How to check if your supplier is public

Importers who find their factory on an import-data site often find it by accident, usually because a competitor or a customer mentions it. It's better to look on purpose. This self-audit takes an afternoon, needs no paid accounts to get started, and tells you exactly what a competitor can see.

Step 1: Build your name list

Import-data sites show names the way they were typed on each bill of lading. One misspelling can split your shipments across two profiles, so searching your legal name once isn't enough. Write down:

• Your legal name, with and without the suffix: LLC, L.L.C., Inc, Inc., Co., Ltd.
• Punctuation and spacing variants: missing commas, ampersand vs "and", run-together words
• DBAs, brand names and any former company names
• Affiliates or sister companies that import under their own names
• Your current and past business addresses
• Your own name, if you import as a sole proprietor

Then ask your customs broker or forwarder how they enter your company on shipments. That spelling is the one most likely to be on recent records.

Make a second list of suppliers: each factory, trading company and sourcing agent that ships to you, spelled the way it appears on your bills of lading.

Step 2: Pick the sites

Start with ImportYeti, ImportGenius and Panjiva, then add ImportKey, Volza or Trademo if you want a wider net. Some sites let anyone search; others show a preview and keep full records behind an account or subscription. All of them build on the same U.S. ocean manifest data, so two or three sites give a good picture. But each site tidies names its own way, so a variant one site merges into your profile may sit on its own somewhere else.

Step 3: Search three ways

1. By your name. Run every variant from your list, not just the first one that returns a hit. Note each profile you find and the spelling it uses.
2. By your supplier. Search each factory and read its list of U.S. customers. If your company appears there, the relationship is public from the other side, and this is exactly how competitors find who buys from a factory they already know.
3. By brand and product words. Where a site lets you search cargo descriptions, try your brand name and any distinctive product terms. This finds shipments that name you in the description or marks even when someone else is the consignee.

If a site supports address search, try your addresses too. A different name at your address is a variant.

Step 4: Read every field, not just the name

Each part of a bill of lading record gives something away:

• Consignee: who the goods were shipped to. Usually you, sometimes a forwarder or agent. If it's you, anyone who knows your company name can find everything else on the record.
• Shipper: who sent the goods, either your factory or a trading company. This is the field a copycat wants. Even a trading company's name narrows their search a lot.
• Notify party: who gets told when the cargo arrives. Often you, your broker or your forwarder. If a forwarder is the consignee but you're the notify party, you're still named.
• Cargo description: what you bought, sometimes with a brand name, model or purchase order number. Suppliers often type in whatever is on their invoice.
• Marks and numbers: what's printed on the cartons. Often your company name, brand, PO number or destination warehouse.
• Dates, ports, weights and container counts: how much you buy and how often. Line the records up and your reorder rhythm is visible.

Step 5: Write it down

Keep a simple sheet with one row per finding:

• Site
• Name exactly as shown
• Field it appeared in: consignee, notify party, description or marks
• Supplier shown
• Latest shipment date
• Link to the record

Illustrative example. Fictional company and supplier.

ImportGenius · HARBOR LANE HOME L.L.C. · consignee · SAMPLE HOUSEWARES CO., LTD. · latest shipment March 2026

The sheet becomes your name list if you decide to protect your records, so it's worth doing carefully.

Step 6: Read the results honestly

• Recent shipments matter most. They show your current supplier and current volumes.
• Every distinct spelling counts. Each one is a separate name, and only names that match exactly can be withheld.
• Your name in a description or marks is a supplier habit, not a customs setting. Ask your supplier and forwarder to leave it out.
• Finding nothing doesn't prove you're private. You may ship by air, which isn't in this data. Someone else may be the consignee. You may appear under a spelling you didn't try, or the site may not have loaded your latest shipments yet. Search from the supplier side before you relax.
• Listed under a forwarder? Check the notify party and marks on those records. Our comparison of confidentiality vs a forwarder as consignee covers the trade-offs.

If you found yourself

A vessel manifest confidentiality request asks U.S. Customs and Border Protection to withhold your name and address, and your suppliers', from new ocean shipments. It covers every name variant you file, lasts two years and isn't retroactive, so records already published stay unless each site removes them. Manifest confidentiality, explained covers what it hides and what it doesn't, and Can competitors see my Amazon supplier? walks through how a copycat uses these records.

Rather not spend the afternoon?

Our Exposure Check runs this search for you. Tell us your company name and where to send the report, and we'll email you a plain-English summary of what's public today.

Sources

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection — Electronic Vessel Manifest Confidentiality
• 19 CFR 103.31 — Information on vessel manifests and summary statistical reports

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Supplier Privacy is not affiliated with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.