This article explains what a Manufacturer Identification (MID) Code is, when you need one, and how to generate one manually if you don't have Compliance Hub to do it for you.
What is a MID Code?
A Manufacturer Identification (MID) Code is used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to identify the manufacturer or supplier on import declarations. If you're shipping items into the United States — whether as an outbound Swap Global order or a Swap Returns shipment involving U.S. customs — you may need a valid MID Code on your customs documents.
Information you'll need
To generate a MID Code, gather these details from your supplier:
Full business name
Street address
City
Country
Format of a MID Code
A MID Code is built from four parts, in order:
2-letter country code (ISO format) — for example, AU for Australia, GB for the United Kingdom, DE for Germany.
Up to 6 letters from the manufacturer's name — if the name has more than one word, take letters from each until you have 6 total; if it's a single word, use up to 6 letters; ignore any non-alphabetic characters.
Up to 4 digits from the street address — use the highest-value numbers if there's more than one; skip this step if there are none.
First 3 letters of the city name.
Example
Manufacturer: Ozrock
Address: 92, Alice Springs Road, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3001
MID Code: AUOZR92MEL
Breakdown:
AU → Country (Australia)
OZR → First 3 letters of "Ozrock"
92 → Numbers from the street address
MEL → First 3 letters of the city name
If you have Compliance Hub
Swap Global merchants with Compliance Hub don't need to calculate this manually — Compliance Hub generates MID Codes for you from the manufacturer details you provide, and keeps them in sync with your store. See How to manage your compliance data in Compliance Hub. This manual method is for merchants without Compliance Hub, or for double-checking a generated code.