A practical guide for supply chain directors reviewing broker selection, classification accuracy and duty recovery in a post-Brexit tariff landscape, so duty and delay stop being the cost of doing business.
Part of the SmartBuyer Procurement Guide Series.
Most importers accept whichever broker their forwarder uses, and nobody separately checks whether the commodity codes are right, whether available duty relief is being claimed or whether border delays are costing more in demurrage than the brokerage fee. A misclassified product can mean years of overpaid duty, and a broker who files accurately but never flags a missed preferential rate leaves money on the table on every shipment.
This guide shows what customs brokerage really involves, why UK trade compliance has become harder since Brexit, and how to choose and manage a broker who catches these costs instead of absorbing them as normal. It reflects what experienced customs and logistics procurement specialists do differently.
If any of these describe you, this guide will earn back its 15 minutes.
Seven steps take you from mapping your classification risk to piloting a new broker before full handover. Our specialists buy logistics and trade services every day, and this guide turns that experience into a process you can apply with confidence.
This guide was written in collaboration with fractional procurement specialists from SmartBuyer’s Network who have hands-on experience of customs, freight and logistics sourcing. It is built from delivery experience, not theory, and every step is designed to be used.
