Shipping across the border: customs details

Last reviewed: 2026-10-11

What this is

A parcel leaving Canada needs a customs declaration. CanShip builds it at the packing station from details kept on each product, so you enter them once.

What each product needs

• US HS code: the full 10-digit code, for a parcel going to the United States. For a parcel to another country, such as the United Kingdom, CanShip asks for the HS Code instead, and six digits are enough.
• Country of origin: where it was made, two letters, such as CA.
• Weight, in pounds.

A customs description is optional and can be up to 45 characters. If you leave it empty, the product's description is declared, so a product whose description is longer than 45 characters needs one: CanShip asks for it at the packing station.

Fill them in at the packing station

1. Pack the order as usual. On the Rate & Ship step, look at Customs details.
2. If something is missing, CanShip names each product and what it needs, and shows no rates yet.
3. Type the missing details. You can type an HS code without the dots.
4. Click Save customs details (the disk icon beside the fields). When a parcel holds more than one product, each product has its own fields and its own save button.

When every product on the parcel is complete, Customs details reads All set and the rates load.

What is saved, and where

• The HS code, the country of origin and the customs description are saved on the product, so the next parcel has them already.
• If the product has no weight yet, the weight you type is saved on the product too.
• If the product already has a weight and you type a different one, the field reads This parcel only. The product's own weight does not change.
• The weights on the customs lines cannot add up to more than the parcel weighs. If they do, Save customs details refuses and says by how much, for example 2.20 lbs of goods in a 2.00 lbs parcel: lower a weight on the customs lines, or weigh the parcel again. Nothing is saved and no rates load until it is fixed.

The declared value

The Customs declaration panel on the same step shows the goods value. It comes from the product's price, unless the product has a customs value.

To set one, go to Catalog > Products, edit the product, and fill in Customs value and Currency. A value in another currency is converted to CAD at the published rate for the day. The panel shows the amount it was converted from, the rate and the date.

Choosing a rate

A rate marked Can't declare customs cannot be chosen for a parcel leaving Canada. Choose another carrier. Canpar's rates are marked this way: CanShip shows the price, but the rate cannot be selected. Click the rate and a notice says why. The Rate Browser shows the same mark.

The customs documents

Once the label is bought, the Order Complete step at the packing station shows Customs documents beside Reprint Label. To print them later, go to Fulfillment > Shipments, open the shipment and click Customs documents, beside Packing slip. Each document opens in a new window for printing.

What the button lists depends on the carrier.

Canada Post

• Commercial invoice.
• Customs declaration CN22, for goods declared under CAD 500, or Customs declaration CN23, for CAD 500 or more. CanShip offers the one that fits the declared value.

FedEx

• Commercial invoice (FedEx's copy): the invoice FedEx returned with the label. Print this one. It is the invoice FedEx expects with the parcel.
• Commercial invoice (CanShip's copy): built by CanShip from the declaration, for your records.

What is on them

The commercial invoice shows:

• Your company name and the address of the warehouse the order ships from, as the shipper.
• The recipient's name, address, country and phone.
• An invoice number, the invoice date, the order number, the carrier and the tracking number. If the declaration has no invoice number, CanShip uses its own label number.
• The reason for export, the terms of sale, and who pays duties and shipping, as the Customs declaration panel showed them.
• Each product with its HS code, country of origin, quantity, unit value, line value and weight, then the totals.
• A declaration with a place to sign.

The CN22 and CN23 show the sender, the recipient, what the goods are for, each product with its weight, value, HS code and country of origin, the totals, and a place to sign.

A voided label has no customs documents, and a parcel that stays in Canada has no Customs documents button.