Declared value helper
A declaration describes the goods, not the whole transaction. This tool takes what you paid, removes the freight you also paid, and shows the figure that is left — without recommending a number.
This tool does not suggest a number to declare. It works out what the goods themselves cost you, which is the figure a declaration describes.
Reading
- Value of the goods
- 100.00
- Allowance you entered
- Not entered
- The comparable range for this kind of item is not supplied by this tool. Two buyers can pay very different prices for the same listing, so a range copied from elsewhere would describe someone else’s order.
- This tool does not suggest declaring below what you paid. Undervaluing a parcel is the buyer’s risk: it can void cover, delay the parcel and lead to a charge based on the goods rather than the paperwork.
What a declaration is describing
A customs declaration describes the goods inside a parcel: what they are and what they are worth. Freight is a separate line in the transaction, and in most declarations it is treated separately from the value of the goods. Adding the two together inflates the base that any charge is worked out on.
The tool therefore subtracts what you paid for shipping from what you paid in total, and shows the difference. On a small parcel the freight can be a third of the total, so the difference is not cosmetic.
Why no figure is suggested
Tools in this space sometimes print a "typical" value for a category of goods. That number would describe someone else’s order. Two buyers can pay very different amounts for the same listing depending on when they bought, which coupon applied and what the seller charged that week. A suggested figure that does not match your receipt is a figure that invites a question.
There is also a narrower reason. A recommendation is a decision made on your behalf about a legal declaration. This site is not in a position to make that decision, and the page says so rather than pretending the number is merely informational.
What undervaluing actually risks
Declaring below what you paid is a common suggestion and a poor one. The immediate risks are practical rather than abstract: cover from the carrier is usually tied to the declared value, so a lost parcel is compensated against a number you chose rather than what you spent.
The second risk is slower. Parcels are assessed, not merely processed, and an assessment at a higher value than the paperwork produces a charge based on the goods rather than on the declaration, plus the handling fee for the intervention. The saving on paper is small; the exposure is not.
How to use the result
The figure this tool produces is the value of the goods in your order, which is the number a declaration is asking for. Carry it into the duty estimate along with the allowance and rate that apply to your destination, and you have the two halves of the same calculation.
Keep the receipt. If a parcel is assessed, the receipt is what establishes what you actually paid, and it is the document that resolves the question fastest.
- The duty estimate — apply your destination’s allowance and rate to the figure you arrive at here.
- Is the price on the sheet final? — the charges that sit between a listing price and a landed cost.
- The price column never included the expensive parts — the full waterfall.