Glossary
Trade and customs glossary
Plain-English definitions of the U.S. customs and trade-compliance terms that show up across the platform.
Denied Party Screening
Denied party screening (DPS) is the process of checking every party to a transaction, including customers, vendors, carriers, banks, and end users, against government lists of individuals and organizations that are restricted, denied, or sanctioned from international trade. It is a core export-compliance control that keeps a company from doing business with a prohibited party.
Drawback Contingency Fee
A drawback contingency fee is a provider's charge calculated as a percentage of each duty drawback refund, paid only when CBP pays the claim. It is how most drawback specialists and AI-native drawback filers price their service. The alternative is licensed drawback software, where the claimant or its customs broker runs the claims for a fixed fee and keeps the whole refund.
Drawback Matching
Drawback matching is the process of pairing imported entries with exported or destroyed shipments to build a duty drawback claim. Because each import can be claimed only once, the way matches are chosen decides how much duty, tax, and fee you actually recover. Optimized matching maximizes recovery; naive first-in-first-out or first-fit matching usually leaves money on the table.
Duty Drawback
Duty drawback is the refund of up to 99% of customs duties, certain taxes, and fees paid on imported merchandise that is later exported or destroyed under U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) supervision. It lets importers and exporters recover money on goods that never entered U.S. commerce for consumption.
Manufacturing Drawback
Manufacturing drawback is the refund of up to 99% of the duties, taxes and fees paid on imported merchandise used to make articles that are then exported or destroyed, under 19 U.S.C. 1313(a). Under 1313(b), the articles can instead be made with other merchandise classifiable under the same 8-digit HTS subheading as the duty-paid imports. Manufacturers operate under a manufacturing drawback ruling, and claims must be filed within five years of import.
Merchandise Processing Fee
The Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) is a fee U.S. Customs and Border Protection charges on most formal imports, calculated as 0.3464% of the entered value within a per-entry minimum and maximum. MPF paid on goods that are later exported or destroyed is recoverable through duty drawback, and how a claim allocates MPF has a direct effect on how much is refunded.
Substitution Drawback
Substitution drawback lets you claim a refund of duties paid on imports when the goods you export or destroy are different but interchangeable goods classified under the same 8-digit HTS subheading. It applies to unused merchandise (19 U.S.C. 1313(j)(2)) and to manufacturing (1313(b)), works within five years of import, and refunds up to 99% of the lesser of the duty paid on the import or the duty that would apply to the substituted goods.
Unused Merchandise Drawback
Unused merchandise drawback is the refund of up to 99% of the duties, taxes and fees paid on imported goods that are exported or destroyed without being used in the United States, under 19 U.S.C. 1313(j)(1). The goods must be exported or destroyed within five years of import, and handling that does not amount to manufacture, such as testing, repacking or relabeling, does not count as use. Under 1313(j)(2), you can also claim on substituted goods classified under the same 8-digit HTS subheading.
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