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For duty drawback and customs recovery firms

Brands with duty to recover, asking how.

We find ecommerce brands that paid duties now open to refund, or that export, return or destroy imported goods, and get their finance team talking to you.

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The problem

The brands that qualifydon’t know it.

  • Problem 01

    No one asks for drawback.

    Brands don’t search for it, so inbound is thin.

  • Problem 02

    The buyer is finance.

    Logistics vendors usually reach operations. Your decision maker is the CFO or controller.

  • Problem 03

    Short, confusing windows.

    Refund rules change with court rulings and agency notices. A slow sales cycle loses the claim.

The brand’s side

Duty paid,never claimed.

  • Drawback, rarely filed.

    Drawback refunds up to 99% of duty on imported goods that are later exported, destroyed or returned, with five years from import to file. Most brands never file because exports, returns and import records sit in different systems.

    Sources:19 CFR 190.22 (opens in a new tab), Federal Register (opens in a new tab)

  • Tariff refunds with a clock.

    After the Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA tariffs in February 2026, CBP opened refunds through CAPE for unliquidated entries and those within 80 days of liquidation. Older entries depend on court actions, and the government has appealed.

    Sources:CBP (opens in a new tab), Holland & Knight (opens in a new tab), Foley (opens in a new tab)

  • Not the importer of record.

    Refunds go to the importer of record. Brands that ship DDP or through a forwarder often aren’t it.

  • Silent overpayment.

    A wrong classification overpays on every entry until someone checks.

Who we target

Brands that importand then export or take returns.

Segments

  • Brands importing finished goods from Asia with sales to Canada, the EU or UK
  • Apparel and footwear brands with high return rates
  • Amazon sellers exporting to Amazon CA or EU
  • $5M+ importers

Signals we use

  • Made-in claims
  • International storefronts and marketplaces
  • Return policies
  • Revenue band
  • Category

Who we write to

  • CFO, controller or VP finance
  • Trade compliance at larger brands
  • Founder at smaller ones
How it works

From your offerto brands that raised their hand.

  1. Step 1: Map

    We pull brands that import and then export, return or destroy goods, sized by revenue, and write to finance.

  2. Step 2: Pick

    Together we choose the segments where your offer is strongest, and the person to write to at each brand size.

  3. Step 3: Reach

    We write short emails about the one problem you solve and send them from dedicated inboxes at low volume per inbox.

  4. Step 4: Hand off

    Interested brands go to your sales team in Slack or your CRM, with the thread and context. Your team takes the conversation from there.

Sample angles

How we’d open the conversation.

Sample emails show the style we write in for a client. They are illustrations, not sent copy.

  1. Exports with duty attached.

    “You import from and sell into Canada. That’s the drawback pattern.”

  2. Who is your importer of record?

    “Refunds go to the IOR. Many brands find out it isn’t them.”

  3. No recovery, no fee.

    Only if your firm works on contingency.

We never promise refunds or amounts in the emails. We state the mechanism and the dates.

What we run on

The tools behind every campaign.

We pay for the data and the sending stack. You don’t buy seats, credits or inboxes.

Brand data

StoreLeads and our own crawl of ecommerce stores.

  • StoreLeads

Account search

  • Apollo
  • Sales Navigator
  • Clay
  • Prospeo

AI qualification

An AI qualification step reads each company’s website and confirms the fit before anyone gets an email.

Contact finding

  • Wiza
  • Icypeas
  • Findymail
  • Enrow

Email verification

Anything older than 60 days gets checked again before it’s sent.

  • MillionVerifier
  • BounceBan

Sending

On dedicated domains we set up and warm for you.

  • Instantly

Operations and alerts

  • n8n
  • Modal
  • Slack
  • Claude

Hand-off

Your CRM or a shared Slack channel.

  • HubSpot

For duty recovery we add international storefronts, made-in claims and return policies.

Results

What this looks like with our 3PL clients.

Our longest-running clients are 3PLs selling to ecommerce brands. Same buyer, same engine. Names withheld.

We haven’t published results for duty recovery firms yet. These are from 3PLs selling to the same brands.

  • Case study 01Closed deal

    Specialty 3PL with FDA-registered warehouses, US

    • Before: A previous agency produced nine leads in nine months.

    • What we did: Rebuilt the list from their own sales calls, wrote campaigns per product category, and warmed fresh domains for three weeks.

    • After: Qualified brand meetings from the first weeks, and a six-figure brand closed in month one.

    “We spent a ton of money and maybe got one customer out of it over the course of nine months.”

    The client’s CEO, on their previous agency
    See if you’re a fit (opens in a new tab)Read the full case study: Specialty 3PL with FDA-registered warehouses, US

    Qualified brand meetings from the first weeks, and a six-figure brand closed in month one.

    Specialty 3PL with FDA-registered warehouses, US

    Campaigns from April 2026

    24k+
    Verified targets
    24+
    Active campaigns
    <1mo
    To first closed deal
  • Case study 02Closed deal

    Founder-led 3PL, Winnipeg, Canada

    • Before: Their own cold email had stopped working, and no new brand had signed since March 2026.

    • What we did: Turned the extras they already gave brands for free into one offer, wrote to one product category at a time, and sent from 20 new domains warmed for 21 days.

    • After: 7 brand meetings in the first 5 weeks. One of those brands referred another, and the client started fulfilling for it in early October.

    See if you’re a fit (opens in a new tab)Read the full case study: Founder-led 3PL, Winnipeg, Canada

    7 brand meetings in the first 5 weeks. One of those brands referred another, and the client started fulfilling for it in early October.

    Founder-led 3PL, Winnipeg, Canada

    First email August 24, 2026. First brand meeting four days later.

    7
    Brand meetings in 5 weeks
    4 days
    To first brand meeting
    1
    New brand live
  • Case study 03Closed deal

    International 3PL, multi-region

    • Before: No structured way to win new clients. They came from referrals.

    • What we did: Ran outbound campaigns to apparel, pet and home brands.

    • After: Their first client closed from outbound came out of the first three weeks of campaigns.

    See if you’re a fit (opens in a new tab)

    Full case study available on request

    Their first client closed from outbound came out of the first three weeks of campaigns.

    International 3PL, multi-region

    First three weeks of campaigns

    6
    Qualified meetings
    1
    Closed deal
  • Case study 04

    Multi-warehouse 3PL, US

    • Before: Sales relied entirely on inbound, with no outbound system.

    • What we did: Ran campaigns across five product categories, including pet, toys and home, with CRM sync live by week two.

    • After: First qualified meeting within 48 hours of launch, across five product categories.

    See if you’re a fit (opens in a new tab)

    Full case study available on request

    First qualified meeting within 48 hours of launch, across five product categories.

    Multi-warehouse 3PL, US

    First 48 hours of campaigns

    48h
    To first meeting
    1,200
    Daily sends at peak
    5
    Verticals targeted
Compared with the usual options

Why not hire an SDR or a generalist agency?

Already have an SDR?

Put them on the sales calls. We start the conversations.

  • Knows which ecom brands fit your offer

    Hire an SDR
    Learns on the job
    Generalist cold-email agency
    Buys a list after you sign
    Romar AI
    Starts from our own map of classified ecommerce brands

  • Who gets the email

    Hire an SDR
    Whoever they find
    Generalist cold-email agency
    Job-title filters
    Romar AI
    The person who owns the problem at that brand size

  • Sending setup

    Hire an SDR
    One inbox
    Generalist cold-email agency
    Shared or limited
    Romar AI
    Dedicated domains and inboxes, monitored daily

  • Personalization

    Hire an SDR
    Manual, per lead
    Generalist cold-email agency
    AI lines per lead
    Romar AI
    Written for the segment and the problem

  • What happens to replies

    Hire an SDR
    They handle them
    Generalist cold-email agency
    Forwarded to you
    Romar AI
    Interested ones passed to your team with the thread and context

  • Learning loop

    Hire an SDR
    Their notes
    Generalist cold-email agency
    Monthly report
    Romar AI
    Weekly keep/cut decisions from live results
The engagement

What we handleso your team sells.

Get your brand map (opens in a new tab)
  • Market map: every brand that fits your offer, sized and split into segments
  • Account check and contact finding, with verified emails
  • Sending domains, inboxes and warm-up
  • Campaign copy for each segment, tested a few variables at a time
  • Daily sending and inbox health checks
  • Interested replies handed to your team in Slack or your CRM, with the thread
  • A weekly review: what got answered, what we cut, what runs next
Who you’ll work with

You work withRodrigo and Margaux.

Romar AI is run by its two co-founders. Rodrigo Zabalaga builds the market map, the sending setup and the testing. Margaux Malarme runs the campaigns day to day and the hand-off of interested replies to your team. The people who design your campaigns are the people you talk to every week.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions.

Will your emails promise refunds?
No. We state the rule and the dates, and your team decides eligibility.
Can you reach finance people?
Yes. We find the CFO or controller where one exists and the founder where it doesn’t.
How do you handle changing deadlines?
We update copy when rules change and pause angles that no longer apply.
Is this only for US imports?
Mostly. Other countries’ drawback schemes can be added if you file there.
What do you need from us?
Programs you file, minimum claim size, fee model, any compliance language your counsel requires.
What does it cost?
Start with a trial, then a retainer priced on the call. Before the first email goes out, we agree in writing on the target.
Your market map

How many brands may have duty to recover?

On the call we size your market from our database, show the first segments we’d test, and the person we’d write to at each one.

Get your brand map (opens in a new tab)Email us instead