How should I approach exporting clothes to the United States?

Question

I run my own clothing company, I’m ever expanding and receiving more and more interest from the United States. I would like to be able to send items to the united states as without spending loads of money for each item. What do i need, and whats the best way of shipping items.

Regards

Sam

Answer

Hi there Sam,

I presume you are selling low volumes B2C? If so then a courier is going to be the best bet for you. Whether that means going direct or indirect (via a freight forwarder which may well work out cheaper depending on volumes).

If the goods are sold as a commercial sale, then you would need a commercial invoice (http://dhlguide.co.uk/going-global/customs/commercial-invoices/) and a EORI number to export goods as this number will allow for your company to be identified by and therefore interact with customs (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/economic-operator-registration-and-identification-eori-scheme).

Don’t know if this is what you were after?

Kind regards,

Simon

Answer

Hi simon,

Thats brilliant thank you.

With regards the EORI number in exporting items, to have one of these the company needs to be vat registered. As we are not vat registered as we are a new company. Does this mean we cannot get a EORI number?

Sam

Answer

Hi Sam,

No you don’t strictly need to be VAT registered to obtain a EORI it’s just that the two tend to come hand in hand and the EORI number is usually just the VAT number with ‘GB’ at the front and ‘000’ at the end.

The below EORI application form is for exporters who don’t have a VAT number:
https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/shortforms/form/EORINonVATExport?dept-name=&sub-dept-name=&location=43&origin=http://www.hmrc.gov.uk

This form is in the section entitled ‘Submit application’ after following the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eori-supporting-guidance

Should be up and running within 3 working days but you can validate operational EORI numbers here:
http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/dds2/eos/eori_validation.jsp?Lang=en&redirectionDate=20110411

If you need any further help from HMRC, they do offer a lot of support so well worth taking them up on it should you ever need to.

Kind regards,

Simon.

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