ImportGenius: how to remove your company record

You searched your company on ImportGenius and found your shipments, your factory's name and maybe your address. Before you write to them, it helps to know two things: what ImportGenius actually says it will remove, which is narrower than most people expect, and which step stops your next shipment from showing up at all.

Where ImportGenius gets your shipments

ImportGenius is one of several import-data sites, alongside ImportYeti, Panjiva, ImportKey and Volza, built on U.S. ocean import records. Every ocean shipment into the United States is declared on a vessel manifest. Each bill of lading on it names a consignee, a shipper and a notify party, and describes the cargo with its marks, weight, ports and dates.

Under 19 CFR 103.31, manifest information is made available to the press. Data companies obtain it and organize it into searchable shipment records and company pages. So nothing leaked, and ImportGenius isn't the only place your record lives. The same shipment is usually on several sites at once.

What ImportGenius publicly offers

Here's what its own FAQ and privacy pages said when we checked in October 2026. Policies change, so read its current pages before you write.

• A privacy contact. Requests go to privacy@importgenius.com. Expect to show who you are and that you have authority to ask for the company, and expect them to verify it.
• Personal information. It removes individuals' personal information from its profile pages.
• Company data. Its FAQ says it doesn't "arbitrarily remove or hide data". There's no published process for taking down a company's shipment records.

In practice, personal data has a channel and company records don't. A request about your company's shipments is a goodwill ask, and you should be ready for a polite no.

Personal data vs company records

That split decides what you can realistically get removed.

• Most likely to succeed: a person's name, phone number or email shown on a profile page, or the details of a sole proprietor importing under their own name, especially when the business address is a home. These fit the channel ImportGenius publishes, so lead with them.
• Least likely to succeed: your company name, its shipment history, your supplier and your volumes. Ask anyway, but don't build your plan around a yes.

How to write the request

• Send it from someone with authority: an officer or employee of the company, or an agent with written authorization. Have proof ready.
• Link the exact profile and record pages, and list every name variant ImportGenius shows.
• Separate the two asks. First, removal of any personal information. Second, whether they'll suppress company records published before your confidentiality took effect.
• Include records where your company or brand name appears in the cargo description or marks, not just as consignee.
• If confidentiality is already in effect, give its effective date and attach a copy of CBP's acknowledgement.

Keep it short and factual. You're not disputing where the data came from. Log the date you sent it, and follow up once after two or three weeks.

Why confidentiality comes first

Suppose ImportGenius removed every record today. Your next ocean shipment would still be declared on the manifest, published and picked up again, by ImportGenius and every other site. Removal deals with the past. Only a confidentiality request deals with what comes next.

Under 19 CFR 103.31(d), an importer or consignee can ask U.S. Customs and Border Protection to keep its name and address confidential on inward vessel manifests. The same certification can cover the names and addresses of your foreign shippers, so your factory drops off the record too. Approval lasts two years and covers all ports of entry. Our step-by-step filing guide walks through the request.

Know the limits:

• Not retroactive. It applies from approval forward, so older ImportGenius records stay unless the site removes them.
• Ocean only. Vessel manifests, not air or truck shipments.
• Exact-match names. Every spelling ImportGenius shows, plus DBAs and affiliates, has to be listed. Any you leave out stays public.
• Two years at a time. Renew 60–90 days before expiry. See how to renew.
• No guarantee. CBP itself says it can't guarantee a party's identity will never be published.

Confidentiality also doesn't withhold the cargo description. If your supplier types your company or brand name there, it can still identify you, so ask them to leave it out.

Do it in this order

1. Search ImportGenius and the other major sites and write down every name variant and supplier you find. Our self-audit guide covers how.
2. File one confidentiality request covering every variant and every supplier you want withheld.
3. Ask ImportYeti first. It's the only major site we found that publicly offers to remove company shipment data.
4. Send ImportGenius your request: personal information first, company records second.
5. Work through the other sites. Our Panjiva guide lists what each one publicly offers.
6. After your next few shipments, search again. A new record under your name usually means a missed variant.

If ImportGenius says no

You have little leverage over records built from published manifest data, and anyone who exported the data before a removal still has their copy. What you can control is whether the record keeps growing. With confidentiality in place, the newest shipment on your profile gets older every month, and an old record says less about who you buy from today. It still shows your past factory, though. If that relationship is your whole edge, that's a real limit, and it's the reason to file before your next order rather than after.

Where Supplier Privacy fits

We research every name variant, prepare the certification for your company to sign, submit it, check the data sites for leaks and renew on schedule. Pro, Multi-Entity and Enterprise plans include removal requests to the top data sites; on Starter it's an add-on. Removal is always best-effort, because each site decides. To see what ImportGenius and the others show about your company today, start with an Exposure Check.

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.