Postage rates to USA: Top picks for e-commerce

When it comes to e-commerce, several things should be in place for you to succeed. The first is that you need a product or service to sell. Without a product to sell or a service to render, then there is no commerce.

The next obvious thing you need is a customer or someone willing to buy. Then you need a platform that will connect both you and the buyer. This is where e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon come into play.

A payment platform or gateway is also necessary for e-commerce to succeed, especially when trading internationally. The payment gateway takes care of receiving payment from the buyer and sending it to the seller. Finally, a delivery or postage system needs to be in place to ship the product purchased from the seller’s warehouse or location to the buyer.

Each of these factors are important for your e-commerce journey to be successful. In this article, we’ll look at how to handle postage to the USA from the UK. What are the things you need to keep in mind, what couriers can you use, and the expected rates. We’ll also take a look at how you can save money on International payment using Wise Business so that your overhead costs remain low and can enjoy maximum profit.

What to Keep in Mind?

As an e-commerce seller in the UK that wants to sell to enter the US marketplace, there are some things that you should keep in mind. The US is the most sophisticated e-commerce market in the world, and every year, US customers spend about 12.5 billion pounds on UK goods and services online. This means that e-commerce offers you an excellent platform to grow your sales and revenue by selling in the UK.

As an e-commerce seller, you need an e-commerce strategy, no matter what you sell or who you sell to, a good plan is essential for you to succeed in your e-commerce efforts. The first thing you need to do is to clarify your objectives. What do you want to achieve with your online presence? How many impressions do you want to have? And how many people do you want to reach per time? Establishing a customer base that consistently buys from you can be hard and take some time to note what resources you have. Also, you need to know who your target audience is, as well as who your competitors are. All of this information will help you to know how to tailor your online presence.

The next thing you need to do is to choose the channel mix that is right for you. There are four main sales channels in e-commerce.¹

● Your website - You can create a website that you own and run yourself to sell your product or service. This website can be posted in the UK or in the US. one advantage of this is that you can take control over all the features of your site, but you have to drive traffic to it all on your own.

● Online Marketplaces - Another option is to use online marketplaces, such as Amazon or eBay. These platforms are handy to expand your reach and increase your revenues because they are already known and trusted by the buyers in that country. The Department of International Trade has avery useful tool that can help you choose a platform to use to sell internationally. The major disadvantage of using these platforms is that they usually have a lot of rules that you have to follow and also charge extra fees and commissions for their services.

● Third-Party distributors: Another option is for you to sell your product or service through third-party websites. The advantage of using these websites is that they usually have existing sales and marketing networks. However, many of them can charge quite exorbitant fees to help you sell or market your goods or services. This is not good, especially if your product has lower profit margins.

● Social Media: Social media can prove quite useful to increase your market presence and build brand awareness. More than that, you can even sell your products directly on social media. The major advantage of this is that you can target people in a specific location directly. However, a disadvantage is that you might need to invest a lot in advertising.

Another thing that you need to pay attention to is fulfillment, that is how you will fulfil the orders that your customers in the USA place. You can choose several options, such as fulfillment by Amazon, where Amazon can make your deliveries within the United States for you. There are also USA third-party logistics companies to handle deliveries of your products within the United States. You may also need to subject your good to proper documentation as well as customs duty and sales tax on arrival. For more information on the duty rate on your specific product, you can refer to theUS International Trade Commission Database. Another starting point should be to check how your goods are classified according to theUK trade tariff.

You should also note that there are some goods that are controlled from being exported from the UK and imported to the US. These include military items, dual-use items ( items that have both civilian and military uses), and firearms.

What Couriers can I use?³

How to save money on international payments?

If you are looking to save money on payments and transfers online, then Wise is your best friend.

As an e-commerce seller that is selling to the international market, receiving or making payments in foreign currencies can be quite expensive. Most major payment gateways charge a lot of fees on their transfers. In addition, they usually charge a hidden markup on their exchange rate, such that you end up paying more than you otherwise would at the mid-market exchange rate.

With Wise, you can save money on sales using our self-service business account that allows you to receive payments at the mid market rate. Wise provides you with an all-in-one platform for receiving money for free.

You can easily set up a Wise business account and even hold money in multiple currencies. And when you want to convert and receive money in your bank account, you are charged a small transparent fee on upfront.

Another way that Wise helps you save money is with their currency conversion. Wise exchanges currency at the mid-market rate, which is what you’ll see on Google or any other online currency converter which means that you’ll end up getting more for the money that you convert.

Start saving money with Wise today!