Shopify customs information: what it is, where it lives, and how to bulk-edit it
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, why Shopify's usual bulk tools can't touch it, 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.
Why you can't bulk edit customs information natively
Two things trip up almost every merchant. First, Shopify's built-in bulk editor — the spreadsheet-style grid you open from the Products page — lets you edit price, inventory, tags, and more, but it does not expose HS code or country of origin. Second, 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 two tools everyone reaches for first are both dead ends for exactly this data.
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, every batch is reversible, and non-physical items like gift cards are excluded automatically. Your first scan runs in about two minutes.
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 — none of it reachable through the native bulk editor or product CSV. 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.
Related: How to add HS codes to Shopify products in bulk · Country of origin in Shopify: where it lives and how to set it in bulk