Sellers Asked To Confirm Who Imports Their Products Point At A Box

WASHINGTON—Amazon has asked sellers to confirm the details of their importer of record, the person or company legally responsible for bringing goods into the United States, prompting thousands of merchants to look up from their laptops and ask, quietly, "Who, me?"

The reminder follows a push by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to improve the accuracy of importer data, including the Form 5106 that registers importers. CBP has said it can void records it finds inaccurate. In a forum notice, Amazon reminded sellers that the email on the form should belong to the importer of record, and not to a freight forwarder, a cousin or an inbox named imports2017.

Customs brokers said the confusion is understandable. "Most small sellers set up importing years ago and never thought about it again, the way you don't think about the person who installed your water heater until there is water everywhere," said Ruth Ambrose-Kell, a customs consultant in Long Beach, Calif.

Who Sellers Believe Their Importer Of Record Is

The manufacturer	61%
Amazon	22%
The ship	9%
Me (correct, alarming)	8%

Source: The Daily SKU Dock Door Desk survey of 300 sellers; margin of error ±1 container

A Daily SKU survey of sellers found that 61 percent believe their importer of record is the manufacturer, 22 percent believe it is Amazon and 9 percent believe it is "the ship."

"I filled out the form in 2019, with the email I had in 2019. I am not the person I was in 2019."

The stakes are real. An inaccurate record can hold a shipment at the border, a word sellers use in the fourth quarter the way sailors use "iceberg." Brokers advise checking that the importer number, address and contact email are current before a container of holiday inventory arrives and asks to speak to a parent.

Several sellers said they had now confirmed their importer of record. Asked who it was, they said it was them, and that they found the news both empowering and deeply alarming.