How did you pick which countries to ship too?

[Cromulent]

So far I thought I would limit the countries I delivered to in order to try and avoid fraud and other problems. So I thought just supplying the EU, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand would be fine. But now I am getting worried that I am unnecessarily limiting the number of customers I could get.

What did you do?

[cjd]

We only ship to UK.

I don't know what you sell, but unless it's a product unique to you or very specialised, there's no real reason why overseas customers should buy from you instead of their in-country suppliers - other than for fraud.

By the way, the USA is the biggest source of fraud on the web.

[Cromulent]

We only ship to UK.

I don't know what you sell, but unless it's a product unique to you or very specialised, there's no real reason why overseas customers should buy from you instead of their in-country suppliers - other than for fraud.

By the way, the USA is the biggest source of fraud on the web.

Hmm, interesting thanks. As a start-up I want to capture the largest market possible, even if I don't sell much. I guess that can be counter productive.

[downsouth]

its all well and good opening yourself up to as many customers as possible but you have to think about having a degree of confidence on issues such as

Tracking deliveries abroad.
fraudulent transactions
Chargebacks
etc
etc

Issues like these can soon start to cost your business, it wouldnt take many transactions to hit your profits seriously

Why not build a name for yourself in the UK, then look to start shipping abroad when your comfortable that the above issues can be controlled

[seasonsonline]

It will depend greatly on what product you sell, and their value? I sell small jewellery items, so these are relatively easy to ship. I want to gain as much custom as possible, and because of this I've already broken into many parts of Europe with regular customers.

For me, the only way to decide if it was feasable or not to include certain countries was to use the Royal Mails postage calculator, and just experiment on pricing. I haven't had any problems with fraud etc. I dont post to the USA simply because it's too expensive compared to the cost of my products.

You're probably all aware of this, but here's the Royal Mail postage calculator, which is a very valuable tool for me http://sg.royalmail.com/portal/rm/PriceFinder;jsessionid=1SBJ0PTH252SQFB2IGLEOSQ?pag eId=pc_sltc_rm_search&catId=23500532&keyname=search&_DARGS=/portal/rmgroup/apps/templates/html/rm/search.jsp

[Cromulent]

It will depend greatly on what product you sell, and their value?

CDs, Vinyl and DVDs. Postage seems pretty reasonable for Airmail compared to what my competitors charge.

[FireFleur]

The big one is tariffs and duties.

You can pre-charge or leave it to the customer, the latter approach can cause problems.

[Cromulent]

The big one is tariffs and duties.

You can pre-charge or leave it to the customer, the latter approach can cause problems.

Surely customers must know if they will have to pay duty or taxes? I've know since I was about 14 that if you order over a certain amount you maybe liable for duty.

I'll have to put a big warning before people checkout.

[FireFleur]

The thing to realise is that a customer will probably not know the amount of duty that they will have to pay.

Think about it, do you know the amount of duty you would have to pay on a CD coming from Peru? I am not even aware of the amount of duty on a 12inch coming form the US.

[Cromulent]

The thing to realise is that a customer will probably not know the amount of duty that they will have to pay.

Think about it, do you know the amount of duty you would have to pay on a CD coming from Peru? I am not even aware of the amount of duty on a 12inch coming form the US.

Good point. I guess start with the UK and then expand the market when I have some better data would be the best approach then.

Thank you all for your help.

[FireFleur]

EEC is ok to have on release. I am just about to move a site to those markets if possible. There is no duty to pay once in EEC.

If you are importing, sometimes it is better to import to a specific Euro country, then ship it to dispatch, or even dispatch from there.

Postage is about the same I think, little more expensive perhaps.

Then you probably just need a GBP to Euro convertor, most customers just want to see the price they will be charged in full, or at least fairly close to.

[seasonsonline]

CDs, Vinyl and DVDs. Postage seems pretty reasonable for Airmail compared to what my competitors charge.

You should be fine to post out to European countries. I just post out standard Air mail parcels, and it cost less than posting within the UK by Recorded delivery!

As for duties/taxes etc, you wont have a problem with that unless your customers are buying large quantities.:D

[Cromulent]

Thanks guys.

[working hard]

Hi

I would go with the countries you have listed. We used to ship worldwide but had so many problems either with fraud or non delivery it wasn't worth the time or money.

Outside of those countries I think you'd loose less than 1% of sales if you are selling physical goods.

Thanks Alan

[J-Wholesale]

If you are shipping to European countries, and using a courier company like DHL, don't forget about remote areas. UK sellers are very familiar with UK remote areas such as the Highlands and Islands, which incur surcharges from courier companies, but what many don't realise is that every European country has remote areas.

If you don't take these into account, it can seriously put a dent into your profits.

[seasonsonline]

That's a very good point worth noting, and I will be taking that into account with regards to the Wholesale part of our business. Thanks.

[petersoftware]

Check this just in case, but I think the the import tax and duty issue would not raise itself if you expanded within the EU and you were a UK business. I may be wrong.

[quikshop]

Good point. I guess start with the UK and then expand the market when I have some better data would be the best approach then.

That's a sensible approach but I would also include the US and Europe (old EU Countries).

Under no circumstances allow orders from Africa (any part of), Eastern Europe, the Middle East and China - in fact, if you become really successful you may wish to block all traffic from Chinese IP addresses to filter out some of the vast number of spam and hack attacks that originate from there.

[cycloneuk]

I only ship to the UK and certain European countries, some have a high fraud rate so best to avoid.