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International Ecommerce

by user1995
1 replies
  • ECOMMERCE
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Hi everyone I'm new to the forum and I have some questions about ecommerce hope you'all could help me out. I am a non-US citizen and I was planning to target the US market hence was required to set up a business entity,merchant account etc and all those stuff associated with non-US people doing business in the US. However, I've changed my mind and have decided to have an international droshipping ecommerce business by sourcing items from China. I'm confused about what I should do differently from the former business model.

1.) Do I set up a LOCAL business entity?
2.) Do I set up a LOCAL merchant account (Will personal bank accounts do??)
3.) What payment gateways do I use? I prefer to accept USD for all transactions.

Obviously once I start importing and actually carry inventory I have a whole set of new problems(fulfillment services etc) but now since I'm dropshipping the location I want the items to be sent is irrelevant to me,is it not?
Thank you for your attention
#ecommerce #international
  • Profile picture of the author amcg
    1.) Do I set up a LOCAL business entity?
    2.) Do I set up a LOCAL merchant account (Will personal bank accounts do??)
    3.) What payment gateways do I use? I prefer to accept USD for all transactions.
    I dropshipped items from one country to my own country with relative success (the business is now closed) so I may be able to answer your query.

    In answer to question one, I didn't setup a local business entity. I simply purchased the goods from a wholesaler who then shipped direct to the consumer. Whether or not this is correct is another question, and obviously you would want some kind of local office at some stage.

    I didn't setup a local merchant account - I paid the supplier in USD from my own bank account using Paypal.

    For payment, I used Amazon's Marketplace and Shopify to sell the goods - therefore relying on their payment gateway technology. This removed complexity though obviously if you self-host you need to setup a payment gateway or again, rely on a third party like Paypal.

    Hopefully these answers help. In an ideal world, you'd setup an office and company in the source country and export from there. The advantages I can imagine of doing this versus simply reselling from your existing country would be numerous e.g closer to supply/product, knowledge of manufacturing process, potential to switch from dropship to inventory model etc.
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