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21 Replies Last post: Aug 22, 2008 10:00 AM by lysapham

We are a small Indian Company just starting an e store of Indian handicrafts & silver jewelry.

Dec 8, 2007 11:42 AM

Click to view naveen's profile Professional naveen 16 posts since
Dec 8, 2007

We are a small Indian Company just starting
an e store of Indian handicrafts & silver
jewelry. Our main customer base will be in USA.

We are already having a tie up with the fulfillment agency
who will send the shipment on our behalf once the order is placed on the
internet. There is also an understanding between us & the fulfillment
agency that they will pay the USA
custom duty on our behalf.

We have done all the formalities of export licensing in India.

I am not sure how the things in USA
will work for us as basically there is no direct buyer.

Does the above need an import license in US.

Just for a testing I will not be sending stuff of more than
2000$ .

Since we are an Indian company selling thru internet but our
warehousing is in USA
The payment will come directly to our bank in India
when the customers will pay online thru credit card. In that case the sale
would be considered as a US
sale or as an Indian sale & what will be the tax issue on the sale.


Items which we will be sending to US

  1. Papermachie
    & Wooden Handicrafts
  2. Brass
    & Wrought Iron Gifts
  3. Handmade
    Paintings
  4. Brass
    Jewelry
  5. Silver
    Jewelry (Pendants & Bracelets)

Is there any consultant available who can guide us in our
small business EVEN on a payment basis? Basically it’s a new home based Business
& our budget is tight to start with.


naveen

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Click to view CorpCons08's profile Mogul CorpCons08 1,128 posts since
Nov 14, 2007
1. Re: We are a small Indian Company just starting an e store of Indian handicrafts & silver jewelry. Dec 8, 2007 12:08 PM
I am very confused naveen.
You are an Indian based company located in India?
You are having jewelry exported to the United States?
Sales may occur in India and the jewelry would be sent back to India?
Explain this a little more please...

CorpCons08
Click to view naveen's profile Professional naveen 16 posts since
Dec 8, 2007
2. Re: We are a small Indian Company just starting an e store of Indian handicrafts & silver jewelry. Dec 8, 2007 12:31 PM
in response to: CorpCons08
Just to clarify, I will be exporting Jewelry from India to US. It will be sold to US customers through my website and payment will be routed to me in an Indian bank. I am trying to understand if there will be any tax consequences (in US) for me from these online sales. .
sending small packets from india to my web site clients is expensive so i am taking a warehouse space so when the order comes warehouse people ship on my behalf.
Click to view CorpCons08's profile Mogul CorpCons08 1,128 posts since
Nov 14, 2007
3. Re: We are a small Indian Company just starting an e store of Indian handicrafts & silver jewelry. Dec 8, 2007 12:33 PM
in response to: naveen
Hmm, that is an interesting question.
Do we have any accountants on here that can answer that question?
Click to view naveen's profile Professional naveen 16 posts since
Dec 8, 2007
4. Re: We are a small Indian Company just starting an e store of Indian handicrafts & silver jewelry. Dec 8, 2007 12:37 PM
in response to: CorpCons08
yeap.............
we NEED HELP.....
Click to view CorpCons08's profile Mogul CorpCons08 1,128 posts since
Nov 14, 2007
5. Re: We are a small Indian Company just starting an e store of Indian handicrafts & silver jewelry. Dec 8, 2007 12:39 PM
in response to: naveen
Hang in there,...
We have a lot of experts on this site.
This is not an area of expertise for me.
I am sorry that I can not be of any help to you.
Click to view naveen's profile Professional naveen 16 posts since
Dec 8, 2007
6. Re: We are a small Indian Company just starting an e store of Indian handicrafts & silver jewelry. Dec 8, 2007 1:37 PM
it was a mistake sorry
Click to view maxamillion's profile Authority maxamillion 28 posts since
Oct 11, 2007
7. Re: We are a small Indian Company just starting an e store of Indian handicrafts & silver jewelry. Dec 8, 2007 1:52 PM
Firstly there are a lot of people who do the same business as you do. I have clients who were importing paper machie products from Kashmir and sold it in stores since 25 years ago. You should do a lot of research on these markets. My opinion is to market these directly to end users. Dont try distibutors and agents. It will reduce your profits and eventually run you out of the market. If your products are shipped by the fullfillment agency, as they based in India or in the US. If their stock is kept in the US they will have already paid US import or customs duty and will pay for Sales Tax in the state it is sold. If the agency is going to ship this from India, you will have to undertake to make the payments for the duties and taxes yourself. If you ship directly, American customers are not well versed in duties and get annoyed that these were not mentioned when you sold it to them.

Also try to get the credit card accounts from Paypal. amercan clients are hesitant to make credit card payments overseas to loss of ID by credit cards. In the case of consultants, try to learn this on your own. It will cost you a lot to get this done by someone else. It is easy to figure out the Tax system on the web. U.S Federal and State Agencies are very cordial to obtain information, unlike Indian agencies. They will help you out when you need information. Good Luck
Click to view Lighthouse24's profile Mogul Lighthouse24 2,396 posts since
Oct 10, 2007
8. Re: We are a small Indian Company just starting an e store of Indian handicrafts & silver jewelry. Dec 8, 2007 2:40 PM

Could you explain the reason for the arrangement you've outlined?

Here are the two more common ways an Internet seller in India would sell to U.S. customers:

1) The U.S. customer buys directly from you the seller in India, and the payment comes to your bank in India. You the seller ship the order directly to the customer's address through UPS or FedEx with a Customs Declaration attached (this document is prepared by the seller and shipper). The shipper bills the seller for the applicable shipping charges, import fees, and duties (a cost that you the seller would have built into your selling price). When the package enters the U.S., a Customs agent looks at the attached Declaration, inspects the contents if the package appears suspicious, and then clears it for entry - where the shipper on this end picks it up and delivers it to the customer.

2) The U.S. customer buys from an authorized reseller in the U.S. (an American company that represents you), and the payment comes to that company's bank in the U.S. The reseller compiles all the orders from all the customers across the U.S. that day, places one order for all that merchandise from you, and pays you for it with the payment coming to your bank in India. You ship the order to them by freight (air or sea), making it a point to keep the declared value of each shipment below $2,000 (more than that requires a "formal" entry with lots of time and paperwork). When the shipment enters the U.S., the reseller picks it up and clears it with Customs, or hires a customs broker to do that. The reseller then opens the shipment, and fulfills the individual orders from U.S. customers. In this case, your only customer in the U.S. is the reseller. All the individual customers who order your merchandise are actually the reseller's customers, and it is the resellers job to collect sales taxes, pay import duties, etc. -- not yours.

The advantage of #1 is that it is seamless and fast -- but it could be too costly for the type of products you have (the shipping charges you'd have to add in might be more than the cost of what the customer is buying). The advantage of #2 is that it's cheaper and simpler for you -- of course, you'd need a trusted reseller in the U.S. to handle business here, and there has to be a big enough profit margin on your products for both of you to make money from their sale.

The problem with what you've outlined is this: A U.S. customer buying directly from you overseas is, from a U.S. Customs' perspective, the official importer of what they bought (not the fulfillment agency you're working with). As such, the customer expects to receive shipping, tracking, and customs information from you the seller. Without that, they run the risk that their order will be hung up in customs and never delivered (or their worse fear, that the foreign seller never really shipped the item at all and just cheated them out of their money). For that reason, either of the two arrangements I described above are possibly safer.

If you choose the first option, be sure to make a secure payment option like PayPal available (so people who can't use their credit card for an overseas transactions can still buy from you).

I hope this information helps. Best wishes.

Click to view naveen's profile Professional naveen 16 posts since
Dec 8, 2007
9. Re: We are a small Indian Company just starting an e store of Indian handicrafts & silver jewelry. Dec 8, 2007 3:11 PM
in response to: Lighthouse24

The business line is :

  1. we
    have website and server in India
    we are Indian company.
  2. we are
    using a fulfillment warehouse in USA
    just to keep our goods.
  3. our
    company will hire COURIER COMPANY and COURIER COMPANY will deliver the
    goods to our fulfillment warehouse in USA we will pay IMPOERT DUTY and
    SHIPMENT CHARGES to COURIER COMPANY, as fulfillment warehouse is just
    posting the stuff to our web base clients they want goods in warehouse after
    custom cleared only.
  4. now
    the the customer in USA
    buy the stuff our fulfillment warehouse send him the stuff which is
    already duty paid.
  5. and he
    pay us the money via credir card and payment comes in to our bank in India.
  6. for
    the safty of our customer we are buying SSL
    certificates from WEB companies like www.verisign.com
  7. we
    want to ask in this case do we need to charge the sales tax or any other
    tax from our client ( please note web customer is getting a import duty
    paid stuff , which we paid already )
  8. our
    sale will call A SALE FROM INDIA as we are based in India
    or it will call a sale from USA
    as our goods are stored in USA
    fulfillment warehouse.
Click to view Lighthouse24's profile Mogul Lighthouse24 2,396 posts since
Oct 10, 2007
10. Re: We are a small Indian Company just starting an e store of Indian handicrafts & silver jewelry. Dec 8, 2007 3:45 PM
in response to: naveen
In which U.S. state is your fulfillment warehouse located? Whether or not they collect sales tax for items being shipped to customers within that state is a state law, not a federal law.

I can tell you that if the warehouse is in California or Texas, then the answer is NO, they do not collect sales tax on items where the seller is outside the U.S. and the warehouse is just shipping the order. If the warehouse is in Nevada, then they do not collect sales tax, but they must pay the state an equivalent "use tax" on each item shipped to a customer within the state (which is essentially the same amount as sales tax would be for a customer living in that county/city/tax district).
Click to view Lighthouse24's profile Mogul Lighthouse24 2,396 posts since
Oct 10, 2007
11. Re: We are a small Indian Company just starting an e store of Indian handicrafts & silver jewelry. Dec 8, 2007 3:48 PM
in response to: Lighthouse24
Other state laws may vary -- I only know those three because I have offices in each.
Click to view naveen's profile Professional naveen 16 posts since
Dec 8, 2007
12. Re: We are a small Indian Company just starting an e store of Indian handicrafts & silver jewelry. Dec 8, 2007 3:54 PM
in response to: Lighthouse24
my warehouse is in OHIO
Click to view Lighthouse24's profile Mogul Lighthouse24 2,396 posts since
Oct 10, 2007
13. Re: We are a small Indian Company just starting an e store of Indian handicrafts & silver jewelry. Dec 8, 2007 4:05 PM
in response to: naveen
Ohio is just like Nevada -- your warehouse will have to pay the state of Ohio the applicable use tax on items purchased by and shipped to customers within the state.

It's important to distinguish that this is a USE tax not a SALES tax, so it CANNOT be added to the amount an Ohio customer pays for your product when you sell it. By Ohio state law, you must charge customers there the same amount as anyone in any other state. The warehouse must absorb the expense of that tax and pay it to the state. (The reason is to protect local Ohio merchants from outside competition.)
Click to view naveen's profile Professional naveen 16 posts since
Dec 8, 2007
14. Re: We are a small Indian Company just starting an e store of Indian handicrafts & silver jewelry. Dec 8, 2007 4:34 PM
in response to: Lighthouse24
Hi,
Thanks for the emails and the help, THANK YOU very much.
Please let me know your details, we might need you again.

We want your services on a professional payment basis.
Is it possible???

Thanks once again.
naveen

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