For prep centers, 3PLs and drayage
A licensed broker to hand your customers to
Containers land at your dock with customs questions attached, and answering them is licensed work. Borderless takes that conversation off your desk under CBP filer code NQR, at published rates, without ever selling freight or going after your book.
The situation
Import questions land on the warehouse
Inventory bound for a fulfillment network often stops at a prep center or a 3PL first, which puts your building in front of the customs paperwork.
Amazon discontinued its own prep and item labeling services for U.S. FBA inventory effective January 1, 2026, saying most sellers already handle their own packaging. The options it names for sellers are to prep to Amazon's guidance, use a third-party prep provider, or enroll eligible products in Ships in Product Packaging. Sellers who take the third-party route send that freight to a prep center, often straight off an import container.
So the questions arrive with the freight. Who is the importer of record on this entry. Why is the container on hold. Which HTS code should the seller have used. Was the ISF filed before the vessel loaded, or is a penalty already running. None of those are warehouse questions. Classification, valuation, duty and the preparation of entry documents are "customs business" under 19 CFR 111.1, and transacting it on someone else's behalf takes a licensed customs broker.
The practical result is that a prep center, a receiving warehouse or a drayage carrier ends up giving import advice it can't bill for and shouldn't be giving, or telling the customer to go find a broker and hoping they come back. A named partner broker closes that gap without adding a line to your service menu.
What you get
What a partner broker does for you
One licensed brokerage behind your customers, on terms you can repeat to them without checking with us first.
A named broker to hand off to
Borderless files under its own license and CBP filer code NQR. A licensed broker signs every entry, and your customer gets a named account owner who knows the file.
Status your team can see
If your customer is on a plan with a seat to spare, they can add your staff to their account and you see the draft entry, the duty confirmation and the release status. A sign-in outside their own email domain is approved by us first.
Filed under NQR, at any U.S. port
National permit, entries and ISFs transmitted by ABI into CBP's ACE. It covers every U.S. port of entry, so there's no per-port broker to add.
Rates your customer can read first
$149 per formal entry pay as you go, $79 on a 12-month agreement, $55 and $45 at 80 and 250 entries a month. No monthly fee, no minimums. The whole card is public.
No duty-disbursement fee
Duties pass through at cost and we never take a percentage of the duty bill for advancing it. The importer pays CBP directly, prepays by wire, or we pay it on net terms and bill at cost.
We do not sell freight
Borderless is a customs brokerage and nothing else. We don't quote drayage or run fulfillment, so there's no service of yours we can drift into.
The commitment, in writing
We sign a non-solicitation agreement with every partner. Borderless does not market to, pitch or upsell a customer you introduce, and we don't sell freight or fulfillment that would compete with you. The one thing we can't promise is invisibility. CBP requires the broker to hold a valid power of attorney from the importer of record itself (19 CFR 141.46), so your customer signs with us directly and knows our name.
Your customer's side
What the handoff looks like to them
01
You make the introduction
An email, a form fill, or a link in your own onboarding pack. You don't have to explain customs to them first.
02
They sign the POA with us
CBP requires the broker to hold a valid power of attorney from the importer of record itself (19 CFR 141.46). Your customer signs it directly with us, verified by an email code, never through your office.
03
KYC once, at onboarding
Photo ID, IRS letter and formation documents for the importing entity. We do it once and the file carries every entry after that.
04
They file in the portal
Upload documents, review the draft entry, confirm duty before we transmit, then download invoices and monthly statements. Messages to the broker run in the same place.
One thing worth flagging before you introduce anyone: with the new procedural requirements for importers of record, Borderless reviews each foreign importer of record in the order applications arrive. If the seller you have in mind imports under a foreign entity, say so in the first email so we can look at it before either of you commits to anything.
A new importer's first formal entry is $99 all in, which makes the introduction an easy one to offer. Brokerage fees are on net terms on approval. New accounts are billed twice a month for the first three months, then monthly, and per-filing invoices roll into one statement with a due date. Duties pass through at cost, with no percentage for advancing them.
How to refer
Three ways to hand a customer over
Pick whichever fits how your team already works. None of them needs an agreement signed first.
Send them to the form
Point them at the contact form and we'll take the first conversation. The link below tags the lead as yours, so we know where it came from.
Forward an intro email
Ask us for the short paragraph and paste it into your own thread. Copy hello@borderlesschb.us and we'll pick it up from there.
Have them sign up directly
Send them to the portal signup and tell them to name your company on the form. Nothing is owed and nothing is filed until they sign the POA.
We don't pay referral fees, on purpose
CBP's rules do allow a broker to compensate a freight forwarder for referring brokerage business, under 19 CFR 111.36(c), but only with advance notice to the importer of the broker's name, a copy of the brokerage charges sent to the importer directly, and a power of attorney executed with the importer rather than through the middle party. Those conditions bind a broker who pays for referrals, and that rule is written for forwarders. Running a fee arrangement under it would mean two rate cards and a paper trail on every entry. We'd rather keep one published price for everybody. We run the direct-POA condition as standing practice anyway, even though we pay nobody for a referral.
What we will do is co-write the customer notice with you. Your letterhead, your voice, our name in it, plus a short explainer your staff can send when a container turns up with a customs problem. Ask for it and we'll draft the first version.
Partner questions
What partners ask first
Do you sell freight, drayage or fulfillment?
No. Borderless is a licensed U.S. customs brokerage only. We don't quote or move freight, and we don't sell warehousing, prep or fulfillment. Nothing we do overlaps with what you sell, which is the whole reason this referral runs in one direction.
Will you market to the customers we introduce?
No, and we'll put it in writing. We sign a non-solicitation commitment with every partner: Borderless does not pitch, upsell or market other services to a customer you introduce, and we don't pass their details on. One honest caveat. CBP requires the broker to hold a valid power of attorney from the importer of record itself (19 CFR 141.46), so the importer signs with us directly and knows our name. We can't be invisible to them. A broker who promises you otherwise is describing something the regulations don't allow.
Do you pay a referral fee or a commission?
We don't. CBP does allow a broker to compensate a freight forwarder for referring brokerage business under 19 CFR 111.36(c), but that rule is written for forwarders and carries four conditions, including advance notice to the importer of the broker's name and a copy of the brokerage charges sent to the importer directly. We'd rather keep one published rate card for everyone than run that arrangement. What we will do instead is co-write the notice you send your customers, on your letterhead, so the handoff reads like part of your service.
Can our team see the status of a customer's entry?
Yes, if the customer chooses to add your staff. A sign-in on an address outside the account's own email domain also waits for us to approve it before it works, which is the usual case for a partner. Once the seat is live you see the same portal they do: documents in, draft entry, duty confirmation, transmission and release. That choice belongs to the importer, not to us.
Sources, all verified September 2, 2026:Amazon's discontinuation of U.S. FBA prep and item labeling effective January 1, 2026, and the alternatives it names, as reported bySupply Chain Dive; the definition of customs business at19 CFR 111.1; the power-of-attorney requirement at19 CFR 141.46; the forwarder-referral compensation conditions at19 CFR 111.36(c); and our ownrate card.
Written by Borderless CHB. A licensed customs broker (CBP filer code NQR) confirms classification before any entry is filed. Move freight yourself? Theforwarder partnershippage covers holding your own account and adding importers to it.
Give your customers a licensed broker to hand off to.
Tell us what comes through your dock and who keeps asking. We'll set up the handoff and draft the notice you send them.