Dutiful → Use Cases → Shipping & 3PL
Recommended: Dutiful APIEmbed customs intelligence directly into your shipping workflows
Your platform handles labels, tracking, and carrier integration. Customs requirements are the missing layer. Dutiful's API gives your users pre-shipment compliance data - documents, restrictions, and duty rules - inside the workflows they already use.
The customs gap in shipping software
The challenge
Customs is consistently the weakest feature in shipping software
Easyship, Shippo, EasyPost-they all handle labels and tracking brilliantly. But customs? They help fill in forms for a shipment already in progress. None of them answer 'What do I need before I ship?'
01
Your users leave your platform to check requirements
When a merchant or ops team needs customs requirements, they leave your software and go to websites, broker blogs, or ask a colleague. That's a workflow break-and a feature gap your competitors have too.
02
Building a customs dataset isn't your core business
Collecting, verifying, and maintaining customs requirements data across 20+ countries is a full-time job requiring specialist knowledge. It's not something you can bolt on with a weekend project.
03
Your merchants suffer the consequences
When a shipment is held at customs because the merchant didn't know about a restriction or missing document, your platform gets the blame-even though it wasn't your responsibility. Adding compliance data changes that.
How Dutiful helps
Customs requirements as a feature in your product-via API
Integrate Dutiful's API into your quoting, booking, or pre-shipment workflows. Your users see requirements data inline-no tab-switching, no external research. Your platform becomes the single tool they need.
One call, full picture
Query by origin, destination, and goods type. Get back documents, prohibited items, restricted items, duties, and regulatory bodies-all in one response.
Webhooks for changes
Subscribe to regulatory changes for specific countries. When rules update, your system knows-trigger cache invalidation, user notifications, or re-checks automatically.
Data licensing available
For deeper integration, we offer wholesale dataset access. Embed Dutiful's data directly in your product under a licensing agreement. Talk to us about partnership.
Required Documents
Prohibited
The difference
How your workflow changes
Same scenario. Completely different outcome.
Before Dutiful
- Merchant asks 'What paperwork do I need for Germany?'
- Your platform can generate a label-but can't answer the question
- Merchant leaves your platform to research customs requirements
- Merchant gets it wrong-shipment held at German customs
- Merchant contacts your support, frustrated
- You can't help-it's not your data
With Dutiful
- Merchant starts a shipment to Germany in your platform
- Your UI calls Dutiful API-requirements shown inline
- Merchant sees documents needed, restrictions, and duty info
- Everything is handled before the label is printed
- Shipment clears customs smoothly
- Your platform is the hero-merchant never left
The value
Feature gap
Customs is your platform's weakest area
From £349/mo
Dutiful API Starter tier
Differentiation
Feature your competitors don't have
Customs intelligence isn't just a feature - it's a competitive moat. The first shipping platform to surface requirements data inline wins the merchants who ship internationally.
Other use cases
Dutiful works across the logistics chain
Fill the customs gap in your platform-without building a data team
14-day free trial. No credit card. Set up in under two minutes.