Countries worldwide have laws that govern how international trade functions. Taking your goods beyond the borders of your country brings about business expansion but one has to play by the duty and tax rules of a particular country and take into considerations the challenges and risk of cross-border transactions. As a beginner in the world of import and export, I will recommend you get professionals by your side to give you advice and lead you in the right directions. One of such professionals is a customs broker. I wouldn’t want to talk much on that, so you can just check out Amazon fba freight forwarder ClearitUSA to learn more about that.
#1: Assuming that foreign trade policies are the same everywhere
As you expand and deliver from one country to the other, every new one that your goods get to demands new import tax, new duty requirement, new tariff plans and they all come at different rates. Customs process and style changes as you get to a new country and conformity even among countries of the same area can be very different. While some products can be duty-free in some certain countries, they can attract up to 15% duty in others.
#2: Still sticking to outdated information
A lot of things can and will change within little time. It can be strenuous getting the most recent duty rates for all your merchandise for different countries. Usually, what happens is that rates are calculated and used for a long time without an update. The problem now is, rates change very often and sticking to not so current rates may cause refusal or delay of your shipments.
#3: trusting unqualified personnel with important responsibilities
Transportation providers are seen to take up roles of calculating duty rates which they aren’t supposed to. If you handle your business like this, you’d end up incurring unnecessary troubles.
#4: Undervaluing your goods
Misdeclaring and undervaluing are things we’ve seen small business owners do in order to evade paying more or get duty free benefits from low-value policies. This strategies and tactics have been recognized by government bodies so don’t make the mistake of doing them so as not to incur penalties that won’t be worth it.
#5: Poor documentation system
Ensuring that all paperwork and forms are properly generated, recorded and stored so that it can be produced on request and delays can be avoided.
#6: Not watching out for regulated products
Regulated products are specific and labeled to protect local trade. These items usually attract added import tax that is very high. Sometimes, this additional tax could cost more than the product itself, and some other times, some products are prohibited from being imported.
#7: Wrong tariff code calculations
Accurate landed costs are tedious and time-consuming to calculate as every product requires it. Making incorrect assignment of tariff codes to products especially of the last digits which is usually the variant can lead to delays and additional costs.
