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jasontayonline Blog

The Amazon flows into the UK

15/5/2014

7 Comments

 
Picture
Yesterday I took the first little step into what I hope will be a mighty gushing river! I sent my first test shipment of 13 SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) or 13 different products to the UK.

This first shipment has taken me much longer than I had anticipated for a number of reasons. Firstly, I have never labeled or prepped anything for Amazon so this was a huge learning curve for me! This is probably strange for many of you who have sold anything through FBA. However in my case, I have sold over 1000 units by FBA but never printed a single product label myself, let alone poly bagged anything!

For shipping, I used EMS which is a global mail system linking the national postal services in most countries such as USPS in the US and Singpost in Singapore. The one risk with EMS is that if my parcel is stopped by UK customs for duties, it will not make it to the Amazon Fulfillment Center and will be returned at my expense. This is because the EMS postal service does not act as a customs broker to pay duties unlike courier services like DHL, UPS or FedEx. However it seems that small shipments of less 20lb or 10kg are seldom subject to customs duties...will have to see what happens!

So why didn' I use DHL? I went to their website and used their rate calculator which came up with a sum of over USD500 to send 10kg (22lb)! However I have opened a corporate account with DHL and received a corporate rate chart  with rates that are about 1/3 of the published rates or almost 70% off. This will probably be a better option in future, plus DHL should provide free boxes.

Even with the corporate rates, it still costs almost $200 to send 10kg which is very expensive. To make this work, what I will really be looking into is ocean freight. Of course this will take much longer from Singapore to the UK. 45-70 days instead of 2-5 days by air. Also I have zero experience with shipping by sea which is a whole lot more complicated with all kinds of technical terms and it's own set of regulations.

Another related milestone is that I received my VAT and EORI numbers on May 1, 2014. This will make it possible to clear all my imports safely through UK customs! The application process took just over a month and was submitted by Accordance who will also be handling my quarterly VAT returns. This also means I HAVE to make enough of a profit in the UK to cover their accounting fees!

VAT compliance is necessary to sell in the UK and while registration is free, filing the returns can be complicated and I really should be focusing on sourcing and selling rather than tax matters which would take up all my time if I tried to do it myself.

7 Comments
Hector Sanchez
19/1/2015 05:07:52 am

Can you apply for VAT in the UK as an individual? Or you have to apply as a company in your home country?

Thanks
Hector

Reply
Jason Tay link
21/1/2015 04:57:04 am

Hi Hector,
I applied as a Singapore registered business so I'm not sure about applying as an individual. I suggest you contact AccordanceVat.com for a free consulation call and ask them all the questions you have as well as find out about their services for international sellers for Amazon UK. They are an international VAT specialist.

Reply
Hector
21/1/2015 02:44:57 pm

Thanks a lot Jason. I'm trying to follow your steps, you are a great teacher. Now I'm catching up with Barrington's Spreecasts as he is also an international seller like us, I've seen you in the comments of the recorded sessions

Reply
William Woon
29/4/2015 02:39:01 am

I am still going thru the MST forum to find out how can I ship items from MY to US. Still finding the available options, but all seems to be at premium higher price. Shipped via ocean, will be at least 8 to 16 weeks according to post in MY. Sigh.. Anyway, thanks for your sharing!

Reply
aMING
7/8/2016 11:39:15 am

Hi Jason, I want to ask regarding shipping to Amazon warehouse using EMS. Did your EMS arrived at the Warehouse?

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  • About
  • Amazon FBA Guide
    • How to Register an Amazon Seller Account
    • Amazon FBA 101
    • Amazon Professional vs Individual Selling Plans
    • How to Sell On Amazon From Outside the US
    • Amazon FBA Prep Companies
    • Best Tools for Amazon Sellers
    • Code Confusion - Understanding GTIN, UPC and Amazon Barcodes
    • Amazon FBA Fees Explained
    • Amazon Coupons vs Prime Exclusive Discounts
    • How to Create Amazon Coupons
    • How to Increase Amazon Sales - Traffic, Click-throughs and Conversions
    • Optimizing FBA Inbound Shipping
    • Product Images and Photography
    • Amazon and Taxes - Income Tax, Sales Tax, and VAT
    • Amazon PPC Advertising
    • Insurance for Amazon Sellers
    • Amazon Seller FAQ
  • Reviews
    • Payoneer vs WorldFirst vs TransferWise vs OFX vs Airwallex
    • Helium 10 Review and Discount Codes
    • SKUdrop Review
    • Proven Amazon Course Review
    • Amazing Selling Machine Review
    • Amazon Advantage Review - How to Optimize Copywriting for Amazon Listings
    • Amazon FBA Reimbursement Guide Review
    • Rebate Programs
  • Training
    • Amazon Seller Live Training
  • Blog
  • Newsletters
  • Q&A
  • SSF2024