Hi Guys, im located in Europe, with relative success with ecom since the last 15 years. Using google planner for research market and i can verify that i can find some keywords with same cpc in europe for some products. I would try if it can convert with profit in US, using
1) My question, after testing if find a winner product, i´ve read that US costumers dont pay any customs fees when the order is shipped from china, only if the order value is below to 800usd, this info is right? here im my country the max is only 20usd, that make almost impossible make dropshipping work here.
2) Im thinking in dropshipping or hire a fullfilment warehouse located in US, my concern is 2 things:
if i dropship from china with 3-5 day fast delivery, what US costumer will think, its a common situation or it will convert less? on other way, get a fullfilment company, i dont know if i have to pay US taxes ( like the VAT in europe 19%-23%) because the stock is located in US, and im selling for US costumers. Can you please guys give some perspective? thanks
I have no idea on 1, but probably as I've never heard any mention of custom fees and I question if most US consumers would pay it if there was.
As to #2 , delivery time matters. This is why Facebook has cracked down on most dropshippers, Wish has a deal with the devil. Consumers hate waiting weeks for delivery. A few days will be acceptable for most.
As to the tax question, in the US we have sales tax. It is charged to the consumer and sent to the state by the seller. You have to have a nexus in the state which the consumer purchased or resides to have an obligation to collect and remit sales tax. What constitutes a nexus has evolved and probably will continue to do so. Sales tax across state lines can be very complex. Each state has its own sales tax rate, and what is and is not taxable will vary from state to state. Also, the rate can change based upon what is being sold or the total value of the transaction. Finally, most municipalities and even counties have their own tax rate. You may have to collect this as well based upon where the consumer lives.
I would start with what
https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/taxes
We are a fulfillment company so I can give you my two cents about it -
1) You are right, EU is quite strict about taxes and the threshold is definitely low. The information you have is right too, you only pay taxes if the value is higher than $800.
2) If you dropship from China with 3 - 5 days delivery, I think it would work just fine. It's already converted. Maybe you are talking about converting them into returning customers? I don't know but most
Not quite sure if you need to pay taxes if you fulfill from the US but honestly I think you should start fulfilling from China first, and if it helps, fulfill from the US.
It's not really effective if the products are made in China, because you'll have to ship a bunch of them to the US and start from there. Pretty time consuming while in this industry, you have to act fast to make money.
Let me know if you need any help shipping from China, I used to be an affiliate for 11 years and I've been into fulfillment for 3+ years so far so I know all the ropes about this industry.
thanks for the info, yes seems legit start first with fast delivery dropshipping. I will try put a US phone number with english VA to give more trust to the buyers. Regarding the shipping tracking numbers maybe i will hide it from the costumers because they will know its shipped from china.