Questions, answered

Borderless is a general customs brokerage: we file across commodity classes rather than specialising in one, and add capability as client volume calls for it. The practice areas are listed on the services page. If you are a legitimate importer, we want the account.

Everything we file goes out under our licence and our filer code, which makes the quality of our book a compliance matter rather than a commercial preference. Screening at onboarding is how we keep it clean, and it is also why an account here is not slowed down later by someone else's problem.

One price per entry, the same for importers and freight forwarders, and no monthly fee. On a 12-month agreement it is $79 an entry, $55 from 80 entries a month, $45 from 250, and quoted from $39 at 500 and up. Your rate is set when you sign, from the volume you expect, and every quarter we check it against what you actually filed and move it to the rung you are on. There are no minimums: a slow month is billed on the entries we filed and nothing more. If you ship a few times a year and would rather not sign an agreement, pay as you go is $149 an entry, all-in, with the ISF, up to 5 HTS lines and one partner-agency filing included. On an agreement the entry price covers the entry and 5 HTS lines; ISF is $20 when we file it, partner-agency filings are $35 per agency and lines past five are $5 each. Duty disbursement is 0% either way.

That's exactly what the account model is for. Each entity you import under is its own importer of record on your account, with its own power of attorney, CBP registration, and continuous bond, but one place to sign in and one bill for you. Every importer sits on the one account, and an account with more than one importer is on an agreement. Your primary entity's continuous bond is included from 80 entries a month and is $500 a year below that; additional entities each hold their own at $500 a year, billed separately, because a bond legally belongs to one company, even between related ones.

Same page, same rates. We don't run a separate quote-based partner schedule. Your account holds your client book, and your book's entries count together: file 80 a month across your clients and every entry is $55, file 250 and every entry is $45. Your starting rung comes from your last three months of invoices with your current broker, and every quarter we check it against what you actually filed. An importer counts toward your book while we hold an active power of attorney for them; offboard an importer any time. One thing that's never shared: bonds. A bond is issued in each importer's own name and priced per importer (twenty importers means twenty bonds), so rather than hide that cost in everyone's rate, each of your importers brings an existing bond or we arrange one at a flat $420 a year, at every rung, billed separately. There is no minimum, no per-importer surcharge and no re-onboarding as your book grows.

We never market to or solicit your importers, and they never get a portal login. Your book lives inside your account, and filing, status, and billing all run through you. Two things do reach the importer because CBP requires it: the power-of-attorney signing link when you add them (19 CFR 141.46 requires us to hold a valid POA from the importer itself before we transact customs business in its name), and, unless the goods came in delivered duty paid or the importer signs a short written waiver, either a copy of our bill for services or a copy of the entry filed in its name. We handle both as paperwork collected once per importer. If CBP ever requires direct contact with an importer of record, we coordinate it with you first. Borderless is a customs brokerage only. We do not quote freight, and we do not sell to your book. Your clients stay yours.

Importers: from 80 entries a month we include the continuous bond for your own importing entity, issued in that company's name. Below that it is $500 a year, against the $400–$600 most brokers charge. A subsidiary on your account holds its own bond at the same $500. Freight forwarders: the bonds on your book belong to your importers, one each, so none is ever included. Each importer brings a bond it already holds or we arrange one at a flat $420 a year, whatever your rung, billed separately. Single-entry bonds are never included on any plan. When a shipment needs one it is $5 per $1,000 of the bond amount (the entered value plus duties, taxes and fees), $50 at least, figured when the 7501 is issued and billed on that entry's invoice. (Foreign importers of record: a bond you already hold is always welcome; arranging a new bond for a foreign entity takes a closer review first, so it isn't included by default.)

One sign-in per person, and as many as your team needs. Everyone gets their own login rather than sharing one, because the record of who filed what has to name a person. Adding and removing people is self-serve from your Settings, and you can hand someone the full picture or keep billing to yourself: an Admin sees invoices, statements and your rates, a User does the filing work and everything else. One thing to know: sign-ins are for your own staff, so an address outside your company's email domain waits for us to approve it before it works.

Five on every entry, at no extra charge. For comparison, most published broker fee schedules include 1–5 lines and charge $3–$15 for every line after; carrier brokerages can start charging as early as the second line. A typical commercial entry runs 1–5 lines, so five covers most shipments outright. Past five, lines are $5 each on an agreement, and on pay as you go we quote them up front before filing. Either way it is on the quote, never a surprise per-line charge on the invoice.

Most brokers and carriers charge 2–5% of your duty bill just to advance the money to CBP. At today's tariff levels that fee is often larger than the brokerage fee itself. We charge nothing for it. On an agreement with net terms we pay CBP when the duty is due and bill it on your statement at cost, with no percentage on top. If you would rather pay CBP yourself, we set up direct ACH payment during onboarding, free, and Periodic Monthly Statement can give you up to 45 days of float; you can also prepay by wire. Whichever way the money moves, the fee is 0%. It doesn't get discounted; it disappears.

No. You are billed for the entries we file, at your rate, and nothing else. There is no monthly fee and no minimum bill. Your rate is set from the volume you expect and checked every quarter against what you actually filed, so one slow month does not change it. The one place a commitment exists is a volume quote at 500 entries a month and up, where the rate is written against the volume you commit to.

The card. The $79, $55 and $45 rungs and every adder on the card do not go up during the 12 months of your agreement. Which rung you are on follows your volume: every quarter we check what you filed, and if your volume has moved to another rung, your rate moves with it from the next month. You see the change in the portal before it applies. When an agreement ends you renew at the card of the day, and any increase comes with 60 days' notice. Duties, MPF, HMF and other government fees are set by CBP, pass through at cost, and no broker can honestly lock those.

On pay as you go, all-in means the entry, the ISF, up to five HTS lines and one partner-agency filing for $149. On an agreement the entry price covers the entry and five HTS lines; ISF is $20 when we file it, partner-agency filings are $35 per agency (most brokers charge $35–$150 each), and lines past five are $5 each. For an importer, from 80 entries a month the continuous bond for your own importing entity is included; under 80 it is $500 a year, and additional importers on an account each hold their own. For a forwarder, each client's bond is a flat $420 a year when we arrange it. A single-entry bond is $5 per $1,000 of the bond amount, $50 minimum, figured when the 7501 is issued. True pass-throughs like CBP exam costs are billed at documented cost. Anything unusual is quoted up front, never as a surprise line on an invoice.

Everything a formal entry needs: entry filing, ISF, up to 5 HTS lines, and one partner-agency filing, with your direct-to-CBP payment set up free. No plan and no monthly fee. Any bond you need is quoted up front before we file, never a surprise on the invoice. After your first entry, stay pay as you go at $149 or sign a 12-month agreement and pay $79 an entry from then on, and less as your volume grows.

A new power of attorney and about a week. We run the bond transfer, direct-CBP payment setup, and your first filings in parallel so nothing stalls at the port. Your last three months of invoices set your starting rung, so the rate is right from the first entry. And if you bring a book of 80 or more entries a month, your first 10 entries are free.

No, and no honest broker's are either. Duties, the Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF), Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF), and any government agency fees are set by CBP and passed straight through at cost. Our flat rate covers our brokerage service, and you'll always see the government fees itemized separately.

Often yes, and always within the law. Classification, first sale valuation, trade-agreement qualification, country of origin and drawback are reviewed on every account as standing practice rather than offered as a separate project. The duty advisory capability on the services page sets out what each route requires.

Legally, a U.S. importer can file its own entries. In practice, almost every commercial importer uses a licensed broker: an entry needs a 10-digit HTS classification, a customs bond, ISF for ocean freight, and any partner-agency filings, and mistakes surface as CBP holds, penalties, or overpaid duty. With de minimis suspended, even sub-$800 e-commerce shipments now need entries, so many first-time importers are hiring a broker for the first time. If you import commercially more than once or twice a year, a broker usually pays for itself.

Across the U.S. market, a typical formal entry runs $150–$400+ all-in once you add the base entry fee ($100–$250), ISF ($50–$110 for ocean), extra HTS lines ($3–$15 each), partner-agency filings ($35–$150 per agency), and a 2–5% duty-disbursement fee. Borderless publishes flat rates instead: $149 per entry pay-as-you-go with ISF, five lines and a partner-agency filing bundled, $79 on an agreement with no monthly fee, $55 from 80 entries a month and $45 from 250, and a 0% disbursement fee either way. Our cost guide breaks down every fee on one page.

Most entries filed accurately and ahead of arrival clear the same day the shipment arrives; we file ISF before your cargo loads and have the entry ready at arrival so containers move off the terminal instead of into demurrage. When CBP selects a shipment for an exam or document review, release typically takes a few extra days depending on the port and exam type. The biggest thing you control is giving your broker complete, accurate documents early.

No. Borderless CHB Inc. (borderless.us) is a licensed U.S. customs brokerage, CBP filer code NQR. We're not affiliated with Borderless AI (an employer-of-record platform), Borderless.xyz (a payments company), Borderless Technologies GmbH (procurement software), Borderless Magazine, or the teamLab Borderless museum. If you're looking for the customs broker, you're in the right place.