Store imported goods for up to five years without paying duties, improving cash flow and giving you flexibility to time your market entry.
A bonded warehouse operates under CBP supervision, allowing imported goods to be stored without triggering duty payments. When you withdraw goods for sale in the U.S., you pay duties at that point. If goods are re-exported, destroyed, or transferred to an FTZ, no duties are owed. This defers your largest import cost until revenue is actually generated.
CBP licenses eleven classes of bonded warehouses. The most relevant for e-commerce are Class 1 (government-owned), Class 2 (privately owned public warehouses open to any importer), Class 3 (exclusively for goods of the warehouse owner), and Class 11 (general order warehouses for unclaimed goods). Most e-commerce sellers use Class 2 facilities operated by third-party logistics providers.
Bonded warehousing delivers the most value when you import seasonal inventory months before the selling season, hold safety stock that turns slowly, sell both domestically and internationally from the same inventory pool, or need to hold goods while waiting for tariff exclusion decisions or rate changes.
A bonded warehouse is a secured facility licensed by CBP where imported goods can be stored for up to five years without payment of duties or taxes. Duties are paid only when goods are withdrawn for domestic consumption, and no duties are owed on goods that are re-exported.
Imported merchandise can remain in a bonded warehouse for up to five years from the date of importation. After five years, the goods must be exported, destroyed, or entered into U.S. commerce with applicable duties paid.
Bonded warehouses defer duties on stored goods but cannot manufacture or process them. FTZs allow manufacturing, assembly, and processing in addition to storage, and offer inverted tariff benefits. FTZs also have no time limit for storage, while bonded warehouses cap storage at five years.
Costs vary by location and facility but typically run $0.50-$2.00 per square foot per month above standard warehouse rates. The additional cost covers the customs bond, security requirements, and CBP compliance overhead.
MarginHub calculates the cash flow impact of routing inventory through bonded storage based on your import volumes and duty rates.
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