Top Tips on how to profit from trading abroad

No matter how you may feel about trading abroad, there is still money to be made from expanding your horizons.  And it need not be a scary as you may think.  So here are our tops tips on how to profit abroad.

Establish and advertise your Credibility & Reputation

Establishing your credibility to International clients, may not be as daunting as you might think.  Work on your company strengths.  Are you a long established company? Do you have any recommendations via clients or better sill in the press that you could use to your advantage?  Establishing and developing reputation and credibility is the first step to encouraging clients on an International scale.  It will help you to advertise anything that adds to your credibility.  Therefore it is well worth listing anything that lets your potential buyers know that you are decent and legal.  Advertise that you comply with the legal and tax regulations and list anything else that you have done to comply.

Use the internet

Perhaps a bit of an obvious one, but the internet really has made global marketing easier than ever before.  It is a global communication medium and its potential to impact on international trade is phenomenal.  So think carefully about your website and use it.

Provide clients with currency conversion

Although your credit card or bank statement will always display your own currency after an international transaction, you will make your product or service far more appealing and accessible to international clients if you are able to provide the sale price in multiple currencies or ideally if you provide a currency converter on your website.

Use a well known international courier

Using a well known international courier will help to eliminate much of the concern regarding shipping abroad, and they will also be able to advise you of any issues relating to the dispatch, such as completing a customs declaration. 

Get your head around international tax rules

It is paramount to seek advice on tax issues, and it is your responsibility to comply.  However here are a few basic tips on international tax issues.  However I stress that these should not be taken as definitive, it is your responsibility to make sure that you get the right advice.

·         Within the EU you are bound to comply with EU regulations.

·         If selling to the US, individual states may apply taxes, however these are generally applied to the US buyer as ‘use tax’ by the state and are not of concern if you are selling.  Therefore if you are selling to the US you are doing so effectively tax free.

·         When you sell into the EU you will generally need to charge VAT, and a exceed a VAT threshold in an individual country further rules and regulation apply.

·         If you are a UK tax payer and sell to another EU country the buyer will be able to quote their VAT number so that they don’t have to pay UK tax.

Take care to avoid fraudsters and scammers

Unfortunately frauds and scammers are part and parcel of trading with anyone internationally.  Generally speaking, the police will not be interested in small scale fraud, especially so when it isn’t within their jurisdiction.  And if a person uses a stolen credit card, the costs are likely to be charged back to you once the true owner of the card reports the fraud.  If in doubt you can always cover yourself in a number of ways:

1.      Ask for a fax copy of the front and reverse of the credit card.

2.      Ask for proof of name and address to be faxed over.

3.      Call them back to check the phone number is genuine.

Here are some tips on how to spot scammers:

1.      They have a tendency to select the most expensive products.

2.      They have a tendency to choose the most expensive shipping method on offer.

3.      They also have a tendency to use free email addresses, such as hotmail or yahoo.

4.      They tend to give up very quickly, especially if you ask for additional security checks such as the above suggestions.

Check out where you stand on customs and import duties

For trade sales it is necessary to find out exactly where you stand on customs and import duties.  However, for the majority of the retail world customs and import duties tend to be the responsibility of the buyer.  But it is always worth making this explicitly clear in your own terms and conditions by stating that any applicable customs and import charges are the responsibility of the purchaser.