Understanding lead times is an important part of managing inventory with imported goods. With demand forecasting, you can plan for busy seasons by ordering inventory and accounting for the time it takes for your supplier's goods to travel to your location. Considerations should be made to account for order-shipment turnaround times and travel time. Managing imported inventory often requires an eye to the future with demand forecasting to ensure inventory levels stay consistent, as the turnaround is often much longer than sourcing domestic products. For example, seasonal items will need to be ordered well in advance of when you need them to ensure they arrive in time to meet customer demand if you’ve chosen less expensive, slower transit.
Importing goods through an international supply chain requires several steps to ensure proper procedures are followed, especially when working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). End-to-end supply chain management for imports includes selecting and working with suppliers, arranging logistics by air or sea, filing proper documentation with customs, paying duties, and clearing customs for final distribution. There are a lot of moving parts to ensure your international supply chain runs smoothly, and GS1 Standards can help.
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What Is Importing?
Importing is sourcing goods or services from suppliers in a foreign country and transporting them across borders. Importing benefits consumers because it allows companies to meet demand for goods they can’t produce themselves or to gain access to better manufacturing technology. The top import in the U.S. is electrical equipment, specifically semiconductors, consumer devices, and industrial components. These items primarily come from Asian production hubs like China, Taiwan, and Vietnam because they provide lower production costs with specialized suppliers. Importing allows businesses to provide more products to their customers at more competitive prices.
Import vs. Export
Imports and exports differ by the direction goods are traveling across international borders. When a business imports products, they bring them in from a supplier in another country. In contrast, businesses export goods by acting as the supplier and sending them to one or more sellers in another country. When businesses import goods, they often take advantage of resources or lower production and acquisition costs in the exporting country, ultimately allowing them to better serve their domestic customers.
Importing: Things to Know
Importing comes with regulations and fees to ensure safe and fair trade. CBP has established policies and procedures for the importation of goods. In addition to CBP, other government agencies have policies that affect your imports, depending on what they are. If you’re starting fresh and learning how to be an importer, there are some basics that can help you get started.
Before importing anything, it’s helpful to contact your preferred port of entry. Speak with an import specialist to learn about specific importing requirements and advisory duty rates and to get answers to any other questions you might have. An import specialist can help you find the proper documentation by getting basic information about your imports that includes:
- The country of origin of merchandise and manufacturers
- The composition of the merchandise
- The intended use of the item
- Pricing and payment information
Establishing your international supply chain is another important part of importing goods. Not only will you build relationships with suppliers but you’ll also establish how your goods will be transported, which is equally important. A decision on air or sea transport will need to be made by weighing cost savings against timely delivery.
Duty vs. Tariff
Paying taxes is a part of importing goods. Duties is a broad term for fees attached to imported goods to regulate the amount of goods brought into a country and are established based on product characteristics. For example, duties might be applied to lumber imports to protect the domestic lumber industry from excessive imports from Canada. Similarly, tariffs can be applied to imports. However, tariffs are imposed on specific products from specific countries at distinct times. A government can change tariffs at any time. Put simply, all tariffs are duties, but not all duties are tariffs.
Fortunately, import fees aren’t typically required for every item that’s brought into the country. The de minimis exemption waives fees for imports with a fair retail value of $800 or less. This exemption allows small-scale importers to keep prices down by avoiding extra tariffs. However, as of August 29, 2025, the U.S. imposed an import duty policy change with a global de minimis ban, ending duty-free imports. The ban had a significant impact on e-commerce imports from online marketplaces like Amazon and Temu, as prices were raised to reflect the added costs.
Proper documentation is essential to ensuring your items clear customs in a timely manner. Missing documents, inaccurate classification, or improper valuation can cause significant delays, fines, and even legal action. Some of the necessary import documents include, but are not limited to:
Entry Manifest (CBP Form 7533) or Application and Special Permit for Immediate Delivery (CBP Form 3461) or other form of merchandise release required by the port director
- Evidence of the right to make entry
- Commercial invoice or a proforma invoice if the commercial invoice cannot be produced
- Bill of lading
- Packing lists, if appropriate
- Other documents necessary to determine merchandise admissibility
Goods with special customs rules that might need additional documentation can include:
- Agricultural products
- Good
- Cultural objects
- Chemical products
- Radioactive waste
- Animal products and live animals
- Endangered animals and plants
- Drug
Managing Imports and Inventory
Do I Need a Barcode for Importing?
While barcodes aren’t always legally required for importing, they certainly make the process easier by enabling accurate tracking and product information. Imported pallets and packs should be assigned Serial Shipping Container Codes (SSCCs) to accurately track their progress through the supply chain. Furthermore, Universal Product Codes (UPCs) and European Article Numbers (EANs) are essential for tracking inventory and streamlining retail sales at a physical point-of-sale (POS) and online.
Despite UPCs and EANs getting their primary uses in North America and Europe, respectively, you don’t need to convert an EAN to a UPC on imported goods. Since January 1, 2005, U.S. retail scanning systems have been required to accept EAN barcodes as well as the standard UPC. This means your business can sell products imported from anywhere in the world without registering a new barcode with GS1® before making them available for sale.
SSCC in Barcodes for Logistics and Importing
Labeling pallets and packs with SSCC barcodes ensures accurate tracking through the supply chain. SSCC barcodes enable faster processing in warehouses with a simple scan while reducing the risk of errors and losses. Ultimately, your pallets will move faster through the supply chain with an SSCC. While an SSCC isn’t legally required for importing, many international supply chain partners require it to help monitor using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN) systems. Requiring suppliers to use an SSCC barcode when shipping products is a great way to ensure accurate tracking and data sharing.
How to Get an SSCC
To get started, you can leverage an existing GS1 Company Prefix that you have already used to create UPC barcodes. If you have only licensed single GS1 US® Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs), you will need to license a GS1 Company Prefix to meet SSCC requirements. Be sure to visit our list of GS1 Standards Professional Barcode Image and Print Vendors to help you generate the SSCC in a GS1-128 barcode. Also, be sure to check out more information on the GS1-128 barcode.
How Does GS1 US Guide Users?
Applying GS1 Standards throughout your supply chain allows you to track products more easily and prepare them for sale. Request information from our team to learn more about how GS1 Standards can help streamline your imports and improve how your business uses data. By implementing GS1 Standards across your supply chain, you can be confident in the information you and your partners share from end to end, minimizing losses and delays.
