Compliance-led platform vs traditional customs broker.
Traditional brokers rely on manual processes that create gaps, delays, and audit risk. Meridian automates the entire duty recovery workflow, from data ingestion to HMRC filing, with full transparency at every step.
Four things that set Meridian apart.
Not incremental improvements. Structural differences in how duty recovery is delivered.
Performance-based pricing
No recovery, no fee. Our success fee is tied to what we actually recover for you. Traditional brokers charge regardless of outcome.
Multi-route audit
We check RGR, Customs Drawback, and duty overpayments simultaneously. Most brokers only look at one route. You get a complete picture.
Platform transparency
You see every case, every exception, every filing outcome in real time. No black box. No waiting for a monthly email.
3-year lookback
We recover missed relief going back up to 3 years. Most brokers only handle new claims. Historical recovery is where the biggest opportunity often sits.
Side by side comparison.
Every dimension that matters when choosing a duty recovery partner.
Traditional broker | Meridian | |
|---|---|---|
| Approach | Manual spreadsheets, email chains, and reactive filing | Compliance-led platform with automated MRN matching, evidence packs, and CDS filing |
| Evidence packs | Assembled manually, often incomplete or inconsistent | Auto-assembled, checklist-driven, version-controlled, and QA'd before filing |
| MRN matching | Manual lookup across disconnected systems, slow and error-prone | Multi-layer matching algorithm with structured exception queues |
| Audit trail | Scattered across emails, spreadsheets, and filing cabinets | Immutable audit log with every action timestamped and traceable |
| Exception handling | Ad hoc, often lost in email threads with no structured resolution | Structured triage with clear ownership, severity, and resolution tracking |
| Reporting | Periodic, often delayed, limited visibility on pipeline value | Real-time dashboard: recovered, pending, pipeline, and compliance health |
| Coverage | Typically RGR only, re-export and overpayments missed | RGR, Customs Drawback, duty overpayments, and re-export compliance in one audit |
| Pricing model | Hourly or flat retainer regardless of outcome | Performance-based: no recovery, no fee. Tiered success fees from 18% to 25% |
| Data readiness | You are expected to provide clean data, gaps are your problem | Data readiness assessment included. We help recover missing MRNs and align schemas |
| Scale | Manual capacity limits throughput, backlogs common at high volumes | Platform processes hundreds of returns in minutes. Scales with your volume |
Common questions from businesses already using a broker.
We already have a customs broker. Why change?
You do not need to replace your broker. Meridian operates as your Direct Customs Representative specifically for duty and VAT recovery on returns and re-exports. Most brokers handle import declarations but do not run a structured RGR or Drawback recovery programme. We fill that gap.
Our broker says they handle RGR. Is that not enough?
Filing an RGR declaration and running a compliant, scalable recovery programme are different things. A single declaration is straightforward. Matching hundreds of returns to export MRNs, assembling HMRC-ready evidence packs, handling exceptions, and reporting on recovery value at scale requires a platform, not a spreadsheet.
Is Meridian a broker or a software company?
Both. We are a compliance-led platform that also operates as your Direct Customs Representative. You get the automation and compliance infrastructure of a software platform, and the direct filing capability of a customs representative. One contract, one point of accountability.
What if our data is messy?
That is the most common starting point. We run a data readiness assessment as part of onboarding, identify gaps, and work with you to recover missing references and align schemas before any claims are filed. Clean data is the output of our process, not a prerequisite.
See the platform in action.
We'll map your current returns flow, show you the matching engine and evidence pack workflow, and give you a clear view of what recovery looks like for your business.