Business

What Businesses Need to Know About Global Shipping

Full length portrait of smiling delivery worker carrying a big cardboard box from stack, global shipping and delivery over world map sketch. Mail order distribution.

Did you know that more than 11 billion tons of goods are transported each year by ships? Global shipping is one of the most important cogs in keeping the world spinning, and without it, the global economy would come screeching to a halt. It isn’t unusual for a large business to look for a global shipping company to work with to get their goods to their destination.

Global express shipping helps you keep your clients happy by getting the things that they need to their doorstep in the blink of an eye. Finding the right global shipping program often means finding one that will allow you to track global shipping.

The good news is that you’re in the perfect place to learn more about the things that you need to know when you’re looking to find a company to help with global shipping. Keep reading to learn more today.

Customs Regulations

It is important that you know the customs regulations for your own country as well as any country where you plan on shipping your goods. There are certain prohibited items that you should avoid shipping, like weapons and drugs, but there are others that are much less obvious that you need to know about.

You can typically bring gold into the United States, but any gold that comes in from Cuba, Iran, Burma, or Suda is not allowed into the United States of America. There are some strict sanctions in place against those countries when it comes to the U.S. government.

It is a wise move to blacklist any countries that you can’t ship goods to if you want to avoid accruing costly fines. You should also look to restrict purchases from these blacklisted counties for the best results. Working with Sobel’s international freight forwarder is a great way to avoid getting fined.

Validate Your Shipping Addresses

Another thing that many people that are new to global shipping forget to do is validate the shipping addresses to that you’re sending products. The last thing that you want is to use your valuable time and resources to ship a product to a customer only for it to go to the wrong address. You’ll then end up spending more time and money shipping the product and you’ll have an unhappy customer.

You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where your biggest spenders are unhappy with your business and end up asking for a refund. It is really important with smaller packages as well. You need to make sure that you verify the address before putting a shipping label on the package.

There are some services that provide you with a global shipping program, like eBay. They’ll take care of everything that you need to know when it comes to shipping your products to the final destination.

Duties and Taxes

There are certain duties and taxes that come with global shipping, and you need to be aware of these costs. Duties are often referred to as tariffs, and you’ll face these when shipping your products to a different country. These tariffs result in higher prices that your buyers need to pay.

You’ll want to do an analysis to determine whether it is a good move from a financial standpoint to ship to those countries depending on the levels of the tariffs you’re facing.

Transit Time

You should also try to learn more about how long it takes to deliver your products to your customers when you’re using a global shipping company. Global express shipping will cost your business more to use but it will get your products to your customers much quicker.

There are some countries that even allow for overnight shipping. You still need to account for the time that it takes for your products to get through customs once they arrive in their destination country.

It is also smart to consider your shipping method when you’re looking at using global shipping tracking. Sending large and bulky items might mean that your shipments require a cargo ship. If that is the case then it will be longer than something getting shipped by plane or jet.

Research Your Global Shipping Company

There are multiple reasons why you should research the global shipping company that you’re looking at using. Make sure that you find multiple options and get quotes from each option. Make sure that any shipping company that you use offers global shipping tracking.

Working with a company that doesn’t offer global shipping tracking could lead to poor communication between the shipping company and your business as well as between you and your customers. Make sure that the global shipping company owns its domain. It is also smart to have a look around their website to see if you can find anything sketchy.

Global Shipping Insurance

You need to make sure that you work with a global shipping company that provides global shipping insurance. There are many different things that can happen to your international shipments when you’re working with a global shipping company. They could get lost, or the ship that is carrying them could sink.

You don’t want to find yourself out the money that those products were worth because you lack shipping insurance. Being prepared for the worst might seem like overkill. You’ll be thankful that you found a company that offers global shipping insurance the first time that your products get lost during the transit process.

The insurance will cover damages that happen as a result of a collision, severe weather, explosions. You’ll also be covered for other issues that happen within the shipping industry. It can’t hurt to get a quote for shipping insurance if you plan on shipping large volumes of goods.

Now You Know About Global Shipping

Learning about the ins and outs of global shipping is important if you’re a business owner and you want to break out into the international business world. Make sure that the global shipping program that you use offers free global shipping tracking. It is also a smart move for your business to invest in global shipping insurance in case something happens to your shipment.

For more helpful articles like this one, make sure you check out our blog.