As a business, you’re probably aware of the fact that if you really want to improve your profit margin, then you certainly need to consider selling your merchandise to international clients. The thing is that doing so is not as simple as you may think and there are quite a few things you need to bear in mind before doing so. So with that in mind, in the short guide below we’re going to let you know more about what you need to keep in mind when shipping product internationally.
Country specific regulations and requirements
You’d be surprised what certain countries deem to be illegal and one example of them is Vietnam. For instance, if you want to sell calendars to clients in Vietnam, don’t be surprised when you’ll hear that this is actually illegal. But selling calendars to clients in this country is not impossible as long as you only sell 100 calendars per customer.
Focus on certain countries
With the previous example of what you cannot sell in certain countries, it’s very important that you start to learn more about overseas e-commerce by selling to countries you know are going to order a lot of product from you. One example is this: If you have a business that’s based in the US, then it’s going to be a lot cheaper and easier to sell to customers in Canada and Mexico than it is to sell to customers in Korea.
Shipping costs
Shipping within the United States can be cheap and also fast, so if you want to ship a shirt from NYC to Georgia, then the cost is going to be a flat rate. However, that’s not going to be the case when you sell internationally, especially if you use a different carrier and the value of the item you send is high. Given these not-so-rare situations, it’s best that you start learning more about the fees your clients have to pay when they order certain products from you.
After all, no one would be happy to be forced to pay like twenty to thirty dollars or even more than that for a product they purchased from you in the first place because of the lower cost. As a result, he may eventually refuse the product or just accept it and probably not order from you again. If this happens, then you’re not only going to lose a customer, but may also have to pay the return shipping cost from your own pocket.