INTERNATIONAL ORDERS

To service international customers, websites need significant expertise in customs clearance, duties and taxes, currency conversion capabilities, and a good relationship with an international shipping company. Thus web-based businesses don’t offer international shipping.

For those web-based businesses that want to have a global customer base, the first step is to ensure that their back-end systems are designed for international addresses, international currencies, estimating delivery costs, and so forth. The next step is to tackle shipping. Whatever company you decide to use for your international shipments (and try to make it only one company), that company must provide global shipping to virtually any address anywhere and to help with customs clearance, duties and taxes payment, and with proof of delivery.

Again, there is help available. The previously mentioned Intershipper.com offers help with the choice of international shippers.

If you operate within the U.S. borders, the United States Postal Service’s Express Mail International service offers Global Package Link, which establishes a direct link between your e-commerce business and the U.S. Postal Service, enabling the post office to handle most of the documentation for international shipments. This is a worthwhile feature for high-volume shippers. Part of the Global Package Link is the Customs Pre-Advisory System (CPAS), which relieves the website of paperwork and helps speed its packages through customs. CPAS enables customs agents to review the contents of the shipment prior to its arrival and decide if the parcel requires inspection.

For small international shipments, Global Priority Mail is a good choice. The time in transit is anywhere from four to seven days. The U.S. Postal Service offers two sizes of mailers, which are good for magazines, small books, CDs, and any other small, flat item (as long as the package is less than 4 lbs.). Both mailers have a low flat rate from $7.00 to $9.00, depending on the country to which you are shipping.