This article was written for UK Trade and Investment to provide some tips to new UK exporters selling through the platform "Newegg" for delivery to your average American household.
Think being small
means you don’t matter? Think again!
All shipments arriving from outside of the United States pass through US Customs and the last thing you want to be is a company who is on their list of foreign suppliers to pay attention to.
You further don't want to be the supplier that creates a problem for your U.S. buyer as it could destroy your relationship with the buyer as well as harm your reputation and detract others from buying from you.
You therefore want
to have your "ducks in order" with regards to legal compliance of the products
you're selling into the US market, even if you're doing so in small quantities.
Here are 5 tips to
help you do that:
1) Recognize that the
law applies to those who are selling and even offering to sell in the U.S.
· That
means that even if you have not sold anything, just by virtue of offering the merchandise for sale, it requires compliance with US laws.
· Keep in
mind that each shipment adds to your supplier profile with US Customs. Though you may start out with “Newegg,” as
your business expands your shipments to the U.S. will grow too and your sales
here form a part of your export history recorded with U.S. Customs.
2) Understand that
many of the products you want to sell may require testing and certification as
to compliance with the U.S. law(s) over that category. For example:
- ·
The US
Consumer Product Safety Commission has oversight of many of these laws and you
can go to www.cpsc.gov to learn more about
how their rules might apply to your products, including toys and other
children’s products
- ·
The US
Food and Drug Administration has oversight of many food, health and beauty
products, including cosmetics
- ·
The US
Federal Trade Commission has oversight of clothing and home fashions, as well
as marketing claims which may be placed on packaging or temporary labels
3) Remember that
compliance with these laws is required prior to its importation into the U.S.
- ·
While
you may think of yourself as “just a seller,” if you’re selling to an
individual, remember that they are relying on you to sell them a safe
product that complies with U.S. law
- ·
If
you’re selling to a reseller, or are trying to sell to one, then they may
request from you proof of your compliance with U.S. laws, so you’ll need to
have your conformity certificates in order to provide them to those vendors
relying on you.
4) Product
compliance aside, there are import protocols which must be complied with such
as the proper marking and valuation of the product, as well as invoicing so
that US customs can asses the appropriate amount of duties on that particular
product.
5) Remember, even
though a shipment which has a value not exceeding $200 can enter the U.S. free
of duties and other taxes, the marking, valuation, invoicing and product
compliance rules all still apply and again, all of these must be correctly done
when you (the exporter) ship your product out for export.
- · A watch
for example, not only has multiple requirements in terms of marking different
parts of it with its country of origin information, declaring a watch’s value
is overly complicated and so both the physical stamping of the watch parts as
well as the invoice need to be prepared in such a way that it meets US Customs
regulatory compliance standards.
Questions/comments? Post below or email Deanna at clark.deanna@gmail.com
