WHEN POLICY STOPPED THE PACKAGES
Designing an experience that helped international shippers send goods to the U.S. again
PRODUCT:
Zonos Sender Collect
MY ROLE:
Designer responsible for the duty recovery and payment experience
TEAM:
PM, engineers, global trade team, marketing
TIMELINE:
2 Weeks
CONTEXT
When the U.S. government announced a new Executive Order removing the $800 duty-free threshold, it forced every postal operator shipping goods to the United States to rethink how they handled duties. Starting in August 2025, every parcel needed duties collected before acceptance by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Collecting duties before delivery is a long-standing pain point in cross-border shipping.
If recipients don’t pay on time, packages get held at customs, delivered unpaid, or destroyed.
For shipping platforms and postal operators, that means lost revenue, bad customer experiences, and compliance risks.
Even when a system exists for collecting duties upfront, things slip through. The goal was to design a way to recover those missed payments without adding friction or confusion for senders. This was a necessary fallback posts needed before reopening shipping to the United States.
DESIGN PRIORITIES
Build trust
Shoppers in the United States are not used to being being contacted to pay duties after placing an online order. It was important that we didn't get mistaken for a scam.
Keep the experience short & mobile-friendly
The majority of users would be paying from their phone. There needed to be as few barriers as possible to completing the payment.
Maintain compliance
The solution needed to be compliant with customs and postal requirements. Zonos would need to be the party to collect funds and remit them to CBP.
THE SOLUTION
Sender Collect gives postal operators and shipping platforms a way to recover duties from senders before delivery or return.
When a shipment is flagged as unpaid, the system automatically sends an email or SMS to the sender with a secure payment link. That link opens a checkout experience hosted by Zonos, branded for the partner, and translated for the sender’s language and currency.
KEY DESIGN ELEMENTS
Branded email template that clearly explains why payment is needed and who’s requesting it
Secure payment page with transparent duty, tax, and fee breakdowns
Consistent visual identity between the email and checkout, helping the sender trust it’s legitimate
Instant payment confirmation and downloadable receipt
Dashboard visibility for partners to track payments and follow up when needed.
IMPACT
The new duty collection strengthened Zonos’ position with major postal operators, helping secure contracts by showing we could support both standard duty collection and exception recovery in one experience.
What started as a fix for missed payments became a key differentiator for the business.