QUICK ANSWER How to import goods into the US, in one pass: confirm the product is admissible, set yourself up as the importer of record with an EIN and a customs bond, classify the goods under an HTS code, agree Incoterms with your supplier, and book ocean or air freight. Before an ocean container loads, the ISF must reach CBP; the customs entry is filed as the vessel approaches, duty and fees are paid, and the container moves from the port to your warehouse. Since the de minimis exemption was suspended, this process now applies to low-value shipments too.
Most answers to how to import goods into the US read like a paperwork list, and the paperwork is the easy part. Every step below carries a deadline, a fee, or both, and the order matters more than people admit. This walkthrough covers the full sequence for a commercial import, whatever the origin country, with the numbers attached to each step.
The US import process at a glance
The fastest way to understand a US import is as a row of clocks, not a stack of forms. Miss one clock and the next one starts against you; the table shows which one hangs on which step. The deep guides behind the heavy steps, from the ISF filing to drayage, are linked where each one comes up.
The 9 steps and the clocks behind them
| Step | What happens | The clock or cost attached |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Admissibility check | Confirm the product may enter the US and which agency reviews it | Done before you pay the supplier, when changing course is free |
| 2. Importer setup | EIN, importer of record, customs bond | A bond gap discovered at arrival stalls the entry |
| 3. HTS classification | The 10-digit code that sets your duty rate | A wrong code follows every future shipment |
| 4. Incoterms | Agree who arranges and pays for which leg | Set at the purchase order, expensive to renegotiate later |
| 5. Freight booking | Ocean or air, origin to a US gateway | Roughly 13 to 35 days on the water depending on coast |
| 6. ISF filing | Shipment data to CBP before the container loads | 24 hours before loading, $5,000 per violation |
| 7. Customs entry | Entry filed, duty and fees calculated | Filed before arrival on a clean shipment |
| 8. Release and pickup | CBP releases, terminal releases, drayage pulls the box | Free time runs out, then demurrage of $150 to $500 a day |
| 9. Delivery | To your warehouse, a transload dock, or FBA | Chassis and per-diem clocks on the equipment |
KEY TAKEAWAY Importers rarely lose money because a form was hard. They lose it because a deadline passed while two vendors each assumed the other one was watching it.
Check what you can import before you buy
CBP decides how goods enter, but for many products another federal agency decides whether they enter. The time to find out is before the purchase order. At that stage the fix is a reformulation or a different supplier, not a refused shipment.
Products that need federal agency sign-off
Alongside the customs entry, these categories go through a partner government agency review, and some need a permit or registration in place before the goods ship:
Common product categories and the agency behind them
| Product category | Agency | What it expects |
|---|---|---|
| Food, beverages, supplements, cosmetics | FDA | Facility registration and prior notice before arrival |
| Plants, wood, animal products | USDA | Permits and phytosanitary certificates |
| Electronics with radio or wifi | FCC | Equipment authorization on file |
| Toys and children's products | CPSC | Third-party testing and a children's product certificate |
| Chemicals, pesticides | EPA | TSCA certification or registration |
The product pages in our industry guides go deeper on importing food and importing electronics, including the filings each agency wants to see.
Prohibited and restricted goods
A short list of goods cannot enter at all, and a longer list enters only under quota or special conditions. CBP publishes both, and a five-minute check against the CBP admissibility pages before sourcing costs nothing. Counterfeit goods, certain wildlife products, and merchandise from sanctioned parties are refused outright; textiles and some agricultural goods carry quota limits.
Set up as an importer
Three pieces of setup exist before any freight moves: a number that identifies you to CBP, a decision about who carries legal responsibility, and a bond. All three can be done in days.
Importer number and EIN
CBP identifies the importer by an importer number. For a US business that is the EIN issued by the IRS; a sole proprietor can use a social security number, and a foreign company without either can request a CBP-assigned number on Form 5106. The number goes on the bond, the ISF, and the entry, so it is the first piece of the file to exist.
Who acts as importer of record
The importer of record is the party legally responsible for the entry: the accuracy of the declared value, the HTS classification, and the duty payment. For most commercial shipments that is the buyer. Pick this deliberately. The responsibilities stay with whoever holds the title even when the paperwork is handled for you: five years of record keeping, answering to CBP for what was declared, and the bill if a declaration was wrong.
The customs bond step
A customs bond guarantees CBP that duty and fees get paid, and formal entries require one. A single-entry bond covers one shipment; a continuous bond, written at a $50,000 minimum, covers every entry for twelve months and is the default once you ship more than a few times a year. The customs bond types guide covers sizing and renewals. For this walkthrough it is enough that the bond exists before the first entry is filed.
Classify the goods and estimate your duty bill
Two numbers decide what the import costs beyond freight: the HTS code and the declared value. Everything on the duty side is calculated from them.
Finding the HTS code
Every product entering the US takes a 10-digit code from the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, and that code sets the duty rate. Classification sounds clerical and is not: sets, kits, materials, and product functions each pull codes in different directions, and the difference between HTS and HS codes trips up importers who copy a supplier's 6-digit code and call it done. A customs broker can review the classification and give you an estimated duty calculation, but the declared code is the importer's responsibility, so treat every duty figure as an estimate until the entry liquidates.
The fee lines on a US import
The duty rate is only one line of the landed bill. A typical ocean import into the US carries these charges:
What each fee line is and who sets it
| Fee line | Amount | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| Duty | HTS rate times declared value | HTS schedule |
| Section 301 tariff | 7.5% to 25% on many China-origin goods | USTR |
| Merchandise Processing Fee | 0.3464% of value, $33.58 minimum, $651.50 maximum per entry | CBP, adjusted each October |
| Harbor Maintenance Fee | 0.125% of value, ocean shipments only | CBP |
| Origin charges | Pickup, export handling, terminal fees at origin | Origin market |
| Ocean or air freight | The carrier rate for the lane | Carrier market |
| Destination charges | Terminal, chassis, and handling at the US port | Port and terminal |
| Drayage and delivery | Port pickup and the final leg | Trucking market |
To turn these lines into a per-unit number you can price against, run them through the landed cost breakdown, which is the calculation that decides whether the import makes money.
Agree Incoterms and book the freight
Incoterms decide where the supplier's responsibility ends and yours begins, which silently decides who controls the freight and who receives the surprise invoices. Most first US imports run best on FOB, where the supplier delivers the container to the origin port and you control the ocean leg and everything after it. The full Incoterms 2020 guide maps all eleven terms. The one to treat with care is DDP, where the supplier claims to handle US customs and duty, and which fails in ways importers rarely see coming.
Booking itself is a lane decision. Ocean freight carries most import volume at 13 to 21 days from Asia to the West Coast and roughly 28 to 35 days to the East Coast; air freight runs days instead of weeks at several times the cost per kilo. The trade lane pages carry route-level detail for China, Vietnam, India, and Europe to the US.
File ISF and clear US customs
The customs side of an import is two filings on two different clocks. One happens before the container is loaded, the other before the vessel arrives.
ISF: the 24-hour rule
For ocean shipments, the Importer Security Filing must reach CBP at least 24 hours before the container is loaded at the origin port. The penalty for late or wrong data is $5,000 per violation, and the filing depends on details only the supplier has: manufacturer name and address, country of origin, HTS numbers. The practical rule from the ISF filing guide: whoever handles your shipment should be chasing ISF data at booking, not at the cutoff.
Entry and release
The customs entry is filed on your behalf as the vessel approaches the US, declaring the goods, the value, and the classification, with duty and fees calculated from that declaration. On a clean shipment the release often comes before the ship docks, and the container comes off the vessel already cleared. When CBP wants a closer look it issues a hold or an exam, which stops the clock for days and adds exam fees. The full sequence, filing to release, is covered in the US customs clearance guide.
Formal entry, informal entry, and the end of de minimis
Which entry path a shipment takes depends mostly on value:
The two entry types after de minimis
| Informal entry | Formal entry | |
|---|---|---|
| Shipment value | Under $2,500 | $2,500 and up, or regulated goods at any value |
| Customs bond | Not required | Required |
| Paperwork | Simplified, often no entry summary | Full entry with CBP Form 7501 |
| Typical use | Samples, small parcels | Commercial shipments |
For years the de minimis rule also let shipments under $800 enter duty-free, which is how much of the direct-from-factory parcel trade ran. That exemption is now suspended, and what replaced Section 321 matters to anyone whose model relied on small parcels: low-value shipments now face duty and an entry like everything else.
The documents a US import runs on
Five documents carry a standard import, and customs problems are usually document problems wearing a uniform:
The core import documents and who produces them
| Document | Who issues it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial invoice | Supplier | Declares the transaction value CBP assesses duty on |
| Packing list | Supplier | Itemizes cartons, weights, and dimensions |
| Bill of lading | Carrier | Contract of carriage and proof of shipment |
| Arrival notice | Carrier or its local office | Announces the vessel and triggers pickup planning |
| CBP Form 7501 | Filed for the entry | The entry summary behind the duty calculation |
The commercial invoice guide and the bill of lading guide show what each field controls. The supplier's documents deserve a completeness check before the ship sails. A missing manufacturer address costs an email at origin and an exam at the terminal.
Get the container from the port to your warehouse
Release is not delivery. The terminal grants a few free days, then demurrage starts at $150 to $500 per container per day, and the equipment carries its own per-diem clock once the box leaves the gate. A drayage carrier pulls the container inside free time, delivers it, or drops it at a transload dock where the freight moves into domestic trailers. The handoff between customs release and port pickup is where split chains leak the most money, because neither vendor owns the demurrage clock; what drayage covers breaks down the leg itself.
KEY TAKEAWAY Budget the destination side before the origin side. Demurrage, per-diem, and exam storage are the fees importers do not see on the quote, and they all accrue by the day.
What Platton takes over when you import
Platton is a freight forwarding company built around imports into the US, and clients hand over as much or as little of the sequence above as they want. In practice that means:
Freight from Asia and Europe on your lane
Weekly sailings from China, Vietnam, India, and European hubs into the major US gateways, booked ocean or air, with the trade lane guides carrying current transit expectations per route.
Customs paperwork run against the deadlines
ISF data chased from the supplier at booking, HTS classification reviewed with an estimated duty calculation before the goods ship, and the entry filed on your behalf ahead of arrival through our customs clearance service.
Port pickup inside free time
Drayage across the major US ports and rail ramps, with a 93% same-day port pickup rate and a 36-hour average from gate-out to delivery, so containers move before demurrage starts.
One coordinator on the whole file
A single point of contact who sees the booking, the documents, the entry, and the delivery in one system, which is what keeps a shipment moving between steps without you chasing it.
Get an itemized import quote for your lane, with every fee line above priced before you commit: request a quote.
Common questions about importing into the US
Who is the importer of record on a US import?
The importer of record is the party legally responsible to CBP for the entry: declared value, classification, duty payment, and five years of record keeping. On most commercial imports it is the buyer. It differs from the consignee, who is simply the party receiving the goods. The role can sit with another party in some setups, but the responsibility for what was declared cannot be delegated away from whoever holds it.
What is the Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF)?
The MPF is a CBP user fee charged on most entries at 0.3464% of the declared value, with a minimum of $33.58 and a maximum of $651.50 per formal entry as of October 2025. The cap means consolidating purchases into fewer, larger entries often lowers the total MPF paid across a year. It applies to ocean and air alike, unlike the Harbor Maintenance Fee, which is ocean-only.
What is the difference between formal and informal entry?
An informal entry covers shipments generally valued under $2,500: simplified paperwork and no customs bond. A formal entry applies at $2,500 and above, or at any value for regulated goods, and requires a bond and a full entry summary on CBP Form 7501. Since the de minimis suspension, low-value shipments that once skipped entry now go through one of these two paths, which is why small importers suddenly care about the distinction.
Do you need an EIN to import into the US?
A US business importing commercially uses its EIN as the importer number on the bond, the ISF, and the entry. A sole proprietor can import under a social security number, and a foreign company with no US tax presence can request a CBP-assigned importer number by filing Form 5106 at a port of entry. What matters is that one consistent number sits on every filing in the shipment.
Can an individual import goods into the US for personal use?
Yes. Personal shipments clear customs like commercial ones, with duty owed at the same HTS rates once past the personal exemptions that cover travelers and gifts. The difference is scale: a personal shipment usually rides an informal entry with no bond, while anything valued at $2,500 or more, or regulated by an agency like the FDA, moves into formal entry territory regardless of who the buyer is.
How do you become an importer in the US?
There is no importer registration as such. You become an importer by having an importer number (usually an EIN), a customs bond for formal entries, and a shipment with compliant paperwork. The real qualification is operational: an HTS code you can defend, a supplier who provides accurate documents, and someone watching the ISF deadline and the port free time on every shipment.
Related import guides
What is an import freight forwarder?: the role that runs this process for you, and how import specialization differs from a standard forwarder.
First-time importer guide: the decisions behind a first shipment, in the order they actually come up.
DDP shipping and its risks: what happens when the supplier says customs is included.
How to import from China to the USA: the lane-specific version of this process, tariffs included.
Landed cost: full breakdown: the per-unit math behind every fee line above.
How US import customs clearance works: the entry process from filing to release, step by step.
