Basics of Importing

Sorry about the previous post. I was at the event in Elkhart all weekend and had no way of posting to my blog. I attempted to with the "test" post, but was only able to do it via text and not by email. Therefore, it was impossible to blog when I only could type 156 characters at a time.

A little catch up since it has been a crazy four days! This post entitled, "Basics of Importing," is about last Thursday when I was continuing my investigation of customs. I'll then post about my weekend at the event in Elkhart.

Anne and Kelly are still in Thailand and I am STIll trying to interpret and comprehend the world of importing internationally. I never knew a process could be so meticulously detailed. The responsibility that is placed on the importer is enormous. If any part of the process is not done correctly, you can be fined all sorts of fees. (Again, this is why many people hire a customs broker!). Despite the convenience of a customs broker, it can save a company a lot of money if they learn how to do it themselves. There are numerous resources in the world today that if you take the time to research the topic, the exponential savings your company accrues can ultimately be used for something better.

Well, this is why Anne has delegated the responsibility to me. Throughout my research, I came across a document entitled, "The Basics of Importing." The document is a go to handbook for any business wanting to import internationally. Essentially, it encompasses the entire importing process, as well as, the requirements. The document is 211 pages and covers the following topics: Entry of Goods, Informed Compliance, Invoices, Assessment of Duty, Classification and Value, Marking, Special Requirements, and Foreign Trade Zones. I've been trying to summarize the document for Anne, however it's hard to summarize due to the critical information in each topic. I think we will probably end up printing a hard copy at Kinkos to have as a reference for the future. It truly has been interesting reading about each topic and what the requirements entail. I haven't finished reading the document yet. It seems I have to reread the each page twice to make sure I didn't miss anything. Nonetheless, it has been quite time consuming.

Another responsibility of mine, over the past few weeks, has been to contact Fedex, DHL and UPS to establish who has the better rates when importing internationally. It has been difficult to establish rates since we do not know the specifics of what we will be importing. For these companies to give rates they need to know how much the box weighs and the dimensions of the box. Therefore, its difficult to figure out who has the best rates when we can't give them any definite figures. Once Anne gets back from Thailand (which is a couple days!) we will be able to move forward with this since she has the overall say in the decision.

Tomorrow will be a busy day since the girls are coming back this week and will want to see what we have been working on over the past three weeks!