What Is Commercial Merchandise for US Customs?

Under U.S. Customs and Border Protection rules, commercial merchandise for U.S. Customs purposes is any goods you bring into the country for a business purpose — resale, use in your operations, further manufacturing, or even samples you plan to show buyers. The classification turns on your intent, not the item itself. The same laptop is personal if you’re going to use it and commercial if you’re going to sell it. Once goods fall on the commercial side of that line, you lose the traveler exemptions, you owe duties and fees, and you take on paperwork and recordkeeping obligations that personal imports never trigger.¹

How CBP Decides Something Is Commercial

CBP looks at intent, but it reads intent through signals. Quantity is the loudest one. Two hundred identical phone cases in a single shipment are not for personal use, and no officer will treat them that way. Officers also weigh the nature of the goods (items commonly sold rather than personally consumed), how often you ship, and the declared value. Higher values and repeat shipments draw closer scrutiny.

A useful practical test comes from the regulations themselves: goods not intended for sale or commercial use in their imported condition are exempt from the requirement for a commercial invoice.² Flip that around and you have your rule of thumb: if CBP would expect a commercial invoice, your goods are commercial.

What You Give Up When Goods Are Commercial

Personal items get generous duty exemptions. A returning U.S. resident can typically bring back up to $800 in goods duty-free. Nonresidents visiting for at least 72 hours can claim a $100 exemption for bona fide gifts they carry, available once every six months and excluding alcohol and cigarettes, though up to 100 cigars are allowed. Anyone not eligible for the standard exemptions can still bring in personal or household items duty-free up to $200 total.³

Commercial merchandise gets none of these. You must declare it to a CBP officer and follow the formal or informal entry process based on value.¹ Passing commercial goods off as personal to skip duties is one of the fastest ways to lose the merchandise entirely.

Informal Entry and Formal Entry

The dividing line for commercial shipments is $2,500. Below that value, you can generally use an informal entry, which involves less paperwork and does not require a customs bond.⁴ Informal entries are common for small importers, samples, and low-value commercial shipments.

At $2,500 and above, formal entry is required. You submit complete entry documentation through CBP’s electronic system, post a customs bond, and pay all applicable duties, taxes, and fees. The port director can waive the bond’s surety requirement for shipments under $2,500, but only if the importer has a clean record and files the entry summary with estimated duties before release.⁵

After release, you have 10 working days to file the entry summary (CBP Form 7501) and deposit estimated duties. That form is where CBP nails down appraisement, classification, and origin to calculate what you owe.⁶

The $800 De Minimis Pass Is Gone

For years, commercial shipments valued at $800 or less entered duty-free under the de minimis exemption in Section 321 of the Tariff Act.⁷ E-commerce sellers relied on it heavily. That exemption has been suspended.

Executive Order 14324 initially suspended duty-free de minimis treatment for shipments from all countries effective August 29, 2025.⁸ A February 2026 executive order continued and expanded that suspension, effective for goods entered on or after February 24, 2026.⁹ Low-value commercial shipments that once sailed through are now subject to all applicable duties, taxes, and fees.

A few narrow exceptions survive: bona fide gifts (not items acquired by purchase or trade), certain informational materials, and non-merchandise mail remain eligible for duty-free treatment.⁸ For commercial importers, the free pass is effectively gone. Budget accordingly.

What You Need Before the Goods Arrive

Several pieces of information have to be in place before your shipment reaches the border. Missing any of them will stall clearance.

Harmonized Tariff Schedule Code

Every product entering the United States must be classified under a 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule code. The code determines your duty rate. The first six digits come from an international standard shared across countries, and the U.S. adds four more digits for finer classification. The U.S. International Trade Commission administers the schedule.¹⁰ The wrong code doesn’t just delay a shipment. It can trigger penalties if CBP concludes you underpaid duties.

Importer of Record Number

Every entry must identify an importer of record. Businesses use their Employer Identification Number. Individuals can use a Social Security Number. Foreign importers with neither can request a Customs-Assigned Importer Number by filing Customs Form 5106, and CBP will assign an identification number and return a copy for future use.¹¹

Customs Value and Country of Origin

Customs value is generally the price you actually paid for the goods, and it’s the basis for duty calculation. CBP uses this transaction value first and only turns to alternative methods when the transaction price is unreliable or unavailable. You also declare the country where the goods were manufactured, produced, or grown, because origin drives the duty rate, trade agreement eligibility, and any special tariffs or restrictions.

Commercial Invoice and Packing List

Your commercial invoice should detail the goods, quantities, values, unit prices, trade terms, and the names and addresses of buyer and seller. A packing list supplements the invoice by describing how goods are packed and what’s in each container. CBP uses both to verify your entry against the physical shipment.

Customs Bonds

CBP will not release commercial merchandise without a bond. A customs bond is a financial guarantee that you’ll pay duties, taxes, and fees and comply with entry requirements. It’s filed on Customs Form 301.⁵

You have two choices. A single-entry bond covers one shipment, and the amount is generally not less than the total entered value plus duties, taxes, and fees. A continuous bond covers all your entries for a year, calculated at 10% of the duties, taxes, and fees paid over the previous 12 months, with a $100 minimum.¹² If you import regularly, the continuous bond is cheaper. Surety companies sell them, and most customs brokers can arrange one.

Duties and Mandatory Fees

Duties are calculated from your HTS classification and customs value. Rates vary widely. Some products enter duty-free under trade agreements, others carry rates above 20%, and additional tariffs and surcharges currently layer on top of baseline rates for goods from certain countries. Check the current HTS schedule for your specific product before assuming the number.

Two government fees apply on top of duties for most commercial entries. The Merchandise Processing Fee is 0.3464% of the goods’ value, with a minimum of $33.58 and a maximum of $651.50 per entry for fiscal year 2026.¹³ The Harbor Maintenance Fee applies only to commercial cargo loaded or unloaded from a vessel, at 0.125% of cargo value; air freight is exempt.¹⁴ Both apply whether or not your goods are dutiable. Even a small shipment will owe at least the MPF minimum.

Working With a Customs Broker

Most commercial importers file entries through a licensed customs broker, though it isn’t legally required. The regulations refer to entries filed by “the broker or importer,” so you can file yourself.⁵ In practice, the classification rules, tariff schedules, and regulatory requirements are complex enough that most importers hire one. Broker fees for a standard formal entry typically run a few hundred dollars, with complex entries costing more.

Other Agencies and Restricted Goods

CBP isn’t the only agency with authority at the border. Depending on the product, you may need clearance from the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Agriculture, Consumer Product Safety Commission, or other agencies. Food, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, plants, animal products, electronics, and children’s products all trigger additional requirements.¹⁵

Some goods are prohibited outright. You cannot import products containing dog or cat fur, most fresh or canned meats from foreign countries, or items designated as stolen cultural property. Others require permits, including firearms, certain fruits and vegetables, biological materials, and defense articles.¹⁶

Counterfeit and trademark-infringing goods are a particular enforcement priority. Articles bearing counterfeit trademarks are subject to seizure and forfeiture, and goods merely “confusingly similar” to a recorded trademark can be detained. CBP allows a narrow personal-use exception (one item of each type, not for resale, no more than once every 30 days), but that exception does not apply to commercial shipments.¹⁶

Recordkeeping

Commercial importers must keep records related to each entry for five years from the date of entry. That covers essentially everything generated in the ordinary course of the transaction: invoices, bills of lading, entry summaries, bond documents, packing lists, country-of-origin documentation, and any records supporting preferential tariff treatment under free trade agreements.¹⁷ CBP can demand these records at any time during that window.

Failing to produce records when CBP asks carries its own penalties. Negligent failure can cost up to $10,000 or 40% of the goods’ appraised value per release, whichever is less. Willful failure jumps to $100,000 or 75% of the appraised value per release.

Penalties for Getting It Wrong

Under 19 U.S.C. § 1592, anyone who enters goods using materially false or misleading statements faces civil penalties at three levels.¹⁸ Fraud penalties can reach the full domestic value of the merchandise. This applies when you intentionally misrepresent your goods, for instance by classifying commercial merchandise as personal to avoid duties. Gross negligence is capped at the lesser of the domestic value or four times the duties the government was deprived of, and at 40% of the dutiable value if duties weren’t affected. Negligence is capped at the lesser of the domestic value or two times the lost duties, and at 20% of the dutiable value if duties weren’t affected.

These are civil penalties. You don’t need to be running a smuggling operation to face them. An honest classification mistake that costs the government duty revenue can still produce a negligence penalty worth twice the underpaid amount. Beyond money, CBP has authority to seize and forfeit merchandise entered through fraud or in violation of import restrictions. The cost of getting it right — hiring a broker, classifying carefully, keeping records — is almost always cheaper than the cost of getting it wrong.

1
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Why You Should Declare Everything You Bring Into the United States
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eCFR. 19 CFR Part 141 – Entry of Merchandise
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eCFR. 19 CFR Part 148 – Personal Declarations and Exemptions
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Filing a Formal Entry (For Goods Valued at $2500 or More)
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eCFR. 19 CFR Part 142 – Entry Process
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP Form 7501: Entry Summary
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 U.S. Code 1321 – Administrative Exemptions
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. E-Commerce Frequently Asked Questions
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The White House. Continuing the Suspension of Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment for All Countries
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International Trade Administration. Harmonized System (HS) Codes
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eCFR. 19 CFR 24.5 – Filing Identification Number
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Bonds – How Are Continuous and Single Entry Bond Amounts Determined?
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Federal Register. Customs User Fees To Be Adjusted for Inflation in Fiscal Year 2026
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eCFR. 19 CFR 24.24 – Harbor Maintenance Fee
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Partner Government Agencies Import Guides
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Prohibited and Restricted Items
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eCFR. 19 CFR Part 163 – Recordkeeping
18
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 U.S. Code 1592 – Penalties for Fraud, Gross Negligence, and Negligence