🚀Easypost Problem Solvers 🚀

Title

How to Enable Accurate Customs Information for EasyPost International Shipments

Summary

A new Use accurate customs info setting in the EasyPost plugin corrects the customs data sent for international shipments, grouping items by HS tariff number and calculating correct weights, values, and currency. Enabling the setting also unblocks international AutoBuy.

Environment

EasyPost plugin settings: Admin > Configuration > Connect Plugins > EasyPost > Configure. Applies to storefronts using EasyPost for international shipments.

Resolution

1. Navigate to Easypost configuration settings.
2. In the Customs section, enable Use accurate customs info and save.
   1. 
3. Place an international order to confirm customs items appear grouped by HS tariff number, with correct weights in ounces, values, and the storefront currency in the EasyPost shipment. Verify that international AutoBuy processes the order without requiring manual customs entry.

Closing note

The setting is off by default and takes effect immediately when enabled. Existing storefronts are unaffected until the setting is turned on.

Search Terms

EasyPost customs info, use accurate customs info EasyPost, EasyPost international shipments, customs items HS tariff number, EasyPost AutoBuy international, EasyPost plugin configuration, commercial invoice customs, EasyPost weight currency

If parcel auto calculation is enabled, you might see parcels being sent with a minimal size such as 1 × 1 and weight only. This can happen when the product being ordered does not have any stored length, width, or height, so the calculated order size is 0, 0, 0. In debug mode, this appears as “order final size” showing length 0, 0, 0 with only weight present, and width dropping to a “minimum 1 1”.

A common related requirement is wanting to auto calculate by weight while also having a default box size, but the behaviour above shows that when dimensions are not available, the calculation can drop to the minimum.

Source reference:

Related EasyPost tutorials

• Parcel Settings | CI_Easypost_006

• Easypost Rates | CI_Easypost_004

When troubleshooting unexpected parcel sizes, debug mode can be used at checkout to view the calculated values being used. Debug mode may show things such as:

• “order final size” as length 0, 0, 0 with only weight present
• primary dimensions treated as inches, which matches what EasyPost uses
• max weight shown in ounces and max size shown in inches
• width dropping to “minimum 1 1” when size calculations hit a minimum

These values help confirm whether the order has usable dimensions or whether it is effectively being treated as size 0, 0, 0.

Related EasyPost tutorials

• Parcel Settings | CI_Easypost_006

Parcel settings can behave differently depending on what you select:
• Selecting predefined parcels will only send the predefined parcels.
• Selecting predefined parcel names will pass parcel names as well as dimensions, and supported names need to be matched.

If your settings are configured to do both predefined parcels and auto calculation, you can see two separate requests:
• One request sending the predefined parcel measures you have entered
• Another request using auto calculated parcels, which can still show “one by one” dimensions with weight only

This explains why one request can look correct while the other still shows minimal parcel sizing.

Related EasyPost tutorials

• Parcel Settings | CI_Easypost_006

• Buy Shipping Instantly setting in Easypost | CI_Easypost_005

If rates are empty or not returned as expected, you may see an error message like:
“requested package type isn’t available for the selected service”.

This ma be a package and parcel naming issue. The suggested troubleshooting approach is to review the response messages and try different package names until the correct supported name is used. There is also a specific warning that if you do not have the correct name, it will not work.

Related EasyPost tutorials

• Easypost Rates | CI_Easypost_004

• Parcel Settings | CI_Easypost_006

If your EasyPost account has multiple carriers enabled, the rate response can include many error blocks from carriers you are not using.

To resolve, open carriers in EasyPost and delete carrier accounts you are not going to use, so those errors do not appear.

After removing carriers, the response becomes easier to interpret, and only the intended carrier appears. 

If probmens persist, you may need to clear cache or wait a moment before the response reflects the changes.

Related EasyPost tutorials

• Easypost Rates | CI_Easypost_004

Verbose logging can be used to inspect what is being sent to EasyPost and what is returned. This can be enabled by granting access through roles for a platform administrator account. Enable “Verbose Logging Enable” in Connect Settings. If you cannot access the required settings, you may need to submit a support ticket and our team can enable this for you.

Two important notes:
• Verbose logging is sensitive, and can include customer details
• Verbose logging writes very large objects into the system logs, which you can explore to understand what is happening

Once enabled, the request and response objects can be reviewed, including parcel details, rates, and any messages that indicate mismatches.

Related EasyPost tutorials

• Enabling and configuring Easypost | CI_Easypost_003

• Easypost Rates | CI_Easypost_004

For products where packaging is based on how many units fit in a box, rather than a unique parcel size per product, the best approach is to enter weight in a way that reflects the box capacity.

For example, this could mean dividing by the number of rolls that fit in a box.

A stated limitation is that this approach is not able to handle multiple parcels or multiple packages in that workflow. The supported approach is to use predefined parcels, which can be configured either in EasyPost or on the carrier side. Some carriers, such as UPS, allow you to enter parcel values in their admin site, optionally define a custom box name, and in some cases get better rates. When the box name or size matches, EasyPost returns the correct result.

Weight adjustments on attribute values can also be used as a way to tune the base product weight, based on variations such as size, and to reflect how many units fit in a box.

Related EasyPost tutorials

• Parcel Settings | CI_Easypost_006

• Placing shipments manually using Easypost | CI_Easypost_005c

• Placing shipments automatically using Easypost | CI_Easypost_005b

• Customs Information with Easypost | CI_Easypost_007