Selling Into America

[Picto]

We've just been given permission from some of our biggest suppliers to sell back into the US market (which is where most of our goods come from originally).

We've seen huge success selling into Australia - has anyone else starting shipping parcels to the States and if so do they have any advice? We ship a few parcels a month currently but we'll be launching a site in US dollars and marketing heavily from the end of next week.

 

[darren atkinson]

The first question I would ask is are you going to be able to compete in America? If the products come from there then are there not competitors already setup there selling online? If so can you compete on shipping costs, delivery times, warranty cover etc...?

If you can then great, good luck!

One other thing I once came across is with product liability insurance, at the time I had to specify whether I sold to the US as it wasn't covered by my policy (but virtually everywhere else was), I'm not sure if this is still the same but it may be worth checking into.

 

[Picto]

The first question I would ask is are you going to be able to compete in America? If the products come from there then are there not competitors already setup there selling online? If so can you compete on shipping costs, delivery times, warranty cover etc...?

If you can then great, good luck!

One other thing I once came across is with product liability insurance, at the time I had to specify whether I sold to the US as it wasn't covered by my policy (but virtually everywhere else was), I'm not sure if this is still the same but it may be worth checking into.

We can definitely compete, although we might be slightly more expensive on some lines.

Good point on the insurance that's exactly the kind of pointer I'm looking for! We've also just found out that the accreditation on European protection gear isn't good enough for the US market so unfortunately we won't be able to sell a large section of our product catalogue there

 

[lockyer]

depending on the product, cover for product liability cover to the USA can be pricey

 

[j600com]

Make sure your eCommerce platform covers inter-state taxes.

 

[kulture]

Make sure your eCommerce platform covers inter-state taxes.

Why should a UK site need this?

 

[j600com]

Ah sorry about that I mis-read it, thought they said they were setting up to sell in the U.S. had a few clients who've set up that way and not factored in the tax rates.

UK companies selling to states not really a problem, other than delivery and returns of course. We used to have shop selling footwear predominantly to a U.S market and returns were a complete nightmare.

For delivery avoid the likes of royal mail (who don't actually track it once it leaves the UK) again learnt that the hard way. If you want optimum success with regard to SEO (if ranking high on googles U.S results) put the U.S site on a .com domain and host it in the U.S.

 

[Spearmint]

We've just been given permission from some of our biggest suppliers to sell back into the US market (which is where most of our goods come from originally).

We've seen huge success selling into Australia - has anyone else starting shipping parcels to the States and if so do they have any advice? We ship a few parcels a month currently but we'll be launching a site in US dollars and marketing heavily from the end of next week.

Like Darren, I too was thinking the same. From your comments I understand that you buy the goods from the USA and pay for the shipping and other charges, and now you want to package them here and send them back with more shipping charges along with other problems!
I'm assuming that they must be parts which you use to make into something else, because otherwise I fail to see how you'd be competitive with your competitors across the pond.
If the goods are purely packaged and sent back, surely there must be an alternative way of distributing them direcly from the USA. Apart from the economic advantage, it would also be more eco friendly.

 

[JamieM]

For delivery avoid the likes of royal mail (who don't actually track it once it leaves the UK) again learnt that the hard way.

Depends on the size/value of the products. Royal Mail is miles cheaper than a courier and is pretty reliable in my experience.

On the products liability issue, our insurer would only provide cover if there was less than 5% of turnover from exports to the US. I don't think many insurers will offer much more than that.