Rare Book Monthly
Why Trade Globally?
Writing a polite letter is still an important global trading skill.
Finally, one of the first things we did when we decided to sell overseas, was to print out the ways in which people say "thank you" in other languages. It may seem a small thing, but I think it shows a sincere effort to communicate, and of course express thanks for the business.
From a safety perspective, you want to make as certain as you can that the books you send get to their destination safely. That means taking special care in packaging. We go to great lengths to make sure books are well-packed, understanding that they are going to be knocked around in the lengthier mailing trip overseas. For larger books, we additionally use double-wall cardboard and have been known to suspend valuable books in cardboard and bubblewrap within these double-wall boxes.
Right now we are using the post office, which also offers insurance to some countries not covered by our package insurance provider (www.u-pic.com). Insurance generally forces the customer to sign for the package. Packages not insured through the USPS are insured through u-pic. We try to avoid having lost books by not shipping to countries that are not covered by our package insurer: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Papua/New Guinea, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Yemen. U-pic also lists the former Yugoslavia. Most of these are common sense non-starters. Our package insurance policy also covers third-party shipments and incoming shipments.
You can always choose to ship or to not ship to a customer, or to ask for alternative forms of payment. I believe that the safest method is still an incoming wire transfer to your bank account. This avoids the problems related to stolen credit cards and chargebacks.
We also chose to establish presences overseas, currently in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany. In order to do this we set up foreign corporations and bank accounts. This allows us to readily accept payments in pounds sterling, euros, and Canadian dollars.
The first time we tried to do this it took a year of completely unsuccessful attempts to open an overseas bank account. I filled out endless applications and was completely ignored. Things don't work the same as they do here; in other countries' relationships are more important than just having money to put up. I had just about given up trying to accomplish this when a friend who had just come back from the U.K. as an ex-pat gave me some of the best advice I've had in this endeavor: she introduced me to her U.K. accountant.
After some initial correspondence, and connecting up the U.K. accountant with my own (yes, you need an accountant, even if you file a 1040 EZ form) and with my banker (yes, you need a real name), it only took a few weeks to successfully accomplish our goals. In the end, our new accountant just called a bank in London, and within a week, we had a relationship manager and a new account.
