Furniture importers face rapidly intensifying CBP scrutiny

HIGH POINT — With tariffs and high container rates continuing to bear down on furniture importers, a new headwind appears to be gathering steam.

Two companies recently told Furniture Today that intensifying scrutiny from U.S. Customs and Border Protection is turning country-of-origin verification and entry documentation into an immediate supply-chain hazard, compounding an already difficult tariff and sourcing environment.

Executives reported more examinations of Vietnamese goods, extensive demands for factory records, difficulty obtaining answers from CBP and the prospect of major costs associated to secure merchandise or legally contest origin determinations. They further explained that CBP is requesting more detailed documentation about where and how imported merchandise is produced, meaning that simply changing sourcing countries is no longer enough to insulate importers from disruption.

See also:

• President Trump pauses Canada tariffs for 3 days
• CBP to step up importer identity checks starting Sept. 18

Tov faces origin challenge on 45 containers

Among the companies interviewed, Tov Furniture offered the starkest example of how heightened CBP scrutiny can affect an importer long after merchandise enters the country. CEO Bruce Krinsky said the upholstery importer and manufacturer is contesting a retroactive country-of-origin determination involving dozens of containers imported from Vietnam, along with additional duties and interest.

“In mid- to late-April this year, we got a letter challenging 17 of our entries,” CEO Bruce Krinsky told Furniture Today.

Those entries collectively covered approximately 45 40-foot high-cube containers shipped from Vietnam.

“They basically were questioning the origin of these goods, which were manufactured and shipped from Vietnam, and said that we needed to prove origin,” Krinsky said. “They gave us a list of things they wanted us to provide for these 17 shipments, and my team put together a vast list.”

The requests reached deeply into the factories and their operations.

“They wanted a list of the components and receipts showing that the factory had purchased those items, so they could confirm the origin of those components,” Krinsky said. “They wanted pictures of the factories, records of the employees, receipts for the equipment and maintenance logs. The list was, honestly, extremely extensive.”

The response required considerable work from two Tov employees. “I had two people from our team spend well over 100 hours compiling it,” Krinsky said. “It was over 1,200 pages of documentation.”

CBP nevertheless rejected the declared origin.

“Within a few days, they came back and sent us a denial letter saying that these items, they believe, were produced in China,” Krinsky said. “And here’s basically a bill. In our case, it’s like $70,000 — the difference between what the tariff rate was for China versus Vietnam — plus interest.”

The entries dated to August 2025, placing Tov Furniture under a deadline to contest the finding.

“They went back quite a bit,” Krinsky said. “Now the problem is the 180-day liquidation deadline (to challenge the determination).” If that administrative challenge is denied, he explained, the company’s remaining recourse is to seek a reversal in the U.S. Court of International Trade.

Krinsky said Tov Furniture does not know whether CBP will make similar determinations on additional entries from the same suppliers.

“What other shipments are they going to rule the same from the same suppliers and just continue to send those bills?” he said. “We have to engage expensive law firms. It’s just very frustrating.”

He sees his company’s experience as part of a wider enforcement focus on furniture arriving from Vietnam.

“It’s definitely more focused on Vietnam because the administration referenced the transshipment from China to Vietnam,” Krinsky said. “Furniture has been a hot topic for them. This is definitely happening, and it is definitely not unique to us.”

SimpliHome sends challenged shipment back

It also appears that even extraordinary levels of documentation and effort may not always be enough to satisfy CBP requirements.

SimpliHome, a full line DTC retailer and importer, faced its own transshipment allegation despite supplying CBP with documentation, according to CEO Yoram Weinreich.

“We had a container of one of our products that Customs said we were transshipping,” Weinreich reported. “We said, ‘No, we’re not. Here’s all the documentation.’”

The company says it struggled to get a firm answers from Customs after supplying their evidence to authorities. “Customs is being purposefully vague and unresponsive, and companies can be accused of transshipping without being told the basis for the allegation.”

“In one case, we explained that we had been importing from the factory in question for 10 years. Once our attorney became involved and challenged the allegation, Customs let it go.”

The retailer was then presented with a choice carrying substantial financial risk.

“They said either pay this $100,000 to release these containers, and then you can apply and maybe get the money back, maybe not, or ship it back,” Weinreich said. “So we shipped it back because that’s a big risk for one container. Then we made a whole bunch of adjustments in order to get through Customs.”

Obtaining answers from the agency became another challenge, Weinreich said.

“They’re just not responsive. They don’t answer right now,” he said. “They’ve decided to obfuscate, and we had to get legal representation who has some connections there in order to get somebody to answer us.”

SimpliHome has imported from the factory involved for a decade and is now preparing for additional documentation demands.

“You can say you’re transshipping based on what? I’ve been importing from this factory for 10 years,” Weinreich said. “We just got notification from our customs broker that something’s coming down the pipeline sometime in December. They’re going to be asking for proof of this and proof of that, so we’re going to start building that information base so we have it there.”