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Calculating with discounts

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Landed Cost•
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Manage discounts

How discounts impact landed cost calculations.

There are different options available for calculating landed costs with discounts. Customers who use the Landed Cost API can use Zonos' algorithm to distribute discounts proportionately, or manage applying discounts on their own. Free items and free shipping can be included in the calculations, as long as all amounts are positive.

Landed cost with discounts 

Note: Currently, this functionality is only available for customers who are using our Landed Cost API.

Here are a few different ways to handle discounts at checkout:

  • Let the Zonos algorithm calculate the discount in the landed cost.
  • Use your own algorithm to calculate the discounts, then request a landed cost.
  • Obtain a landed cost request without applied discounts.

Your decision on how to manage discounts with a landed cost calculation will be based on the ability to modify the commercial invoice. See our document on how to apply discounts or free shipping to a commercial invoice to learn more.

Zonos Landed Cost can automatically distribute discounts on your behalf. This lets you offer discounts to cross-border shoppers without over or undercharging duties and taxes.

Discount types

Order level discounts

You can send an order-level discount, e.g. a promo code, using a landed cost request in the discounts array.

Request

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{
  "discounts": [
    {
      "id": "SURRENDER",
      "amount": 10.0,
      "detail": null
    }
  ]
}

The discount amount will then be proportionately distributed between the items in the landed cost request up to the total discount value for the order. The item value change will be reflected in the note field in the response for each item. See the example in the promo code section of the discounts on commercial invoices document.

Note: If the value of the discount brings the value of the items to a near-zero or negative amount, the discounts will also be applied to the shipping costs.

Response

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{
  "customs": {
    "amount_shipping": 20.0,
    "delivery_duty_paid": "unavailable",
    "items": [
      {
        "id": "294395",
        "amount": 15.0,
        "country_of_origin": "CN",
        "country_of_origin_source": "platform",
        "description_customs": "Men's t-shirt 100% cotton",
        "description_retail": "Mars Attacks Men's Tee Black",
        "detail": null,
        "dimensions": {
          "height": 1.0,
          "length": 1.0,
          "unit": "inches",
          "width": 1.0
        },
        "hs_code": "6217.10",
        "hs_code_source": "Account default HS code",
        "image_url": "https://zonos.com/images/handbag.png",
        "note": "Item was discounted by 25% from 20.00 USD to 15.00 USD",
        "quantity": 1,
        "upc_code": null,
        "weight": 1,
        "weight_unit": "pound"
      },
      {
        "id": "294396",
        "amount": 11.25,
        "country_of_origin": "CN",
        "country_of_origin_source": "platform",
        "description_customs": "Men’s 100% cotton costume for dress up",
        "description_retail": "Mars Attacks Martian Soldier Costume",
        "detail": null,
        "dimensions": {
          "height": 1.0,
          "length": 1.0,
          "unit": "inches",
          "width": 1.0
        },
        "hs_code": null,
        "hs_code_source": "Account default HS code",
        "image_url": "https://zonos.com/images/handbag.png",
        "note": "Item was discounted by 25% from 15.00 USD to 11.25 USD",
        "quantity": 1,
        "upc_code": null,
        "weight": 1,
        "weight_unit": "pound"
      },
      {
        "id": "294397",
        "amount": 3.75,
        "country_of_origin": "CN",
        "country_of_origin_source": "platform",
        "description_customs": "100% cotton headband",
        "description_retail": "Mars Attacks Headband",
        "detail": null,
        "dimensions": {
          "height": 1.0,
          "length": 1.0,
          "unit": "inches",
          "width": 1.0
        },
        "hs_code": "6505.00.10",
        "hs_code_source": "Account default HS code",
        "image_url": "https://zonos.com/images/handbag.png",
        "note": "Item was discounted by 25% from 5.00 USD to 3.75 USD",
        "quantity": 1,
        "upc_code": null,
        "weight": 1,
        "weight_unit": "pound"
      }
    ],
    "ship_to_country": "FR"
  }
}
Free items

To send a free item, we recommend sending an amount_discount that equals the item amount. This will net the total amount to 0 USD.

In cases when the items.amount is 0 and the amount_discount is not used, an account default of 5.00 USD will be used as an estimated value for the free item. The remaining 5.00 USD will be distributed between the remaining items. This default value can be changed inside Dashboard.

Please note that we do not support 100% discounts on the only item in the order. We allow items to be discounted at 100% only if there are other items in the order with a price greater than zero.

Request

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{
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "294395",
      "amount": 20.0,
      "amount_discount": null,
      "country_of_origin": "FR",
      "description_retail": "Mars Attacks Men's Tee Black",
      "hs_code": "6217.10",
      "quantity": 1,
      "weight": 1.0,
      "weight_unit": "pound"
    },
    {
      "id": "294395",
      "amount": 4.5,
      "amount_discount": 4.5,
      "country_of_origin": "FR",
      "description_retail": "Mars Attacks Men's Tee Black",
      "hs_code": "6217.10",
      "quantity": 1,
      "weight": 1.0,
      "weight_unit": "pound"
    }
  ]
}

When the landed cost request includes a free item (the discount of the item equals the total cost of the item), the discount will be applied the same way as order-level discounts—each item in the order will appear proportionately discounted up to the amount of that single item, rather than that particular item showing a 100% discount.

Below is an example response to the request shown above.

Response

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{
  "customs": {
    "amount_shipping": 12.5,
    "delivery_duty_paid": "unknown",
    "items": [
      {
        "id": "294395",
        "amount": 16.33,
        "country_of_origin": "CN",
        "country_of_origin_source": "platform",
        "description_customs": "Men's t-shirt 100% cotton",
        "description_retail": "Mars Attacks Men's Tee Black",
        "detail": null,
        "dimensions": {
          "height": 4.0,
          "length": 6.0,
          "unit": "inches",
          "width": 11.0
        },
        "hs_code": "6217.10",
        "hs_code_source": "Account default HS code",
        "image_url": "https://zonos.com/images/handbag.png",
        "note": "Item was discounted by 18.37% from 20.00 USD to 16.33 USD",
        "quantity": 1,
        "upc_code": null,
        "weight": 1.0,
        "weight_unit": "pound"
      },
      {
        "id": "294396",
        "amount": 3.67,
        "country_of_origin": "CN",
        "country_of_origin_source": "platform",
        "description_customs": "Men’s 100% cotton costume for dress up",
        "description_retail": "Mars Attacks Martian Soldier Costume",
        "detail": null,
        "dimensions": {
          "height": 4.0,
          "length": 6.0,
          "unit": "inches",
          "width": 11.0
        },
        "hs_code": null,
        "hs_code_source": "Account default HS code",
        "image_url": "https://zonos.com/images/handbag.png",
        "note": "Item was discounted by 18.37% from 4.50 USD to 3.67 USD",
        "quantity": 1,
        "upc_code": null,
        "weight": 1.0,
        "weight_unit": "pound"
      }
    ],
    "import_country": "FR"
  }
}
Free shipping

To request a landed cost with free shipping, we recommend adding the shipping as we did with the discount. Input the normal shipping amount, and then input the amount_discount as the same value as the shipping.

Request

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{
  "shipping": {
    "amount": 7.0,
    "amount_discount": 7.0,
    "service_level": "ups_express_saver"
  }
}

The customs array will contain the adjusted amounts on the items in the same way that order-level discounts are applied. The note field will indicate what was changed.

Response

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{
  "customs": {
    "amount_shipping": 7.0,
    "delivery_duty_paid": "unknown",
    "items": [
      {
        "id": "294395",
        "amount": 16.0,
        "country_of_origin": "CN",
        "country_of_origin_source": "platform",
        "description_customs": "Men's t-shirt 100% cotton",
        "description_retail": "Mars Attacks Men's Tee Black",
        "detail": null,
        "dimensions": {
          "height": 4.0,
          "length": 6.0,
          "unit": "inches",
          "width": 11.0
        },
        "hs_code": "6217.10",
        "hs_code_source": "Account default HS code",
        "image_url": "https://zonos.com/images/handbag.png",
        "note": "Item was discounted by 20.00% from 20.00 USD to 16.00 USD",
        "quantity": 1,
        "upc_code": null,
        "weight": 1.0,
        "weight_unit": "pound"
      },
      {
        "id": "294396",
        "amount": 12.0,
        "country_of_origin": "CN",
        "country_of_origin_source": "platform",
        "description_customs": "Men’s 100% cotton costume for dress up",
        "description_retail": "Mars Attacks Martian Soldier Costume",
        "detail": null,
        "dimensions": {
          "height": 4.0,
          "length": 6.0,
          "unit": "inches",
          "width": 11.0
        },
        "hs_code": null,
        "hs_code_source": "Account default HS code",
        "image_url": "https://zonos.com/images/handbag.png",
        "note": "Item was discounted by 20.00% from 15.00 USD to 12.00 USD",
        "quantity": 1,
        "upc_code": null,
        "weight": 1.0,
        "weight_unit": "pound"
      }
    ],
    "import_country": "FR"
  }
}
Warning

All amounts in the Landed Cost request (amount, amount_discount, and amount_shipping) must be greater than 0. If any negative number is sent in the request, the request will return an error.

Apply discounts on your own 

You can use your own formulas and rules to apply discounts across the items in a landed cost request. This allows you to remain in full control of how the landed cost is calculated.

For valid business reasons, a retailer may decide to exclude discounts in a landed cost calculation. For instance, if your commercial invoice amount is unreconcilable with the cart amount and applied discount, then it may be more practical to exclude the discount in the landed cost calculation. If you choose to exclude the discount, the landed cost amount will be higher, but it will match what is shown on the commercial invoice.

Frequently asked questions 

I am using the Duty and Tax app for Shopify. Will promo codes and discounts work with Zonos?

Promo codes will work as usual, but any discount or promo code that reduces shipping costs may also reduce the duties and taxes included in the shipping amount. Contact your Zonos support rep for more details.

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On this page:
  • Manage discounts
  • Landed cost with discounts
  • Apply discounts on your own
  • Frequently asked questions