Customs Value

Customs Value estimation 

Accurate product values are critical for international shipping compliance. Customs authorities require declared values on shipments, and inaccurate or missing values can lead to delays, fines, and seized goods. Customs Value uses AI to estimate product values based on current market data, providing both a point estimate and a range of plausible values.

These estimates take into account similar items being sold today across global marketplaces. This is useful for scenarios where the declared value is unknown, needs verification, or must be estimated from product details alone.

How it works 

Customs Value analyzes product attributes — including name, description, brand, category, material, and images — against current market data to generate a value estimate. The model considers similar items currently being sold to produce both a point estimate and confidence bands representing the range of plausible values.

Like Zonos Country of Origin and Customs Description, prediction accuracy improves with more detailed product information. Providing brand, category, and description alongside the product name yields the most reliable estimates.

Value ranges 

Every estimate includes a valueEstimateRange with low and high bounds representing the confidence band (typically 95% confidence). This range reflects the spread of plausible values for the product based on market data.

Use the range to evaluate risk and make informed decisions — a narrow range indicates strong market consensus on value, while a wider range suggests more variability in pricing for similar products.

Use cases 

Customs Value addresses several key scenarios in international trade:

• Package forwarding — Estimate values for items where the original purchase price is unavailable, such as at international package forwarders.
• Compliance verification — Cross-check declared values against market estimates to identify potentially undervalued commodities.
• Customs declarations — Infer values for the purpose of declaration when the transaction value is unknown.
• Broker and customs review — Provide customs entities and brokers with data-driven value estimates to support clearance decisions.

Getting started 

Customs Value is available via API. Contact your sales representative to get it added to your account.

Estimate a customs value 

To estimate a product's value, use the valueEstimate mutation with your product data. The name and currency fields are required, but providing additional details like brand, categories, description, and material improves accuracy. Customs Value supports all Zonos-supported currencies using the mid-market rate — specify your desired currency in the request, and the estimate will be returned in that currency.

Validate a declared value 

When a customs value is already provided — whether from a seller, buyer, or catalog — Zonos can validate it rather than estimate from scratch. The valueValidate mutation passes the declared value directly to the model and assesses how likely it is that the item is undervalued relative to current market data.

The response includes a probabilityOfUnderValuation score (0.0–1.0). A score closer to zero means the declared value is plausible given market data; a score closer to 1.0 indicates the declared value is likely too low. The valueEstimateRange shows the model's expected market range, which can help determine how far off the declared value is.

This is useful for screening shipments with suspiciously low declared values, supporting customs audit workflows, and flagging items for manual review before they reach the border.

In the example above, the declared value is $15.00 USD, but the model returns a probabilityOfUnderValuation of 0.972 — indicating a high likelihood that the declared value is inaccurate. The valueEstimateRange shows the expected market range of $159.99–$249.99, confirming the declared value is far below market data for this product.