts and EU equivalents do the same. The broker still files — they just stop advancing money, so the 2–3% advance fee disappears. Setup is paperwork once; the saving is a percentage of your duty bill forever. Any broker resistant to it is telling you about their revenue model.

Per-line fees: every distinct HS classification on the entry beyond the included count (often 2–5) bills $3–$15. A 60-SKU e-commerce consol can carry 40+ classifications — $300+ in line fees on a $125 entry. Mitigations: consistent product master data (so classification is reused, not re-researched), genuine consolidation of like items under correct single codes, and negotiating line-fee caps at your volume.

Decompose first: compare full fee schedules (base + lines + disbursement + the event fees you actually trigger) against YOUR shipment profile — the cheapest base fee can be the dearest total. Then weigh the non-fee costs: a broker whose classifications and valuations hold up saves duty disputes, exam rates and penalty exposure that dwarf fee differences. Brokerage is cheap insurance executed well, and a false economy executed badly.