Guide

Shopify customs information: what it is, where it lives, and how to bulk-edit it

By Spencer Flaherty, founder of Origova

If you ship internationally, Shopify keeps the data customs cares about in a section called Customs information. It's easy to overlook, hard to edit at scale, and — because incomplete customs data is one of the most common reasons a cross-border parcel gets held — expensive to get wrong. This guide covers exactly what's in that section, where each field lives, how far Shopify's native bulk tools actually get you, and the realistic ways to complete it across a whole catalog.

What "Customs information" actually contains

In Shopify's product editor, Customs information holds two fields, both set per variant: Country/region of origin and the Harmonized System (HS) code. A third field customs relies on — product weight — sits just above it in the same Shipping card. Those three together are what a broker or customs authority uses to classify your goods and calculate the duties owed. Miss one and the shipment can stall.

Where the fields live (and why they're easy to miss)

None of these are ordinary product fields. HS code and country of origin are stored on each variant's inventory item, and in the admin they appear only inside the Shipping card near the bottom of the product editor — and only when the Physical product toggle is on. Even then, HS code and country of origin sit inside a Customs information subsection that's frequently collapsed by default. The path for a single product is: open the product → scroll to Shipping → confirm Physical product is on → expand Customs information → fill in the fields → save. Fine once. Painful across a few hundred products, and worse once you factor in variants.

How far the native bulk tools actually get you

Shopify's built-in bulk editor does reach part of this. From the Products page, check the products you want, click Bulk edit, click Columns, and under Shipping tick Harmonized system code — you get a grid and can type codes straight down the column. Shopify's documentation covers country of origin only on the individual product page, not as a bulk-editor column. And the standard product CSV import/export has no column for either field, because the values live on the inventory item rather than the product.

The bigger limit is the one nobody mentions: the bulk editor edits the products you hand it, and Shopify's product list has no filter for "customs information is missing." Building that selection means opening products one at a time to check. Shopify gives you the editor. It doesn't give you the list.

The three realistic ways to fill it in

One product at a time. For a dozen SKUs, the manual path is fine — budget about a minute each. The real friction isn't any single edit; it's that Shopify gives you no list of which products are missing customs information, so you end up opening every product just to check.

Spreadsheet import apps. General-purpose import/export tools (Matrixify is the best known) can read and write inventory-item fields through their own extended spreadsheet formats. Powerful if you already know precisely which products need which values — but you're driving a broad tool with a learning curve, and it assumes the audit is already done.

Scan first, then fix in bulk. Origova works from the audit side: it scans your entire catalog, shows you exactly which variants are missing country of origin, an HS code (or have one outside the 6–10 digit format customs expects), or a valid weight, and lets you apply a value to every affected item in a single batch. Each fix writes back to the real Shopify inventory item — under Shopify's own API rate limits, so very large batches take several minutes and keep applying in the background — every batch is reversible, and non-physical items like gift cards are excluded automatically. Your first scan takes about two minutes on a typical store, a few minutes more on large catalogs.

Keeping it correct after the first pass

Customs information isn't set-and-forget — you add products, edit variants, and adjust values over time. Origova stays in sync both directions: change a country of origin, HS code, or weight directly in Shopify and the app picks it up on its own, resolving the issue and updating your exports without a manual rescan. Shopify stays the single source of truth, and when you're ready to hand data to a broker you can export a customs-ready CSV of the whole catalog or just the items tied to one issue.

The short version

Shopify's Customs information section holds HS code and country of origin per variant, with weight alongside. The native bulk editor reaches the HS code column and the product CSV reaches none of it, but neither one tells you which products are incomplete. Native admin works for a handful of products; spreadsheet apps work if you already know what's missing; a scan-first approach is the fastest route from "I don't know which products are incomplete" to "done, in bulk, and reversible." This guide is practical, not legal or customs advice — for genuinely ambiguous classifications, ask a customs broker or your carrier.

Frequently asked questions

Where is customs information in Shopify?

Open a product and scroll to the Shipping card near the bottom of the editor. With the Physical product toggle on, expand the Customs information subsection — that's where country of origin and the HS code live, per variant. Weight sits just above it in the same Shipping card. Customs information is often collapsed by default, which is why many merchants never notice it.

Can you bulk edit customs information in Shopify?

Partly. Shopify's built-in bulk editor has a Harmonized system code column — from the Products page, select products, click Bulk edit, click Columns, and tick it under Shipping. Shopify documents country of origin only on the individual product page, and the standard product CSV has no column for either field because they live on each variant's inventory item. The harder gap is that nothing native tells you which products are missing customs information in the first place, which is why merchants reach for a spreadsheet import app or a purpose-built scanner.

What fields are in Shopify's customs information?

Country/region of origin and the Harmonized System (HS) code, both per variant. Product weight lives in the same Shipping card just above the Customs information subsection. Together these are the fields a customs authority uses to classify goods and calculate duties on a cross-border shipment.

Does Shopify's product CSV export customs information?

No. The standard product CSV import/export does not include HS code or country of origin columns, because those values are stored on the inventory item rather than the product. A normal CSV round-trip can't read or write them.

Do gift cards and digital products need customs information?

No. Customs information only applies to physical goods that cross a border. Gift cards, digital downloads, and services are non-shippable, so Shopify hides the Shipping section for them — and a compliance scan should exclude them rather than flag them as missing data.

Primary source for US classifications: the official Harmonized Tariff Schedule (hts.usitc.gov). The statute ending de minimis: 19 U.S.C. § 1321 (Cornell Law, LII).