What is an EEI?
If you ship high-value goods from the United States, some of your orders may require an Electronic Export Information (EEI) filing before a shipping label can be generated. This is a US Customs compliance requirement, not a Swap restriction, and it applies regardless of which platform or carrier you use.
In short an EEI is a mandatory export declaration required by US Customs and Border Protection for certain outbound shipments. Previously known as the Shipper's Export Declaration (SED), it is filed electronically through the Automated Export System (AES) — a platform run by the US Census Bureau. A recent DHL policy change has affected how EEI-qualifying shipments can be processed for some Swap merchants — this is covered in more detail below.
Once an EEI is filed and accepted, AES issues an Internal Transaction Number (ITN): a unique reference (formatted as AES X followed by the acceptance date and a transaction number, e.g. AES X20260615123456) that serves as proof the filing has been completed. The ITN must be provided to your carrier before the shipment departs. Carriers are legally required to obtain a valid ITN — or a recognised exemption — before accepting affected cargo.
When does EEI apply to your shipments?
An EEI filing is required for any US export shipment that meets at least one of the following criteria:
Trigger | What it means |
High value | A single product line (grouped by HS / Schedule B code) is valued at over $2,500. Multiple items sharing the same HS code count as one line — e.g. three $900 items under the same code = $2,700 total = EEI required. |
Controlled goods | Your products require a US government export licence, or are subject to ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) or the Commerce Control List (ECCN). |
Restricted destinations | Any shipment to China, Russia, or Venezuela requires EEI regardless of order value. |
Rough diamonds | Harmonized tariff schedule 7102.10, 7102.21, 7102.31 — always requires EEI. |
| Shipping to Canada? Generally exempt, unless your goods require an export licence, are subject to ITAR, include rough diamonds, or are transiting Canada onward to a third country.
EEI is most commonly triggered for luxury goods, fine jewellery, and high-AOV accessories. If your catalogue includes items in this range shipping internationally from the US, some orders will be affected, so if any of these criteria apply to you it’s worth auditing your outbound shipment data to understand your exposure.
What will I see if an order requires an EEI/ITN?
If Swap attempts to generate a label for an affected order without an ITN, the carrier will reject the request. You may see errors such as:
EEI/ITN required for this shipmentITN not providedValid FTR exemption not providedAES filing required
Do not attempt to regenerate the label — it will continue to fail until the EEI requirement is resolved.
Does Swap support EEI filing?
Swap does not currently file EEIs automatically, and there is no fully supported self-serve workflow for EEI-qualifying shipments within the platform at this time.
We're working toward handling EEI automatically on your behalf. This means qualifying shipments will have the ITN included in the carrier request without any action needed from you. We'll be in touch as soon as this is available.
What to do if you think you're affected
If you have shipments that currently trigger EEI requirements, the first step is to contact your Swap account manager or Support. Given current platform constraints, EEI-qualifying shipments need to be handled on a case-by-case basis, and your account manager can advise on the best path forward for your situation.
How to handle the filing mechanism outside of Swap
If your qualifying volumes are low and you need to act before Swap’s integrated solution is available, a US customs broker can file individual EEIs on your behalf. The exporter — or an authorised agent such as a licensed US customs broker — files the EEI through ACE AESDirect, the US government’s online portal. AES returns the ITN on acceptance, which is then provided to the carrier.