E-commerce (international goods)

[Shukran Mushtaq]

Hi All,
I have planned to run an online business but the products I want to sell can be obtain from Pakistan. I live in the UK so I want to run my online Business from the UK. My questions is I want to get all the goods from Pakistan on a small scale and maybe store it somewhere, currently I have no knowledge on the process of this (import/export) can someone point me to the right direction on what I need to do next to set up this Business?

 

[Mr D]

Figure out what type of business you want - self employed, limited company, partnership etc.

Figure out how you are going to sell the stock.

Figure out what the stock will cost you to import, including duties and VAT.

Figure out where you are going to store it.

Talk to a shipping agent, or possibly a courier if order is small enough, about shipping the goods.

 

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What type of value are the goods typically going to be - per item

 

[Shukran Mushtaq]

Hi All,
Thank you for the comments, so I believe I will need to become a sole trader and then contact a courier to get the goods over to the UK. Also will I need a merchant account for online store?

 

[DamagedShadows]

You could just use some sort of dropshipping software such as dropified.com for shopify to import goods automatically (that you want imported) to your website. That plugin also allows for similar features for many other websites just more manual for any site imported from other then aliexpress. Either way... You NEVER have to touch the product. I really suggest looking into dropified (dropshipping software) and shopify.

 

[Mr D]

Hi All,
Thank you for the comments, so I believe I will need to become a sole trader and then contact a courier to get the goods over to the UK. Also will I need a merchant account for online store?

You will need some method or methods of getting paid. There are various sites that will process payments for you.
You will pay duty & VAT to import the goods, that may be done through the courier.