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Although it's easier than ever to engage in cross border e-commerce, barriers remain. One if them is foreign governments imposing duties on low value shipments, which comprise the vast majority of e-commerce transactions. Studies of consumers confirm that if duty and also tax rates were lower, more stuff would be purchased.
There are efforts underway to lower at least the value below which no duties are charged. For now Australia is your best bet with a $1000 limit before duties kick in.
A second category of markets to look at is countries that your country has free trade agreements with. The U.S. has agreements covering 20 countries, but goods must have a certain amount of locally originating content or meet other requirements in order to qualify. If they qualify, no certificate of origin is required for low value goods up to $2000 for some countries. Even if a certificate is not needed, you need to state on the commercial invoice that the product is made in your country. In accord with some agreements, no certificate may be needed at all regardless of the product's value.
Taxes must be paid
When taxes are owed, the taxing government must be paid before the goods are released to the buyer. If you pay them, it will cut heavily into your profit margin or may eliminate it entirely. The typical approach is for the buyer to pay the taxes. This can be done several ways: 1) You can use your shipping account with UPS, FedEx, and others to charge duties and taxes. 2) The shippers, also acting as customs brokers, will clear your parcel through customs in the designation country. They will also help you estimate these costs so that you can add it to the customer's invoice and get it in advance of the shipment. 3) Check to see if the shipper will hold the shipment until the customer comes to collect it and pays the duty and tax to the shipper. That's not always an attractive option for the customer--schlepping to a warehouse on a Saturday morning.
Sending through the Postal Service is the same deal. Duties and taxes are payable on delivery. When using the Postal Service, you can’t collect duties and taxes in advance.
If the buyer has an account with one of the logistics companies or uses a customs broker in their country, the broker pays the duty and tax, then gets reimbursed later. Let's repeat that for emphasis: the taxman will get his due. Second, despite the growing popularity of cross border trade involving individual buyers and small sellers, most people don't yet know about duties and taxes and won't unless you tell them.
Official Protection
Another barrier is purely protectionist. You'll find this in today's India. So far it has not been friendly to non-Indian e-commerce platforms. Amazon is there but can't feature non-Indian goods on its site. The restrictions have everything to do with protecting small and midsize Indian enterprises, which the government fears can't compete in an open market. To get around this you can register a business in India, but this is not a realistic option for most of us. Plus, there's more red tape awaiting you than a lake full of chili paste. India's new prime minister has vowed to change the status quo but it's not happening fast enough.
China also has product and foreign business registration requirements in the e-commerce sector and expensive membership fees are imposed on some of Alibaba's China-facing sites. Alibaba.com, however, can be easily accessed by foreign sellers and an adequate supply of Chinese users shop there, though regular users say most of their inquiries come from non-Chinese.
It could be that a barrier is distance. For B2C transactions, many Chinese expect fast delivery and are unlikely to purchase directly from foreign websites that lack familiar branding.
Additional regulations and tax issues await the e-commerce seller to customers in the EU. Some food supplements are classified as drugs, requiring expensive testing and paperwork. Cosmetics are heavily regulated, and it takes time and money to get the necessary permits.
There are two hopeful signs for Europe. One is that the needs of small business are finally getting recognition. One way to help them is to reduce the regulatory burden, provided it doesn't threaten public health.
The eventual approval of TTIP, the U.S.-EU free trade agreement, would harmonize many standards and specifically make it easier for smaller firms to do business across the oceans.
Don't look for quick results. Just look at TPP, where the U.S. Congress in particular appears to kill it before reviving it and pushing it stumbling to the next challenge.
But as Pascal Lamy, the former head of the WTO said recently, the U.S. and Europe could set open trade standards and practices that the rest of the world can follow. If we don't do it, some other bloc will-- and the results might not be friendly to small business.
| Product Model | Inside Diameter | Outside Diameter | Thickness |
| HK0912 NTN | 9 | 13 | 12 |
| BK0910 NTN | 9 | 13 | 10 |