FedEx® Electronic Trade Documents
Enjoy a smooth customs clearance process.
Enjoy a smooth customs clearance process.
FedEx Electronic Trade Documents (ETD) is a simple free of charge solution that allows you to transmit customs documentation electronically for your international shipments.
Save Time and Money
Upload and submit trade documents electronically to eliminate the need for manual signing, folding, stuffing and attaching customs documents to each shipment. Plus, save on paper, energy and printing costs.
Be Efficient
Upload your own customs documents or use FedEx generated trade documents. You can also customize your electronic trade documents by uploading your company letterhead and signature image.
Enjoy Peace of Mind
Get a head start on customs clearance by submitting your trade documents ahead of your shipment. FedEx Electronic Trade Documents provides pre-clearance assistance and proactive problem resolution so you can reduce the chance of customs delays. With ETD your trade documents uploaded are never lost.
*Note: 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 upload your customs documents electronically to benefit from an early broker review but you will still have to attach printed copies of customs 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.
Say Hello to Streamlined International Shipping
FedEx now provides three ways to upload customs documents via FedEx Electronic Trade Documents:
Option 1: Pre-Shipment
Prior to creating your label on FedEx Ship Manager at fedex.com, customs documents may be uploaded. Use Global Trade Manager's Documentation Preparation Centre to create and save your customs documents for later use. Then, when creating your label on FedEx Ship Manager, you can select "Attach from Document Preparation Centre" to upload the document you previously created.
Option 2: At-Shipment
The most common way to submit your customs documentation is when creating your shipping label. You can either choose to take advantage of the commercial invoice generated by FedEx or decide to upload your own commercial invoice in your preferred format.
Option 3: Post-Shipment
Customs documents may be uploaded by your shipping solution after the label has been created. Post-Shipment Document Upload (PSDU) is a new option that is ideal for shippers who create their own Commercial Invoices and do not have customs documents ready before or while the label is created.
FedEx Electronic Trade Documents is an automated international shipping solution that allows you to submit your customs documentation electronically. It reduces the amount of paper you print for each shipment, may allow for faster pickup and helps to pre-clear your shipments. With ETD you can help reduce the risk of your shipment being delayed in customs and benefit from a better service.
FedEx Electronic Trade Documents helps you simplify the international shipping process, makes operational efficiencies possible by helping you save paper and reducing your printing costs, and provides peace of mind.
- Upload trade documents in advance of your shipment, allowing time for pre-clearance assistance.
- Upload company letterhead and signature images to help you comply with customs clearance requirements in some countries.
- Lower your consumption of paper, printers, toner, and shipping materials, and reduce your carbon footprint.
- Reduce customs delays, which increases your shipping reliability and improves your reputation.
- Save time when preparing documentation, enabling you to perform other departmental tasks, and improving your company’s productivity and profits.
- Reduce the chances of shipment thefts because there are no invoices on the package and commodity information is not revealed to third parties.
FedEx Electronic Trade Documents can be used for both imports and exports. View the list of available countries to see if it is accepted in the countries you ship to/from. When one or both of the Origin or Destination countries does not accept ETD, your shipment will be labeled as EWO (Electronics with Originals). Electronic with Originals (EWO) enables you to seamlessly upload your customs documents for countries that require paper copies for customs clearance when you use ETD. By uploading the documents for these shipments, you will have the benefit of an early broker review of your documentation, which provides advance notice for you to resolve potential issues with the paperwork and further minimizes the chance of missing paperwork from occurring. You will still need to print and attach the customs documents to the shipment to comply with regulatory requirements.
It is available for FedEx Express® shipments. FedEx Electronic Trade Documents is most beneficial for non-document or commodity shippers. Shipments containing Dangerous Goods and Dry Ice are eligible.
You can prepare, store, and reuse customs documents online with the FedEx Document Preparation Center on FedEx Global® Trade Manager.
You can choose to either electronically submit your own trade documents or take advantage of documents generated by FedEx. The choice is yours.
You may be required to submit original paperwork based on the destination country requirements. The Country Profiles feature on FedEx® Global Trade Manager provides an overview of essential, country-specific shipping information and regulatory requirements, including proper documentation, special clearance requirements, what duties and taxes will need to be paid, and much more. Please remember to print your international shipping label for all shipments.
Electronic Trade Documents is available on FedEx Ship Manager™ at fedex.com (new and old versions), FedEx Ship Manager® Software, FedEx Web Services, FedEx Ship Manager® Server, FedEx Global Ship Manager (GSM) and FedEx ShipFast™.
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
Yes. FedEx Electronic Trade Documents allows you to submit customs documentation electronically, but you must still print a shipping label.
Enable FedEx Electronic Trade Documents
Check how to activate and create shipments with Electronic Trade Documents.
Discover Post-Shipment Document Upload (PSDU)
Post-Shipment Document Upload now allows customs documents to be uploaded after a label has been created.