July 23rd, 2009 by jrec
Nobody is quite sure whether the current global downturn has reached its lowest point, or how long it will last. Businesses are adapting in many ways to the crisis in order to minimise risk, so it is logical that payment terms are being tightened until those green shoots we keep hearing about start to strengthen. In spite of what the media would have us believe, there are plenty of good news stories out there with some businesses enjoying their best years ever!
There has certainly been an increase in the use of Letters of Credit (LC) recently, so there is a need for a greater understanding as to how they work. LCs are one of the more secure ways of ensuring payment, as they represent a written undertaking from a buyer’s bank to a seller’s bank to pay an amount that has been agreed for goods or services. It is the responsibility of the buyer and seller to agree the terms on which the LC should be based, and for the seller to comply with the agreed documentary requirements. Because LCs can be both costly and complex, we advise that the buyer and seller should agree a simple template for each LC before the buyer approaches their bank (the ‘Opening’ or ‘Issuing’ Bank). It will save you both time and money!
Tags: Documentation
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July 13th, 2009 by jrec
…then it probably is! The Internet can be a great place to do business, but it is also the media most commonly used by fraudsters, spammers and scammers. Internet fraud is widespread and takes many forms: advanced fee fraud (also referred to as 419 fraud) is probably one of the most common. 419 scams tend to originate from West Africa, but that is not always the case so be vigilant.
The ‘hook’ that fraudsters often use is the promise of a substantial advanced payment (in excess of 70% of the contract value), with the balance payable on delivery of goods. Typically, you will be told that the advanced payment will be advised via SWIFT message through an internationally recognised bank (often using the good name of the Western Union Bank), and you will be asked to ship the goods on receipt of a copy of that message ‘from the bank’. However, as SWIFT messages can also be copied you should always check with your bank that they have been notified of the SWIFT transfer into your account. Exportaid is often notified of instances where goods have been shipped against fraudulent SWIFT messages. By then it is too late. So if a deal sounds too good to be true, then it probably is!
Tags: Add new tag, Frauds and Scams
Posted in Frauds & Scams | 2 Comments »
July 6th, 2009 by jrec
After many years online, we simply do not know how many online business directories share our contact information, but we do know that the numbers probably run into the hundreds. Most of them are of little value, and the probability of winning any real business through a directory registration is likely to be similar to the probability of winning a National Lottery.
However, to use a football saying, ” if you don’t shoot, you won’t score goals”, so our advice is to register with directories which offer some kind of human-human contact option, or which declare full contact details including a verifiable street address. Directories will inevitably share your details with their partner network, and their partners will do the same. Let the directories do the work for you, because monitoring their effectiveness will steal much of the time that you need to spend building your business through other more conventional activities.
Posted in Online Business | No Comments »
June 29th, 2009 by jrec
Like any business activity, international trading achieves the best results when the preparation is right. One of the main things we have learned from operating our free ExportAnswer email reply system is that too many companies do not give adequate preparation time when shipping their products across the world.
For example, if you are shipping regular quantities of product by air, road, or sea, you should know what each unit weighs, how many will fit into a box, how many boxes will a standard pallet hold, and how many pallets will fit into a container. This is basic stuff, and we have worked with companies where there has been too much reliance on guesswork. If the weights and dimensions of the product shipped do not match the weights and dimensions on your documentation, then you are likely to incur delays at the receiving port, possible Customs and demurrage charges, and you will be late delivering to your customers.
Tags: Logistics
Posted in Logistics | 1 Comment »
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