Industries
Built for every importer that exports.
Apparel, furniture, auto parts, machinery, electronics and more. If you import goods and later export or destroy them, drawback can apply.
About 3 minutes on a sample file. Your email and name open it. We never ask for your ACE login or bank details.
- Sealed on AMD SEV-SNP
- Published fees, charged after CBP pays
Which industry are you in?
Apparel and footwear
Exports, retail returns and destroyed stockConsumer brands and e-commerce
Returns and cross-border ordersFurniture and home goods
Wood-product duty and damaged goodsAuto parts and aftermarket
Parts you export, and the Section 232 limitsWholesale and distribution
Goods that leave the U.S. unchangedIndustrial machinery
Parts in the machines you exportElectronics and contract manufacturing
Components in, assemblies outAerospace and defense suppliers
Commercial records only. CUI stays out.
What each industry page covers
Apparel and footwear. Sweaters at 32% MFN duty, exports to Canada, and retail returns.[1]
Consumer brands and e-commerce. Returns you export or destroy, and duty paid since de minimis was suspended.[2]
Furniture and home goods. 25% Section 232 duty on upholstered wood furniture and cabinets, drawback-eligible as of October 2026.[3]
Auto parts and aftermarket. Section 301 duty on parts you export. Section 232 parts allow manufacturing claims only.[4][5][6]
Wholesale and distribution. The largest group of claimants: goods you resell abroad unchanged.[7]
Industrial machinery. Imported parts in the machines you export.
Electronics and contract manufacturing. Components in what you export, and defective parts sent back.
Aerospace and defense suppliers. Spares and parts you export, from commercial records only.
The rule
Who can claim drawback?
Drawback doesn't ask what industry you're in or how big you are. It asks three things:
Did you pay duty that drawback covers?
Ordinary duty counts, and so do fees such as the merchandise processing fee.[8]
As of October 2026, Section 301 duties and the Section 122 surcharge count too.[4][5][9]
Did the goods leave the U.S. or get destroyed?
That covers goods you export unused, customer returns you export or destroy, and products you make from imported parts and export.[11][12]
Is the import less than five years old?
Claims must be filed within five years of import.[11]
If all three look like a yes, your records decide the rest.
- 41.3%
Wholesalers, in CBP's random sample of 375 claimants
CBP, November 20, 2018[7]
- 18.7%
Apparel, footwear and textile businesses (our grouping)
CBP, November 20, 2018
- 77.7%
Of drawback claims in 2017 were unused merchandise
CBP, November 20, 2018
What holds companies back is the work.[13]
The agent takes on that work: it matches exports to imports and drafts each claim line with its evidence.
About these numbers
CBP studied a random sample of 375 claimants from 2007 to 2016.[7] Manufacturers were 29.3% and retailers 8.8%. CBP found that "No industry makes up more than five percent of the sample." When we group related industry codes, apparel, footwear and textile businesses were the largest group.
Companies that both import and export are mostly ordinary businesses too. In 2024, 87,016 U.S. companies did both. They brought in $2,700.6 billion, 82.7% of all U.S. imports. Wholesalers were 42.5% of them, and manufacturers held 44.4% of their import value.[14]
The most common claim is the simplest. Unused merchandise drawback, on goods exported or destroyed without being used, made up 66.9% of dollars claimed in 2017.[7]
In a 2019 survey of large importers, most non-users who gave a reason (5 of 9) called drawback too complex. And 62% of the companies already claiming found import and export data hard to get.[13]
Get started
See it on records like yours.
Run the demo on a sample file. About three minutes.
-
01
Upload one quarter.
Entry summaries, invoices and export records.
WhoYou
-
02
AI drafts your claim.
It ties each export to its import, to the cent.
WhoThe agent
-
03
Your broker files. CBP pays you.
The refund goes directly to your bank account.
WhoA licensed broker
Your email and name open the demo. We never ask for your ACE login or bank details.
Ready now? Start a claimClaim types
Which situation are you in?
| Situation | Drawback type | Key rule |
|---|---|---|
| You export imported goods unused | Unused merchandise19 U.S.C. 1313(j) | A notice before each export, a waiver, or a one-time retroactive approval for past exports[12] |
| You ship goods to Canada or Mexico | Unused merchandise, or manufacturing | Unused goods exported in the same condition get full drawback. Otherwise, drawback is capped at the lesser of the U.S. duty and the duty paid there, and unused-merchandise substitution can't count these exports[11][15] |
| You destroy damaged or unsold goods | Unused or rejected merchandise, by destruction | Notice at least 7 working days before the destruction[12] |
| Customers return goods you then export or destroy | Returned retail goods (rejected merchandise)1313(c) | Match an import from within 1 year before, with the same 8-digit HTS number and SKU. Notice 5 working days before export, 7 before destruction[11][12] |
| You make products from imported inputs and export them | Manufacturing1313(a) and (b) | Needs a manufacturing ruling before CBP pays[12] |
Your data
Sealed or Standard?
Same checks, same licensed broker.
| What changes | SealedPrivate by default. Provable on request. | StandardMay use outside AI. Staff access logged. |
|---|---|---|
| Who can read your documents | Only the people you approve, such as your broker | Named NexQloud staff, with every access logged |
| Outside AI | None. The model runs inside the sealed machine | May be used, on terms that bar training |
| Used to train any model | Never | Never |
| What your broker sees | The claim lines it files, and a document only if you release it | The claim lines and the documents behind them |
| After the run | Working copy erased, with a signed receipt | Deleted on schedule after the engagement |
Which mode fits your records?
A receipt proves it. Sealed fits records that must stay private: trade secrets, records for export-controlled goods or a contract that requires confidential processing.
Standard is enough when your records hold nothing you would mind a named, logged NexQloud specialist seeing, or an outside AI provider processing. It costs 2 points less.
You can change modes for later uploads.
Leave export-controlled technical data (ITAR or EAR) out of the file, in either mode; drawback doesn't need it. Read what Sealed does not cover
Regulated trade
Do some industries carry extra rules?
Some products add rules on top of drawback, such as export controls, FDA admissibility or TSCA certification.
Regulated trade and your data