Bianca BarathIn the era of ecommerce, shopping is seldom limited by international border lines. It’s not uncommon for someone across the globe to find your site and place an order with you. It’s almost as similar as a local order. Process wise, it’s only the shipping part that varies. Here are a few strategies that can help you with your international shipping.
Be transparent with shipping charges:
When you ship overseas, your shipping charges are going to be high. So, be very transparent about the exact amount that the customer is going to incur, in the name of shipping charges. So, route the information through a real time shipping calculator where the customer inputs his location and the tool calculates shipping costs inclusive of surcharges and taxes. Charges are live and change according to current tariff.
Know legal dos and don’ts:
There are strict rules on what to ship and what not to ship to certain countries. For example, New Zealand does not permit seeds from other countries via private personnel. What looks like a normal souvenir to one might be illegal in a different country. So, before you take an order and pack the product to be shipped across, do your diligent research. Use your discretion here. Generally, aerosol, alcohol, ammunition, cigarettes, explosives, perfumes mean trouble across international borders. So, it’s prudent to not advertise these in your international catalogue. There is also a lot of documentation that is required in these couriers.
Track your package:
International packages take 2-3 weeks from origin to destination. So, you need to keep track of where your package is. Sign up with a reputed shipping partner who gives real time tracking details on the whereabouts of your package. This will help you answer questions from the customer. One need not manually check the trackers. There are tools that auto generate information using which you can raise an alarm in case there is a problem. This helps you to be proactive with damages, delays and losses.
Packaging:
If you are shipping products overseas, pay heed to packaging. Your packaged product spends a lot of time in transit where it can be exposed to different weather conditions, heat, dust, moisture and some heavy loading and unloading at different points. So, package with caution. Make sure that it can withstand tough handling and reach the customer in one piece.
Insurance:
If you are shipping valuable products overseas, you are better off with shipping insurance. In case of damage or loss, you are covered with insurance. Talk to your shipping partner about it and come to a conclusion on what kind of insurance to take. Read the document fully before you sign the dotted line.
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