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Top Importing Mistakes to Avoid When Shipping Goods

DIY CUSTOMS

DIY’ing your own customs and logistics won’t always save you money. In fact, it can actually cost you more.

Imagine if you’re hit with hidden or extra fees, compliance issues and delays. What seemed like a fairly easy task now turns into a huge headache and undertaking. So let’s break it down.

Things to Consider when Shipping Goods

There are plenty of factors to consider when shipping goods, especially on an international level. Importing and exporting involves meticulous planning and organization. Here are some of our top 3 tips to consider.

Taxation in different countries: Every country has its own structure of import tax, duty obligations, with different rates, rules, and forms. Customs procedures change at each international border and compliance, and you are expected to know these rules if responsible.

Who’s responsible for what: Faced with the difficulties of assigning tariff codes to products and calculating duty rates, many companies decide to punt the issue to transportation and fulfillment providers. 

Some providers of these services may imply that they can classify your products and calculate duty rates, but here’s the secret they’re not telling you: They have no obligation to get it right — if you fall out of compliance you will be liable, not the shipping company that mis-classified the shipment or estimated an incorrect rate.

Misdeclaring goods: It’s not supposed to happen, but a lot of businesses have done it: Sometimes by deliberately undervaluing a shipment of goods, or misdeclare one type of item as another in order to avoid paying a higher duty rate. 

Some companies, for instance, always fill out a low estimated value regardless of the actual product value in a shipment in order to sneak in under duty-free or low-value customs policies.

Governments have noticed this tactic, and are cracking down more than ever. Customs authorities have developed profiling tactics that help them target shipments for detailed examination and evaluation. Customs processing delays, as well as major fines and penalties, can be expected when this happens.

Importing and shipping can be a confusing process, but with Ramsay by your side, we can assure you that we always have your best interests in mind and are happy to ensure you have the best importing experience.

Call us today to get the process started! 

Enlisting the help of third party logistics companies can help businesses properly execute the process in the most cost-efficient way possible, and can alleviate any confusion that may arise when trying to cost products and shipping accurately.