CSB-IV and CSB-V, explained

A note before anything else

Search for CSB-V on its own and you will mostly find CSB Bank, which has branches across Kerala and nothing to do with any of this. The thing you want is a CSB-V shipping bill. Searching the full phrase saves a lot of confusion.

What they are

CSB stands for Courier Shipping Bill, the declaration a courier files with Indian customs for a parcel going out of the country. The number after it is the form. The practical difference people care about is that one form is the commercial export route, used by a registered exporter against their IEC, and the other is the route for consignments that are not commercial exports by a registered exporter.

You do not file either of these yourself when you ship with us. The carrier files, and which form applies follows from who the exporter is — which is a decision already made by the time you book.

The two ways a parcel leaves here

Everything on this page turns on which of these you are, so it is worth settling first. There are two, and we run both.

If your business is registered as an exporter

You have a GSTIN, an IEC and an AD code. Your parcel ships as your export: it goes under your own IEC, and you authorise our carrier to file the shipping bill (CSB-V) on your behalf. You pay the freight, and the commercial invoice carries your business.

If your business is not registered as an exporter

We call this the simple route, and it is the one most Instagram sellers, boutiques and small shops start on. On this route you do not export at all. Your customer abroad receives the parcel as their own, under our personal forwarding terms — the same terms any individual uses to send their own belongings home. You book the shipment here, put your own bill for the order inside the parcel, and send it to our warehouse. We weigh it, photograph it, and send your customer a link to pay the shipping. As soon as they pay, it goes, and they get tracking in your name.

Which one your parcel is on

On the registered route, your parcel goes as a commercial export against your IEC, and you authorise our carrier to file CSB-V for it. On the simple route, your customer is receiving their own parcel under our personal forwarding terms and your business is not the exporter on that consignment.

What we will always tell you, per shipment, is which of our two routes it went on and what was declared.

Where to start

Open a business account and tell us what you sell. We call every new business on WhatsApp within a working day, usually to settle exactly the question this page is about, and you are on the right route before your first parcel moves.