FAQs

Below you'll find answers to our most commonly asked question. If you don't find the answer you are looking for, please contact us

How do we get this data?

This data is public (but expensive) and can be obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request which allows public information of certain federal agency records.

If you import products into the U.S. via sea freight you have to fill out a document called Bill of Lading (BOL)

U.S. Customs keeps all of these documents on file and is required to disclose these information due to the Freedom of Information Act (we have to pay a fee which is super expensive). Big companies have been using this as a competitive advantage for years.

We requested all 70,000,000 BOLs and built out ImportYeti.

I can't find a company I'm looking for...

At times, you will not be able to find the company’s info due to:

The company imports products under a different name.

The company doesn't import products via sea freight. Records via air and land freight are not available for public use.

The company requested that their import records should be made private.

If you can’t find a company on ImportYeti, here are a few tips:

Search by company address on ImportYeti.
Search for other entity names/addresses that they might be using. (USPTO, in their About Us or Privacy Policy pages, business filings, Google search, etc.)

How do I find a supplier's contact info?

At times, you will not able to find the supplier's contact info due to:

The supplier exports products under a different name. (ex. Yeti Foodz Co. is using Meatz4U LLC)

Large established suppliers don't have public contact details as they prefer to market on other methods like networking and trade shows.

To solve this, try doing the following:

Try searching variations of the supplier name and/or address on different search engines, especially the ones that are strong in that region. (ex. Baidu for China suppliers)
Check the bottom part of the Supplier page as we often include the other variations of their names and addresses.
Hire a local sourcing agent to check the address or find the supplier.
FedEx a letter to the address.

It seems like some data is missing...

Our U.S. import data is complete, however some may seem missing due to the following reasons:

The data that you are looking for is older than 2015.

The company/supplier imports shipments via air or land, or may have signed confidentiality requests.