FlavorCloud

09/04/2026

A 50 ml perfume and a drum of solvent are not the same shipping risk, and the rules know it.

Consumer-size packaging often qualifies for limited-quantity or excepted-quantity relief, which cuts documentation, packaging, and handling requirements. Most merchants leave that relief on the table because nobody runs the eligibility check.

Our new guide covers what counts as a dangerous good and how to capture the relief where it applies.

Perfume, earbuds, and nail polish are all regulated dangerous goods. Learn what counts, the four rulebooks, and how to ship hazmat cross-border without holds or fines.

09/03/2026

Our peak season conversation with DCL Logistics is now in writing: 5 Things Brands Should Check Before Q4.

The article covers the five things to handle before peak that came up on the webinar: the customer delivery promise, product-level audits, total landed cost, carrier network redundancy, and alignment across marketing, operations, and partners.

Peak exposes operational gaps, and it also shows where a brand is ready to grow. Read this to find out which of the five your team has covered, and which to sort before peak.

Check out the full article here: https://hubs.li/Q04wDJ7Z0

09/03/2026

Most brands earn 10 to 20% of their revenue outside the US. The brands earning 40 to 60% make every market feel local, with prices shoppers recognize and a guaranteed all-in cost at checkout.

On September 22 at 10am PT, FlavorCloud, ShipBob and Linnworks are hosting a live webinar to work through what separates those two groups. Rathna Sharad, Casey Armstrong and Mady Mitchell will get into how a price should be set for each individual market, why a fully guaranteed landed cost changes what a shopper does at checkout, and how to tell which markets and marketplaces are worth the investment before you commit to them.

Can't make it live? Register anyway and we'll send you the recording.

https://hubs.li/Q04wCtKx0

09/02/2026

That perfume or wireless earbud in your catalog might be a regulated dangerous good. And customs may be the one to tell you.

Batteries, sprays, alcohol: those are the triggers. The surprises are worse: light-up shoes, vanilla extract, item trackers, setting sprays.

Clearing your border isn't the same as clearing theirs. Compliant at origin and compliant end to end are two different bars, and only the second one gets your product delivered.

Run the 60-second checklist:

Batteries, sprays, and alcohol can make a product a regulated dangerous good. Use this 60-second checklist to find out before customs holds your shipment.

09/01/2026

When EU Product IDs go mandatory on November 1, who on your team is watching the switch?

If a shipment holds on November 3, it should be caught by your team, not by the shopper waiting on their order. Give one person the cutover and the escalation path before the date arrives.

That's step six of six. Here's the full checklist to get every SKU ready:

EU Product IDs become mandatory November 1, 2026. A six-step checklist to get all 3 PID fields on every SKU before shipments start stopping at the border.

08/31/2026

The rules that govern your shipment in December can be different in January.

Dangerous-goods regulations update on annual and biennial cycles. Documentation that still references last year's edition can invalidate a booking, which means a shipment that was fully compliant a month ago suddenly isn't.

Our new guide covers the four rulebooks, the five things every compliant shipment needs, and how to build a program that keeps up.

Perfume, earbuds, and nail polish are all regulated dangerous goods. Learn what counts, the four rulebooks, and how to ship hazmat cross-border without holds or fines.

08/28/2026

EU Product IDs go mandatory November 1. Three identifiers on every SKU, and one blank field is enough to stop a shipment at the border.

There's no penalty for errors yet, which makes now the only free time to find the gaps. Run test declarations, chase suppliers for the manufacturer reference, and name one person to own the cutover.

The six-step checklist:

EU Product IDs become mandatory November 1, 2026. A six-step checklist to get all 3 PID fields on every SKU before shipments start stopping at the border.

08/27/2026

That perfume you sell? A regulated flammable liquid. Those earbuds? Class 9 hazmat.

Most merchants don't find out a product counts as a dangerous good until a shipment gets held at a border. Nail polish, aerosols, lithium batteries, and essential oils all carry rules that change by transport mode and by carrier.

Our new guide covers what counts, the rulebooks that govern it, and how to ship it cross-border without holds or fines.

Perfume, earbuds, and nail polish are all regulated dangerous goods. Learn what counts, the four rulebooks, and how to ship hazmat cross-border without holds or fines.

08/26/2026

64% of shoppers now use AI-powered tools to shop online. That's just one signal from our partner Ryder System, Inc.'s 2026 Ecommerce Consumer Study.

Every year, Ryder surveys more than 1,000 consumers to track how online shopping behavior is shifting. This year's results point to real movement in delivery expectations, returns, and how people choose to pay.

A few highlights:
- 52% of Buy Online Pickup In-Store/Buy Online Return In-Store transactions lead to additional purchases (up 17% YOY)
- 52% won't buy from a brand without a free return policy
- 45% used Buy Now Pay Later for online purchases (up 21% YOY)

These trends track with what we see across cross-border commerce too: shoppers reward brands that make buying transparent, flexible, and easy to trust. That's a big part of what closes the gap between the 10-20% most brands see in international revenue and the 40-60% the best performers reach.

Explore the full study: https://hubs.li/Q04vhgbm0

08/25/2026

If you paid tariffs through FedEx, UPS or DHL, money may be coming back.

As FlavorCloud CEO Rathna Sharad has emphasized, brands shouldn’t assume refunds will happen automatically or reach the right party without scrutiny. Eligibility and timing depend on who served as the importer of record, how the duties were billed and whether the carrier has received the refund from CBP.

For cross-border brands, the takeaway is simple: review your shipment records, confirm who paid the original duties and watch for communications from your carrier.

Read what businesses need to know—and tag Sharad when posting:
https://hubs.li/Q04tMCF40


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Refunds are generally issued to the original tariff payer, complicating the process for shoppers, US News, Times Now