ABTS Training Blog

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November 30, 2018

Importing and exporting doesn’t have to be rocket science. Sometimes a simple idea can kick-off a successful career and doesn’t need to be over complicated.

In November 2017 a young lady, 23 years of age, enrolled on an online import export training course, which she completed and gained the understanding she needed to move goods around the world.

To Or From China? Research Is Key

This young entrepreneur had been looking at China, as many do, to import goods to sell to Europe and on doing more and more research, came across an idea where she saw a gap in the market. This gap however, was in the reverse direction, rather than import from China, she believed that exporting to China was more advantageous, in particular, exporting Spanish wine to China.

A simple product, a simple idea and something that can be relatively easily filled. Sometimes we don’t have to find some far out there, brand new product that no one has ever seen. Keeping an open mind and let your research tell you what’s needed. Then trust your research and your gut feeling!

With alcohol sales increasing significantly year on year and China’s middle class expanding, finer wines are more in demand. Also the explosion of Chinese tourism across the globe means that Chinese are travelling further abroad and finding a taste for quality wine and spirits.

With further research, our entrepreneur selected 3 wine producers in Spain and was grounded in negotiation techniques, therefore able to negotiate a solid and successful contract with them. The wine supplier as you may imagine, was only too happy to help her penetrate the Chinese wine market and was very helpful.

Stockist Agents

In China, after talks with several potential stockist agents, she selected one that fit her personal criteria and potential future expansion plans.

The first deal was agreed and signed and the stockists agents terms of delivery were CFR Chinese Port subject to Incoterms 2010. Our entrepreneur was familiar with and understood these Incoterms and able to make the necessary arrangements for the delivery.

She promptly contacted a freight forwarder in the UK and negotiated a freight rate for collection from the Spanish wine supplier and delivery to the specified Chinese port. Her knowledge of Incoterms 2010 and the research she had conducted ensured she accepted a fair price for this delivery therefore maximising her profits.

Method Of Payment

The final part of the contract was to negotiate with her Spanish wine supplier, a 60 day payment against a Bill of Exchange, availed by her bank and a 30 day bill of exchange, availed with her stockist agent thus enhancing her cash flow, giving plenty of time to receive funds from her stockist agent and make the payment to the Spanish vineyard.

The initial trial order was for 4 pallets of wine by LCL service, with the bills of lading to be produced and forwarded to the stockist agent, together with other commercial documents as a Cash against Documents Transaction.

Bring in a Range

After this successful shipment, the first consignment was sold to one outlet by the selected Chinese stockist agent and a partnership has now been agreed and contracted to jointly finance and purchase a Full Container Load (FCL) of Spanish wine.

With the potential to supply a range of products, negotiations are underway to bring in more related products to maximise this business relationship as joint profit margins.

Lesson Learned

You can turn a relatively simple idea into reality if you follow some simple rules:

Identify the product(s) you wish to buy or sell through solid research.
Research the market you intend to sell to.
Research and find several suppliers. Just one is risky as if there are any issues or problems, you may find yourself with no stock to sell.
Negotiate commercially and legally sound contracts.

No business and making profit, doesn’t come easy. Be prepared to put in the hard work, stay focused and keep yourself driven. Once you’ve navigated your first deal and made your first delivery, you’ll continue to learn and it will get a little easier each time.

Above all don’t “wing it” get trained in the practical aspects of importing and exporting or the risks of losing money are significantly higher.

What are Incoterms and How Are They Used

November 13, 2018

Knowing what Incoterms are and why they are so important is to going to be the foundation of your exporting process. Think of Incoterms as code words that are used within international trade that make it 100% clear where everybody’s responsibility lies as far as the place of delivery, the division of cost and where the risk passes to the buyer.

Why Do We Need Incoterms?

When we buy something from eBay, we expect the seller to receive our money and send us the product that we’ve paid for. If we don’t receive this product, we can contact the seller and address the problem or should that fail, contact either our credit card company and/or eBay and they will act on our behalf and settle the dispute.

Obviously in buying something on eBay the process is pretty simple but the seller may say once they put the product in the post and have the proof of postage, it’s no longer their problem.

If the package is lost in between, it could be the fault of the post office or maybe it was delivered to a neighbor. There are variables that come into play and if something goes wrong, the responsibility of the buyer and seller is not so clear. However, on this small scale it’s usually reasonably easy to resolve.

Incoterms, or these “code words” were developed to clear up any issues on exactly who is responsible for what and make sure that there cannot be any misunderstandings. The prime purpose in developing Incoterms is to identify where the buyers and where the sellers responsibilities lie under three main areas:

The place of delivery from the seller to the buyer.
The transfer of risk from the seller to the buyer.
The division of costs between the seller and buyer.

How Many and What Are They?

There are 11 Incoterms that are divided into 4 categories. There are new Incoterms due to be developed for 2020 so this may increase but these are currently the 11 Incoterms in use on the international logistics stage today:

EXW (Ex Works)
FCA (Free Carrier)
FAS (Free Alongside Shipping)
FOB (Free on Board)
CPT (Carriage Paid To)
CIP (Carriage and Insurance Paid To)
CFR (Cost and Freight)
CIF ( Cost, Insurance and Freight)
DAT (Delivery at terminal)
DAP (Delivery at place)
DDP (Delivery Duty Paid)

Which One Should I Use?

It’s beyond the scope of this blog to go into detail on each Incoterm as it would take quite some time but as you’ve probably guessed, which Incoterm(s) you should be using depends on various circumstances. Not least, your customer may ask you to deliver under a preferred set of Incoterms, so it’s wise to be well informed on what all 11 Incoterms mean and how to use them.

In my experience, the majority of companies that I deal with, tell me that they try to trade under EXW as its ‘Easy” and requires the minimum involvement in the logistics of delivering to their overseas customer.

Two Very Different Examples

Using the following two examples, you can see there are two very different ways to achieve the same thing, namely getting a delivery of your goods to your customer.

Scenario One Using EXW

Here’s an example of what’s needed if you as a seller were to export under the Incoterm EXW (Ex Warehouse):

Place of Delivery: The sellers warehouse door
Risk Passes: At the sellers warehouse door
Cost: Cost of production plus profit (or the price on the invoice)

Export packing (if required)

As you can see, by using EXW, you have very little work to do other than preparing the goods, boxing them up and have the shipment waiting at your door ready for collection.

Delivery Ex Works is great if you can agree on that with your customer but what if they request any terms of delivery? This is where you’ll need to know and understand Incoterms.

Scenario Two Using CFR

Now let’s say that you’ve negotiated and landed a large order, that’s a profitable deal with a new customer and they’re potentially going to make many more orders in the future.

They don’t want to organise the logistics of collecting their order from your warehouse but instead want you to organise the delivery to them. They ask you to complete the order under the Incoterm CFR. This very much changes the work involved from the sellers point standpoint:

Place of Delivery: On board the vessel
Transfer of Risk: When goods are placed on Board the vessel
Division of cost: Cost of production plus profit (or the price on the invoice)

Export packing if required
Export Entry Declared to HMRC
Weight Certificate
Transport to dock of Export
Terminal Handling Charges
Security check if required

Contrary to EXW, by trading under CFR there is much more work to do in preparing the order for export and transferring the shipment to the dock in order to be transported, not to mention you as the seller are extending your risk because you’re not “off the hook” until the goods are on the vessel.

There may also be a cost implication as you’ll have to cover transportation from your warehouse to the dock and the various documentation as listed above.

As a seller, EXW is preferable of course but there will be times where a buyer asks you for something different, so be prepared. In this case you would need to know that trading under CFR will require the following:

You as the seller must have a basic knowledge of the export procedure
Obtain Export Licence IF required
Arrange transport to port of loading
Make an export entry to HMRC
Register for EORI status
Obtain freight quotation from Freight Forwarder or direct from shipping line
Issue Bills of Lading Instructions
Arrange for Bills of Lading to be forwarded to the seller according to the method payment involved in the contract between seller and buyer

There’s much to understand in exporting your orders around the world and if you really want to grow to a global scale, you must have an excellent grasp of export procedure.

Import Export Training Course Online

We’re currently offering our online import export training course for just £99 so now’s a good time to get stuck in and get to grips not just with Incoterms but all aspects that you need in order to streamline your import export process and keep your profitability as strong as possible.

We were voted Best Trade Education Provider in 2017 by Trade Finance Global and our course has been validated by the London Institute of Shipping and Transport.

Check out our reviews on multiple sites and let us know if you have any questions.

How to Become an Import Export Agent, The Wrong Way

November 8, 2018

The idea of becoming an import export agent to many is sold as a quick way to make money without having to do much work. Link up buyers and sellers, do a deal and get paid, this is how easy some think it is. The reality is a little different.

Two years ago I was in Dubai lecturing at a local college and presenting our own import export training course at seminars and to various local trading companies.

I noticed in the hotel lobby, an advertisement for a course entitled “Become a Successful Import Export Agent”. The title caught my attention and out of professional curiosity I purchased a ticket for $15.00. The course was a half day course, from 9 am t to 2 PM with a 15 minute coffee break.

There were four very smartly dressed people, presenting the meeting and we were told in rapid succession by all four presenters there was a fortune to be made as an import export agent, with little or no financial investment and minimum knowledge of International trade. We were then told that once we enrolled in the course, we were on our way to success. As one speaker put it “ The sooner you start the sooner you’ll be rich”.

Each of the four presenters in turn, told us that they were originally working dead end jobs making money for their boss, living the usual rat race, living week to week, hand to mouth.

Get Rich Quick, It’s Child’s Play

By becoming import export agents, this gave them the financial freedom and lifestyle independence to do whatever they wanted. All that was missing was the photos of each of them with a Ferrari. As you may imagine, this went down very well with most of the paying audience. Who doesn’t love the idea of making great money with no financial investment, little risk and you don’t have to study!

We were told it was so straight forward, a child could do it. All that was involved was find a buyer and seller, introduce them to each other and “hey presto” we get a big fat commission for little or no work. For every buyer, there’s a seller and our job is just to match them and then wait for a chunk of money to hit our bank account. Lovely!

No Investment Needed, No Risk…But…

However…even though there was little to zero financial outlay, virtually no risk to setup our new wonder business there was one small initial outlay that we would have to pay up for. You’ve probably guessed it, $800 for their course that would teach us the golden secrets of how to get rich quick as an import export agent.

To prove just how simple this process was, we were given a photo copied sheet of paper with a list of names who were apparently “buyers”, of course with all their contact details blanked out, with a corresponding list of sellers and the products they have to sell but again with their contact details omitted.

Once we paid the $800 fee, we would get the full list of names and addresses and even an example letter that we can copy introducing our buyers to our sellers. What an offer, all the work is done for us, we just have to copy a few letters and send them off and we should be in business, ready for our bank accounts to fill up.

I had visions of myself as a dragon on Dragon’s Den, with stacks of cash on my kitchen table as I eat my breakfast each morning, contemplating what I’m going to buy next.

The final clincher was that by paying out our hard earned $800, we would also receive a fabulous “HOT TIPS” guide! Although we were not enlightened as to what any of these hot tips may be.

The audience at this point was not a rush to join up but these four presenters worked their charm for the next couple of hours or so, telling us that it was the best investment they would ever make and if they didn’t do it today, they will miss out forever.

Cut It Out

In an effort to try and shed some light on how this get rich quick scheme may not be quite so easy, I offered a question, “How can I be sure the buyer and seller don’t just cut me out after the first deal and deal directly with one and other?” In a dismissive tone, the presenter replied, “This very seldom happens, so don’t worry”, then moved on to the next question. Fantastic, let’s pay the $800 then as it hardly ever happens.

At this point after several hours of being told how easy life as an import export agent is and the riches it will produce, the sentiment of the audience had changed and they were on board. Who doesn’t love the idea of making an “easy buck” as they say.

At 2pm the presenters let us know that this was their last seminar in Dubai for another year so, just for us, they would make a special offer of $600.00 to enroll in this super duper life changing course. I managed to leave the room soon after 2pm but as I left there was a line of people signing up for the “special offer”, eagerly anticipating all of the profit they were about to make.

Import Export Agent Training – Realistic Expectations and Honesty

I felt for those people queuing up to make their fortune but first having to spend $600 of their hard earned money. Not because they’re signing up to the course itself or because being an import export agent can’t bring you excellent profits but because their expectations had been mismanaged.

If you want to become an import export agent, it will take some financial investment, it will take time and effort to build relationships with buyers and sellers, you’ll need to learn to negotiate with them, you’ll have to study and understand the implications of acting as a stockist or commission agent and you absolutely must understand in its totality how to trade on an International level.

You will encounter problems, as you will with any business and you must know how to solve these problems quickly and efficiently. You must know where your risks lie and once you grasp these concepts, then you can run a profitable business as an import export agent with a healthy profit margin.

Spending money on a course that promises you quick riches is probably never going to be a good thing. Sure, spend money on courses and educate yourself but also have realistic expectations. Any business you setup is going to take some elbow grease, some investment, study and determination. There is no way to get rich quickly or easily…or we’d all be doing it.

By the way, the correct answer to stopping a buyer and a seller from cutting you out as the commission agent is to include a “circumvention clause” in your contract, which is a fundamental clause in this sort of situation.

Import Export Training Course For £99

If you want to learn how to become an import export agent, check out our online course which teaches the aspects of international trade that you’ll need to know, now just £99.

We were voted Best Trade Education Provider in 2017 by Trade Finance Global and our course has been validated by the London Institute of Shipping and Transport.

Check out our reviews on multiple sites and let us know if you have any questions.

Profit From Britain’s Greatest Export For Next To Nothing

October 31, 2018

Britain is a country of innovation and excellent quality products. There’s so many incredible exports the United Kingdom has to offer that the opportunities are literally endless.

“Can Do”

I’m a big believer in the “can do” mentality. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and Walt Disney all started with an idea. They took that idea, believed in it and never stopped running with it. Here’s a reality check, the photo on the left was Jeff Bezos office in 1999.

He is now the world’s richest man and he achieved it in less than 20 years.

Britain’s Visiting Tourists Will Spend £26.3 billion In 2018

A friend recently asked me to help him think up a business importing exporting. As I got to thinking, I realised his biggest advantage is where he lives, Oxford. On doing just a small amount of research, the figures show that Britain’s tourism industry is huge and only getting stronger. Here’s a few facts from Visit Britain:

2017 set a record for inbound tourism to the UK in terms of both visits and spend. There were 39.2 million visits to the UK in 2017, up 4.3% on 2016, with these visitors spending £24.5 billion, an 8.7% increase on 2016. The growth in visits was in line with the trend seen over the past five years. The growth in spending was the highest since 2013 and the second highest since 2006; spend per visit rose by 4.3%.
Our revised forecast for visits for the calendar year 2018 is for continued growth. We are forecasting 40.9 million visits in 2018, an increase of 4.4% on 2017. Our forecast for spending by visitors in 2018 is £26.3 billion, an increase of 7.1% on 2017.
London obviously receives the most visitors but Oxford is already 8th on the list

A very interesting article in The Guardian gave interesting statistics on the amount of Chinese tourists that are now travelling the globe and the UK.

The Back of Your Hand

£26.3 billion is more than enough to go around so why not take your slice? My friend has lived all his life in Oxford and knows it like the back of his hand. His whole network is there so rather than think too far afield I suggested he start at home. Why not create tours of Oxford with your own flare. Sure there’s people doing it already but there’s no market in the world that’s untouched and without competition. He knows Oxford better than anyone and can take visiting tourists not just to the usual sites but his favorite places.

He can try and negotiate deals with local businesses, many of which he already knows, offering his tour groups a discount if brings them.

Home On The Range

One of the points we teach in our free import export training tips is the have a range of products. Always easier to come away with a sale if you offer a range of products opposed to just one. Our Oxford tours idea is no different, which could offer several tours to cater to different audiences:

The Pub Crawl: Who doesn’t love a pub crawl. Take your guests on a tour of some of the best local pubs, try some of Britain’s best beers and ale’s!
Food Tasting: Tour Oxford’s tea rooms, fish and chip shops, bakery’s, the many places that my friend knows and loves. Ask if they will cater for a group offering smaller portions as a few hours of eating at different places means you can’t eat the usual full size plate.
Movie Sets: There’s many movies and series that have been filmed in part in Oxford, running a tour visiting these and giving some local insight is something tourists love to see.

A Captive Audience

Once the tour group is in front of you, there’s a captive audience. Personality will make a difference so interjecting this would make the tour more enjoyable, interact with the group and this builds levels of trust. Building on trust then look to sell products to the group. We all love a souvenir, so negotiating with local businesses that offer fine, perhaps hand made products and these can be offered to the group.

I suggested my friend also makes sure to get the groups contact email and any other details as many tourists will return to a holiday destination. They may want to take another of the tours or hear about newly created ones.

Get their feedback and make changes as that feedback suggests.

Export Britain

Perhaps another piece of the jigsaw is to then get an online ecommerce site and promote this to the same audience and export Britain around the world. See our blog post with practical advice on how to go about getting online and exporting globally, without having to have a huge budget.

Offering tours as well as fine British products online is a double income stream.

You Won’t Know Until You Do It

As you can see, setting up this business really won’t cost a fortune and all you’re doing is taking the knowledge you have and using it to build a business. Take what interests you have and stick to what you know, this is key. Focus on one thing to start with, then grow your business organically.

Once you start to get the audience, you can market to them. The UK has some fantastic products and places to see and millions of people from around the world come here to experience it every day.

Creating your own import export business isn’t rocket science, it just takes a thought and a little imagination.

What Is A Freight Forwarder and How Do They Help Me Export?

Knowing what a freight forwarder is and how they can help you with your exporting process is really importing as at some point you’re very likely going to need to work with one.

When it comes to freight forwarding, there’s three main questions to answer:

What is the role of a freight forwarder?
How do I select a freight forwarder?
How do I find a freight forwarder?

I ran my own freight forwarding company for many years so I am well qualified to answer all three of these questions and I hope it will become clear to you the advantages of using a freight forwarder.

Exporting Isn’t The Same As Going To The Post Office

So let’s dive straight in and answer the question, “what is a freight forwarder?”. When exporting, the most important thing to know is how to move your goods from the warehouse to your destination. Unfortunately, once your exports get to a certain size, it’s not as easy as going to the post office or Fed Ex, paying the fee and sending.

Exporting larger loads is a multi-step process and that involves knowing how to find the most competitive freight rates, booking that freight for shipping, having to complete all the export documentation which can include an export entry, Certificate of Origin and Bill of Lading to name a few. Gaining the knowledge for this is wise, so that you can understand, manage and control every step of the process yourself and therefore know firsthand where problems may lie in your export process and fix them in order to constantly streamline that process and become as efficient as possible. ABTS Training offers an online import export training course that will do exactly that; help you streamline your export process.

However, if you don’t have the time to study as you’re juggling what may feel like a million things, there’s freight forwarders. A freight forwarder will take care of all these tasks for you and will likeley offer other services such as export packing, warehousing and local transport. They become your adviser and hopefully someone you can trust.

What Can I Ask A Freight Forwarder?

In short, anything you want about how to get your goods from your warehouse to your destination. For example, if you need to get your products to China, you may want to ask them:

When is the next vessel sailing for your Shanghai?
How much is it to ship a FCL to Shanghai?
What is the air freight rate for 40 kilos to Hong Kong?

A phone call or email to your freight forwarder may answer many of your questions and you’ll likely get some free advice as you only pay when they undertake an export consignment for you and send you the invoice. As you can see, the advantage of using a freight forwarder is they are a one stop shop and will take care of the entire process for you. But as you know, when there’s an advantage, there’s many times, a disadvantage.

A Little Knowledge Weeds Out The Bad Eggs

The big disadvantage of completely relying on a freight forwarder is that, like in any industry, some freight forwarders can take advantage of the fact that you have little or no knowledge of exporting and charge you accordingly, you didn’t think freight forwarders work for free did you?

I stress only SOME, there’s bad eggs in every industry and the vast majority of forwarders are very professional and eager to help you. It goes without saying that a freight forwarder has to make a profit but that’s very different from ripping you off.

My advice is, by all means use the services of a freight forwarder BUT understand export procedures yourself so you have a working knowledge of freight rate structures and the real cost of producing export documentation. Once you know these facts you can work successfully with your freight forwarder and be sure you’re not being taken advantage of and working towards a solid long-term, professional relationship.

Know What It Costs Or It’ll Cost You!

Not knowing your costs has real consequences. We had an exporter that joined our training course in order to gain the knowledge he needed to understand his export process from start to finish. Until then, he had given all his exports to a freight forwarder and had never known what questions to ask or what the real-world cost was of exporting his goods.

He had worked so hard with suppliers, negotiated deals with them, found a market for his products, got the deals done to sell but at the last hurdle, he was taken advantage of.

As he had little to zero knowledge of freight rates and blindly trusted his freight forwarder this particular forwarder could see his lack of knowledge and as a result charged £7.06 per Kilo while a commercial rate was £2.60 per kilo. This ended up costing him thousands in extra fees that he didn’t need to pay and would have obviously given him a much, much healthier profit margin had he had that knowledge.

After completing our course, he fixed that problem and went on to build a very successful business.

The point of this example is to emphasise that it’s very wise to have a working knowledge of exporting, not to insinuate that all freight forwarders will overcharge the innocent. As I mentioned, I was a successful freight forwarder for many years without overcharging my clients. All my colleagues in the freight forwarding business gave a good service for a fair price.

Finding a Freight Forwarder

Finding a freight forwarder is as easy as searching for one on Google. Finding one that’s going to work well for you, is slightly different.

Follow this very simple rule: make sure that the freight forwarder can give you the service YOU require not what they WANT to give you.

For example, if a freight forwarder is strong in sea and airfreight to South America and Australia and that they can offer you very competitive rates to these destinations but your market is the Middle East, this is not a well fitting partnership. This may sound obvious but many times I’ve seen savvy exporters use suppliers in one way or another that aren’t a good fit for them, just because a friend uses them or they have a good name in a certain area.

We All Have A Wish List

Before agreeing any business or contracts with a freight forwarder, you should make out a wish list with the level of service YOU require from a freight forwarder. Here is an example:

Can you offer UK collection from my local suppliers (here name your suppliers address)? If so please quote.
Can you offer competitive air freight rates from the UK to (your destination)? If so please quote up to 1000 kgs.
Can you offer competitive rates FCL/LCL rates to (your destination)? If so please quote. (This is where a knowledge of Incoterms 2010 is needed).
Please quote to prepare the following documentation: Bills of Lading, Certificates of Origin.
Can you offer local warehousing and export packing? Please quote.
Please name the contact person responsible for servicing my account.
What are your terms of payment?
Please send me a copy of your trading terms and conditions.

The above is just indicative of questions you should ask in order to get the service YOU require for your particular exports.

Finding A Freight Forwarder?

This is an easy answer thanks to Google. Just type in “freight forwarding in (here mention you town or city)” and you will be swamped with local contacts.

You can also check the BIFA website and they will supply you with a list of all Freight Forwarders who are members.

If you want to go it alone or use the services of a freight forwarder, either way you need to understand the business of exporting so take the time to get yourself up to speed. You won’t regret it and it really will streamline your business and add to your profit margin.

Quick Guide

Hopefully our handy guide will help you.

How To Export And Sell Online To A Global Audience

October 29, 2018

Once you know how to export, the bigger question becomes, how do you sell to an international market? The Internet is the obvious way to reach a global market without needing millions in advertising budgets through traditional advertising. Out simple guide below explains the basics of getting your website online and key points to marketing.

The Big Idea

That idea that began in your head, you acted on, you’ve found a way to take it and turn it into a reality. Congratulations indeed, you are part of the minority. For many, taking the risk, working that hard, probably your current job in the day, then getting home and working another shift on your own company is too much for the majority. Putting up your own money to finance your new company, keeping the motivation and drive can be difficult but you’ve not given up, what you’ve achieved is admirable and you’ve proven yourself braver than most.

You’ve achieved so much, you’ve sourced or are manufacturing your products, importing them to your warehouse and now they’re selling. The next question now is, how to sell to more of your products and how to sell to a global market?

It’s Not Easy But You Already Know That

Selling is not rocket science, you have to sell your products at a higher price than you buy them. However, especially in this day and age where competition is fierce, it’s easier said than done. It’s not easy but you already know that coming this far. You’re obviously up for the challenge. Selling globally is something that we can all do these days thanks to the Internet. That idea of making money and taking orders while you sleep is reality.

Buy A Domain

A domain is where it all starts online – www.mysite.com. Registering one is easy enough, go over to Go Daddy, search for your name and register it. Two quick tips:

1. Registering a domain name with your main keyword in it can help with rankings. You can register two names, one being your company name and the other more keyword friendly. You can promote your company domain on business cards, letterheads etc. but promote the keyword rich one within Google and online.

Don’t overdo the keywords though, keep it simple and still has to look professional.

2. The longer you buy the domain for, it could help your ranking in Google. Google ranks websites on many hundreds of points so buying a domain for 10 years won’t get you to the top on it’s own but it’s something that Google does measure.

Google’s logic is simple, if you spend the money to register it for a long period of time, you plan on being around, opposed to someone who is taking it year by year.

Build Your Site

It’s obvious but the best thing you can do is build yourself a website. Years ago this used to be an expensive and time consuming project but now it’s really become much more simple. There are “open source” free website platforms out there, the most common being WordPress. You will need a little tech knowledge but there are so many free tutorials on Google for WordPress that at every step you’ll be able to fall back on some video help.

Magento is a second step up, more powerful as a ecommerce platform but you’ll need more tech knowledge.

Shopify is an option as somewhere you can setup shop quickly and easily but doesn’t give you all the control you may find you need.

WordPress may well be the best place to start. It used to be that you had to find a designer that would create your design then a coder to implement that design. Now you can simply go to a site like Template Monster and search for WordPress templates. Buy one, grab some hosting and install. That is a little tricky and will take some time but here’s a quick guide on how to start . Check out Woocommerce as this is what you’ll need to install to actually run the ecomm side of your site.

Keep It Simple

The temptation when building your shiny new website is to put everything you can think of in it. There’s literally thousands of free plugins and features you can add. Best advice, keep it simple. The advent of the internet has made us much less patient. If we can’t find what we’re looking for in a few seconds, we hit the back button and bounce off the site. The same will be true of your website; your competition is one click away. Keep things simple, clear, to the point and quick.

Search For It And Make It Snappy

Add a site search or a product search, especially if your site has many pages and/or products. Allow people to find what they want quickly. Quick being another key point for Google, as something else it looks for in the site speed. If your site take a long time to load, Google penalises you. “Long” on the internet is measured in seconds. So keep your site light and make sure it loads quickly, especially on mobile as I’m sure you know, most of us access the web through our mobiles more than desktop now.

Speak Their Language

If you want to be global with clients worldwide, you’re going to have to speak to them. Translations of the site will be needed. You can try and sell to Spain in English but your sales will inevitably be stronger if you sell in Spanish. You’ll also have to consider what you’ll do if you have a Spanish customer that has an issue and can only talk in Spanish, a problem if you only speak English.

Customer Service Is All That Matters

Lessons can and should be learned from Zappos. Zappos has sold a billion dollars worth of shoes so if there’s anyone to learn from, it’s these guys. Customer service wins loyalty. When we call a company, we want to speak to a human, we don’t want to dial more numbers to get there, we want a response quickly. If we have a problem or a complaint, make it right. The best way of keeping customers loyal is to deal with problems and issues, quickly and to fix the problem. We all understand that there are problems in life, it’s how you correct them that can make a disgruntled customer, a happy and forever loyal customer.

Make that happen. Have a read on Forbes about Zappos customer service.

Analytics

Install Google Analytics on your site, it’s free. Setup goals and study the data. Without knowing what your audience is looking at on your site, what’s working, what’s not working, you won’t be able to progress. Analytics offers a wealth of information for you to study. Without using this, you’re blind.

Why No Traffic Jam?

After all this, you may find yourself wondering why you’re not getting any traffic or sales. Well, there’s around 645 million websites online today. How are people going to find yours if you don’t tell them about it? Means more work but we already know you’re not scared of that! Here’s a few ideas to get you thinking.

Google Adwords

Getting a high ranking in Google is what we all want but it’s no easy task. It takes time and a lot of work. A quick way to Google is using Adwords. Pay to appear at the top of Google. Yes it means you have to find more funds but it’s a quick way to get off the ground. The other advantage is that it will give you an idea of traffic, whether your site is working well, if you have customers calling you you’ll understand their needs better.

Blogging

WordPress is actually a blogging platform so use it. Create blogs that are interesting and relevant to people. I hope you are finding this blog useful and that you’re benefiting from the information. The next post I write, you will hopefully be interested in and continue to read. Over time, I hope you’ll become a loyal follower and share the information I’m writing about with others that will find it useful. The same applies to whatever you’re doing.

Don’t write blogs where you’re simply trying to get people to buy what you’re selling, drive people to your site with interesting and relevant content, then they may visit your site and look deeper, perhaps taking the plunge and buying something.

For example, if you sell cakes, don’t just try and sell your cakes on your blog. You can write recipes, make a few videos of how to make the best brownies at home, what are some of the best ingredients to use in cakes, what are your favorite cakes, whats the best cake tin…you get the idea. These subjects will be more interesting and if you post them out on social media, may get a lot more interest than, “Please Buy My Great Cakes”.

Be Social

Once you’ve written those great blogs or created a few great videos, send them out on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and all the networks. Use hashtags to gain more exposure.

The main thing to remember is not to get bored and give up. Blogging and gaining traffic takes time, you need to think of this as a 12 – 18 month project, it won’t happen over night. Be consistent and you’ll get there.

Take A Piggyback

Another idea is to use sites that allow you to sell but take a commission. This may not work for you if you’re working off tight commissions but in the long term it can still work, so consider it. Sites like Not On The High Street, Etsy and even Amazon and Ebay can really work to springboard some product awareness.

By adding your products to these, you’ll have to pay a commission on sales but you’re products may start to get exposure and any sales, means you’ll have the details of that customer to market to in future. Rather than looking at it as a commission on sales, you could look at it as paying to gain the customer.

Email Lists

Last point is to make sure you’re creating an email list of users. It’s an old form of marketing now but it’s still effective. Offer something for free on you’re site, a discount, an ebook, a free cake! Get the user to leave their email and you’ll be able to keep them up to date with new products, discounts and other exciting bits and pieces!

I hope this information helps get you off the ground towards finding your global market place and if it did, perhaps share it with others! (See what I did there?!)

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Importing and Exporting Negotiation Techniques

October 26, 2018

Negotiation is a fundamental part of international trading. You’ll negotiate every part of a deal from sourcing your products from suppliers, dealing with wholesalers and retailers, negotiating price and therefore your profit margin as well as the terms of delivery. Understanding how to negotiate is one of the cornerstones to making any business successful not just importing and exporting.

What Is An Effective Negotiation?

Deals come in all shapes and sizes but they are really only effective when both sides are happy. Making a deal where you get everything but the other side comes away with nothing, in the long run won’t be good for you as you could find yourself dealing with someone who’s unmotivated and doesn’t care about losing your business, therefore gives you a terrible or non existent customer service and perhaps cut as many corners as possible to save on their budget.

Effective negotiations works when both sides gain. Both sides are then motivated and want to work together for the long term, resolve problems and issues quickly and continually better the service and relationship.

Personalities and Relationships

This is really important to understand: Many deals are negotiated based on matching personalities, not cost alone. If you can find something in common and personalities work well, this can seal the deal.

Negotiating a deal is much easier when you like the person you’re dealing with. Think about how much sense that makes for a second? If you’re negotiating with someone who’s hard headed, stubborn or arrogant and wants only what they want, you probably won’t be that interested in getting the deal done. You’ll see them as someone who’s probably going to cause you a lot of stress and grief as time goes on, which no matter who much money may be on the table, you’ll really have to consider if it’s worth it.

On the other hand, if you’re meeting with someone who’s relaxed and friendly, someone you can meet for a beer and discuss business, this is a much more likable scenario. They still know and understands business but you can see they’ll be good to work with, understanding when things go wrong and someone that will work with you for a solution, this type of person or relationship is much more appealing. Money will always be important but may not always be the priority.

Getting to know the person your negotiating with a little can go a long way.

Show An Interest, Understand The Project And Be Excited

Imagine you’ve got a great idea, you’ve spend months researching it, you’ve spent hard earned money getting the idea off the ground. This is now your baby, you’re excited, you love seeing this idea that started in your head, grow and become a reality. The next phase is to meet two suppliers for example.

The first is a guy who sits across the desk, asks what you want, looks it up, tells you he can do it, gives you a good price and leaves you to it.

The second is someone that takes the time to grab a coffee with you, wants to hear about how you came up with your idea, what steps you’ve taken to get the project to the point it’s at and wants to know about some of the obstacles you’ve faced. They show an interest in your baby, they show some enthusiasm and excitement and understand your project.

Perhaps they ask what other companies or people you’re working with as they may have a relationship with them as well something that could be a mutual benefit. They ask how you plan to move the project forward, perhaps suggesting they introduce you to a couple of people in their business network that would benefit you as well as ask what problems you foresee in the future to see if they can help combat some of these.

The price they give you is higher than the first but still just within your budget. Who would you award the contract to?

Being enthusiastic, taking the time to learn a little goes a long, long way.

5 Key Steps Before Starting A Negotiation

Step 1: Defining Objectives And Targets: Start with preparing your “L-I-M”.

1. Recognizing the objectives you would LIKE (L) to achieve. What does the perfect deal look like to you? Be realistic with this and make sure it’s not totally one sided. As mentioned, you don’t want anyone unmotivated on the other side.

2. Identify what objectives you INTEND (I) to achieve. Knowing what your objectives are will keep you focused, don’t lose track of these and make sure these are the prioritised in case you have to sacrifice one or two.

3. Finally, recognize the MINIMUM (M) you’ll accept. Know when you’ll walk away. If you cannot achieve what you need minimally from the deal, there will be no point in continuing the discussion. In these cases, don’t burn your bridges as you never in in future if you can’t do a deal again but be prepared to walk away.

Step 2: Setting The Negotiation Strategy.

Are you working towards a Win-Win or a Win-Lose strategy? A win-win leads to collaboration, mutual interest, flexibility, joint problem solving and harmony between the parties, a good strategy for a long term relationships.

A win-lose strategy can lead to conflict, inflexibility, competition, one side beating the other and adversarialism. This strategy can be used effectively in one-off deals but be careful as if you need to come back and do another deal, you may find yourself with the door being shut in your face.

Step 3: Active Listening

Concentrate on what is being discussed. Don’t answer back or interrupt. Try to understand the other persons point of view and don’t jump to conclusions. Understand what you’re being told and put yourself in their position, try and think from their side how you can bridge the gap.

Step 4: Methods Of Persuasion

One or several of the following methods of persuasion can be used.

Logic: A simple strategy, laying our the facts, the positives, the negatives and talking them through.
Bargaining: We’ve seen this many times on Dragon’s Den! Back and forth trying to find the acceptable middle ground. What will you give up, what will the other person give up to make a deal. Be realistic with what you’re going to bargain with or the other side may not take you seriously.
Emotion: Someone that likes you will want to work with you. Find what you have in common, sometimes even ask about their family, do you have kids the same age, family that live in the same town. These things can help to find common ground.
Threats: Not perhaps the best or first course of action but it threats have their place. If you are the client, you can threaten to take your business elsewhere unless they give you some kind of a better deal. Sometimes there is only so much the other side can do, they cannot sell to you at a lost for a sustained period obviously so use this tactic sensitively and realistically.
Compromise: Find the compromise through dialog. Chat back and forth, listen and compromise.

It is up to you to select the correct one(s) for the particular situation you’re in. Make sure you have a very good idea of what you want and what you’ll sacrifice before you go into battle!

Step 5: Style It Out

Find your own style; warm, a little humorous, tough, logical, all business? Negotiations are personality driven. Personalities will either get along or clash. Find a way to get along and recognize these personality traits in the other party and respond accordingly.

Hopefully some of these techniques will help you with your next negotiation. We would love to hear how you get on or what tips you have for a successful negotiation in the comments.

How Will A No Deal Brexit Will Effect VAT Procedure

October 16, 2018

Below is our quick guide on how a no-deal Brexit could effect VAT procedure. Make sure you understand how this will effect your imports and exports from the United Kingdom as you will have to understand these changes if you want a streamlined import export procedure:

Imports:

Postponed accounting for EU imports
Importers will account for import VAT on their existing VAT returns

Exports:

Retain evidence that goods have been exported to EU member states
Remember tat the customs declaration system will be paperless
Exported goods to EU will be zero rated on commercial invoice
EC sales list will no longer be used to declare exports to EU
Make sure your company’s export software is adjusted to reflect changes
Register for AEO for imports and exports.

The Possible Impact of BREXIT on Trade

October 9, 2018

No one knows what the full impact of Brexit will be but without a deal, something that is looking increasingly likely, the below graphic are just some the unknowns that should be considered for your import-export business:

The impact of Brexit on international customs and trade compliance is not yet clear but the following factors are something that must be considered at this stage.

By the end of March 2019, Britain will have exited from the European union, with a massive impact on customs and trade processes.

What will happen without an agreement?

48% of UK shipments go to EU countries
54% of UK arrivals come from EU countries

…without customs clearance and duties to be paid.

Those movements will become third-country imports or exports, including the need for customs declarations and duties due to a missing agreement. Export control regulations will be affected as well.

For just two minutes more for customs inspections per truck results in approximately 27 extra kilometres of traffic jam with a huge impact on the supply chain.

Additional custom specialists will be required.

The administrative burden could increase from five minutes before Brexit to more than one hour of workload per export! 185,000 UK traders could be making their customs declarations for the first time.

Customs declarations in the UK are expected to increase from 55,000,000 to 255,000,000 per year. It could be very costly, with an estimated €50 or more per declaration.

The OECD estimates that inefficiencies relating simply to the process of customs clearance could result in additional costs of up to 10% of the value of the goods.

Beyond this, increased duty rates on imports to the UK, from non-EU countries due to the UK losing access to EU free trade agreements will apply. New free trade agreements need to be negotiated with all relevant countries which could take 5 to 7 years per free trade agreement.

Lastly, more questions still need to be answered that we just don’t know the answers to right now:

Will the new customs authority system CTS be ready?
Will support systems be ready?
Will there be enough capacity and customs brokers?
Will the companies export control management be ready?

There are many questions to be answered but it is important to understand what is at stake and how your business will be affected. Take the time now to understand how Brexit could directly effect you and research what changes you need to make, so you are not caught out and your business does not suffer Come March 2019.

Two Simple Actions to Begin Preparations for Brexit

October 3, 2018

Importing and exporting within the EU could be vastly different with either a Hard or Soft Brexit. With only 6 months left, now is the time to prepare. We address two simple action points to get you started.

Coral is offering even odds on a hard Brexit at the time of writing this blog post and The Guardian is reporting that two thirds of British businesses have made no preparations at all for Brexit.

Should this happen and the UK does leave the EU on the 29th March 2019 without a deal, the EU as far as trade goes, will become like any other “foreign country”, take for example Venezuela. British companies will need the same documentation to trade with the EU as you would Venezuela.

Currently, trading with the EU is very easy, there’s no major documentation required, no customs, any import export documentation that is required is filed remotely after the import or export is completed. That same export to France will be much harder.

Be proactive, not reactive, have everything in place before the end of March. If you trade solely with the EU, you are running at this point, a very high risk of being completely caught out and your business potentially coming to a halt if you don’t know how to trade outside of the EU.

Prepare for Brexit – A Checklist

Do you have an EORI number?
If not, go and get one. If you’re trading outside the European Union already, you’ll have an EORI number, so you don’t need to worry about this. If not, depending on whether you’re registered for VAT or not and whether you’re importing or exporting, here’s how to get your EORI number.
Customs Clearance will be using the new CDS system, we’re told by the end of 2018. You will need an EORI number to access this system.
Delivery Times: Without a deal, delivery times of goods coming in and out of the EU will be delayed with some estimating very severe delays.To begin to understand the extent of what the direct consequences could be see our quick guide on “The Possible Impact of Brexit on Trade”. Analyse how your business will cope if this is realised and goods you’re importing are held up for days before you receive them and equally, how this will effect your shipments outbound to your customers. If you’re offering guaranteed delivery times, you may well want to rethink this.
Brexit Risk Assessment: Perform a risk assessment on your entire company, from the warehouse to the managing director . Where is your company vulnerable, what will need to change, where are your biggest risks and how can you minimise them?

ABTS Training can help should you need it. For more information on our Brexit Breakdown membership, please feel free to contact us.

How To Prepare Your Business For Brexit

September 27, 2018

UK businesses need to prepare for Brexit. At this stage no one quite knows where we will be on the 29th March but we do know that without a deal, trade with the EU will bring about major adverse changes. UK traders will of course, want to continue trading with their established EU partners. Likewise, EU traders will want to strengthen trading ties with their UK partners.

Until now, inter EU trading has been a very easy process, with minimal customs involvement, open borders, unimpeded deliveries, largely paperless and declaration of VAT post delivery just to mention some of the advantages we had as a member of the EU.

Life After Brexit and International Trade

With a hard Brexit, this frictionless trading will come to an end and the UK will be thrown into the world of International Trade, with all its impositions, rules and regulations trading under WTO rules and tariffs. Our EU trading partners will have the same status as any of our other international trading partners outside the EU such as Russia and will have to follow the same Customs procedures such as declaration on the new CDS system, which is replacing the old CHIEF system. This means that consignments will need to be given specific statuses of Route 1, 2, 3, or 6, all of which are time consuming. This could cause severe delays at the UK border for EU member consignments, some predicting up to six hours.

A Brexit Checklist

However, UK traders can be prepared and grasp this as a great opportunity to become part of a global explosion in trade. UK businesses must identify how Post Brexit will affect their trading position within the EU and beyond and be prepared to meet the new challenges.

The following are a set of questions that is advisable to ask yourself and research, pre-Brexit. Be proactive, no reactive and prepare for a worst case scenario Hard Brexit now. Waiting for the 29th March 2019 may well be too late.

1. Understand how to export. How will the new Import/Import regulations impact upon my business?

2. Will I have to change my Terms of Delivery (Incoterms 2010)?

3. Will I now have to employ the services of a freight forwarder/ clearing agent and at what additional cost?

4. Does my company have the necessary import/export training to work alongside the new rules and regulations?

5. Am I registered for EORI status?

6. Do my goods attract an Import/Export licence?

7. Can I identify a Customs regime which may help me reduce my import costs?

8. How will VAT be collected on inter EU trade?

9. Do I understand the new Customs Declaration System CDS for Imports/Exports?

10. Can I provide the relevant information for inputs into CDS (i.e. new tariff changes as introduced in Volume 3 of the Tariff)?

11. Have I subscribed to the Government Gateway Account?

12. Will my existing supply chain timing be affected? What adjustments do I have to make to counter any extra delays?

13. Will I have to make changes my company Terms and conditions?

14. Will Post Brexit rules affect my competitive edge? If so how can I retain my competitive edge?

15. Will my existing EU customers impose a different method of payment other than the one currently in use?

16. Do I fully understand the methods of payment associated with International Trade (ie. Letters of Credit, CAD, Bills of Exchange)?

17. Have I arranged for an AWARENESS COURSE for ALL members of staff to attend pre-Brexit 29th March 2019?

Check out our top ten tips on on importing and exporting to get you started.

The Brexit Breakdown

A new subscription service where we do the research, contact relevant agencies and get to the bottom line on Brexit import and export.

We cut through the complicated web of information to give you need-to-know facts for your business, post Brexit, keeping you informed through webinars, videos, email alerts and printable fact sheets.

See The Brexit Breakdown for more information.

ABTS Training Voted Best Trade Education Provider 2017

February 12, 2017

ABTS Training have been awarded BEST TRADE EDUCATION PROVIDER 2017 by Trade Finance Global. It is a great honour to receive this award which recognises the high level of course presentation and content delivered by ABTS Training Services.

The judges comment, “We were impressed with the simple, straightforward and clear way that ABTS presents their course. The course covers vital introductory elements such as Transport types, Payment mechanisms and Incoterms.”

Validated by the London Institute of Shipping and Transport, our course teaches the practical, need-to-know information for the real world issues you’ll face when importing or exporting goods globally. We don’t waste your time teaching you the logistical theory as you’ll never use this in the day-to-day running of your business. Import export subject matter may not be the most engaging so rather than have hours of videos of a teacher talking in front of a whiteboard or asking you to read through pages and pages of text, we’ve developed a series of entertaining, animated videos that teach all the lessons you’ll need to move your goods from source to destination. We make sure you’ll trade profitably from day one and avoid the common mistakes and pitfalls importing and exporting.

Please contact us for more information on our online import export training course.

Letters of Credit – Which One Should I Use?

November 18, 2015

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Letters of credit are a hugely important part of international trade and import export. They guarantee payment and allow the seller to receive payment which can be advantageous when capital is needed up front. Our quick guide below shows you the four most common types of letter of credit and when to use them.

The Four Most Common Type of Letters of Credit:

IRREVOCABLE: Cannot be changed or amended without the consent of both the buyer and seller.

RED CLAUSED: Useful when the seller needs an up front funds from the letter of credit, this could be to buy the raw material for the contract. The amount available was usually printed in red ink hence the name.

TRANSFERABLE: Used by the seller to purchase the goods of the contract from a third party. It enables the seller the purchase the goods with the funds from the Letter of Credit. Very useful when the seller is acting as a middle man and has not the personal funds to purchase the goods of the contract

CONFIRMED: Used when the seller is unsure of the buyers banks ability to honour the Letter of credit. This could be due to Political or financial unrest in the buyers country. The letter of credit is Confirmed by a second bank usually the sellers bank, The confirming bank becomes the prime payer and seeks reimbursement from the buyers bank.

Validated By The London Institute Of Shipping And Transport

November 1, 2015

Our online international trade course has been validated by The London Institute of Shipping and Transport since 2005, giving our students the confidence in the practical, hands-on way we teach you have to import and export. Our course is streamlined, excluding any logistics theory, getting to the point and showing you what you’ll need to know and understand in order to move your goods from source to destination. We do this with a series of entertaining animated videos, opposed to asking you to read pages and pages of text, or listen to a teach at a whiteboard for hours.

We’ve trained hundreds of students and helped further their careers as well as helped setup countless successful businesses, with many of our students now their own boss running their own successful companies.

With over 30 years of experience, we’re here to offer you one-to-one support and bring your career or business to the next level.

How to Export From The UK: The 9 Most Costly Mistakes

October 19, 2015

Knowing how to export from the UK can be complicated and take time to understand. It’s worth researching or signing up to an import export training course that will teach you in depth knowledge to trade internationally. There are many pitfalls and costly mistakes that you should be aware of. Below and the 9 most common and costly:

Follow these nine key steps to better understand how to export form the UK and avoid some very common and costly mistakes:

1. Not understanding effective sourcing techniques.
Result: You’re limiting potential suppliers and perhaps not getting the best products at the most competitive price.

2.Not identifying ALL costs from seller to buyer.
Result: Not realising expected profit margins but increased costs.

3.Not understanding import custom regimes and correct tariff number.
Result: Not minimising your import custom duty leading to higher, unnecessary costs.

4. Not understanding Sea/ Air freight rate structures.
Result: Being overcharged by your Freight forwarder.

5. Not understanding method of payments available.
Result: Negative cash flow, not using method of payment as a negotiating tool.

6. Not undertaking how to conduct in depth and comprehensive market research.
Result: Dead stock or limiting your customer base.

7. Not identifying most advantageous channel to sell your goods through wholesalers, retailers, direct to public via own retail outlet or websites.
Results: Lost sales.

8. Not understanding your responsibilities and costs under the Term of Delivery used in the sales contract.
Result: Charged for costs you are not responsible for, reducing your profit margins.

9. Lacking negotiating skills.
Result: Loosing out on negotiations and not receiving the best deal that you could have.

Trade Finance: The new funder on the block for importers and exporters

October 14, 2015

The construction sector is experiencing the fastest rate of hiring for over 15 years, the pound is stronger than it was 2 years ago across 18 major currencies, and countries are beginning to partner on deals which encourage trade globally.

To accommodate this, business funding has become a hot-topic amongst the SME and corporate community, with the rise of alternative debt and equity funders (e.g. the crowdfunding platform Crowdcube and invoice discounting companies such as MarketInvoice).

Yet 70% of businesses are struggling with getting funding, particularly for purchasing goods and services from overseas, which is surprising given the current position of the UK economy.

Sadly, many companies don’t know where to begin when it comes to funding their business, but what doesn’t help, is that business funding is complicated. Depending on the stage of your business, how much capital you already have, how quickly you need the funding and how long you’ll need it for, the funding you require could vary immensely.

Trade finance, an umbrella term for the ‘financing of international trade’, covers a range of financial products which can help importers and exporters trade. International import and export businesses have the added complications of understanding the mechanisms of trade finance, which involves jurisdiction across different countries, language barriers, understanding shipping protocol and insuring their order.

The most common form of trade finance is a Letter of Credit or Bill of Lading, which are both mechanisms to securitise the assets which are being transported or shipped; in other words, the goods or services are the security to which a funder will lend.

For companies looking to import or export, we’ve put together some tips for ensuring success:

1. Do your due diligence

Most business owners in the space will be aware of their competitors in their market, and the competitors of their suppliers. It’s not hard to pull import or export data from government website or through calling local experts on the field. It’s also worth sense checking your suppliers and customers – are they creditworthy and reliable, do they have trusted reviews?

2. Learn about importing and exporting

Aside from a Letter of Credit Trade Finance deal, it’s vital to understand the mechanisms of transporting and shipping – from freight forwarding, to Bills of Lading. It may be a good idea to go on an education course such as ABTS Training.

3. Talk to a broker

Brokers can offer recommendations or suggestions for a business which could save them time and money. Also, because of their established relationships with many funders, they may be able to negotiate a better deal or rate and find the option which is most suitable for your business.

4. Know your risks

Business owners should know from the outset what the risks and challenges are before undertaking a trade finance deal. Mitigating or reducing these risks through insurance, credit checks, independent analysis and understanding the market that they’re operating versus opportunity and financial benefit of a deal can help determine the go-no-go decision.

5. Don’t underestimate the power of negotiation

Whether it’s your customers, suppliers or financiers, negotiation can often be the make or break for your business. Being able to negotiate terms, prices and rates in a competitive market could give your business a financial advantage.

To conclude, raising funding to help succeed in your import or export business is not easy, but can bring unrivaled success and opportunity for your company. Understanding the fundamentals of the import/export market, mitigating risks and planning carefully though are crucial to protect yourself and the company.

Courtesy of our partner Trade Finance Global. Learn more about trade finance and how it can help your import export business.

How To Export For the First Time

October 7, 2015

Exporting for the first time can be confusing and overwhelming. We’ve put together a simple video explaining the first steps in exporting.

Global Selling Online – Webinar

September 16, 2015

Below is a recording of our webinar discussing how to setup your ecommerce website and market online to a global audience.

How To Export

September 9, 2015

Businesses must export their products to a global market if they really want to achieve their potential. With the Internet and relative ease of building your own website, there is no need to focus only on your domestic market. “How to Export” is a common question and the answer involves some study as there is lots to learn, however we have put together the following infographic to get you started.

Transferable Letters of Credit

September 3, 2015

Are transferable letters of credit a way to make money without money?

From time to time I am invited by publishers to review recently published books on the subject of International Trade. I enjoy the experience as most times I learn something new.

One particular book which caught my attention was titled “How to make money without having any money”. I thought this is a winner and got stuck in. To my surprise, the book addressed the usual areas of International Trade but I could not find the section on how to make money without having any money.

When I arrived at chapter six, the chapter heading read how to make money without having any money and the author simply said if you want to trade and don’t have funds available use a “Transferable Letter of Credit” and described for a whole paragraph telling his reader that they just ask the buyer for a Transferable Credit and use the credit to buy the goods from a third party to fulfill their contract with the buyer. That was it! Nothing more.

I was very disappointed as I thought after reading this book I could retire immediately and become a very rich man!

A transferable Letter of Credit can enable the seller to buy products of the sales contract from a third person without using their own funds. It is often used by middlemen.

I have often successfully traded under Transferable Letters of Credit to purchase high value goods without dipping into my own working funds but I must warn you they are not as simple to obtain and utilise as this author would like his reader to believe.

Lets first look at the definition of a Transferable Letter of Credit in my own words.

A Transferable Letter of Credit allows you to use the funds of the credit to open a fresh Letter of Credit on a third party. In other words, a Transferable Letter of Credit can be transferred to as many parties as you wish as long as the total you transfer does not exceed the amount of the original.

Let me give you a real world example of how we used a Transferable Letter of Credit to great success.

Some time ago, as a procurement house we received a request for a quote to supply and erect a leisure centre in Bengazi, Libya. We submitted our quotation and requested a Transferable Letter of Credit as we did not have the funds to support such a large Project. As it was in Libya we also asked for the credit to be confirmed. The value of the contract was £1.5 million.

Over a period of approximately four months we purchased a pre-fabricated building, all the accessories required and shipped everything to Benghazi. This was followed up by sending out steel erectors to erect the building and personnel to furnish it.

The project was a great success for all concerned but it was the busiest four months of my working life. Why? Because I had to visit about twenty suppliers and convince them to sell me their products on a Letter of Credit and ship them to Libya BEFORE they got paid. Not an easy task. I had to transfer the original Letter of Credit into individual ones, payable to each supplier. This took much negotiation as you can imagine.

Here are some of the pitfalls associated with Transferable credits:

The buyer may not want to give you a transferable credit as they can be very expensive to establish.

If you are not familiar with letters of credit and do not have a good track record of trading under a letter of credit, you can make costly mistakes with a transferable credit.

Some suppliers take a lot of persuading to release their goods against a Transferable Letter of Credit especially when they have no previous experience of trading under such a credit.

You may have to do a lot of “hand holding” with your supplier, have to instil confidence in them as to your ability to successfully negotiate the original credit and their spin off credit.

You must be confident in your own ability to utilise a Transferable credit this comes about from hands on experience and training.

Our online International trade course is a no nonsense training course which includes in details of how to trade under a Transferable credit. For more information please contact us.

See below for a handy guide that we have developed on Letters of Credit:

Top 10 Tips for Importing and Exporting

July 28, 2015

Our easy to understand quick guide to importing and exporting. We off you 10 top tips for starting your own import export business.

Free Webinar: Introduction to Importing and Exporting – 3rd August 2015

July 15, 2015

Join us on 3rd August 2015 for a free webinar where we will introduce you to the world of importing and exporting. We’ll cover many topics including:

Methods of Payment
Negotiation Techniques
Sea / Air freight rates
Marine Insurance

We will end with a question and answer session and hope this will give you some hints and tips and share some of the pitfalls many importers and exporters face.

The webinar is due to start at 11am London time and will last for approximately 1 hour 15 minutes.

Emeralds Could Be A Girls Best Friend

I always dreamed of being my own boss . I wanted to source goods overseas and sell them to wholesalers and retailers in the UK. I saw many opportunities on my travels to bring unique goods into the UK and sell them, in particular precious stones.

I couldn’t afford to leave my full time employment and devote myself to my own business as like us all, I had financial commitments. I did not have any knowledge of International trade so my first move was to get proper training.

I contacted many training companies who offered international trade courses but in the end I decided to go with ABTS Training services because they offered an Online course suited for beginners, so I was able to study in my own time.

I spoke to Alan Bracken of ABTS about my ambitions and current situation.

His advice was invaluable and gave me confidence to pursue my dream. I remained in full time employment and enrolled in the Online International Trade course. I studied at my own pace and in my own time.

Once I was confident that I understood what was involved in International Trade and after many phone calls to Alan, I took the plunge and set up a limited company.

As my funds were limited I relied heavily on the knowledge I gained from the ABTS International Trade course and decided not to import direct from suppliers but to test the market and trade as a commission agent.

After analysing several offers for an agency, I decided to accept an agency for uncut emeralds from a company and to represent them in the UK as their commission agent.

I made contact with many precious stone wholesalers in the UK. As the ABTS International Trade course advised me, I used the comments I received from wholesalers to refine my presentation and I am now very confident when I meet perspective customers.

I am now working with several wholesalers in the UK and high value orders are in the pipeline. It’s hard work as I am still working full time but it is well worth the effort. I am looking forward to the day I can become my own boss full time, which is now, not too far away.

The online course gave me the knowledge and confidence I need to take the plunge and start up my own business. Thank you Alan and ABTS Training Services.

Miss. Lina Cardona

Be Proactive, Not Reactive.

At ABTS Taining we always teach our International Trade students the mantra “BE PROACTIVE, NOT REACTIVE”. This is more important than it sounds. Let me give you an example:

Recently we received an email from someone in Shanghai, China. They visited our website contacted us asking if we can help.

This person had bought a set of four prints in London and had them sent to their home in Shanghai by air. The courier told them that their charge included delivery to their Shanghai home address. However, they received a email from Chinese customs demanding import duty of 10 per cent on the first print and 17 per cent import duty on the three other prints. They had wrongly assumed that if the courier was charging them to deliver the prints to my home it would include any import duty.

If they had known that they would have to pay extra import duty in Shanghai they would never have bought the prints in London.

We advised them to declare the four prints as a set (which they were) as Chinese customs will allow one item (a set) of personal effects into China at 10 per cent duty.

Now this is where being Proactive and not Reactive comes into play.

This person should have asked their courier if their charges included delivery to home address Shanghai DUTY INCLUDED OR DUTY EXCLUDED.

They should have looked up Import duty on prints and personal allowance BEFORE they bought the prints in order to get a accurate TOTAL price to be paid or to save time, ask the UK courier to undertake this exercise for them.

If they were Proactive and not Reactive they would not have encountered such hassle.

When you’re engaged in International Trade you must know the “nitty gritty” of the business such as importing – exporting documentation procedures and custom procedures to name just two.

When you join our on line International Trade course, among other subjects we show you how to look up import duty in ANY country.

We never shy away from helping anyone in distress but we do say if you are going into the business of International Trade, get training or better still go the a company with 25 years practical experience in International Trade and join our online course.

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The Future of the EU

July 2, 2015

The EU and in fact whole globe, is now caught up in the “Greek Tragedy”, will they, or won’t they stay? Nearer home, the UK Government is mumbling about staying in a ‘reformed’ EU, reformed of course in the interest of the UK.

As Brussels has declared ‘dream on UK’.

The basic precepts of the free movement of goods, services, people and money will NEVER change as these are not on the table for discussion.

If we have a referendum within two years in the UK, it would place us in a very precarious position. The EU could make minor concessions in order to keep the UK in the European Union.

The general opinion seems to be that parts of the EU legislation is good for the UK and we would be happy to hold on to a few of the basic precepts, namely the free movement of goods and services as well as money. The free movement of people is however, too contentious to discuss in this blog.

Just a thought, if we do eventually leave the EU, why not become a preferential trading partner with the EU? We would still maintain working commercial relationships with our current trading partners in the EU and also allow us to seek new partners on a level playing field with other EU members.

Take Turkey as an example of an Preferential Trading partner with the EU,

Turkish manufactures trade with EU member states under advantageous conditions. They can supply EU member states with DUTY FREE goods. This arrangement is reciprocal so it’s a win-win situation and Turkey is not burdened with other EU regulations.

On our own, we could still trade with the EU as a Preferential Trading partner and our goods would remain competitive.

There is a down side to all this, we would not be part of the legislative process of the EU but is that such a bad thing?

I’m old enough to remember when we were members of EFTA , and the duty-free movement of goods to fellow EFTA members . We survived!!!!

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Starting a Successful Import Export Business

June 22, 2015

All businesses have a degree of risk. About 50% of new businesses fold within the first year of trading. In other words, only 50% of start up businesses are SUCCESSFUL. What factors contribute to their success? We can start with a raw skill set such as determination, self belief, a desire to succeed together with the desire to determine your own future as well as the will to build your own business. 100% of start up business owners have these attributes so what makes only 50% successful?

As well as these qualities, it’s vital to have the right knowledge of the industry. Offering the right product, having the right product knowledge, having the ability to foresee potential problems and make suitable provisions and have the ability to understand the details of your business as well as understanding finance and cash flow and of course the ability to ‘balance the books’.

You’ll need all the above raw skills plus the specialised knowledge particular to an export import business.

This knowledge is a requirement before you start trading. Learning on the job is fatal, as too many mistakes will put you out of business very quickly. You must have these skills BEFORE you start up your Export Import business or you’ll find yourself as part of the 50% of unsuccessful businesses very quickly.

So what knowledge is needed? Let’s look at just a few of the international trading terms and subjects you will need to understand:

Understanding terms of delivery
Ability to prepare a contract
Ability to understand customs procedures
Sourcing worldwide
Shipping procedures
Market research
Methods of payment

Remember, this is just a part of the knowledge you must learn and understand BEFORE you start trading. They are the tip of the iceberg.

ABTS Training will be holding a FREE webinar on Friday 26th June which will address some of the problems associated with starting up your Import Export business. The webinar will also identify and explain some of the points above that you will need to understand to help you kick start your business.

Getting International Trade Right

November 7, 2011

According to a recent survey by Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets, exports are rising as business looks to diversify into fast growing economies. However, it warned, trading overseas has associated risks.

Alan Bracken of ABTS Training Services commented: “Many UK companies are now expanding into new global markets which can only be good for our faltering economy.”

“However, they must have a strong understanding about the business of exporting, such as negotiation skills with overseas partners and understanding the different commercial cultures. They must be in a position to deliver the sharp end of exporting in terms of understanding documentation and freight rates and working with third party providers such as clearing agents and freight forwarders.

“Get it right and it is a smooth operation. Get it wrong and you are in deep trouble.”

Getting it right is the theme of ABTS Trainings’ online import export course. A practical training course teaching you the necessities of importing and exporting, with free one-to-one support.

The Trouble With Incoterms

November 1, 2011

Since the introduction of Incoterms 2010, some importers and exporters have been struggling with the new edition especially with the new rule for delivery and passing of risk with FOB, CFR, CIF.

The old “over the ships rail” has gone (how did we ever manage that with RO/RO?) and been replaced with “on board” the vessel, a clearer and more sensible place to transfer risk and delivery.

The new Incoterms DAT and DAP have been a welcome addition for traders, giving them a better variety of delivery points.

Incoterms 2010 has been a welcome and refreshing edition and as ever illustrates clearly the trader’s responsibilities under place, cost and risk. However traders are still making the same fundamental mistake with Incoterms 2010 as they did with previous editions.

They do not indicate that the term they quote is subject to Incoterms 2010, thus leaving the responsibility under place cost and risk up for grabs, contrary to the reason why Incoterms was initially established back in the early 1930s.

If you have been trading under Incoterms 2000, understanding the transition to the latest edition can be accomplished in our half day ‘Incoterms 2010’ course.

For beginners, our online import export course goes into detail on Incoterms 2010 and how it must be used for International trade.

Credit Where Credit’s Due

October 26, 2011

Almost half of letters of credit received in the UK are unworkable according to recent research – that is the buyer requests documents which the seller is unable to produce.

Recently, for example, a Turkish buyer requested an ATR movement certificate from a UK seller for goods despatched direct from Peru to Izmir in Turkey. This was not possible as the ATR movement certificate can only be issued for goods which meet with the rules or origin that goods must be manufactured and produced within the EC or in free circulation.

Alan Bracken of ABTS Training Services stated at a recent seminar on letters of credit: “You get the letter of credit you deserve, if you don’t ask you don’t get.”

“In order to get a workable letter of credit you must give the seller details of the letter of credit you require.”

Join our online course to learn in depth about letters of credit and how essential they are to International trade.

Stronger Trade Performance Must Be Nourished

October 25, 2011

New export figures published by the ONS give cause for optimism according to the British Chambers of Commerce.

David Kern, Chief Economist at the BCC, commenting on the trade deficit for August, said: “The trade figures for August show an improvement in the overall trade deficit, and are better than expected. A revision of previous figures means that the trade deficit was smaller than previously estimated. Excluding all erratic items, exports have increased more strongly than imports over the last month, and also on a three-monthly basis. It is encouraging that, even in a difficult international environment, Britain is able to strengthen its trading position.

“The figures provide a welcome contrast to the steady flow of negative news we have recently. However we cannot underestimate the challenges ahead for exporters, particularly in the face of the serious problems facing the Eurozone, which remains our major trading partner. As the fiscal austerity plan dampens domestic demand, net exports have to be the main engine of Britain’s economic recovery.

“This means that the government must support a national export drive. Unless we accelerate the pace of export growth and we gain market share from imports in the domestic market, it will be difficult to sustain UK growth. The government must strengthen its backing for SME exporters in key areas such as trade finance, insurance and promotion.

“While a competitive pound and low interest rates can help our exporters, further efforts are needed to ensure that our businesses can compete equitably with foreign exporters. On their part, Britain’s exporters must make every effort to diversify their sales towards fast growing economies such as India, China and Brazil.”

Alan Bracken, course director at ABTS Training Services, added: “Companies who need to export from the UK must retain highly trained staff that can confidently provide an export service to support the companies export drive.”

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