Skip to main content
BuySuretyBonds.com
Last updated: General CBP customs bond information — confirm current requirements with the licensing authority.
The buy decision, not the activity codes

Continuous vs Single Entry Bond: The Breakeven Math

The breakeven is 2-3 formal entries a year — not the "10 shipments" figure that gets repeated everywhere. A $50,000 continuous bond runs $400-$1,000/yr flat. A single-entry bond runs roughly $100-$350 per shipment. Divide one by the other and continuous wins once you cross 2-3 entries — sooner if any shipment moves by ocean, because single-entry doesn't cover Importer Security Filing.

This page skips the activity-code tour and answers one question: at what point does paying once a year beat paying per shipment? Below: the two cost formulas, three worked profiles, why 2026's tariff stacking moved the number down, and a decision flow you can run in under a minute.

19 CFR § 113.62 verified
Federal (CBP) — all U.S. ports
Same-day submission
Quick answer
The breakeven is 2-3 formal entries a year, not the 10-shipment figure repeated elsewhere. Continuous wins once you cross 2-3 entries, and sooner if any shipment moves by ocean, because a single-entry bond does not cover the Importer Security Filing.
  • Who requires it: CBP (19 CFR § 113.13 sets both bond amounts).
  • Amount: Continuous: 10% of the duties paid to CBP last year, $50,000 minimum. Single entry: the entered value plus duties.
  • Typical cost (estimate): $400-$1,000/yr for a $50,000 continuous bond; roughly $100-$350 per single-entry bond. The surety sets the final price.
Get your quote

The Two Formulas Behind Every Decision

Both bond amounts come from 19 CFR § 113.13 — the difference is what each formula measures.

Official CBP Requirements

"The amount of any CBP bond must not be less than $100, except when the law or regulation expressly provides that a lesser amount may be taken."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection — 19 CFR § 113.13 • 19 CFR § 113.13

Official CBP Requirements

"The principal agrees to comply with all Importer Security Filing requirements set forth in part 149 of this chapter... in the event of a default, the principal and surety... agree to pay liquidated damages of $5,000 for each violation."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection — 19 CFR § 113.62(j) • 19 CFR § 113.62

Premium ranges in this article ($400-$1,000/yr for a $50,000 continuous bond; $100-$350 per single-entry bond) reflect typical surety pricing on entered-value and duty scenarios published elsewhere on this site — not a CBP-set rate. Your actual premium depends on the surety, your compliance history, and business financials.

Three Importers, Three Answers

Same formulas, different entry counts — the crossover shows up fast.

The occasional importer

One vehicle, one piece of equipment, one household-goods shipment a year, moving by air or truck. The single-entry premium is a fraction of what a continuous bond would cost sitting idle for 11 unused months. Stay single-entry — but re-check this math the moment a second entry shows up on your calendar.

The quarterly importer

Four entries a year is where the crossover actually lives. Stacking four single-entry premiums almost always costs more than one flat continuous premium — and that's before counting the broker time spent filing four separate CBP Form 301 applications instead of one.

The monthly / FBA-cadence importer

Amazon FBA sellers restocking monthly or biweekly are the clearest case: entry count alone puts them well past breakeven, and if any restock ships by ocean, single-entry adds a separate ISF bond on top of every one of those shipments. Continuous is not a close call here.

Why 2026 Tariff Stacking Pushed the Number Lower

The breakeven isn't fixed — it moves with duty rates, and duty rates moved a lot heading into 2026. Section 301 duties on China-origin goods, Section 232 duties on steel and aluminum, and other tariff actions layered on top of existing rates (the IEEPA-based tariffs applied until the Supreme Court struck them down on February 20, 2026) all raise the same number: the duty owed on a given shipment. That number feeds both formulas above, but not symmetrically.

A single-entry bond is priced off entered value plus duty — every dollar of new tariff on a shipment increases that specific bond's size, and the premium moves with it. A continuous bond, by contrast, stays pinned at the $50,000 floor until your trailing 12-month duties cross $500,000 (the point where 10% of duties exceeds the floor). For most small and mid-size importers, that means rising tariffs make each single-entry bond incrementally more expensive while the continuous bond's price stays flat at the same handful of entries it always took to break even — which is exactly why the crossover point has drifted toward the low end of the 2-4 range rather than the high end.

Importers who were comfortably below breakeven on single-entry two years ago are increasingly finding that this year's duty totals — even at the same shipment count — tip the math toward continuous. If your last renewal quote felt more expensive than last time and your shipment count didn't change, the tariff line on your entries is very likely why.

Run the Decision in Four Questions

Follow the branch that matches your import pattern

1

How many formal entries will you file with CBP this year?

If you don't know exactly, use last year's trailing 12 months as your best estimate — that's what CBP does too.

2

1 entry, no ocean freight → Single Entry Bond

You're below breakeven and outside ISF scope. Cheapest path is a per-shipment bond.

3

1 entry AND ocean freight → Continuous Bond

The ISF bond you'd need on top of a single-entry bond usually erases the savings. Skip straight to continuous.

4

2+ entries, any mode → Continuous Bond

You're at or past the breakeven. One flat annual premium beats stacking per-shipment premiums, and it removes the risk of an unbonded entry sitting at the port.

Know which side of the breakeven you're on? Get your quote in under two minutes.

Get Your Quote

Two Edge Cases That Break the Simple Math

Ocean cargo and the ISF gap

Air and truck shipments don't carry an Importer Security Filing requirement — ISF is an ocean-cargo rule under 19 CFR Part 149. If every entry you file moves by air or truck, the entry-count breakeven above is the whole story.

The moment even one shipment moves by ocean, single-entry buyers need a separate ISF bond (typically Activity Code 16, $10,000 penal sum) alongside the entry bond — for that shipment and every ocean shipment after it. Continuous bond holders never see this as a separate line item; 19 CFR § 113.62(j) already covers it. This is the single biggest reason the "true" breakeven sits lower for ocean importers than the raw premium math suggests.

Amazon FBA restock cadence

FBA sellers rarely think of restocks as "CBP entries," but every inbound shipment that clears U.S. customs is one. A seller restocking monthly is already at 12 entries a year before accounting for split shipments across multiple ports or fulfillment centers, which is common with FBA's inventory placement service.

Combine that entry count with the fact that most FBA inventory arrives by ocean from overseas manufacturers, and FBA sellers land in the clearest continuous-bond case on this page: high entry count plus mandatory ISF coverage. The per-shipment single-entry math essentially never wins at FBA-typical volumes.

Run Your Own Numbers

Plug in your actual entered value and duty totals instead of the profile ranges above.

Continuous Customs Bond Calculator

Enter your trailing 12-month duties to size your $50,000-and-up continuous bond.

Single Entry Bond Calculator

Enter entered value and duty owed to see your per-shipment bond amount.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the exact breakeven number — how many entries before continuous bond wins?
Run the premium math and it lands at 2 to 3 formal entries per year for most importers, not the "10 shipments" rule of thumb repeated across the industry. A continuous bond at the $50,000 minimum penal sum typically runs $400-$1,000 a year in premium. A single-entry bond typically runs $100-$350 depending on the entered value and duty owed. Divide the continuous premium by the single-entry premium and you get a crossover between 1.6 and 2.5 entries — round up for the safety margin most brokers build in, and you land at 2-3. If any of those entries move by ocean, the crossover drops to as low as 1 entry (see the ISF question below).
I only import 1-2 times a year but by ocean — does the math change?
Yes, and this is the trap most importers miss. A single-entry bond covers the entry — it does not cover your Importer Security Filing (ISF/10+2) obligation. Ocean importers without a continuous bond need a separate ISF bond under 19 CFR 149.5(b), typically Activity Code 16 at a $10,000 penal sum, on top of the entry bond, for every ocean shipment. A continuous Activity Code 1 bond folds ISF compliance directly into its conditions under 19 CFR § 113.62(j) — no separate bond, no separate premium. Run one ocean shipment a year on single-entry and you're often paying for two bonds instead of one; a single continuous bond can beat that on year-one cost alone.
My import volume varies year to year — how do I decide without guessing wrong?
Bond your prior 12 months, not your hopes for next year. If last year you filed 3+ entries, or fewer entries but any ocean freight, go continuous — CBP sizes your continuous bond off trailing duties anyway, so switching mid-volatility doesn't cost you a rate penalty. If you're a true one-off importer (a single vehicle, a one-time equipment purchase) with no ocean exposure, single-entry is still the cheaper, simpler choice. The failure mode we see most is importers who guess low, buy single-entry, then get hit with entry #3 or #4 and end up paying for both a continuous bond AND the single-entry bonds they already bought that year.
Can I switch from single-entry to continuous mid-year, or do I have to wait for renewal?
You can switch anytime — there's no renewal-date lock-in like an insurance policy. File a continuous bond application (CBP Form 301, Activity Code 1) with your surety; once CBP has it on file, every entry from that point forward is covered without a new single-entry bond. Entries you already filed under single-entry bonds stay covered by those bonds until liquidation (roughly 314 days) — you don't need to retroactively replace them. Most importers who cross the breakeven mid-year switch as soon as they see it coming rather than finishing out the calendar year on single-entry.
Does a bigger continuous bond amount mean a bigger premium, or is $50,000 always the base rate?
Premium scales with penal sum, but not linearly at the low end — the $50,000 minimum tends to be priced as a flat bracket ($400-$1,000/yr) rather than a strict percentage, because that floor applies to the large majority of small and mid-size importers. Once your trailing 12-month duties push the 10%-of-duties formula above $50,000 (meaning you paid more than $500,000 in duties, taxes, and fees), the bond amount — and the premium — scales up with it. That threshold is exactly where 2026 tariff stacking has been pulling more importers across than in prior years; see the tariff section below.
Is there a downside to just buying continuous even if I am below the breakeven?
The only real downside is paying for coverage on entries you never file — if you're a genuine one-shipment-a-year importer with no ocean exposure, that's real money left on the table. Otherwise continuous has no functional downside: it covers every port, renews automatically, and removes the operational risk of forgetting to bond an entry (which can hold your cargo at the port). Brokers generally recommend erring toward continuous once you're within 1 entry of the breakeven, because the cost of guessing wrong — an unbonded entry sitting at the port — is far more expensive than a slightly early switch.

More on Customs Bonds

Customs Bonds Hub

Continuous, single entry, ISF & TIB — the full CBP bond overview.

Continuous Customs Bond

$50,000 minimum penal sum, unlimited entries, 12-month term.

Single Entry Bond

$100 CBP minimum, same-day submission for one-time importers.

Customs Bond Cost Guide

Full premium breakdown and the 10%-of-duties formula explained.

ISF Bond Guide

Importer Security Filing requirements and standalone ISF bond cost.

Temporary Import Bond (TIB)

Duty-free entry for goods that will be re-exported: trade-show equipment, samples and repair items.

All CBP Bond Types Compared

Continuous, single entry, TIB, and ISF side by side across every activity code.

Eric Drummond, Licensed Surety Producer
Reviewed by
Eric Drummond, Licensed Surety Producer
Verify credentials →

All content is researched from official state and federal sources (.gov). BuySuretyBonds.com works with Treasury-listed surety carriers.

Read our editorial standards & corrections policy →

Ready to Bond the Right Way the First Time?

Tell us your entry count and shipping mode — we'll quote the option that actually costs less this year.

Get Your Customs Bond Quote