Terms & Conditions

Last updated: October 14, 2026

These terms govern your use of ShipSeeker. By using the site, tools, or API, you agree to them. Please read the disclaimer in section 5 carefully — our estimates are not professional advice.

1. The service

ShipSeeker provides U.S. import landed-cost, tariff, HTS-classification, restricted-party screening, AD/CVD and trade-data tools, compiled from public government sources (U.S. Census Bureau, UN Comtrade, USITC, the Federal Register, the Consolidated Screening List) and public AIS vessel broadcasts. Some features are free; others require a paid plan or API credits.

2. Accounts

You're responsible for your account and keeping your credentials secure. If you upgrade without first registering, we create an account from the email you provide at checkout and email you a link to set a password; verifying your email is required before generating an API key or buying credits. You must provide an email you control and are authorized to use.

3. Plans, billing & refunds

We offer a free tier and paid plans — Importer, Team and Broker — billed monthly or annually via Stripe. Subscriptions renew automatically at the then-current price until you cancel. You can cancel anytime from your account and keep access through the end of the paid period. API credits are a one-time purchase; they don't expire but are non-refundable. Except where required by law, fees are non-refundable. We may change prices with notice; changes don't affect the period you've already paid for.

4. API & credits

The REST API is available on the Team plan (within fair-use rate limits) or on a pay-as-you-go basis where each billable call consumes one credit. Keep your API key secret; you're responsible for activity under your key. Don't exceed the published rate limits, circumvent metering, or share keys to resell access. We may suspend keys that abuse the service.

5. No warranty & not professional advice

⚠️ Duty rates, Section 301/232 tariffs, the de-minimis status, AD/CVD results, HTS classifications, screening matches and landed-cost figures are estimates and decision support only — not customs, legal, tax or financial advice, and not a binding ruling. U.S. tariff policy changes rapidly and data may contain errors or be out of date.

The service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind. Always verify the correct HTS classification, duty rates, scope and compliance with a licensed customs broker and primary sources (USITC, CBP, USTR, the Federal Register) before importing, filing, or making business decisions. You are solely responsible for your import decisions and for "reasonable care" under applicable customs law.

6. Acceptable use

Don't scrape the site at scale, bulk-download, or resell or redistribute the data or API output as a competing dataset.
Don't abuse, overload, probe, or attempt to disrupt or gain unauthorized access to the service.
Don't use the tools to break the law, or use screening results as the sole basis for a compliance decision.
Don't misrepresent your identity or use an email you don't control.

7. Intellectual property

The underlying trade and tariff figures come from public government sources and are not owned by us. The ShipSeeker site, software, design, compiled datasets, derived metrics and brand are our property. We grant you a limited, revocable, non-transferable right to use the service for your own import/sourcing purposes, subject to these terms.

8. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, ShipSeeker and its suppliers are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, or for any duties, penalties, fines or losses arising from your use of, or reliance on, the data or service. Our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim.

9. Changes

We may update these terms or the service as it evolves; the "last updated" date reflects the current version, and continued use after changes means you accept them.