How to Add Broker, Importer, and Exporter Information to a Commercial Invoice

When you ship internationally, customs authorities often need to see who is responsible for clearing the shipment on the destination side and, in some cases, who exported it from the origin side. That information has to appear on the Commercial Invoice (CI) before the shipment leaves your facility. If it does not, customs can hold the shipment at the border.

Shipstore lets you add this information directly on the Ship page using the address type drop-down. This article walks through where the drop-down is, how to use it for each scenario (Importer of Record, customs Broker, and Exporter), and how to confirm the information prints on the CI.

When you need this

  • Importer of Record. A company or person in the destination country who is legally responsible for the imported goods, paying duties and taxes, and complying with customs regulations. Add this when the Importer of Record is a different party than the Ship To recipient.
  • Customs Broker. A licensed broker who clears the shipment through customs on behalf of the importer. Add this when customs needs to contact a specific broker (for example, a Canadian shipment routed through a named broker for border release).
  • Exporter. The party legally responsible for the goods leaving the origin country. Add this when the Exporter is a different party than your Ship From or Return To address.

Where to enter the information

All three of these address types live in the same place on the Ship page.

  1. Open the shipment on the Ship page.
  2. In the middle section of the page (the one labeled Ship To by default), find the address type drop-down at the top of the section.
  3. Click the drop-down. You will see a list of selectable address types, including Ship To, Return To, Bill To, Importer, and Exporter.
  4. Select the address type you want to fill in.
  5. Fill in the name, company, address, city, state or province, postal code, country, and (recommended) a phone number.
  6. Save the shipment. The information is now attached.

You can toggle between address types as many times as you need. Each address you enter is saved with the shipment.

Adding a customs Broker

In Shipstore, broker information is entered into the Importer address fields. Use the broker’s company name, contact name, address, email, and phone number in those fields. When the Commercial Invoice prints, the broker information will appear in the Importer section of the form, which is where customs looks for the contact responsible for clearance.

  1. From the address type drop-down, select Importer.
  2. Enter the broker's company name, contact, address, phone, and email.
  3. Save the shipment and process it normally.

Tip: If your shipment has both an Importer of Record and a separate customs Broker, check with the broker about which party they want listed on the CI. In most cross-border parcel shipments where the broker is the one customs will contact for release, entering the broker as the Importer is the right move.

Adding an Exporter

By default, Shipstore uses your Ship From address as the exporter on the Commercial Invoice. You only need to use the Exporter dropdown when the legal Exporter on the shipment is a different party than your Ship From or Return To address.

  1. From the address type drop-down, select Exporter.
  2. Enter the Exporter's company name, contact, address, phone, and email.
  3. Save the shipment and process it normally.

Confirming it printed correctly

After you process the shipment and the Commercial Invoice prints, review the CI before handing it to the carrier:

  • The Importer section should show the Importer of Record or Broker you entered.
  • The Exporter section should show either your Ship From address (default) or the separate Exporter you entered.
  • Phone numbers and email addresses should be readable, not cut off.

If a section is blank or missing data, reopen the shipment, verify the information is saved in the correct address type, and reprocess. If the information is saved on the shipment but still does not print, contact Shipstore Support and include the shipment number.

Automating this for repeat shipments

If you ship to the same Importer or use the same Broker frequently, you have two options to avoid retyping the information on every shipment:

  • Address Book. Save the Importer or Broker as an address in your Address Book with an Address Book Code. On the next shipment, open the Importer fields and pull the address in by Address Book Code.
  • Business Rule. Set up a Business Rule that applies the Importer address from the Address Book automatically when the shipment meets specific criteria (for example, all shipments to a particular country, carrier, or profile). See the Business Rules article for details on how to build the rule.

Automation is worth setting up once you have processed more than a handful of shipments with the same Importer or Broker. It removes the per-shipment data entry and prevents typos from holding shipments at the border.

Related articles

  • Business Rules
  • Business Rule Examples - Printing Commercial Invoices
  • Address and Item Books
  • HTS Codes - Add to Item Commodities in Shipping Screen - v5
  • FedEx Broker Select Option (BSO) and Customs Clearance