Agentis Solution
Margin Governance for the Post-De-Minimis World
Per-order margin checks that account for the 2025 reciprocal tariff layer, de minimis repeal, and changing landed cost, so cross-border orders that duty changes made unprofitable are flagged or held before they ship.
The Problem
The 2025 tariff environment fundamentally changed cross-border ecommerce economics. The de minimis exemption was eliminated for shipments from China and Hong Kong via executive order, with broader repeal advancing through Congress. Reciprocal tariffs added country-specific duty layers on top of base MFN rates. For example, a China-origin SKU that was profitable at a $35 retail price may now need repricing well above that to hold its margin floor, but most merchants discover this only after weeks of below-margin orders have shipped.
How Agentis Solves It
Agentis adds duty-aware margin checks to every order. Using landed cost that includes duties, from your NetSuite landed-cost records or the HS-code-based calculations your duty provider (such as Zonos or Avalara) already produces, plus FX and freight, it computes each order's true post-tariff margin within 60 seconds of the order being placed. Orders where the duty stack pushes margin below your floor are flagged or held before fulfillment. That matters most during regulatory transitions, when published prices have not yet caught up with actual duty cost.
Key Benefits
- Catch margin compression during tariff transitions, when published prices lag actual duty cost
- Country-of-origin-aware floors: SKUs from high-tariff origins can carry tighter floors
- Reflect the de minimis repeal in every order's margin, not just in a quarterly review
- Avoid discovering tariff-driven margin loss at quarter-end after the orders have shipped
Platform Features
- —Country-of-origin tracking per SKU with reciprocal tariff layer awareness
- —Duty cost per order from your landed-cost or duty-provider data
- —Margin floors evaluated with current FX and duty inputs
- —Per-region floors that reflect freight zone differentials and the duty stack
- —Evidence Ledger record of the duty inputs applied to each order
- —Pre-tariff vs post-tariff margin reporting to inform repricing
Built for
Ecommerce merchants with material cross-border traffic (sourcing from China, Vietnam, Mexico, or Canada) running Shopify Plus with international shipping
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I still need a duty-calculation engine like Zonos or Avalara?
Yes. Agentis consumes duty data; it does not generate it. The right architecture is: your duty engine (Zonos, Avalara, Easyship, or your customs broker) calculates duty per HS code and origin, and that cost reaches Agentis through your landed-cost data; Agentis then checks each order's economics, including the duty, against your margin floor. The two layers are complementary: the duty engine answers 'what does this cost to land,' and Agentis answers 'is this order acceptable to ship at our margin policy.' Each order is checked within 60 seconds of being placed, and below-floor orders are flagged or held before fulfillment. The Evidence Ledger records which duty inputs applied to each order, which is useful in trade-compliance reviews. If your store already runs a duty engine for customer-facing landed cost, the same data can feed the margin check.
How does this handle the 2025 de minimis repeal?
Agentis evaluates each order against the duty stack that actually applies to it. For shipments from China and Hong Kong, where de minimis was eliminated in early 2025, the full duty cost is part of every order's landed cost. Where de minimis still applies, low-value orders are evaluated without the duty layer. That avoids the common error of treating all cross-border traffic uniformly during the transition. Origin is tracked per SKU, so a mixed cart with China-origin and other-origin items is evaluated line by line. Orders that the repeal pushed below floor are flagged or held before they ship, and the pre-tariff versus post-tariff margin reporting shows what the repeal cost and which SKUs need repricing first. Review that report early, so published prices catch up to actual duty cost before more orders ship at degraded margins.
What about reciprocal tariffs that change with executive orders?
Reciprocal tariff rates can change on short notice. Agentis uses the duty figures in your landed-cost data, so once your duty provider or NetSuite reflects a new schedule, the next order Agentis checks is evaluated against it, with no manual recalibration of floors. The Evidence Ledger records the duty inputs applied to each order, which lets you reconstruct the economics of any order shipped during a transition. In practice, the window between a rate change and margin checks reflecting it is as short as your duty data's update cycle, rather than the next quarterly review. Orders that a rate change pushes below floor are flagged or held before fulfillment, giving your team time to reprice before the problem spreads across a full quarter of shipments.
Can I set different margin floors for different sourcing origins?
Yes. Floors can be origin-aware. SKUs sourced from China, subject to reciprocal tariffs and Section 301 duties, can have tighter floors than SKUs sourced from Vietnam or Mexico. As tariff rates change, floors can be adjusted without changing the underlying SKU data, because the rule is separate from the catalog. Country of origin is tracked per SKU, so each product carries the origin that determines its duty stack. Per-region floors can also reflect freight zone differences on top of the duty layer, which matters when the same SKU ships to different destinations. The pre-tariff versus post-tariff margin reporting shows which origins are compressing margin most, which helps prioritize sourcing diversification. Start by grouping your SKUs by origin and setting a floor per group, then refine down to individual products.
Sources
Key Concepts
Cost Management
Tariff Impact on Ecommerce
The effect of import duties and trade tariffs on ecommerce product costs, particularly the de minimis threshold changes affecting cross-border commerce.
Cross-Border Commerce
Reciprocal Tariff
Country-specific U.S. import duty layered on top of standard MFN tariff rates, introduced in 2025 to mirror trading partners' tariffs on U.S. exports. Materially changes landed cost calculations for ecommerce SKUs sourced from affected countries.
Cross-Border Commerce
De Minimis (Section 321)
The U.S. import threshold ($800 as of 2025) below which goods enter the country duty-free under Section 321 of the Tariff Act. The threshold is being repealed for many countries, fundamentally changing cross-border ecommerce economics.
Cost Management
Landed Cost
The total cost of a product delivered to the customer, including COGS, freight, duties, tariffs, insurance, and handling fees.
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