How a brand based outside the US starts shipping from inside it.

To start US fulfillment from abroad, you import your stock into the US in bulk as the importer of record, usually through a licensed customs broker, and send it to a US warehouse. Once it's received and counted there, your store's US orders ship from that building as ordinary domestic parcels, and returns come back to a US address. The rest is paperwork you can have ready before the first carton leaves your supplier.

This guide walks the steps in the order they happen, from the first quote to the first order out. It's written for a brand that's based outside the US, sells to US customers and has decided to hold stock here. It explains customs rules from CBP's own pages, with the date we checked each one, and it isn't legal or customs advice. Your customs broker is the person who says what your product and your entry need.

Who makes the customs entry when your stock lands in the US

Every commercial shipment that arrives in the US has to be entered with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the law limits who may do that. CBP's guide for commercial importers (last revised in 2006 and checked November 2026) says goods arriving by commercial carrier must be entered by the owner, the purchaser, an authorized regular employee, or a licensed customs broker designated by the owner, purchaser or consignee. CBP's e-commerce FAQ says the same of mail shipments, checked November 2026: only an owner or purchaser may make entry, or a licensed broker they've properly designated.

If you own the goods, that party is you. You're the importer of record, the party responsible for the import: the entry, its accuracy, and the duties and taxes owed on it.

You can be a foreign company and still be the importer of record. The same CBP guide says a foreign corporation may make entry through a US agent or representative, that the surety on any CBP bond required from a nonresident must be incorporated in the US, and that a foreign corporation in whose name goods are entered needs a resident agent in the state of the port who can accept service of process. A nonresident can also give a power of attorney to a customs broker to act for it in the US. In practice, most brands abroad hire a broker for exactly this reason: the broker files the entry, arranges the bond, and is the US party CBP deals with day to day.

You'll also need an importer number. CBP's Form 5106 FAQ (checked November 2026) says anyone who has to be identified in CBP's systems as an importer of record submits Form 5106, that foreign entities without a US tax identifier get a number assigned by CBP, and that a licensed broker with a valid power of attorney can submit updates on the importer's behalf. Your broker usually takes care of that filing for you.

What changes for foreign importers of record on January 5, 2027

If you'll import after the first week of January 2027, read this before you choose a broker. CBP published an interim final rule on heightened requirements for foreign importers of record in November 2026. CBP's page on the rule (checked November 2026) says it requires a foreign importer of record to be CTPAT validated or to use a CTPAT-validated customs broker to make entry, and that it takes effect on January 5, 2027, 60 days after publication, the same day its comment period ends. CTPAT is CBP's supply chain security program, and a validated member has had its security practices checked by CBP.

For most brands abroad, the practical answer is to ask any broker you're considering whether they're CTPAT validated today, before you sign anything. CBP's page also says brokers have to verify that a client qualifies as an importer of record, so expect more questions about your company at the start. It's an interim rule with a comment period, so it can change, and you should check CBP's page again on the day you plan your first entry.

The steps from the first quote to the first US order

Some steps run in parallel. The broker, the quote and the store connection can all happen while your goods are still being made. The order below is the order in which each one blocks the next.

1. 01Send the warehouse what it needs to quote you: your SKU list with dimensions and weights, your US order volume, where you sell, and what the product is. The quote data packWhat to send a 3PL for a quote, and why each file changes the price.To get a 3PL quote you can trust, send three months of orders with zips, a SKU list with weights and packed dimensions, returns, channels and your peak dates. lists every field and why it changes the price.
2. 02Choose a licensed customs broker, ask whether they're CTPAT validated, and sign their power of attorney. Ask them what your product needs at entry, and get your importer number and bond in place through them.
3. 03Agree the receiving address and the inbound paperwork with the warehouse: a packing list by SKU and carton, a carton label on every carton, and the date and count you expect.
4. 04Book the freight from your supplier or your own warehouse to the US warehouse, and give your broker the commercial invoice and packing list before the goods arrive.
5. 05Your broker files the entry, and when CBP releases the goods, they move on to the warehouse.
6. 06The warehouse receives the stock, counts it against your packing list and scans it onto the shelf, and the units show in your inventory.
7. 07Connect your store to the warehouse, set your shipping rules, and send a test order to a US address you can check.
8. 08Turn the US location on for live orders. Returns go to the warehouse's address from that day.

And who owns each step? The table puts a name against each one, so nothing falls between the broker and the warehouse.

How to get your stock to a US warehouse

The first inbound is the one worth planning carefully, because a mistake on it costs days at the dock while your US store sits empty. Say your supplier packs 40 cartons for the first shipment. Each one should carry one SKU, a label with the SKU and quantity, and a line on the packing list that matches it. The inbound guideHow to send inventory to a 3PL so receiving takes fewer hours.Send the SKU list first, one SKU per carton, labeled cartons, a packing list on the pallet and notice before it lands. At YNK receiving is billed hourly. goes through carton labels, pallet builds and the advance notice in detail.

Keep two documents in step: the commercial invoice your broker files the entry from, and the packing list the warehouse receives against. CBP's importer guide lists the commercial invoice and packing lists among the documents an entry may need, so the same SKU, quantity and description on both saves questions at both ends. If the warehouse's address goes on the bill of lading as the delivery address, make sure it's the receiving dock and its hours, so the trucker doesn't arrive after the dock has closed.

Why hold stock in the US at all, when you could ship each order from home? CBP's e-commerce FAQ (checked November 2026) says the duty-free treatment for shipments valued at $800 or less is suspended for goods arriving by all modes, and that formal entry is required for shipments over $2,500. A parcel sent from home to each customer now has to be entered on its own. Stock held in the US is entered once, in bulk, and each order then ships as a domestic parcel with no customs step at all.

Receiving and the first count

When the truck arrives, the warehouse opens each carton, counts it, and checks the count against your packing list. Anything that doesn't match gets flagged before it's put away, so the gap is found on the dock and you can raise it with your supplier the same week. Ask the warehouse to email you that first count by SKU, and keep it next to your supplier's invoice.

You're in a different time zone, so agree how you'll hear about problems. A short email at the end of the receiving day, with the count and any shortages or damage, means you aren't waiting for the next morning to find out a size is missing. Units only become sellable once they're scanned onto the shelf, so don't turn on US orders until the count shows in your inventory.

Connecting your store and setting up US returns

Your store connects to the warehouse the same way it would for a US brand. Orders sync in as they're paid, the warehouse picks and packs them, and tracking syncs back so your store sends the shipping email it sends today. If you also ship to the rest of the world from home, set your store to route US orders to the US location and everything else to the warehouse you have now. Send a test order to a US address before you go live and check the parcel, the packing slip and the tracking email.

Returns are the step brands abroad most often leave until last. A US customer won't post a parcel back across an ocean, and you don't want to pay for that either. Put the US warehouse's address in your returns policy and your returns portal, and decide your grading rules up front: what goes back on the shelf, what's set aside, and what's disposed of. The returns guideHow 3PL returns processing works, from the request to the refund.How a 3PL handles a return, step by step: the label, the dock scan, grading, restock or set aside, and the refund. At YNK it's an estimated $3.00 a parcel. covers how a return moves from the customer's request to the refund.

Paying a US 3PL from abroad, and what to send for a quote

Ask early how the warehouse invoices and how a brand abroad is expected to pay, because the answer is often different from the one a US brand gets. Check which currency the invoice is in, how often it's sent, and whether your bank charges a fee on outgoing transfers in US dollars, so the first invoice doesn't arrive as a surprise.

For the quote, you'll get a more accurate number if you send your real data. That means the SKU list with dimensions and weights, your US orders over the last few months if you have them, or a forecast if you're new to the US, the channels you sell on, and what the product is made of. Tell the warehouse where you're based too. It changes how they'll talk to you, when they'll call, and how you'll pay.

How it works at YNK for a brand outside the US

YNK is a 3PL in Elmwood Park, New JerseyNew Jersey 3PLThe Elmwood Park warehouse, rates, transit times and directions, 15 miles from Manhattan. that ships more than 1.2 million orders a year. Your brand can be based anywhere in the world, and you don't need a US company to work with us. You import your goods as the importer of record, and we can connect you to a customs broker. We don't make the entry ourselves, and your broker tells you what your product needs.

• Send your stock to 465 Mola Blvd, Dock 10, Elmwood Park, NJ 07407. We can book your domestic and cross-border freight for you.
• Every unit is scanned as it goes on the shelf. From then on you see the same live inventory we see, by SKU, in the dashboard.
• Orders sync in from your store as they're paid, and every channel you sell on draws on one inventory pool.
• Every major carrier picks up here daily, and tracking syncs back to your store. Returns from your customers come back to the same building.
• We invoice in US dollars, brands outside the US pay by bank transfer, and handling and storage are invoiced monthly.
• The office and the receiving dock are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm ET. ET is Eastern Time, the time in New York.

YNK began as the in-house fulfillment of Veiled, our own fashion brand, which sells to customers all over the world. Its orders average six pieces and leave this building at a 99.995% order success rate. Tell us where you're based and what you sell, in your own language if you like, through the form on our page for brands outside the USBrands outside the USUS fulfillment for a brand based anywhere. You don’t need a US company to work with us, you import as the importer of record, and we invoice in US dollars.. Someone from the team replies within one business day, in the language you write in, and the full proposal follows within five. Calls are in English.

Questions brands abroad ask before they hold stock in the US