ISF Filing for Personal Household Goods

For individuals who are moving their personal belongings into the U.S. by ocean vessel, the ISF Filing requirement still applies to them, even-though their goods are not imported for commercial purposes.

The 2 specific ISF data elements which most household good importers get stuck on when filling out their ISF information are the the Manufacturer and Seller data elements. As the goods are not commercial, and that there are so many various items from your house, the question most asked is "what do I put for these two fields?".

For the 2 ISF elements below for Manufacturer and Seller, Importers will provide their name and address of the overseas residence from where it is coming from.

1. Manufacturer - name and address of the overseas residence

2. Seller - name and address of the overseas residence

Here's a quick guide for the rest of the other 8 ISF elements:

3. Buyer's Name and Address - Your address of residence in the United States

4. Ship To Name and Address - Your address of residence in the United States

5. Container Stuffing Location Name and Address - If your household goods occupy a full container, the stuffing location may be your overseas home address, or a facility nominated by our consolidator.

6. Consolidator Name and Address - The party who arranged your goods to be put on the vessel.

7. Importer Tax ID # & Name and Address - Your United States address of residence.

8. Consignee Name and Address - Your United States address of residence.

9. Country of Origin - The foreign country of where your household goods were from.

10. HTS Code - varies under Chapter Heading 9403.

Other required vessel sailing information such as the ETD, AMS Master and House Bill of Lading numbers is provided by your Consolidator or Freight Forwarder.