Where to get an export buyers list, and is it worth paying for?
Reevi team · Updated
You can get importer lists free from two government sources, HMRC's trader search for the United Kingdom and the Canadian Importers Database for Canada; for the United States, ImportYeti lets you check any named company's bill of lading records free. A paid list is worth the money only if its size makes sense against the companies on record for your product and market, and a free 20-row sample shows real importers of your HS code with working websites. For jute bags, 27 companies appear as importers in United Kingdom import records, so a seller offering thousands of jute bag importers there must show which record each row comes from.
Reevi returns named companies that already import jute bags into the United States, each with the reason it fits, and searching is free with no account.
One row from HMRC's free trader search, field by field
HMRC is the tax and customs authority of the United Kingdom. It publishes a free trader search on uktradeinfo.com. You can search by trader name, postcode, commodity code or product description. You can also download a trader history as a CSV file. The data is updated monthly from customs declarations.
What one HMRC trader row contains
| Field | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Registered name and address | The legal company. Use this name when you check the company register. |
| Importer, exporter or both | Whether the firm brings goods in, sends goods out, or does both. |
| Description of the goods | The commodity the firm traded. If you search 630510 (jute bags), a result means the firm declared that code. |
| When it traded in those goods | The year filter shows whether the trade is recent. A firm with no recent year may have stopped. |
HMRC lists what the row does not give: quantities or values of transactions, the trader's customers, VAT or EORI numbers, the countries the goods moved to or from, and traders who asked HMRC to remove their details. The row has no phone number, email or contact person either. It gives a name and an address only.
Coverage, as HMRC states it: United Kingdom importers that traded with non-EU countries from 2016, and Great Britain importers that traded with EU countries from 2022. India and Bangladesh are non-EU countries, so the first line applies to your goods. The United Kingdom line includes Northern Ireland; the Great Britain line (England, Scotland and Wales) only concerns trade with EU countries.
A firm that does not appear under your commodity code may still be real, because firms can ask HMRC to remove their details. If a name from the seller's list is missing, ask the seller which record shows that firm importing your product. The full search method is in how to find importers in the United Kingdom.
A government importer list that includes brokers: Canada
The Canadian Importers Database is published by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) from Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) data. It lists companies importing into Canada by product, by city and by country of origin. You can search it by HS code for free. Each entry is a company name with its city, province and postal code. The page itself says who is in it:
Companies include both customs brokers and their clients. The database includes Non-resident importers, companies which have addresses outside of Canada.
- "Major importers" means the businesses that together account for up to 80% of all imports of a product, or of a selected city. The lists shown are of major importers by this definition, so a small importer of your product may not appear.
- The product overview gives its source as 2024 data collected by the CBSA. The city and country lists give 2023 data.
A customs broker clears goods for its clients. It does not order jute bags. A non-resident importer has its address outside Canada. A list built from customs data contains the same mix unless the seller removed these names one by one. Ask the seller whether they did this, and how.
A United States bill of lading record, and why real importers go missing
Sea shipments into the United States need a bill of lading. ImportYeti gives free access to these records. Bellingcat's toolkit says ImportYeti obtained them from January 2015 through a freedom of information request to United States Customs, and that the data also includes Mexican shipments. A record has these fields:
Bill of lading fields and what to check in each
| Field | What to check |
|---|---|
| Purchaser name | Is it the company on your list, or a forwarder or logistics firm? |
| Supplier name and supplier country | Does it already buy from India or Bangladesh? Who supplies it today? |
| Weight of goods | Full container orders or small lots. |
| Ports shipped to and from | Where the goods land, which matters for your freight quote. |
| Product HS code | Is it 630510 or 420221, or a different product? |
The free search works by company name only, and you must enter the legal name. ImportYeti asks you to log in after 25 page views, and signup is free. Filtering by HS code and downloading records need custom plan access. Use the free version to check names from a seller's sample, not to build a list. More detail is in customs and bill of lading data explained.
The directory of directories on NEPC's page
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) keeps a page of international buyer directories. Exporters in any country can use it, because it states what each source offers and whether it is free.
Buyer directories as NEPC describes them
| Directory | What NEPC says it offers | Cost as NEPC lists it |
|---|---|---|
| Europages | Business directory for the European market. Search by activity, product or service. Filter by country, company type and company size. | Free database. A paid account adds translation of your content into 15 languages. |
| Global Buyers Online | Trade matching site. Buyers from 210 countries. Search buy requirements and contact buyers through an inquiry manager. | Paid subscription |
| Panjiva | Trade data company based in the United States. Shipment details, with detailed data for the United States, South America and China. Company names by shipment. HS code search. | Subscription; a free search by product name and type of company is available. |
| Hotfrog | Web directory based in Australia, with directories in 32 countries. Keyword and location search. | Free |
| Canadian Importers Database | Companies importing into Canada by product, city and country of origin. | Free search by HS code |
These are different kinds of source. Europages and Hotfrog are business directories; a listing there does not show that the company imports anything. Panjiva and the Canadian database start from shipment or customs records. Global Buyers Online collects buy requirements. Before you pay for a list, ask the seller which kind of source each row came from. For a wider comparison of the paid trade data tools, see Volza, ImportGenius and Panjiva alternatives.
The size test: compare the list with the companies on record
The table counts the distinct companies that appear as importers of one product in one market, in import records filed in that market. These are counts within the data provider's coverage, not the whole market. The provider does not state the period the records cover, and United States importers with confidential treatment are left out.
Companies on record as importers, from import records filed in each market
| Product (HS code) | Market | Companies on record | Shipments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jute bags (630510) | United States | 111 | 518 |
| Jute bags (630510) | United Kingdom | 27 | 76 |
| Leather handbags (420221) | United States | 2,849 | 59,274 |
| Leather handbags (420221) | United Kingdom | 529 | 6,881 |
A seller offers "jute bag importers in the United Kingdom" with thousands of rows. United Kingdom import records show 27 companies under HS 630510, with 76 shipments. Most of those shipments came from India, as the United Kingdom jute bags page shows. The count has gaps, so the gap alone does not prove the extra rows are not importers. It does mean the seller has to show the source of those rows. Questions for the seller: which rows have a recorded jute bag import, from which source, and in which years?
A list larger than the count can mix four groups. The first is direct importers under your HS code. The second is importers under related codes, such as jute fabric or leather wallets. The third is retailers and other firms that buy from importers. Retailers that buy from an importer can be real buyers for you, but they will not appear in import records. The fourth is brokers, forwarders and firms with no link to your product. Ask the seller which of these groups the advertised total includes.
For leather handbags, 2,849 companies are on record in the United States, so a large list is possible there. In a market that large, size tells you little and the sample checks below do the work. To see one product across all markets on file, open jute bags importers by market.
Five checks on a 20-row sample before you pay
Ask the seller for 20 rows for your product in your market, not a general sample. If the seller will not send one, do not pay. Then check each row:
- 1
The rows match your HS code and market
Every company should be in the country you asked for and tied to your product (630510 for jute bags, 420221 for leather handbags). A jute bag sample full of food or machinery firms tells you how the rest of the list was built.
- 2
Each company has a working website that sells or uses the product
Open the site. A bag brand, a promotional goods firm or a grocery chain with branded bags can be a fit.
- 3
Sort the rows into the four groups
Put each row in one group: direct importer, related-code importer, retailer or shop, or broker, forwarder or unrelated firm. Brokers and forwarders appear in customs data but do not place orders. Write down how many of the 20 fall into each group.
- 4
Check the date of the last recorded shipment, where the list gives one
If the list gives no date, look the company up on HMRC (United Kingdom) or ImportYeti (United States) and see when it last traded your product.
- 5
Check whether contacts are named people or generic inboxes
An address like info@ or sales@ is one you can find yourself on the company website. Named buyers or purchasing managers are what you would pay for. Ask the seller where each contact came from.
Then run the same search on the free source for that market: HMRC by commodity code for the United Kingdom, the Canadian database by HS code for Canada, and ImportYeti name lookups for the United States. If you would not write to most of the 20 rows, the rest of the list will not be better. Before you ship to any name, follow the steps in how to verify a foreign buyer. For more free sources, see how to find export buyers for free.
Where Reevi fits
Reevi does not sell a list. You enter a product and the countries you want to sell to. Reevi searches trade records and the public web for that product and market. It returns named companies, each with a short reason it fits, and keeps only companies that have a working website. You can refine the results in plain words.
Searching on Find Buyers needs no account and shows the top names. Contacts come after a free signup. The free plan covers 5 buyers a month, and paid plans are on the pricing page. The importer count pages linked above show totals only. Company names appear in Reevi itself.
Questions exporters ask
Does the size test work for markets in the European Union?
It works less well. For EU countries, the importer counts come from mirror records: shipments that exporters in other countries declared to a buyer there. Exporting countries whose records are not in the data are missing, and China is one of them. For bags, textiles and other manufactured goods, these missing countries carry much of the trade, so the count can miss many importers. Those pages are not indexed for this reason. On NEPC's list, the free source for Europe is Europages. It is a business directory, so a listing does not show import records. The methodology page explains the two record types, and how to find importers in Germany covers one EU market in detail.
Why does an importer count change from one month to the next?
The counts are read once a month. A change can come from new trade, from older records added late, or from a change in the provider's coverage. A rising count is not proof that the market is growing.
Why might the same company appear twice in a list?
Customs records often spell one company's name in different ways. The data provider removes duplicates but does not publish its matching rules, so a company can appear under two spellings or be merged with another. In a bought list, duplicates make the list look bigger. Sort the sample by address to find them.
If a company is on record as an importer, is it safe to give it credit terms?
No. Import records show trade that took place. They say nothing about whether the company wants to buy now or whether it can pay. Check the company first with the free buyer check tools, and read payment terms for a new export buyer before you agree to anything other than advance payment or a letter of credit.