International shipments require customs documentation such as commercial or pro forma invoices and, in some cases, other specific documents.
FedEx Electronic Trade Documents is a simple and free solution allowing you to create and send your trade documents electronically when shipping internationally.
Some countries and territories do not accept paperless clearance. That’s when Electronic with Originals (EWO) comes in. You can still transmit your documentation electronically to benefit from a quicker documentation review, but you still have to attach one or more copie(s) of your customs documents to your shipment.
Why use Electronic Trade Documents?
Save time
Send your trade documents with just a few clicks.
Speed up clearance
Your documents can be reviewed sooner, even before your shipment is picked up.
Save money
Save on paper, ink, and reduce your carbon footprint.
Avoid customs delays
Be notified earlier of potential errors or missing paperwork.
Choose your preferred method
Upload your own documents or create them with our shipping tool.
Personalise your documents
Add your company letterhead and digital signature.
Save time
Speed up clearance
Save money
Send your trade documents with just a few clicks.
Your documents can be reviewed sooner, even before your shipment is picked up.
Save on paper, ink, and reduce your carbon footprint.
Avoid customs delays
Choose your preferred method
Personalise your documents
Be notified earlier of potential errors or missing paperwork.
Upload your own documents or create them with our shipping tool.
Add your company letterhead and digital signature.
How to use Electronic Trade Documents
Whether you use our shipping tool or have FedEx integrated with your website or app, it’s easy to use Electronic Trade Documents. Click on your shipping solution to view the details.
Electronic Trade Documents is directly available for you on FedEx Ship Manager™ at fedex.com. When creating your shipment, upload your own invoice under the Package contents section, or generate your invoice with FedEx. You can also upload additional documents.
Develop the Trade Documents Upload API. Access useful documentation on the FedEx Developer Portal. It will help you integrate Electronic Trade Documents into your shipping setup.
Minimise your environmental impact
This solution reduces paper waste and is part of our sustainability initiative to connect the world in responsible ways.
FAQs
Not all countries and territories accept Electronic Trade Documents (ETD) shipments.
When one or both of the origin or destination countries do not accept paperless clearance, your shipment will be labeled as EWO (Electronics with Originals). This means you can seamlessly send your trade documents electronically to benefit from an early broker review but you will still have to attach printed copies of trade documents to your shipment to comply with regulatory requirements.
View the full list to see what is accepted in the countries and territories you ship to/from.
- ‘ETD’ will display on the shipping label when the shipment is going to a country that fully supports Electronic Trade Documents.
- ‘EWO’ will display on the shipping label when the documents have been submitted electronically but a paper copy of your customs document will still be required to be printed and placed in the pouch.
Electronic Trade Documents can be used for both imports and exports and is most beneficial for non-document and commodity shipments. Dangerous Goods and Dry Ice shipments are eligible.
Electronic Trade Documents is available by default on FedEx Ship Manager™ at fedex.com. It’s also available with FedEx APIs – Trade Documents Upload.
You should at least upload your commercial invoice (CI) or pro forma invoice when required. Other documents (e.g. Certificate of Origin, Affidavit of Manufacture, etc.) can be uploaded depending on the origin and destination countries and your shipment requirements.
Commercial invoice
- A commercial invoice is used when goods are part of a commercial transaction or intended for sale and is required by Customs Authorities to classify merchandise, so that duties and taxes can be correctly assessed.
- It is the first international shipping document that should be completed as it is the foundation of all other trade documents. The information provided on other international shipping documents, including the Air Waybill or shipping label, must correspond with the commercial invoice.
- The commercial invoice is prepared by the exporter and is required by the importer to prove ownership and arrange for duties and taxes payment.
Pro forma invoice
- For shipments of free goods such as product samples, gifts, catalogues or products not intended for sale or where there is no demand or request for payment.
- However, not all countries/territories accept pro forma invoices and for those cases we recommend preparing a commercial invoice.
FedEx Ship Manager™ at fedex.com users:
When creating your shipping label, you can submit electronically:
- Up to 5 documents per shipment
- Up to 5MB in size per document
- Accepted formats: DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, TXT, RTF, JPG, GIF, BMP, TIF, PNG or PDF.
- File names should be less than 244 characters
- Multiple pages could be merged into 1 PDF before uploading as long as it does not exceed 5MB and also if you choose the option I want FedEx to help me create a commercial invoice.
- For letterhead and signature documents, images can be GIF or PNG
- Letterhead dimensions: width and height aspect ratio of 14:1, for example, width of 1400 pixels and height of 100 pixels.
- Signature dimensions: width and height aspect ratio of 10:1, for example, width of 1000 pixels and height of 100 pixels.
FedEx APIs users:
You can upload one document at a time before creating the shipment (pre-shipment) or after a shipment is created (post-shipment). Find all applicable business rules on the FedEx Developer Portal.
Yes, you must still print a shipping label and attach it to your package.
- Search for required documents for your international shipment via Find International Documents on FedEx Global Trade Manager.
- You can prepare, store, and reuse trade documents online with the FedEx Document Preparation Center.
- The Shipping Channel also contains valuable information on how to complete your trade documentation.
- Make sure information is accurate and consistent across all required documents – notably the value of your item and its description.