Frequently Asked Questions

ShipScout.ai is a global trade intelligence platform that gives exporters, importers, and trade professionals access to 11 billion+ shipping records from 150+ countries. Search buyers, suppliers, competitors, and market trends using real customs and shipment data. It is the same data large traders have worked from for years, at a price a small business can afford.

No. ShipScout is built for all experience levels. First-time exporters looking for buyers and experienced traders watching competitors both use it the same way. There is no setup and no jargon: type what you are looking for and read the results.

Instant. Search results appear in seconds. Type a product, HS code, company name or port, and you get matching shipment records, buyer and supplier profiles, and trend charts straight away. No waiting for reports to be generated or analysts to process your request.

No technical knowledge required. ShipScout has a clean, intuitive interface accessible from any browser. If you can use a search engine, you can use ShipScout. Advanced features like API access and data exports are available on higher plans for technical users, but they're completely optional.

Yes, comfortably. ShipScout starts at ₹9,917/month, well below the ₹20,000–₹40,000/month that most enterprise trade-intel platforms charge for similar data coverage. We don't believe trade intelligence should be a luxury reserved for large enterprises. Comparable global coverage, fraction of the cost.

One new export buyer discovered through ShipScout covering just $10,000 in annual exports pays for years of subscription. Most of our customers report finding their first qualified buyer lead within the first week. Beyond new buyers, customers use ShipScout to negotiate better supplier prices, monitor competitor market share and time market entries. Those savings usually add up to more than the subscription costs.

Yes. Cancel anytime from your account settings, with no cancellation fee. Your access continues until the end of your current billing period. We don't use annual contracts. If the product stops being useful, you should be able to leave.

Yes. 7 days free, no credit card required. Get full access to search, company profiles, and data exports during your trial. No limits, no watermarks. If ShipScout doesn't deliver value in 7 days, you owe nothing and we haven't wasted your time with a credit card form.

ShipScout aggregates data from public customs agencies, port authorities, and trade organizations across 150+ countries. Every shipment record comes from official government-filed trade declarations, the same documents used for import and export clearance. We normalize, cross-reference, and enrich this raw data to make it searchable and actionable.

11 billion+ records and growing. Our database adds millions of new shipment records each month as customs data from new trade periods is published and processed. This is one of the largest trade intelligence datasets available to commercial customers globally.

Continuously updated. New shipment data is ingested as source authorities publish it, typically within days or weeks of the shipment, depending on how often that country discloses. Major trade countries like USA, China, and Mexico are updated frequently; India flows are refreshed via licensed mirror sources (counterparty filings from partner jurisdictions), not Indian customs. You'll always see recent trade activity, not stale historical snapshots.

150+ countries and territories, covering virtually all global trade flows. Key markets with deep shipment-level detail include USA, China, Mexico, Brazil, UAE, Germany, UK, Vietnam and Indonesia, plus India via licensed mirror sources (see the India question below). Depth varies by country: some publish full shipper and consignee records, others only aggregated trade statistics. We clearly indicate coverage level for each market.

We do not sell, publish, or source Indian customs data. India's CBIC has, under Section 135AA of the Customs Act, 1962, restricted and penalised the publication or sale of Indian customs import-export data that identifies individual traders. ShipScout fully complies. We are not connected to CBIC, Indian Customs, or any Indian government data system. All India trade flows on ShipScout are mirrored, independently licensed data from legitimate partner sources outside India, counterparty customs filings from the importing and exporting countries on the other side of each shipment.

Yes, entirely. All data on ShipScout is sourced from public government records. Trade declarations filed with customs authorities are public information in the jurisdictions we cover. This is the same data used by trade associations, government researchers, and journalists worldwide. Using public trade data for business intelligence is legal in all major markets.

Yes. ShipScout uses SSL/TLS encryption for all data in transit and is PCI-DSS compliant for payment processing. We do not store raw card details. Billing runs through certified payment processors. Your search history and account details are stored securely and never shared with third parties.

Never. Your account information, search history, and usage patterns are not sold, rented, or shared with any third parties for marketing or commercial purposes. We sell access to trade data. We don't sell data about you. See our Privacy Policy for the full details.

Yes. API access is available on the Business plan. The ShipScout API lets you query shipment records, company profiles, and trade analytics programmatically, making it easy to embed trade intelligence into your own applications, CRM, ERP, or internal dashboards. Full API documentation and sandbox environment are provided upon activation.

Yes. Export search results and company reports as PDF or CSV on all paid plans. CSV exports let you work with shipment data in Excel, Google Sheets, or your own analytics tools. PDF exports are formatted for sharing with teams and clients. Export limits vary by plan; the pricing page lists them.

ShipScout maintains a 99.9% uptime SLA. Our infrastructure is hosted on redundant cloud servers with automatic failover. Planned maintenance windows are scheduled during off-peak hours and communicated in advance. Business plan customers receive priority support with faster response times during any service disruptions.