Shipping decor from Binh Duong parcel by parcel to US buyers is slow and postage eats the margin, so I am putting stock into a warehouse in Atlanta. The pieces stay mine until they sell through my own site. The warehouse says flatly it will not be the importer of record, the party answerable to customs.
Does a brand like mine have to hire a broker to be IOR, or is there another way to set this up? A forwarder I spoke to assumed the warehouse would import, which it will not. If I do need one, what should I ask before signing anything? A wrong answer is a container sitting at the port while I learn the rule.
You need a broker. Most of us will not stand as your importer; too much exposure. You are the importer of record; the warehouse is ultimate consignee. Three things make a non-resident importer: an importer number (no US tax ID means CBP assigns one off a 5106), a Form 301 bond from a surety that will write foreign principals, and someone in Georgia who can accept service for you. That is 19 CFR 141.18. The broker files under your power of attorney; the duty stays yours.
One thing the answer above assumes and does not say: the bond comes before the warehouse contract, not after. I am not US-qualified, but the sequence holds in every regime I have seen. Sureties hesitate over a foreign principal, and official interest in foreign importers is rising rather than falling, so a warehouse contract signed before a surety has said yes is a contract for stock you cannot enter. Obtain the indication first, in writing, and only then sign in Atlanta.
Whoever said the forwarder would make the warehouse the importer was describing what happens when nobody decides. My desk moves the box; it does not become the importer. Physically: the container lands, the broker needs your importer number and bond on file before the entry goes in, and without them the box sits on the terminal while the free days burn. There are companies selling an IOR service if you would rather not be the importer, with its own contract and price.
Customs is one agency at the border; the one that cares about your product is the other. Whatever the second agency wants goes in under your name; the broker keys in what you hand over and no more. Find out which agency, if any, wants to see rattan before the first shipment rather than during it; the latter is a lively afternoon. Ask a broker two things before signing: have they entered goods for an importer with no US address, and what they want from you per line.
Two answers above say the brand itself is the importer, and one mentions companies that sell an IOR (importer of record) service, which I had assumed was a broker under another name. If a separate company stands in as the importer, does the duty to CBP move to them, or does it stay with the brand as it does when a broker files under power of attorney? I would want that answered before paying for the service.
