FAQ

Straightforward ITC is an AI-powered, self-service compliance technology platform that helps importers and trade professionals identify issues, organize a compliance review, and generate structured reports across its supported U.S. import compliance tools.

Straightforward ITC is built for importers, in-house trade compliance teams, customs brokers, attorneys, consultants, and other professionals involved in U.S. import compliance.

Yes. Every tool requires a signed-in account with at least one available report credit before you can start it — you’ll be prompted to log in and, if needed, buy credits before a questionnaire begins. You don’t need an account to browse pages like Pricing, this FAQ, or About & Intended Use.

Each tool walks you through a structured set of questions about your product, transaction, or compliance issue. Based on your answers and, where supported, the uploaded documentation it reviews, it generates an analysis or report designed to support your internal compliance review.

Yes. Reviewing and editing your answers before you generate the report doesn't use a credit — only generating the final report does. If you want to rerun an analysis with different information after a report has already been generated, that produces a separate report and uses the credits shown for that report.

Yes. You can run separate analyses for different products, transactions, or compliance questions as needed.

Straightforward ITC uses prepaid report credits rather than a monthly subscription. You purchase a credit package and use credits to generate paid reports.

No. There's no monthly subscription requirement. You purchase credits when you need them.

Credits are valid for 12 months from the date of purchase.

Standard reports use 1 credit. Reports with supporting documents use 2 credits. The Customs Compliance Self-Assessment uses 2 credits with ACE analysis only, or 3 credits with ACE and supporting documents. Your total is shown before generation. The additional document-review credit is returned only if none of your documents can be reviewed; a report that fails to generate is not charged. A catalog PDF uploaded to an Opportunity Scanner is what the scan reads, not a supporting document, so a catalog scan uses 1 credit.

Yes. You can purchase another package whenever you need more, even if you still have credits remaining — they combine into one balance.

Review and correct your answers before generating the report — that part doesn't use a credit. If you generate a report and later want to rerun it with different information, that uses the credits shown for the new report.

Use the Contact Us page and select “Billing & credits.” Include enough information for us to identify the issue, but do not send payment card numbers or other highly sensitive financial information.

Payments are processed by Stripe. Straightforward ITC does not intend to receive or store your full card number or security code — we may receive limited billing details, such as billing name, address, card brand, and the last four digits.

Straightforward ITC uses encrypted HTTPS connections supporting TLS 1.3, AES-256 encryption for data stored in its primary cloud infrastructure, and authentication with database-level access controls. Our application functions and primary database are hosted in U.S. regions. Certain services, including AI analysis and payment processing, are provided by third parties and are not guaranteed to operate exclusively within the United States.

Your reports and account information are tied to your account and are not designed to be publicly accessible. Access is controlled through authentication and server-side access controls intended to keep one user's information separate from another's.

Information you provide is processed as necessary to operate the selected tool and generate the requested analysis or report. How information is collected, used, stored, and disclosed is described in the Privacy Policy.

Documents you upload are kept in private storage, with associated records in our private database. They are not publicly available and are accessed as needed to support the selected tool. Uploaded files are kept for 72 hours after upload; if you save a report that uses them, they are kept with that report for its 14 days instead, or until you delete the report. This covers every kind of upload, including supporting documents, images, product catalogs, and ACE spreadsheets. If you edit a saved report and save it again, the documents it still uses follow the new report. Once a document is inaccessible it can no longer be opened, downloaded, or used to generate a report, and the file and its upload record are permanently deleted from our active production systems by an automated daily cleanup, generally within the following 24 hours. Re-attaching an existing document does not restart its 72-hour period. You can remove documents sooner within tools that offer that option. Keep your own copies of important documents. See the Privacy Policy for details.

A report is added to your account only when you choose Save Report. Saved reports are kept for 14 days from the date you save them. After that, a saved report becomes inaccessible and is permanently deleted from our active production systems by an automated daily cleanup, generally within the following 24 hours. Documents attached to a saved report are kept for as long as the report and become inaccessible when it expires. If you delete a saved report sooner, the documents that only it used become inaccessible immediately and are deleted by the same daily cleanup. Viewing, downloading, printing, or reopening a saved report does not extend its access period. Download or print any report you want to keep before it expires. See the Privacy Policy for details.

You can download or print a report without saving it to your account. It will not appear in your Saved Reports unless you choose Save Report. A temporary server copy of a generated report is kept to support retries and is normally cleared within about two hours after generation. HTS Code Sanity Check analysis data used between steps is normally deleted within about 26 hours. Some tools also keep drafts or completed reports in your browser until they are cleared by the Service, by you, or by your browser. Uploaded files are kept for 72 hours after upload; if you save a report that uses them, they are kept with that report for its 14 days instead, or until you delete the report. Leaving the tool or closing the page does not delete them sooner.

You are responsible for deciding what information to upload and ensuring you have permission to share it. Straightforward ITC is AI-powered, so use your judgment about what you are comfortable having processed by AI. If you would not trust certain information to an AI service, we recommend that you do not upload it here. Provide only what is necessary for the analysis, follow your organization's policies, and remove or redact unnecessary sensitive or confidential information.

No. Your private account information and submissions are not made available to other users. Straightforward ITC does not use your submissions to train AI models or generate reports for other users. Relevant portions of your information may be sent to our AI service provider to generate your requested report. Review the Privacy Policy for more on how information is used and shared.

Use the Contact Us page and select the most appropriate topic. You can also review the Privacy Policy for additional information about Straightforward ITC’s data practices.

No. Straightforward ITC is an AI-powered compliance technology platform and does not provide legal advice, customs brokerage services, or individualized professional consulting.

No. Straightforward ITC is not a law firm, customs broker, or trade consulting firm.

No. A Straightforward ITC report is not a binding ruling from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and does not guarantee that CBP will agree with a particular position.

No. Reports are designed to support structured internal review. They do not guarantee duty savings, eligibility for a particular tariff provision, classification, country-of-origin treatment, admissibility, or CBP acceptance.

Depending on the issue, consider consulting qualified trade counsel, a licensed customs broker, or another appropriate professional. In some circumstances, requesting a binding ruling from CBP may also be appropriate.

Trade laws, tariffs, regulations, agency guidance, and enforcement practices can change frequently and rapidly, sometimes with little notice. Straightforward ITC is designed to use current compliance logic and supporting materials, but a report may not reflect the latest changes and can become outdated after it is generated. Always verify current requirements and effective dates with official sources before relying on a report for an important compliance decision.

Use the password reset page and follow the instructions sent to your email address.

Check your spam or junk folder first and confirm that you entered the correct email address. If the message still doesn’t arrive, contact us through the Contact Us page.

Straightforward ITC is designed for use with current modern web browsers. For the best experience, keep your browser updated to the latest available version.

Use the Contact Us page and select “Technical issue.” Describe what happened, which tool you were using, and any error message you received. Do not send passwords or payment card information.

Use the Contact Us page for product questions, billing and credit issues, technical support, feedback, and other inquiries.