When customers outside your country purchase your products on Amazon, one way to fulfill these orders is to ship them yourself internationally. There are several things to consider when shipping internationally direct to your customers.
Sending your products internationally direct to your customers+
If your inventory is located in a different country than the marketplace where your customers placed their order, you need to ship the product internationally to your customer. Here is an overview of the process:
- The seller chooses a carrier that can ship internationally.
- The seller ships the product and is the exporter of record.
Important: To ensure a good customer experience and manage your customer reviews and seller performance ratings, it is important that you do not expose customers to delays due to customs or unexpected charges associated with additional duties and taxes on their products. It is important that the seller take care of such matters when shipping the product. - The carrier acts as the broker by default, according to the terms and conditions on the freight bill. The carrier will collect duties from the buyer upon delivery of the goods.
It is also important to manage customer expectations. You should provide customers with accurate information about the country from which you are shipping your product. Specifically, you need to accurately state the 'shipping from' country in your seller profile and manage customer expectations by stating the actual shipping times from your country. You will be responsible to meet the shipping expectations for all orders you receive.
International shipping costs+
International shipping charges vary depending on several factors, including:
- Package dimensions and weight
- Delivery time
- Source (where you are shipping from) and destination (where you are shipping to). Costs can be considerably higher for international destinations.
In addition to the above charges, you should be aware of customs duties and taxes that will need to be paid. Amazon will not be responsible for any customs duties and taxes associated with FBA inventory. Any shipments arriving at an Amazon fulfillment center with customs duty charges due will be returned to sender.
International shipping times+
Fulfilling an order internationally will take more time than doing so domestically. Shipping times are reflected in the offer detail and may make your offer less competitive relative to domestic counterparts.
Other resources+
There are also many online resources that can help sellers determine rates and that will make shipping easier. Here are a few links, organized by region, other sellers have found useful. Visit their websites directly to calculate the approximate shipping charges you can expect when fulfilling orders for the Amazon marketplaces you would like to list in:
| Shipping to | Company |
|---|---|
| United States | UPS: http://www.ups.com |
| Canada | UPS: http://www.ups.ca |
| Europe | DHL: http://www.dhl.com/en.html UPS: http://www.ups.com |
| Japan | DHL: http://www.dhl.com/en.html Yamato: https://www.yamatoamerica.com/en/ EMS: http://www.post.japanpost.jp/english/index.html |