Commercial Export Procedure of SINGLE ITEMS to INDIVIDUAL BUYERS

[krishnagemsnjewels]

Hello Everyone,

Finally God has accepted our prayers & we are just hoping for the best to happen in the declaration that is to be made on 3rd March regarding the paypal withdrawal issu.

Regarding the recent statement by Mr.Irani,he mentioned that we will need IEC Code for bank withdrawals,that's fine with us & a few other sellers who have their IEC codes already,
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE SMALL/NEW SELLERS with NO IEC codes with them,WILL THEY NEVER EVER GET THEIR MONEY?????


And let me inform everyone about this,we are in this export business since 30 years,but relatively very new to ebay,& since past 3 years,it is not only the IEC code which you need to export goods,but also the VAT License,& the VAT returns are filed every 3 months,so applying for IEC codes in few days & submitting it to paypal is not the solution to this whole issue,if you mention these payments as export payments & you ship the goods as export,you will also need VAT license.

I think we all need to discuss this & ebay should help all of us to know about the Commercial Export Procedure of SINGLE ITEMS to INDIVIDUAL BUYERS,which will create a world of confusions though,as there isnt any step taken by the Indian Government to Simplify the whole process yet..

To start with the FIRC issue which paypal has declared to issue now,
Until now as an exporter,i was only exporting in bulk,not on ebay though,so we were getting FIRC's only for bigger value shipments (for more than lets say USD 1000),for which our bank charges Rs. 150,mentioning the name of the sender & the conversion rate,so we used to export it on the same name & get our goods appraised through customs & after that we needed to get all the documents like BRC & Airway/Shipping Bill cleared by RBI with all the legal formalities,& so the Shipping & Handling cost & the time involved is also relatively high on these shipments,this is the right procedure of shipping the items commercially.

But here as we are selling single items on ebay to individual buyers,lets say average selling price is
USD 10 for each item,so if we sell 100 items in a week,& by the end of the week we withdraw 1 paypal payment of the total amount USD 1000,so WILL WE GET 100 FIRCs from 100 Different Buyers? & for which we need to pay Rs.150 per FIRC,means RS.15000 only for FIRC's in an export of USD 1000 / Rs. 45000,& moreover the commercial shipment charges are also higher than the sample shipments,does anyone think is it possible this way,& can we survive in the severe competition from the foreign sellers like this??
And what about the so many documents that we need to clear through RBI after that for only $10 items??

Although there is also a little possibility of issuing 1 FIRC per withdrawal,but then we need to know what Consignee/Sender names will be mentioned on that FIRC,will it be 100 different names then?? because we need to send the goods on those specific names..

These all small things also need to be resolved with this whole issue,as we will all face such things in near future,so lets discuss about it till the whole issue is resolved,& i request to ebay staff & to higher volume sellers to help us regarding this so that we can all follow the same procedure..

Thanks,
God Bless you all.

[sachin_thapar]

Amazing information krishnajewels... Kudos to you.

I think its time now ebay and paypal tightens all loose screws like this. Simply having an IEC doesnt solve the problem. Anyone can get IEC for 1000 rs but there are many more procedures which one needs to follow which ebay and paypal should address.

Krishnagemjewels i would suggest if you send an email to MR Irani or post on his blog so that this gets proper review and attention it deserves.

Thanks,
Sachin

[indien.art]

Hi,

yes, same questions arises,when i started using paypal.

is this not possible that ? we provide an ebay invoice along with our IEC code. and that way we can get paypal withdrawal .

like we have sold about 100 items on online cross border sale into foreign country with ebay and we got as total amout of sale each month/3month and can show total fees and all along with our IEC code.

will this not work ? i dont know much about export, just have an little idea if it can be work.

hope ebay will guide us step by step or may be from paypal ? as this issue is with paypal rt now.

regards
Vimal

[kishor.nayak]

Great Info krishnagemsnjewels

I am sure all exporters on ebay will benefit from this discusssion.

[rajelectroniks]

@Krishnagemjewels...

Thank you for the valuable info provided
******************
Regards.
Raj Electroniks.

[jaipur_mart]

Missed seminar in jaipur reg. cross border trade .......??
Can anybody tell us here on community boards.............
Regards

Ram krishan

[real.phoenix]

Dear all Sellers,

Recently, we had lot of problems associated with the withdrawal of the funds and fortunately, it is now resolved. On 9th March 2010, we had a Seller Meeting at
Ahmedabad which covered all the important aspects of selling internationally on eBay.

The meeting was conducted by Mr. Sainath Pai and Mr. Jinesh Joshi. They clarified everything that we need to know regarding international selling on eBay. I would
like to thank both of them for a great presentation and clearing all the doubts related to cross border selling.

Here are the clarifications of our long awaited questions:

How to ship the item?
From now onwards, in order to ship an item, it is advisable that we include an invoice along with the shipment. It should be a commercial shipment and not a
"gift" or a "free sample for promotion".

What if we still label it as gift or sample?
In that case, there may be an inquiry and at that time it would be difficult for us to prove that we are doing a legal business. So there should be a judicious use of "gift" or "samples". The government has restricted the use to INR15000.00 per year.

The item should be accompanied by a commercial invoice in which the true value of the shipment should be declared.

Is this export?
Yes, as per RBI, the single item cross border sale is a legal export if it is sold via proper channel. For this the seller must ship the item as a commercial item and not as a sample and they should include an invoice.

Is this legal?
Yes. RBI has accepted the single item export as a legal business and it is encouraging it. Like every new thing has some teething problems, we all (sellers, RBI and eBay) are passing through this stage and eventually this will evolve.

What to mention in the Custom Declaration Form?
Invoice Value. Commercial shipment.

What all records are required to be maintained by the seller now?
1. Purchase invoice
2. eBay Invoice copy given to the buyer
3. PayPal transaction details pertaining to the sale.
4. Proof of shipment.
Therefore, we need to keep a filed record of the above 4 things for each and every transaction that we do on eBay.

Is IEC mandatory for International Sellers?
Yes. Without IEC, our sales cannot be considered as a legal export.

Do we require separate FICRs?
No. We need 1 FICR per remittance from PayPal and not as per the transaction. For example, if I sell 100 items worth 2 Dollars and withdraw an amount of 200 from my PayPal account, then I will required 1 FICR for USD 200.00 and not 100 FICRs for $2.00 each.

Can we sell old coins, stamps, documents on eBay that are more than 100 year old to international buyers?
No. It is illegal to sell any collectible older than 100 years. This is punishable by law.

Wis you good luck for the new innings.

Kind Regards,
Mustufa
problems are opportunitie

[krsnajewelsindia]

Hello Dear Real.Phoenix,
Thank you for being an active member of discussions & helping us out in export policies,but let me tell you one thing,that after all that you have mentioned,there are still certain important things to be cleared for
Especially for GEMSTONES & JEWELRY SELLERS:
1) If we put an invoice with the shipment & mention silver,gold,diamond or any gemstone name on the invoice,we will be prohibited to send it without getting a custom appraisal done through the custom department,which is actually not feasible for single lower value items lets say less than Rs.1000,because our custom clearing agent will charge min. Rs.500-Rs.800 for getting it appraised & making the required documents.

2) Secondly,if we mantain accounts for single items,how will our C.A or Accountants manage our transactions in different currencies,he will require conversion rates for every transaction,Secondly what about the USD 0.99 auctions in which our actual purchase amount will be more than the selling price,& the shipping cost will be more than the actual paid shipping.

3) Thirdly if we mention precious gemstones,loose gemstones,or diamonds & send through regd. post,it can be stolen right away.

I REQUEST ALL THE JEWELRY SELLERS OR EBAY PINK TO SEARCH FOR ANSWERS TO THESE QUERIES & REPLY US BACK SOON.

Thanks
Kisnajewels.

[manixware]

Thanks Mustufa and all other active members for detailed process on how to export individual items.

I am intending to start off an ebay shop for catering a select audience in the US for Indian shaving products including shaving creams, and after shaves. A few of these products will be branded local produce by me.

The problem which I immediately face is the method of shipping as well as the cost.

While India Posts is the cheapest, they refuse to ship liquids and creams or anything greasy as they say and that is is not allowed as per customs regulations in spite of the made to order packaging for liquids and creams as per the India Posts website.

Individual parcels from shippers like UPS, DHL etc. costs 5 times over the value of the product and hence is not very usable. Further quite a few of them also express inability to ship liquids and creams as per Indian custom regulations !!

I see many online stores who openly advertise Indian Shaving products and I have trusted audience in the US who report ordering from these stores and receiving shipments of these so called banned items via India Posts / USPS as recently as 1 month back.

Further the ebay online stores of these vendors clearly mention on their ebay store that they ship all their products via India Posts and hence there is no tracking ID and shipping is 15 days !!!

If India Posts and India Customs has these items in the banned category for personal export, then clearly ebay is encouraging individuals who somehow manipulate and violate these export laws to ship products !!

So what am I missing here ?

I am sure the question I pose regarding shipping channels to the USA and Europe are faced by one and all.

[sunillakhani]

Hi Friends.

As RBI allowed Paypal to resume payments to Indian Sellers, in this case it apparent RBI has agreed exporters can get payment in Rupees for export, or RBI would not allow Paypal to send in money in Rupees and would have instructed payment in Dollars only to Indian sellers.
On Contacting Paypal for FIRC they said the banks would be issuing the FIRC. But banks are only issuing FIRC if Dollars are transferred. So what conclusions can we arrive at. Who would give the FIRC, would it be Paypal or Banks?
Would appreciate some answers.

Best Regards
Sunil.