I'm an ECA wanting to sell my products internationally. How do I determine how much to charge for shipping to other countries that is fair to both me and my customers?
My day job is in procurement. I buy stuff from all over the world and then bring it into SA.
So my advice to you would be to look at forwarding agents and get quotes from them. Ship all your sales through the agent you choose and negotiate good prices and payment terms with them. By going into a contract with one agent it means you do not have to negotiate on a price for every shipment and it means you can have a set price for shipments. You can work on averages - which is in my opinion not the fairest to your customers or you can have a set price per country.
One thing I found - if you look at the weight of a package - up to 15kg your best bet is airfreight. Above that you need to weigh the pro's and cons of air and ocean freight.
One thing is clear - whichever way you choose to go - there will be costs involved exporting and often the cost of the package will exceed the value of the goods. It will also help if you can have a central point you can ship to in a country and you ship all your orders for a month at once - but then you really need to have somebody you can trust at the receiving point.
Good luck - it is exciting but it is also full of rules and regulations and you need to tread lightly and do your homework.
less
My day job is in procurement. I buy stuff from all over the world and then bring it into SA.
So my advice to you would be to look at forwarding agents and get quotes from them. Ship all your sales through the agent you choose and negotiate good prices and payment terms with them. By going into a contract with one agent it means you do not have to negotiate on a price for every shipment and it means you can have a set price for shipments. You can work on averages - which is in my opinion ...more
