U.S. Ecomm While Living Abroad - Possible Or Forget About It?

[Poplanu]

Anyone has experience getting into U.S. based Ecomm without actually being in the country?

Is it actually possible to organize all the shipping, handling, and returns of the product without actually being on the ground?

So far I've just seen people who have started out while being on the ground, and then later went location independent with all the work outsourced to employees/contractors/3PLs.

So starting something while not being in the country - is this feasible at all?

Mainly asking to see whether I should be noticing opportunities here, or ignoring the ecomm space altogether while focusing on content sites.

 

[CCarter]

In theory it makes sense, logistically - problematic. Think about returns - how do you handle that?

The reason that makes the most sense is to be inside the country during the whole startup phase, workout all the logistic problems, then leave once it's running smoothly, hire a couple of employees to run the day to day.

There are a lot of "options" for smooth operations BUT the fairytale doesn't always translate into reality. You could potentially partner up with someone that's already in the US, give him whatever percentage, and have him handle the "weird things" that you haven't considered yet.

 

[illmasterj]

You may also have trouble with payment processing. Everything will kick off fine but if you get too many chargebacks you may find they want to see a US resident shareholder or employee. Without this you may lose your ability to process payments.

But it's not a deal-breaker. Just a hurdle.

 

[Biggy]

Possible for test. Ship from your country. After you reach 500+orders get company in USA that handles shipping + open company in Delaware etc.

Thats what I'll do.

 

[bongga]

Agree with Biggy.

Open an LLC or whatever stateside and you'll have a US-based bank account for PayPal, stripe, etc.

The big deal is finding a great fulfillment center that ships your orders correctly, handles your inventory and returns, while doing it for a cost that still makes it profitable on your end.

 

[GNews]

Yes.

1) Get an LLC or business
2) Get the account to handle payments
3) Find a Order Fulfillment company
4) Get your UPC code for product (sometime the fulfillment company will sell it to you)
4) Have product shipped to #3
5) Connect your Wordpress shop (or other) to their order management system
6) Let the orders roll in and just be ready for defective product complaints if made in China

 

[Biggy]

Agree with Biggy.

Open an LLC or whatever stateside and you'll have a US-based bank account for PayPal, stripe, etc.

The big deal is finding a great fulfillment center that ships your orders correctly, handles your inventory and returns, while doing it for a cost that still makes it profitable on your end.

True! But good thing is that United States is huge country and you'll be able to find a great fullfilment center that handles that. Problem is that be really careful with hidden fees they have written on paper before signing anything, ask them as much as you can so you won't be suprised of any hidden costs.