ClearBond | Frequently asked questions

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About ClearBond

What is ClearBond?

ClearBond makes the importer ecosystem smarter. It is a modern import operating platform for U.S. importers. It combines customs bond monitoring, document automation, compliance checks and trade analytics in one place. Finance, operations and compliance teams see the same live data on bond usage, shipment documents, duty spend and risk, so problems surface before U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) raises them.

Who is ClearBond for?

ClearBond is built for U.S. importers of record, from small teams to large import operations. Finance uses it to watch duty spend and bond capacity, operations to track shipments and documents, and compliance to catch errors before filing. Customs brokers and freight forwarders can talk to our team about supporting their importer clients.

How is ClearBond different from my broker's portal or a spreadsheet?

ClearBond covers your whole import operation and updates on its own. A broker portal shows only the entries that broker filed, and a spreadsheet shows only what someone typed in. ClearBond pulls from ACE and your shipment documents, covers every broker you use, and adds bond forecasting and alerts that neither a portal nor a spreadsheet provides.

Bond monitoring

How does ClearBond monitor my customs bond?

ClearBond reads your ACE data and tracks bond usage live against your active bond and CBP's sufficiency formula. It forecasts when you will reach your limit, sends a warning when usage runs high and a critical alert when you reach the limit, and reminds you before your bond expires. You raise your bond on your schedule, not on CBP's deadline.

Can I monitor customs bonds for multiple importers of record (IORs) in one place?

Yes. ClearBond lets a parent company monitor bond utilization and sufficiency across all of its importer of record (IOR) subsidiaries. Each subsidiary gets its own ClearBond account, and you link them to one parent account. From the parent account you see live bond usage, sufficiency and alerts for every subsidiary side by side, without logging in and out or asking your broker for separate reports.

How is customs bond utilization calculated on ClearBond?

Bond utilization is the duties, taxes and fees you have paid, divided by your bond amount. ClearBond pulls those figures from your ACE data and updates the percentage as new entries post. For example, $375,000 in duties, taxes and fees against a $500,000 bond is 75% utilization. ClearBond also projects your sufficiency the way CBP calculates it, so you see both numbers.

Documents and brokers

Which documents does ClearBond read?

ClearBond reads the documents each shipment generates, such as commercial invoices, packing lists, bills of lading and the entry paperwork your broker sends back such as the ISF 10+2. It pulls out the key data as each document arrives and keeps it in one record per shipment, so your team stops re-keying it into spreadsheets and business systems.

How does ClearBond work with my customs broker?

ClearBond works alongside your customs broker and does not replace them. Your licensed broker still prepares and files your entries with CBP. ClearBond gives you, the importer, a live view of your bond, documents and trade data, and you choose what your broker can see, so both sides work from the same facts.

Does ClearBond handle ISF filing or customs clearance?

ClearBond is software for monitoring your customs bond, shipment documents and trade data. Customs clearance requires a licensed customs broker, so ClearBond does not submit entries itself. We partner with a licensed customs broker for importers who need that service, and ClearBond works alongside whichever broker you already use. We can integrate your data with your customs broker via API to make the process more efficient.

Can ClearBond help with IEEPA tariff refunds?

ClearBond helps you find the entries that paid IEEPA tariffs and how much you paid, because it keeps your entry and duty data in one place. It does not file refund requests. Your customs broker or trade counsel files those with CBP, and ClearBond gives them the entry list and totals to work from.

Getting started

How does onboarding work?

Onboarding takes two steps and needs no IT team. First, you authorize ClearBond to read your ACE data. Second, you set up a process to auto-forward your shipment documents to ClearBond by email. Your bond dashboard fills in from your ACE history, and most importers are fully onboarded within one business day.

Is my data secure, and who owns it?

You own your data and decide who sees it. ClearBond encrypts your data, limits access by role, and includes single sign-on and audit logs on every plan. You grant access to your customs broker or cold storage provider as you choose. ClearBond does not sell your data or share it outside the service. ClearBond will be SOC 2 certified in the near future.

Frequently asked questions

About ClearBond

Bond monitoring

Documents and brokers

Getting started

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