Currently my co. only sells to the US online. I'm now thinking of going global and selling to all countries. Is going global worth the hassle? From experience do sales increase significantly when selling globally? It seems like there'd be way more fraud issues while selling global but after seeing that most the market for the style of tees I make is international, it makes sence to sell internationally. Anyone have any tips on moving toward the global market? Should I start with just a few countries at first and then slowly expand to serve more countries?
That's true. Going global isn't that hard. In fact, there are probably people now that want to buy your tees internationally but can't.
For me, the challenge about shipping globally is the extra work it takes to get the shirt to the post office. With the Priority Mail stuff, I can just give it to my mail carrier.
Because of all the new security regulations, I have to actually go in to the post office, wait in lines, and hand the packages to the desk clerk. That and the additional forms involved.
Still, the extra time is worth it knowing that my crazy t-shirt ideas are reaching a global audience.
For me, the challenge about shipping globally is the extra work it takes to get the shirt to the post office. With the Priority Mail stuff, I can just give it to my mail carrier.
Rodney when you schedule to have them pick up your priority mail is it a big deal? Do you have to call them a day before, can you call the day of? I'm assuming you are shipping out quite a few when you do have to have them pick it up. Does your mailman cry when he hears "Rodney" called?
Rodney when you schedule to have them pick up your priority mail is it a big deal? Do you have to call them a day before, can you call the day of? I'm assuming you are shipping out quite a few when you do have to have them pick it up. Does your mailman cry when he hears "Rodney" called?
You have to do it the day before (I think the cutoff is 10PM PST) and just tell them what how many packages of what type and where you want them to pick it up (mailbox or your doorstep).
Can't call the day off, but depending on your location and mail carrier, they won't mind taking a few prepaid/ready-to-go packages from you if you have some last minute orders.
regarding fraud issues, perhaps you might also want to look into obtaining trademark protections in what ever countries your shirts are sold. i read once how it is a common practice for certain, unethical business people to trademark us designs in other countries. not only that but its nothing that you would be able to do about it. not sure how accurate this info is, but i think its worth researching with an attorney.
I think the type of fraud the original poster was talking about in this case was more along the lines of ecommerce fraud/credit card issues.
Oh, ok. let me ask you then, if a person did want to sell in china for example, and there trademark is not registered there, wouldnt that leave them vunerable? in a position that someone in china could register there brand in china, and legally have those rights.
these practices was something that i had read and found it interesting.
I thought most countries respected trademarks that are registered nantionally.
Either way, I think that is a very minute concern. If you have the funds and legal team to do it, you can certainly work on registering your trademark in a lot of countries, but personally wouldn't let that stop me from selling t-shirts in a particular country if I didn't have my trademark officially there as well.
Yeah I was reffering to ecommerce. I got a merchant account and paying $400 for a chargeback...not too good for business.
You can consider services from callcustomer.com or fraudgate.com. Their process work like this:
1) When the customer checks out, it needs to enter his phone number.
2) Then the system will display a few random digits.
3) callcustomer.com's computer will call the customer and ask for the random digits.
The net result is you will have an authenticated phone number of the buyer. This will turn a lot of frauders away cos it is not difficult to track down anyone using a phone number.
The net result is you will have an authenticated phone number of the buyer. This will turn a lot of frauders away cos it is not difficult to track down anyone using a phone number.
It will also turn a lot of legitimate customers away become of the inconvenience.
Doesn't sound pratical for a site selling t-shirts.
It seems like there'd be way more fraud issues while selling global
Definitely, but a lot of them are remarkably unsophisticated (and thus easy to spot).
Even just expanding to the main English market (UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) should increase business without much increase in work and without opening yourself up to a ton of fraud.
Quote:
Originally Posted by statc
Should I start with just a few countries at first and then slowly expand to serve more countries?
It's certainly a reasonable option.
PayPal only deal with certain countries, and Global Priority will only post to certain countries - both of those restrictions are worth bearing in mind. The number of legitimate customers in the countries not on those lists are considerably smaller than the number of would be fraudsters.
Even if you don't end up using USPS Global Priority for international postage (although you probably should use their pre-paid envelopes), it seems to me that not being on the list of countries they'll ship to is a black mark as far as USPS's opinion of that countries postal service goes.
Going Global 
