Predict customs duties instantly and generate compliant labels for Asia-to-global sample shipments.
Remote workers building physical product businesses suffer customs delays and unexpected duties when shipping samples from Asia to worldwide customers.
ProtoDuty uses AI to calculate exact duties and taxes based on product details, origin, and destination. It generates pre-filled customs labels and documents to avoid delays. Users prepay duties upfront for seamless border clearance.
Remote solopreneurs and early-stage founders building physical product businesses sourcing prototypes from Asia
Specialized for prototype samples under $800 with real-time carrier-specific duty predictions from Asia hubs.
professional
Input product HS code, value, weight to get instant duty/tax estimate.
Auto-generates CN22/CN23 customs forms and shipping labels.
Real-time tracking with customs status alerts.
One-click prepayment of predicted duties via Stripe.
View past calculations and shipments.
Search and suggest HS codes for prototypes.
Calculate for multiple samples at once.
PDF summaries for accounting.
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| text | No | |
| subscription_tier | text | Yes |
| created_at | timestamp | No |
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| user_id | uuid | No |
| hs_code | text | No |
| value_usd | int | No |
| destination_country | text | No |
| duty_estimate | int | Yes |
| tracking_number | text | Yes |
| status | text | No |
Relationships:
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| user_id | uuid | No |
| shipment_id | uuid | Yes |
| amount | int | No |
| stripe_id | text | No |
| status | text | No |
Relationships:
/api/calculate-dutyCompute duty estimate
/api/generate-labelCreate customs label PDF
/api/shipmentsList user shipments
/api/trackAdd tracking number
/api/prepayInitiate duty prepayment
No labels or prepay
50 shipments/mo
Unlimited
| Month | Users | Conversion | MRR | ARR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | 100 | 5% | $175 | $2,100 |
| Month 6 | 800 | 8% | $2,240 | $26,880 |
Calculate duties, generate labels, and prepay taxes in seconds – ship samples from Asia without delays.
Post in Indie Hackers 'Hardware' thread offering free Pro access for feedback; DM 10 solopreneurs from Product Hunt hardware launches; share calculator tool on r/hardwarestartups with affiliate link.
Full logistics
Overkill for samples, no prototype focus
Sample-specific duty AI at half price
Proprietary duty prediction dataset from user shipments
Boom in no-code hardware (e.g., Crowd Supply) + US-China trade volatility increases duty unpredictability
Duty rate API inaccuracies
Fallback to official gov APIs + user corrections
Low awareness of pain
Free calculator as lead gen
Duty miscalculations liability
Disclaimers + insurance partnerships
Success: 30% report delays
Success: 50% repeat calcs
Success: 5% conv to paid
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