US ocean cargo: who files the ISF, and which ten elements, 24 hours before loading

Bottom line:

US vessel cargo needs an Importer Security Filing (ISF). Name the ISF Importer on this booking in writing, then file the ten elements under 19 CFR 149. Air and truck do not use this filing.
Eight of the ten are due no later than 24 hours before the cargo is laden at the foreign port. Stuffing location and consolidator are due as early as possible, and no later than 24 hours before arrival in a US port. The carrier’s “+2” — vessel stow plan and container status messages — are not the seller’s ten.
A licensed broker may file; liability stays with the ISF Importer. Opening a store, and wiring membership to ALIBABA.COM HONG KONG LIMITED, buys a showcase. It does not make the Hong Kong company the ISF Importer, and it does not make you the US Importer of Record. Corpable does not file ISF and does not stand as IOR.

Tuesday afternoon the buyer’s nominated forwarder sends half a line: “ISF due 24 hours before loading. Send importer number and POA today, or we miss the cut.” The box is a Yantian FCL of lamps. The contract seller is a Hong Kong company. The plant is on the mainland. Sales staples the business-registration scan and a store-admin screenshot into one PDF and replies that the Hong Kong company can file and will send everything by Friday.

Wednesday the forwarder asks for the Alibaba.com master login “so we can file ISF in the system,” or for a power of attorney with no booking number and no expiry. Docs have not asked who the ISF Importer is on this booking. The plant has already booked Thursday-night stuffing. Finance asks whether an “official ISF fine” should be locked into the unit price.

Thursday the box leaves the plant. Two hours before Friday’s carrier cut-off the forwarder writes that the ten elements are still empty: the importer number is not a US tax number, the manufacturer address does not match the packing-list plant, and stuffing location is the Mong Kok office. Sales then sees that a showcase and a Hong Kong letterhead will not fill the ten fields CBP asked for.

Do not reply that you “have a clearance channel” and that ISF is “in the freight.” Stop three things the same day: do not hand over the master login, do not sign a blank POA, and do not invent an importer number. The order below is the one a sales desk can use: name the person, name the clock, fill the ten, handle the login request, then deal with a vessel that has already sailed. Who stands as importer at entry is on the forwarder cannot take IOR. If the bill of lading type is still open, see OBL, telex and sea waybill. FCL or LCL changes stuffing location and consolidator — see FCL vs LCL.

Name the ISF Importer on this booking first

US Customs and Border Protection publishes the Importer Security Filing in its trade security pages. The rule sits in 19 CFR 149. The ISF Importer is the party causing the goods to arrive within the limits of a port in the United States by vessel. Except for foreign cargo remaining on board and a few other cases, that party is typically the owner, purchaser or consignee; a licensed customs broker may file as agent. For FROB the carrier or NVOCC often files. The United States Postal Service is not an ISF Importer.

Before sales answers the first mail, do not talk about “whose ISF is cheaper.” Ask the US buyer for three written lines: the legal name of the ISF Importer on this booking; whether the buyer’s broker or the seller’s nominated broker will transmit; and which IRS, EIN, Social Security or CBP-assigned number will sit in the importer-of-record field. If those three lines do not come back, do not write “we will file the ISF” in chat, and do not let the forwarder park the Hong Kong company in that box.

A Hong Kong sales contract, a mainland plant and a Shenzhen booking can sit on the same week and still leave the ISF Importer unnamed. The contract seller owes delivery and documents. That is not the same as causing the goods to arrive in a US port by vessel. Store membership wired to ALIBABA.COM HONG KONG LIMITED buys a showcase. CBP does not see the store, and the store does not register anyone as ISF Importer.

The ISF Importer and the Importer of Record can be the same person. They are not the same sentence. The IOR owes CBP a reasonably careful entry — classification, value, origin and the duty — see US IOR. One of the ten elements is the Importer of record number. Filling a number is not the same as writing the seller in as importer. When the buyer says “you handle duty-paid,” split three lines: who is IOR, who is ISF Importer, and who pays the estimate. The three can be one party. They still need three lines in the contract. A forwarder’s “we handle clearance” does not write them.

The carrier or NVOCC manifest (AMS) is a different vessel filing. Carriers also file a vessel stow plan and container status messages — the trade’s “+2.” Those are carrier filings. They are not the seller’s ten, and “we already sent the manifest” does not replace the ISF. Internally you can keep one line: the manifest sits with the vessel; the ten sit with the ISF Importer. In the reply to the buyer, do not fold both filings into one “US papers complete” sentence.

Role	What CBP asks this party to do	Where a Hong Kong seller usually sits
ISF Importer	Owns the ten elements; may authorise a licensed broker to transmit	Ask the US buyer to name the party. Do not assume it is you
Importer of Record	Owns the entry, the duty and reasonable care	Most plants have no US import file. Do not say “we will be the importer”
Carrier / NVOCC	Manifest, stow plan, container status messages	Booking and draft bills sit here. They do not fill the ten

A buyer-nominated forwarder is still not the ISF Importer until the buyer names that party. The forwarder can be the pipe. FOB does not by itself lift the ISF off the buyer. CIF does not by itself drop the ten onto the seller. The Incoterm says who buys freight and insurance. It does not say who causes the goods to arrive in a US port.

Build a people list this week, not a “compliance pack.” The list needs the US buyer’s legal name, their broker, the holder of the importer number, the contract seller, the plant that will stuff, the party who stuffs or arranges stuffing, and the booking forwarder. Until the buyer names the ISF Importer, do not send the ten to the forwarder “to hold a slot.”

The 24 hours before loading: which clock

19 CFR 149.2 writes the clock in plain words. Except for the bulk and break-bulk carve-outs, the ISF Importer must transmit seller, buyer, importer of record number or FTZ applicant identification number, consignee number(s), manufacturer or supplier, ship to party, country of origin and commodity HTSUS number no later than 24 hours before the cargo is laden aboard the vessel at the foreign port. The zero on that clock is lading on that vessel at that foreign port. It is not the hour the plant stuffs the box, and it is not the truck gate.

At Yantian, Ningbo or Shanghai the carrier cut-off and the customs cut-off usually sit earlier than lading. Do not aim at “24 hours before sailing.” Lading may sit hours or a day after cut-off; the forwarder and the carrier still close files on cut-off. Docs should back up from the earlier cut-off: the eight elements must be ready to transmit 24 hours before that cut-off, not on the night the vessel name is confirmed.

Container stuffing location and consolidator (stuffer) sit on a second clock. The rule says as early as possible, and in no event later than 24 hours before arrival in a United States port — or upon lading if the foreign port is less than a 24-hour voyage from the closest US port. On a factory-stuffed FCL those two fields are known the day the seal goes on. There is no operational reason to hold them until the mother vessel leaves. On LCL the CFS knows them when the box is sealed. File them then. Do not say “we will add them before Los Angeles.”

Break-bulk that is exempt from the carrier’s 24-hour cargo declaration is also exempt from the ISF’s 24-hour-before-lading clock; those filings are due 24 hours before arrival in the United States. Bulk cargo that is exempt from the carrier’s 24-hour declaration is also exempt from ISF. Lamps, hardware and boxed furniture are not bulk. Sales should not tell the buyer “factory-direct means no ISF.”

After the filing goes in, the presenting party must update it if, before the goods enter the limits of a US port, any submitted information changes or more accurate information becomes available. For manufacturer, ship to, origin and HTSUS, CBP allows an initial response on the best data available at the time, then an update, still no later than 24 hours before arrival. Best available is not “any plant in the system.” A number with no reasonable basis should not be used to hold a slot.

Split the clock into four boxes on the booking memo: planned factory stuffing date, forwarder cut-off, estimated lading date, estimated US arrival. The first eight elements count back 24 hours from lading, and in practice you move them earlier to beat cut-off. The last two are collected on stuffing day, with arrival-minus-24-hours as the floor. You can collect names and numbers before the vessel is named. Transmit when the booking number exists. You do not wait for the original bill to print.

Friday’s “two hours before cut-off and the file is empty” is usually Tuesday’s clock error, not a new regulation. When the plant stuffs on Thursday, the first eight elements should already sit with the broker. If you are still chasing the buyer’s EIN on stuffing day, this booking is already racing the cut-off. The instruction to the plant can be: stuffing may keep its slot; without a named ISF Importer and a US number, do not promise that “the box out the gate means ISF is done.”

How to fill the ten: seller, buyer, plant, HTS

19 CFR 149.3 lists ten elements for cargo intended to be entered or delivered to a foreign trade zone. They are filed at the lowest bill of lading level — the house bill, if there is one. Manufacturer or supplier, country of origin and commodity HTSUS number must be linked to one another at the line item. Use CBP’s English names. Then write how a Hong Kong seller pulls the data. Do not rewrite the ten as a company profile.

CBP element	What goes in	How to pull it this week
Seller	Name and address of the last known seller; owner if there is no sale	Usually the contract seller. If the PI is the Hong Kong company, write that legal name and registered address, not the store nickname
Buyer	Name and address of the last known buyer	The US buyer’s legal name. If a middle trading house is no longer the last buyer, do not leave it in this box
Importer of record number / FTZ applicant ID	IRS, EIN, SSN or CBP-assigned number of the party liable for duty; FTZ applicant number if the goods go to a zone	Ask the US buyer or their broker. A Hong Kong BR, a store ID and a passport will not stand in
Consignee number(s)	IRS, EIN, SSN or CBP-assigned number of the US party on whose account the goods are shipped	Often close to the importer number; still take the buyer’s written line. Do not drop in the forwarder’s US branch
Manufacturer (or supplier)	The party that last manufactures, assembles, produces or grows the goods, or the supplier of the finished goods in the country from which they leave	The plant’s legal name and factory address. A new plant means a new line. Do not copy last week
Ship to party	The first deliver-to party scheduled to receive the goods after release from customs custody	The warehouse or door, which may not be the buyer. If the buyer has not named a warehouse, ask. Do not write the forwarder’s lobby
Country of origin	Country of manufacture, production or growth under US import rules	Mainland-made goods are usually China. A Hong Kong dispatch does not rewrite origin — see 301 follows origin
Commodity HTSUS number	HTSUS at least to six digits; ten digits are allowed	Link it to manufacturer and origin at the line. Ten digits may later be used for entry. A showcase category is not HTSUS
Container stuffing location	Physical location where the goods were stuffed into the container	Factory address on a factory-stuffed FCL; CFS address on LCL. Not the Hong Kong office
Consolidator (stuffer)	The party who stuffed the container or arranged the stuffing	The plant or the party who arranged factory stuffing; the CFS or consolidator on LCL. Not a salesperson’s name

Seller and buyer are the last known parties to the sale. A Hong Kong company selling to a US importer writes the Hong Kong company as seller and the US importer as buyer. If the Hong Kong company is only a payee and the last buyer is another US firm, write the last known buyer. Do not dress the field with a store name. If the goods are not imported under a purchase, both fields follow the owner.

Importer of record number and consignee number are US identity numbers, not address lines. The usual sales error is to paste a Hong Kong BR, a mainland unified social credit code or the Alibaba.com member ID. When the broker rejects it, do not change one digit and try again. Ask the US buyer to copy the number from their import file. Without that number the first eight elements are not complete. A tight clock does not make a Hong Kong number good enough.

Manufacturer or supplier must match the packing list and the origin line. Two plants in one box are two line items. Do not merge them into “South China supplier.” The manufacturer identification logic used at entry can inform the name and address; for ISF, get the name and address right first. If the plant changed, the old address is finished. If the forwarder says “last year’s plant is already in the system,” docs still match this packing list.

Ship to is the first place that will physically receive the goods after release. The buyer’s office can be in Los Angeles and the cargo can go to a third-party warehouse in the Inland Empire — write the warehouse. If the door is not named, chase the buyer in writing. Do not accept the forwarder’s “we will say at destination.” Origin follows US rules on manufacture, not the invoice letterhead and not the transhipment port. Mainland-made goods on a Hong Kong bill are still usually China. How additional duty follows that origin code is on 301 follows origin, not the letterhead. This field only answers “which country.” It does not lock a 301 rate.

HTSUS must be at least six digits. If the same number is to be reused for entry or entry summary, it must be at the ten-digit level and supplied by the importer of record or its licensed broker. A seller can give six digits for the security filing. Do not write “US tariff fixed, duty included” on the PI. A store category, an Amazon category and an Alibaba.com category are not HTSUS.

Before the ten go to the broker, docs match them once against the invoice, the packing list and the draft bill: seller against shipper, buyer against consignee, plant against origin, HTS against the commodity name. Mark the line that fails. Do not send the whole sheet to the forwarder with “fill in what you can.”

Stuffing location and consolidator: do not wait for sailing

The last two elements have a later legal deadline. Operationally they are the ones you should not delay. On a factory FCL the location and the stuffer are known when the seal goes on. On LCL they are known when the CFS closes the box. Holding them until the mother vessel sails only parks known facts against the arrival clock, and leaves less room if CBP asks for a correction.

Stuffing location is a physical address. It is not the Hong Kong office sales knows, and it is not the city on the storefront. If the plant in Dongguan stuffed the box, write the Dongguan plant. If the cargo moved to a Shenzhen CFS and was stuffed there, write the CFS. If one booking was stuffed at more than one place, the rule allows more than one location. Do not report only the address that looks tidy.

The consolidator is the party who stuffed the box or arranged the stuffing. Factory-stuffed cargo often names the plant or the party the seller hired to stuff. A forwarder-arranged off-site stuff, or a CFS operation, often names the CFS or the NVOCC. A salesperson, an Alibaba.com service desk and a Corpable advisor are not this field. If the forwarder wants “our company” and will not give a legal name, send it back and ask for the full legal name.

For break-bulk that never enters a container, these two fields become the place the goods were made ship-ready and the party who made them ship-ready or arranged that work. Boxed lamps and furniture should not be written as break-bulk. Whether bulk cargo is exempt from ISF follows whether it is also exempt from the carrier’s advance cargo declaration. Do not apply that exemption by mouth.

Filing the last two early has a second use: the first eight must already leave 24 hours before lading. If stuffing day also sends location and consolidator to the broker, one transmission holds the set, and you avoid a second loop after sailing. LCL is where teams forget, because the seller only sees cargo handed to the CFS and never sees who stuffed many bookings into one box. Keep the CFS name and address on the delivery note so Thursday has something to write.

If the box has already left and the last two are empty, ask the plant the same day for the stuffing address and the location on the seal photo, and ask the forwarder for the CFS or stuffer legal name. Do not write “China port.” Arrival minus 24 hours is the floor, not the target. The target is stuffing day.

FCL or LCL: who gathers the ten first

FCL and LCL change the stuffing calendar. They do not change who the ISF Importer is. How to choose the box is on FCL vs LCL. On a factory-stuffed FCL the seller usually knows manufacturer and stuffing location first; the importer number still sits with the US buyer. On LCL the cargo reaches the CFS earlier, and the consolidator is often the CFS or the NVOCC. If the seller waits for sailing to ask, the last two fields will be empty.

A workable FCL order this week: ask the buyer for the ISF Importer name and the two numbers; in parallel ask the plant for the manufacturer legal name, the factory address and the planned stuffing date; after the booking is confirmed, send seller, buyer, ship-to, origin, HTS and the two numbers to the broker; on seal day, add stuffing location and consolidator. Do not wait for the draft bill. The draft is often later than 24 hours before cut-off.

On LCL, treat “delivered to CFS” as the trigger for the last two fields, not as a reason to ignore ISF. When cargo hits the CFS, keep the CFS name, address and operator. The mother-vessel lading date is still the clock for the first eight. LCL documentation cuts are usually tighter than FCL. Pull the ten earlier. Do not bet on an FCL cut-off.

If one FCL mixes two plants, split manufacturer, origin and HTS by line. Do not merge plants so that “one box equals one ISF.” If you are a few pallets inside an LCL, you still owe the ten for your goods. The master consolidator does not automatically cover your seller, buyer and origin. If the forwarder says “we file LCL as one,” you still need the named ISF Importer and this booking’s fields. Do not take “we file as one” as the whole file.

Air samples, courier parcels and truck moves do not use the 19 CFR 149 vessel ISF. If the buyer puts an air RFQ and an ocean box in the same “please file ISF” mail, split the reply: the ocean box uses this page’s ten; air uses the air filing. Do not send the ten-element sheet to the airport. Sales should not reply “we file ISF on all US cargo” to save a paragraph.

When the forwarder wants a master login or a blank POA

Wednesday’s request for the master login is usually convenience, not a CBP rule. The Alibaba.com master login can change the showcase, open sub-accounts and read inquiries. ISF is transmitted through a CBP-approved electronic interchange. It is not filed in the store admin. Giving the forwarder the master login will not complete the ten. It only adds a person who can enter the store. Membership wired to ALIBABA.COM HONG KONG LIMITED still buys a showcase. A forwarder with the login still is not the ISF Importer.

Do not sign a blank POA either. 19 CFR 149.5 lets an authorised agent file. Agents must keep powers of attorney in English until revoked, keep revoked papers for five years after revocation, and produce them to CBP on request. A licensed broker can hold that POA. The paper should name the principal, this booking or container number, a purpose limited to this Importer Security Filing, an expiry, and whether the agent may delegate. A sheet with no booking, no expiry and a line that says “all customs matters” comes back as a blank POA.

The ISF Importer must also hold an eligible bond: a basic importation and entry bond, a custodial bond, an international carrier bond, an FTZ operator bond, or an ISF bond. If the ISF Importer has no bond, the agent may post the agent’s bond. “We have no US bond” is not a reason to hand the forwarder a master login. It is a reason the Hong Kong company should not sit in the ISF Importer box. The named US party, or their broker, handles the bond.

Sales answers the forwarder in full sentences, not “no login.” A block you can paste: “The ISF is filed under 19 CFR 149 by the ISF Importer or its authorised licensed broker. Please have the US buyer confirm in writing the legal name of the ISF Importer on this booking and the importer number. As contract seller we can supply seller, manufacturer, stuffing location, consolidator, origin and HTSUS for this booking, for your office or the buyer’s broker to transmit. We will not send the Alibaba.com master login or a blank power of attorney. If a POA is required from us, send a text that names this booking number, container, a purpose limited to this ISF, and an expiry. Store membership buys a showcase and is not a CBP registration.”

Do not write: “here is the master login, we will change the password later”; “sign the blank POA, we will add the booking later”; “our Hong Kong company is the importer, use this number”; “we will pay the fine, file a placeholder.” The last two lines write both the liability and the number wrong. If the forwarder says there is no booking without the login, split booking from ISF: the booking can proceed; the ISF waits for a named party and a booking-limited POA.

When the buyer’s own broker asks for fields, send the field list, not the master login. The broker’s right to transmit sits on the ISF Importer’s POA and bond, not on the seller’s store login. Corpable does not collect those POAs and does not hold master logins. An advisor only helps you see which field is still empty.

What the forwarder or broker asks for	What to send this week	If you send the wrong thing
Alibaba.com master login or a one-time code	Refuse. ISF is not filed in the store	The showcase changes; the ten stay empty
A POA with no booking number	Return it. Ask for a booking-limited POA	Later bookings can be filed on the same paper
A Hong Kong BR as importer number	Say you need a US IRS, EIN or CBP number	The transmission bounces; cut-off still passes
“ISF is in the freight, you can ignore it”	Still get the ISF Importer named, and keep a copy of the ten	If CBP asks, it asks the named party, not the freight invoice
Last week’s fields, copied across	Rematch this invoice and packing list	Plant, origin or stuffing location will not match

No bill of lading yet, origin still open: do not force the fields

Thursday’s usual docs error is to fill a still-open field so the cut-off looks green. The bill may still be moving between original, telex release and sea waybill — see how to choose the bill — and that does not stop you collecting seller, buyer, plant and the two numbers. What you lack is a bill number, not the ten elements. ISF hangs at the lowest bill level. A booking number or house-bill number is enough to start the match. You do not wait for the original to print.

An “origin still open” line is often not open at all. Sales wants mainland-made goods written as a Hong Kong dispatch. US origin does not follow the port of export. If the mainland plant made the goods, write the country of manufacture. How additional duty follows that country is on 301 follows origin. Do not park a cheaper-looking code in the ISF. If the broker files best available data and updates before arrival, the update should be a more accurate place of manufacture, not China rewritten as Hong Kong.

If ship-to is not named, do not write “US port” or the forwarder’s US office. Ask the buyer, in writing, for the first warehouse after release. If HTS is in dispute, give six digits that match the commodity name and mark the line “ten-digit confirmation sits with the importer or their broker.” Do not borrow a neighbour SKU’s heading to look complete.

On the contract and the PI, delete these lines: “seller is responsible for all US ISF and clearance”; “the Hong Kong company is registered with CBP”; “ISF penalties are included in the unit price”; “store verification equals ISF.” Write instead: the ISF Importer is the US party named in the contract, or that party’s licensed broker; the seller supplies seller, manufacturer, stuffing and origin fields for this booking; CBP’s handling follows the current notice; the unit price does not lock an official penalty. How DDP or “duty-paid” splits the IOR still sits on the IOR note. Do not fold that sentence into the ISF line.

Do not put “ISF included on US ocean” or “ISF-free” on the showcase. A buyer will screenshot it. You may write that the seller is a Hong Kong company, that the vessel security filing is made by the ISF Importer named in the contract, and that the seller supplies stuffing and manufacturing fields by booking.

Already sailed, ISF still empty: stop the loss

If the box is already on the vessel and the ten are empty, stop the loss before you explain. The same day, list in writing: vessel and voyage, load port, booking number, container number, contract seller, US buyer, known plant, known stuffing location. Ask the buyer three lines: who is the ISF Importer, which broker will transmit, and which importer number applies. Send every field you can to that broker the same day. The rule requires an update when information changes. A late filing should still go in. Do not drop the file.

Do not invent an EIN. Do not change one digit on last week’s importer number. Do not send the master login so the forwarder can “repair the file.” Do not have anyone at a transhipment port stick an “ISF filed” label on the box. Do not write a homemade deadline or a homemade liquidated-damages figure in the mail to the buyer. CBP may assess liquidated damages, delay or exam for a missing, late or inaccurate filing, under the current CBP notice. Do not lock a chat figure into the PI, and do not ask finance to accrue an “official ISF fine.”

If the forwarder says “we can park our number and change it at destination,” treat the filing as unnamed. A wrong importer number is harder to unwind than an empty file, because a party already sits on the transmission as the person CBP can look to. If the forwarder says “we told the carrier, the manifest is enough,” the manifest still does not replace the ten. Sales sends a full-sentence correction, for example: “The earlier note that the Hong Kong company can file the ISF, and that a penalty is included in the price, is withdrawn. This booking’s ISF must be transmitted by the ISF Importer or its licensed broker under 19 CFR 149. We are sending seller, manufacturer, stuffing location and origin for this booking. Please confirm the ISF Importer and the importer number in writing. Please treat this letter as controlling.”

If the vessel has sailed and the plant or origin still fails, rewrite from the packing list and the place of manufacture. Do not change origin so the bill “looks consistent.” How consignee and notify are written on the bill still follows the bill note. The two files run side by side. Do not retitle one to cover the other. If the box is examined or delayed at destination, first split a document gap from CBP’s handling. Do not promise, in the same mail, that you will pay every terminal charge.

A sales week can be dated. Same day: buyer naming, whether the two numbers exist, plant name and address, planned or actual stuffing date. Next day before noon: stuffing location, consolidator, origin, and HTS at six digits or more. On transmit day the broker returns an internal acceptance note; a rejected number is not reused with one digit changed. Before cut-off, sales only says “fields are with the broker; acceptance follows the CBP system.” Do not say “already released.” Packaging and the showcase do not print “ISF certified.”

Corpable can sit with you on who should be named, which of the ten is empty, and how to answer a login request. We do not file ISF, stand as US IOR, advance duty, or promise a port release. Membership fees still go to ALIBABA.COM HONG KONG LIMITED.

Questions teams actually ask

Who is the ISF Importer on this booking? Must the Hong Kong seller file?

CBP writes the ISF Importer as the party causing the goods to arrive within the limits of a US port by vessel — typically the owner, purchaser or consignee. A licensed broker may file as agent; liability stays with the ISF Importer. A Hong Kong PI, a mainland plant and an Alibaba.com showcase do not become that party by themselves. Ask the US buyer to name the party in writing before you promise to file.

Which clock is the 24 hours before loading?

19 CFR 149.2 says eight of the ten elements are due no later than 24 hours before the cargo is laden aboard the vessel at the foreign port. The clock is loading, not factory stuffing, not the truck gate, and not a WeChat screenshot of sailing day. Stuffing location and consolidator (stuffer) are due as early as possible, and no later than 24 hours before arrival in a US port.

Which of the ten fields fail most often?

Seller and buyer must be the last known parties to the sale, not the showcase nickname. Importer-of-record and consignee numbers are US tax or CBP numbers; a Hong Kong BR and a store ID will not go in. Manufacturer or supplier, ship-to, origin and HTSUS must match the invoice and packing list. Origin follows the place of manufacture, not the Hong Kong letterhead — see 301 follows origin.

The forwarder wants our master login or a blank power of attorney. Can we send it so we do not miss the vessel?

Do not send the master login, and do not sign a blank POA. Write: the US buyer names the ISF Importer; you supply this booking’s ten fields; a licensed broker files on a POA limited to this ISF. The POA must name the booking or container, the purpose, and an expiry. Do not sign an open-ended paper.

The vessel has sailed and the ISF is still empty. Can we still file?

File as soon as you can, and update under 19 CFR 149.2 if the data change. Do not invent an importer number, and do not copy last week’s filing with a new date. CBP may assess liquidated damages, delay or exam under the current CBP notice — do not lock a dollar figure into the quote. In writing, ask who the ISF Importer is, who files, and which field is still missing.

Can Corpable file the ISF? Does opening the store count as a filing?

No. An advisor can sit with you on who should file and which of the ten is empty. We do not stand as US IOR and we do not file ISF. Store membership is wired to ALIBABA.COM HONG KONG LIMITED and buys a showcase. It does not register the Hong Kong company as ISF Importer.