Global Selling on Amazon with chartered accountant, Rael Lowenthal joins today’s Lunch with Norm to discuss the role of Importer of Records and how it can apply to Amazon FBA business. In this episode, we discuss how difficult is it set up EORI and or VAT registrations in the EU, and why sellers may want to look to sell in other marketplaces. Rael is a former investment banker passionate about financial systems powered by blockchain technology and African wildlife conservation. He helped start Zee.co an Importer of Records, Compliance and Logistics specialist for e-commerce sellers, assisting businesses expand their global reach outside their local marketplaces. It forms part of the VATIT Group – the largest VAT Reclamation and Compliance group in the world.
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Episode: 205
Title: Norman Farrar Introduces Rael Lowenthal – Zee head of sales and client success department
Subtitle: “Global Selling on Amazon: Leap From Local”
Final Show Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elAkTKwwPwc&list=PLVIz0IewRSqDUVXG_IAXsVx9ZWE8_Vanz&index=9
Back on Lunch with Norm…On today’s show we have Rael Lowenthal talking about Importers of Record. Specifically, we discuss how it applies to Amazon FBA businesses, and how difficult it is to set up EORI and or VAT registrations in the EU. Rael is a Chartered accountant and former investment banker passionate about assisting e-commerce businesses expand their global reach with Zee.co, an Importer of Record, Compliance and Logistics specialist for e-commerce sellers looking to expand their businesses outside of their local marketplaces.
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Norman Ferrar 0:00
Hey everyone, it’s Norman Farrar, aka the beard guy here and welcome to another lunch with Norm, the Amazon FBA ecommerce podcast.
Norman Ferrar 0:21
Okay, we’re back, we’re gonna have a great show today. I’m back from a really great event. I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Danny McMillan. His seller sessions live event was awesome. It was fantastic and just went off without a hitch. It was really great content, I learned a ton of stuff. But alright, on today’s show, we’ll be talking about global selling on Amazon and our guest is a chartered accountant and former investment banker. He helped start zee.co and heads up the sales and client success department. zee.co is an importer of record compliance and logistics specialist for ecommerce sellers. So we’ll be welcoming Rael Lowenthal in just a couple of seconds, but just wanted to give a big shout out to our sponsor, global wired Advisors, a leading digital investment bank focused on optimizing the business sales process. For more information, please call Christopher Ling and his team over at global wired advisors.com But oh, before not Kelsey, come on in here for a second. Okay. So I just wanted to give a shout out as well to AMZ elite. You’re an awesome guy, Tom. Tom picked me up at the airport and was way out of his way. He dropped me off in London. And it was fantastic. We had a great chat in the car. And it was just super. I learned a lot from you, Tom. Anyways, I just wanted to thank you. It’s not too many people that would drive me around. But thanks. Okay. And you know what, he didn’t even want to go for a cup of coffee. He didn’t have time. I guess he didn’t have time. He couldn’t find parking. But anyways, I wanted to go out for a cup of coffee with him because he just really went out of his way. Kelsey.
Kelsey 2:17
That’s awesome. Yeah, I know, you also met up with Simon.
Norman Ferrar 2:21
And well, we want to talk about that. And that’s all. Okay. So you know, yeah. All right. I met up with Simon. No, so Simon was awesome, too. I’ve got a few scandalous photos of him, especially later on in the night. But no, it was it. You know what, this is why I love traveling. The networking, the networking that came out of Danny’s event was incredible. I met a ton of people, I’ve probably met some people that will. Well, I know people will be coming on to the podcast, but also people that we’ll do some business with. So really, really, I can’t tell you how important it is to go to live events, you can go to a virtual Summit. And you’ll learn lots, but actually breaking bread with people we went out with 11 people. And just before the, the club. And you know, we didn’t talk there wasn’t one piece of business discussed. Not a sliver. We were talking about some really just, you know, things to do in Europe and all this other stuff, and got to know people. And I think that’s my phone. There we go.
Kelsey 3:30
Oh, we can’t hear it. So that’s okay. But it sounds like a great trip you had there it was. It’s very nice to have you back. I know you’re probably there and back within 72 hours. So that’s 4848 Hey, not bad. Alright, but we’ll jump into things shortly. I just want to let everyone know just smash those like buttons, get those thumbs up going on Facebook and YouTube, that would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you’re heading out to any other events, beer nation, let us know in the comments. What are you looking forward to next? I know the cellar meetup with Amy Weast is happening October 15. And there’s a couple other ones that are around the corner as well. But yeah, let us know. Also. Let me see if you’re new to the show. We go live Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 12 o’clock Eastern time. So we do giveaways every time which we have one today and something for everyone as well. So that’s awesome. And we can just jump into things. Join our Facebook group lunch with Norm Amazon FBA and E commerce collective. And yeah, that’s it for me. That
Norman Ferrar 4:36
giveaway for everybody is a virtual hug from Kelsey. Yeah.
Kelsey 4:40
Yeah, it’s it’s priceless. It is priceless.
Norman Ferrar 4:43
So yeah, we’ll tell you how to get that and claim your virtual hug towards the end of the episode by joking. All right, so just throw your comments over into the comment section. If you have any questions or anything. If you want a virtual hug from Kelsey, he will provide it today. And so I think we can sit back, relax, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the episode. How are you, sir?
Rael Lowenthal 5:09
Norman? Hi, Ash, good to be here.
Norman Ferrar 5:12
I hope you’re not too serious because this is a very casual show.
Rael Lowenthal 5:17
We’re serious about what we do. But, you know, there’s there’s people in the background and yeah, we know how to have fun too. We’re actually currently in Germany for the white label expert.
Norman Ferrar 5:25
Oh, okay. Yeah, I know, a few people that left Danny’s cellar sessions and went over there. So, yeah, I’d be interested to see how that’s going. Okay. So for those of us who don’t know, you, and can you tell us a little about yourself, and a bit about your company?
Rael Lowenthal 5:44
Right, sure. So first of all, you know, Hello to all the listeners. And thank you norm for for having us today. A little bit of background about myself. I’m a chartered accountant. That’s what I studied, at least, I had some experience in investment banking, working for a bank that was actually started in South Africa, but also spent some time in the UK office joined our parent company, the bat it group to start what is known as E. L. E commerce importer of record business. A little bit about us, essentially, we’re an importer of record specialist that focuses on assisting ecommerce businesses expand their their global reach. So essentially, to enable sellers to sell outside of their local marketplace. But I think we’ll, we’ll go into a little bit more detail at a later stage.
Norman Ferrar 6:36
Okay, very good. So, usually I forget about this, but I don’t know why. But today, I’m a little bit on the ball. You’ve got a giveaway, and like a really great giveaway, as well as something for everybody. Can we talk about that for a second?
Rael Lowenthal 6:51
Absolutely. So for for your listeners that will that are on today and who have ecommerce businesses, if they inquire on our website, and they let us know that they heard about us through the lunch with Norm podcast, they will be entitled to a $250 credit on their first transaction with us.
Norman Ferra 7:12
Very good. And what does the winner of the giveaway the we’ll have Kelsey, today when
Rael Lowenthal 7:17
we’ll have Kelsey today wins a $500 credit with us. So there’ll be one really lucky listener who may be entitled to $750.
Norman Ferrar 7:26
All right, so that’s fantastic. Okay, we’ll be doing that at the end of the episode. And to to register for that. It’s just hashtag we’ll have Kelsey, if you’d like to enter twice. It’s just take two people either on on the channel or off the channel. Okay, so let’s get into this. A lot of people have never heard a well, there’s an acronym. I O. R. Let’s get into that. What is it? Tell us about it? Is the good, the bad, the ugly of what is it? Well, the importer of record is I stole your thunder sorry.
Rael Lowenthal 8:05
No, no, it’s look as a smile, because it’s what gets me up and excited every day. So I love talking about it, I love sharing my knowledge on it. So essentially, we’re an importer of record. And I think for the benefit of your listeners, how that fits in, in any commerce and Amazon FBA, specifically, Amazon, you know, will assist sellers with pretty much or a lot of the supply chain, you know, logistics, back compliance, you know, marketing, but all of those things, but they will not assist with customs clearance and customs compliance, especially when selling into a market outside of your local marketplace. So is that essentially the niche that C is filling, we act as an importer of record, on behalf of sellers who are looking to expand the E commerce business outside of their local marketplace. The bit, the best way to kind of explain what that means is, you know, by way of an example, so let’s say normally, you’ve got it, you’re a seller based in the USA, and now you’ve got a profitable product in that market. And now it’s you know, you start looking at different levers of growth for your business and one of them being a new marketplace. So let’s say you know, United Kingdom is first on your list, xe will will take on the customs liability of your import as a foreign importer, that is what customs require. And essentially, you know, that in short, that’s what we’ll do. But I think later on into the podcast, we’ll we’ll get into a little bit more detail how it actually works.
Norman Ferrar 9:31
Okay, yeah, very good. So when you’re talking about going into countries are there like for your company? Let’s let’s talk about that for a second. Is it strictly the EU and the UK? Or can you go all over the world?
Rael Lowenthal 9:47
We can go all over the world. We can go into any major Amazon Marketplace globally.
Norman Ferra 9:53
Oh, that’s great, because there are some real issues getting into some marketplaces because you know, you don’t have that The importer of record. So being able, and there are other companies out there that do what you do correct.
Rael Lowenthal 10:08
They are not the same way that we can do it. But
Norman Ferrar 10:11
okay, but I just want to know that there are so like, one of the things that we try to do is just, you know, we’ll zone in, we’ll talk about some of the stuff that your company does. But we also want to give whoever out there the opportunity that it’s just not your company, but there are people out there that do this. And we’ll get into some of the differences about how you do it, and why it’s important to do it the way that you are doing it. So you cover all of Amazon’s the all all the global market, do you also cover more countries? Because you’re you’re not only doing Amazon, you’re doing ecommerce,
Rael Lowenthal 10:46
right? Yeah. So it’s, I think, maybe let’s take a step back. So yeah, the importer of record business, you know, within the group focuses on various different industries, want, you know, the technology industry, the medical industry and any commerce, we have a network or an infrastructure that can support important to over 200 destinations worldwide, that the need for E commerce really focuses on those those markets that are, you know, sort of more ecommerce focused or have more of an E commerce market. And I think for the benefit of today’s discussion, I think it’s better to focus on, you know, the major Amazon marketplaces, but also the sort of more popular e commerce destinations in the world. So just to list them out. That would be Canada, the US, United Kingdom, Germany, all of Amazon’s Pan European program, countries outside of Germany. So that’s Italy, Spain, France, Czech Republic, and Poland, Australia, we support Japan, Singapore and Mexico. All right, very good.
Norman Ferrar 11:47
I’m just looking at the the group we have on so anybody who has had problems with with importing, like Jessica, or Simon or RAD Tom, there’s a bunch of you on here. Any good bad or ugly comments about it, Marsha, I, you must have done a ton of importing. Just, if you could just let us know in the comments section, do you have any good experiences, bad experience, or just straight out ugly experiences? I have. But alright, so let’s take a look. Why should Why should sellers even look at other marketplaces?
Rael Lowenthal 12:28
That’s a great question. So, you know, what we’ve learned in this business is that if you have a profitable product in your local market, there isn’t really any reason why you shouldn’t be profitable in another market. You know, people sort of think that different countries are very different. While they might be culturally different, or you know, have different ethnicity, people are pretty much 95% of the same, you know, they want the same things, they want to purchase the same things they want convenience. And, you know, we believe and what we’ve learned is that, you know, why shouldn’t you be successful in another market, and we, we really make the transition of getting a successful product or even a new product into a new market, really simple and easy. Through a combined importer of record product compliance and logistics solution.
Norman Ferrar 13:19
You know, I, I was at a conference, probably, it’s probably three years now. But it was in Israel, and I was talking to toma Rabinovich, who was his Top Dog Event, which was excellent. Anyways, a lot of European sellers there. And what got my got my attention was most of those sellers did not sell on.com. And there were some million dollar sellers there that or more. One guy just exited with an eight figure exit. This is way before the mall. He’s probably kicking themselves now, because of the multiples nowadays. But the answer that shocked me was they weren’t selling and calm, that it was too competitive, that they wanted to compete in Europe, and I sat there going, that would not have been my strategy. Luckily, I went to this conference to hear what they were saying. And you know, there’s there’s money on the table and these other places like it’s dot com is extremely competitive. Based on what you’ve seen, the competitiveness in the different markets, where would you tackle?
Rael Lowenthal 14:29
So I think, also I want to take a kind of look at your perspective, Norm err, being based in Canada or the US where you really are close to the US market. And I think you’ve got a huge benefit, right? You’ve got the largest amazon marketplace in the world and you have a very large population that shops using E commerce platforms. So you know, naturally if you’re based in the US our advice, you know, because it’s an English speaking country, our advice is always to look at the UK. It’s the next You know, the most obvious option why it’s the second biggest marketplace in the world, you don’t need to translate, translate your listing or labels. It’s the most simple in terms of your language. And then, you know, once you’ve sort of tackled the UK, Europe is sort of next on the list. And then if you’re looking to expand outside of those, you know, those two markets, the next sort of obvious places is Canada if you’re not doing FPA Canada, if you’re looking at Australia, also English speaking, Japan for a little bit more complex. But if you’re interested, it’s definitely something we can do. So does that answer your question? I think, you know, in terms of looking at growth levers for a business, there’s, you know, there’s new products or new markets, we really are the new markets lever for you.
Norman Ferrar 15:47
And what can people expect, like what’s your roles and responsibility as the importer of record?
Rael Lowenthal 15:54
Great. So a customer will come to us and they say, I’m just going to give an example. I feel like that’s always the easiest way to make it practical. They sell offering covers in the US, they’re really good at that. And now they want to start selling in the UK, that’s a you know, typical case study of ours. So they’ll come to us and say, Look, you know, we want to start selling in the UK. The first step in in getting to start selling in the UK is a VAT registration, as well as an eORI application. So that that gives you the right as a US seller to start selling in the UK, it doesn’t give you the ability to actually start importing. So once the seller is set up with a batch registration that can be done through Amazon batch services, or various other providers, we actually have a sister company within the group that can help. The next step now is to start actually importing. So you’ll tell us what your product is, it’s it’s an offering cover, our product compliance team will identify any type of product specific compliance required for the United Kingdom to make sure that those products are compliant with local laws and regulations. We won’t necessarily apply or do any of the product compliance, but we’ll help you identify it and point you in the right direction as to where you know where you need to go. So for an example, if it was electronic products, you need an authorized or responsible person. And in the UK, there’s also a thing called the W Triple E, a directive when it comes to recycling electronic products, so that you can see very various product compliance and necessary for different types of products will help you identify that, once we have that in place, once we’ve gotten all the necessary documents or compliance information from you. The next thing would be you tell us, okay, we want to ship 100 offering covers in a box with this dimensions in this weight, we provide a quote for you. You know, we have partnerships with various courier services, the likes of FedEx, DHL, and ups where we can facilitate the international movement of your goods. The you know, one of the big benefits of using us is, is the fact that we do, you know, pretty much 1000s of shipments on an annual basis and because of that, we have really highly discounted freight rates with them. So we’ll pass that on as a benefit to our, our clients. Once that’s sorted, we will you’ll give us the shipping information, we will provide you with all the customs documentation that the commercial invoice the air waybill for for the travel, we will give that to you, you’ll attach that to your boxes. And then the rest of the process is really taken care of. To care about us we we track your shipment, we pay over the duties and taxes once the goods arrive in country, we track the final delivery to the Amazon facility.
Norman Ferrar 18:29
So I don’t know if anybody’s ever tried to do this on their own. But it’s a pain, especially the compliance side. I’m curious about so I sell soap. In the US. I can be very generic like lavender oils or essential oils, hemp oil, olive oil in Canada, it’s got to be all it’s the scientific terms. And it’s a completely different way of labeling. A matter of fact, I’m suspended on a couple of it because I tried to put the simple labeling on my bars of soap, but and you know why this is just I’m going down a different rabbit hole. Because I can go I have a natural soap. But if I have to use Latin people don’t think it’s natural. So they complain. But anyways, okay, so now let’s get back on topic. What about labels so going into the UK or going into France or Germany, everybody has different compliance when it comes to labels especially with beauty products or supplements but like in my game is beauty products do to handle that as well.
Rael Lowenthal 19:33
So once again, we don’t necessarily do the product compliance ourselves. We’ll identify Okay, so let’s say normally you want to send lavender soap into the UK, our product compliance team, you know, team of professionals will gain a complete and holistic understanding of what the product compliance is. So we add labels via certificates that we need your testing, you know, testing certificates, anything like that will will point you in the direction we’ll say You know, we need this, this and this for your products, your products need to say this on your labels, please go and get that done. Once that’s done on your side, we’ll be you know, you’ll send us pictures, we’ll we’ll make sure that everything’s in place, and then we’ll be ready to start importing for you. It sounds pretty simple, it can get a laborious at times, it’s not always so easy. But you know, with a team like ours on your side, we will really handhold you and make sure that, you know, we can get everything in place before we start importing for you.
Norman Ferrar 20:30
Very good. Hey, I just noticed in some of the comments, there was a Abu was just making a comment. And we, again, here it goes to networking, we were sitting side by side while in between Howard tie. But yeah, I just wanted to give a shout out to him as well. It was really great meeting you over in London. Also great giveaway today. $250 to anybody who wants to have a credit to everybody that wants a credit for a shipment, you know, contact z.co afterwards, but the winner is going to win a $500 credit which equals $750. If they apply both, so it’s a great credit is going to be hashtag we’ll have Kelsey, you like what you hear today. Remember to smash those like buttons, subscribe, do whatever you have to do. Kelsey is going to remind you at the end, too. Alright, let’s talk about that. That regular registrations and all that fun stuff. I don’t know if I pronouncing this right. But you’ve got VAT and you’ve got URI, e o ri, correct? Correct. Yeah, let’s talk about that. How tough is it?
Rael Lowenthal 21:41
Sir? Look, Amazon have providers that they’ve white labeled this solution for which will assist you in getting your VAT registration and your application in place. It’s the cheapest you’ll find in the market for for ecommerce. I suppose the one drawback of that service is that the the actual customer services is with the feedback that we’ve had from our sellers is that the actual customer service is not so great. How that applies to our business, we don’t do the actual back registration on your application on your behalf. What we do, which is I think, really, really important for sellers and something very important for for them to understand, we prepare the import documentation in a way that enables the seller to reclaim the import VAT that we paid over on their behalf as a claim against their sales VAT, when they actually start selling the goods. So that, you know, I don’t want to get into too much technical detail about how the VAT system works. But it’s something that sellers who sell into VAT compliant countries need to understand me to know, and the important part for them is that they will be able to get that back. And that’s, you know, that plays a really big part in in the top of margins that you’re looking to get when you sell in that country. You know, if you don’t get that back in Germany, that’s 19% in the UK, that’s 20% in France 21%. Yeah, so it’s a very important part of the service that we provided something that that really sets us apart from some of our competitors. And, you know, again, I don’t want to get into the technical details about that. But anyone that we speak to any seller that’s looking to get into a new market, we will make sure that that those document that documentation is prepared correctly, they can provide the customs clearance documents to their VAT accountants, and they will use that as the mechanism to reclaim against the sales VAT that they make in that destination country.
Norman Ferrar 23:29
So I know in the US, it’s a bit more of a surprise to me, like being in Canada and selling into the Canadian market, I don’t really sell in the Canadian market right now. Because my product, it doesn’t make sense to do it here. But in the States, it’s crazy with all the tax regulations and you know, having to register and submit all these tax forms. And it’s costly. So I don’t know about Europe. Is it costly over there to you know, what’s your setup with that? And you have to register and submit? And how much do people have to pay for this sort of service.
Rael Lowenthal 24:07
Again, Amazon, offer the service through various providers that they’ve won, they bought, that is cheap. Their registration is about $250. And then ongoing compliance, it differs from provider to provider, if you’re looking for something that’s a little bit more bespoke, and that will talk to your to a client service aspect. We have a sister company within our group that can really do that and you know, give you the kind of hand holding service that that you need. So look, it will be it’ll always be more expensive than Amazon Amazon and push their their providers almost to nothing.
Norman Ferrar 24:41
Right. Okay. Oh, right. So yeah, I guess the next thing is to get started with this. What what do people need to provide to a company like yours so they can get set up? A? Actually I’m going to backup one. Do you recommend no bias, of course. But do you recommend people going to a company like yours trying to, you know, have you take the headache or trying to do it on themselves.
Rael Lowenthal 25:11
So take this on themselves. know you’re an ecommerce entrepreneur, you know that you want to focus on growing your top line and growing your margins. That’s really what you want to focus on, you want to focus on sourcing products, building your brand, that’s what you love. You don’t have administrative headache, and logistics headache. And that’s the headache we take away from sellers. So we know that sellers are good at selling what they sell. We want to be, you know, the chosen provider for facilitating a, you know, successful importations into new destinations in a tax efficient manner. And you’re one step further than that. We are, you know, our best case study clients have been clients who have been selling all over the world, and they’ve got, let’s say, eight or nine different suppliers in each country, helping them with the imports. When they found z, they had one point of contact that they could have for the entire global distribution of the inventory. So you know, and again, as an E commerce Kima e commerce entrepreneurial one, you will agree with me on this, simplifying your supply chain is a integral part in running a successful business. Having one person you speak to a professional on the other end, that can assist you with all of those destinations, I think is a really, really big value add and on top of that you can save costs on the on our discounted freight rates. So the simple answer, yes, I would definitely recommend ecommerce sellers finding a provider like us, but not only like us, actually us, because I do believe that we can we’ve packaged it in in the right way.
Norman Ferrar 26:47
What information would you require from a seller
Rael Lowenthal 26:52
so to start the process, you know, they’ll they’ll make an inquiry with us. One about you know, sort of specialist consultants will reach out, they’ll, you know, get an understanding of the of the sellers business. The first bit of information we’ll need is a product and logistics information. So package information for a typical shipment or a test shipment that they’d like to do with us. Once we’ve got that on hand, we can prepare a cost estimate, we’ll take them through the cost estimate gets them to the point where they say Right, we’re happy to go ahead. Once we’re happy to go ahead, we get a client agreements in place. There’s there’s no cancellation penalties, there’s no sign on fees, it’s just an agreement that allows us to actually act as the importer of record. Once that’s in place, we’ll get a full list of the products that the client is looking to ship. And that’s when we start with all the product compliance work and the classification of the HS codes making sure that we can forecast accurately the duties and taxes that will become payable once the goods arrive in country. Once we’ve got all of that in place. We’re pretty much ready to ship. The client will then confirm with the client, you know what what is the actual products? What are the what are the ship? What is the shipping information? Once that’s all confirmed and ready to go, we’ll arrange the pickup, I think what’s something that’s important to mention at this stage, there will be sellers out there that don’t necessarily want to use air freight, that’s not a problem. For us, we do have some in house sea freight options. But we do understand that sellers you know have established relationships with freight forwarders that they may want to use themselves. So we will work with the the sellers chosen freight forwarder if they want to use sea or road freight, and then we will appoint a special specialized broker in the destination country to perform the customs clearance. And again, we do all the product, you know, identify all the product compliance, prepare all the customs documentation, submit that to our broker once the goods arrive in country, and then the clients freight forwarder can make the final delivery.
Norman Ferrar 28:45
Okay, very good. And what about the size? Is there a certain size of seller or product skews that should be there before they contact a company like yours?
Rael Lowenthal 28:56
I love this question or I think it’s a it’s probably my favorite one to answer. You know, this is the thing that gets me most excited about about the job is really getting a feel for the type of clients that we have. So to put it quite simply, you know, we have clients all the way from, you know, one guy who’s selling a couple of pet toothbrushes in the US he’s you know, got a successful product. And he wants to send a couple boxes to the UK all the way up to Amazon aggregators with 2030 brands under their umbrella that we’re helping expand into new destinations. So simple answer is there’s no there’s no real requirement. It’s just if you’ve got successful products in your local market, let’s help you make those products successful in your markets.
Norman Ferrar 29:43
Okay, great. All right. I don’t I guess there’s a few questions here but I’ve just got a couple more in first before I just want to clarify this. We do not have any deal going with z.co Like there’s nothing In an affiliate link, there’s not anything. When you guys reached out, we thought it was an interesting topic. So we’re talking about your company right now. And we’re what I don’t want people to think is that, you know, we’re doing this because there’s some sort of affiliate, there’s not. So I made it clear. Okay, so let’s talk about the difference between z and other freight forwarders. I think that would be an interesting question.
Rael Lowenthal 30:27
Sure. I’m sorry. Just Just a comment on your on your previous comment. No, I would, I would love the opportunity for you to test our service to give your listeners more credibility. You’re not at all, it’s not an affiliate or anything like that. You’ve given us an incredible platform to talk about our service. And we’re incredibly grateful for that. But like I say, would really welcome the opportunity to help you and your ecommerce business expand. And so maybe I’ll
Norman Ferrar 30:51
enter for the drive will Kelsey today and I won’t have to worry about that.
Rael Lowenthal 30:55
Yeah, exactly. And you’ll get you’ll get a discount on the first go. Yeah. works for everybody. So okay, just to answer your question about the freight forwarder. So the difference so we’re not afraid forwarder. Our businesses, import our record specialists with a value added logistics solution, a freight forwarder is there for transporting your goods internationally. So they will do the international leg and the local delivery leg, most freight forwarders there will be different providers that do the international leg and the local delivery leg. And again, their focus really is just on logistics. And they don’t help you with product compliance. They weren’t act as your importer, they’ll just help you get your goods from A to B. Our you know, the difference with us is we’re really specialized in the the local entity with a physical presence to take on that customs liability. Being an importer of record, we assist with compliance, and we assist with customs clearance. And like I alluded to earlier, we do have a value added logistics solution via C and fi A that we can offer as well.
Norman Ferrar 32:04
Okay, great. Oh, one last question. So, again, talking about Z. But can Z act as the importer of record when, let’s say a seller wants to use another freight? forwarder?
Rael Lowenthal 32:17
Yes, definitely. So, when it comes to air freight, that’s not a possibility. And to be honest with you, there’s more benefit in using our effort solution than not. The reason being because of those, those discounted rates, because of our volumes, you know, we’ve aggregated all of our, our sellers volumes into, you know, into various companies. And through that we get discounted rates. If the client wants to use their own freight forwarder via C or by road, not a problem, we have a global network of customs brokers, that will clear shipments, you know, once the goods actually arrive at the ports or at the borders. And obviously, again, like I said, we prepare all the customs documentation and submit that directly to the broker and we pay over the duties and taxes on on the customer’s behalf. You know, and obviously ensure that they are able to facilitate that back reclaim in countries where VAT is applicable.
NormaN Ferrar 33:09
Very good. All right, Squire. Are there any questions?
Kelsey 33:17
Bringing that nickname backup a Yeah. All right. Yes, we do have some questions. Just give me a second or comments. Let me see. So yeah, we asked the audience, if anyone’s really using importer of record, and Jessica says she hasn’t yet she’s in the USA only now plans to be in Europe within a few months.
Rael Lowenthal 33:40
And then we’re chatting to Jessica about that.
Kelsey 33:45
And then Simon saying he’s moving product from UK to Amazon EU is a challenge. Brexit has caused it to become an almost impossible option. Offer that
Norman Ferrar 33:54
is that is that? Is that how you spell that by the way? I thought it was spelt there really?
Kelsey 34:02
Alright, our first question is from Jessica Rabbit. Does each country post a list of products that require plants slash certification? And lists for banned substance in food? Beauty products? Pet food, for example? If so, where are they posted?
Rael Lowenthal 34:18
I think that’s a very, very wide question and very general question. There may be some countries that, you know, have a Chamber of Commerce website or trade website where they do list some of this information. I think, you know, we’ve built up an incredible database of, you know, banned substances or require compliance requirements, you know, across various product types. I think it’s important you know, for everyone to understand that. Amazon sell 45 million different products, globally different SK use all around the world. So every single day for the rest of this business’s life, we will see a product we haven’t seen before. But that doesn’t scare us and that’s not a problem. Our team of professionals really Can can assist with with pretty much anything. Very good. Okay,
Kelsey 35:07
all right. Next one is film Simon is the second. Alright, he is asking as an AI our agent, do you need a deposit made to an escrow? No.
Rael Lowenthal 35:19
We like I say we what it practically how it works, we will invoice our sellers upfront before the goods arrive in customs, just to make sure that the reason we do that is not because we don’t trust our clients pay us because we will be invoiced for the duties and taxes once the shipment actually clears. So we need to make sure that you know, we don’t find our client the gap in the payment for duties taxes. So we need to make sure that the clients put on a per shipment basis the the duties and taxes amount reflects and then repay that over to customers on their behalf.
Kelsey 35:59
Okay, great. And our last question it looks like is from Simon. I guess. VAT registration is a real pain, it is not cheap. And then you need to file it every month. And that is expensive. So he’s asking, How does adding more cost grow your margins.
Rael Lowenthal 36:18
So I think it’s to take a step back the VAT registration and compliance process. And I’m gonna just talk about the UK and EU two, because it’s where it’s really the most applicable. What triggers a VAT registration is storing goods in that country. That’s actually why you have to register for VAT. So using Amazon FBA, by its nature means you’re going to be storing goods in those countries. When I spoke about adding to your margins, what I mean by that is not necessarily the registration and ongoing compliance of VAT that is a cost and it’s not something you can as a Yukon con really get away from it. What’s important is that there will be import VAT that we have to pay over on a seller’s behalf. And the VAT laws give you the mechanism to reclaim it, meaning to set it off against the sales VAT that you owe the local government. And if you don’t get that set off, then you will lose out on margin. So our we our services to prepare the documentation in a way that facilitates that reclaim. All right.
Kelsey 37:24
Okay. And let me see. We just got this one in from AMS elite. Simon, I’ve got an email around, they will reinstate AFN in a few weeks, and I think they’ll also bring back ups export option to FC in the EU. So that’s more of a comment but Okay, so that’s it for questions so far. And right.
Norman Ferrar 37:43
Oh, by the way, with AMC, so Tom, please send me a copy of that picture we took. Just wanted to put it out there. Okay. Now we can move on. I think it is that time for we’ll have Kelsey is that correct?
Kelsey 37:57
That’s right. So here we go. It’s with Kelsey outside and enjoy everyone. Okay, all right. Everyone’s favorite time the wheel Kelsey. So this is for the $5 credit for z. Names. And here we go. If you are the winner, please email me at K at entrepreneur and talk
Norman Ferrar 38:37
to one and it really is more like 750
Kelsey 38:40
Exactly this with the 2050 available for everyone.
Norman Ferrar 38:44
Oh my gosh, there we go. Again, Tom, oh my god. This real it the wheel is rigged. It should be rigged. Have Kelsey
Kelsey 38:57
I have no control over this. Tom, she won again. So congratulations. There is a $250 credit available for everyone. Just contact Z. The website is z.co.
Rael Lowenthal 39:13
Also, Kelsey, sorry. I’d also like to open it up to my personal email address to whoever wants to is listening today. They can contact me on my personal email. It’s Rael l r h e l l etsy.co. And I’ll point you in the right direction as to where you can go. So either you can inquire through our website or you can send me a personal email.
Norman Ferrar 39:32
All right, well, okay. Now I know you’re over at the White Label Expo right now. So you’ve taken some time and shared your time with us today. We really appreciate it learnt. Hey, there’s some great information here that I learned a bit of information I’m sure the listeners did. And just really appreciate meeting you and sharing your time today. So thank you so much.
Rael Lowenthal 39:57
Thank you, Norm and really thanks very much to the listeners. We really appreciate being here. And we hope to hear from them very soon.
Norman Ferrar 40:04
All right, very good. Well, we’ll talk to you soon. And again, thank you. Thank you. Alright, everybody. So I hope you enjoyed today’s episode. This was definitely a topic that you don’t usually hear on, you know, just everybody talking about. So it’s very important that you understand this topic, you know, about importer of record compliance, what they can do what they don’t do. So anyways, just thank you so much for Z CO for coming on and talking about, you know what exactly they do. Now, I have got a special treat lined up for me, you gotta listen to this podcast, one of my favorite ladies that I’ve had the pleasure of talking to a few times, and we just kind of hit it off. She’s been on The Apprentice. She is. Well, she one of her organization is called the oh my god, power check mafia, so you have to do about $10 million in sales to be part of this. And she’s incredible. She’s got combined with her partner, she’s sold over a billion dollars in T shirts. She’s got a huge sticker company, which she started off in the industry. Andrea Lake, I love her. She’s awesome. I can’t wait to talk to her. I’m gonna just sit back and let her talk. But the amount of knowledge she’s going to bring about branding and business and entrepreneurship is going to be incredible. So please, watch us on Wednesday. It’s going to be fantastic. All right. And the other thing I got to give a shout out to seller eyes as you saw seller eyes is a new sponsor for the podcast. And so cellar eyes is a comprehensive solution for your every business need. It’s everything you need to grow your grow and scale your Amazon business. And it’s all just in one click. So for more information, please contact Deema and his team over at cellar eyes calm. And I just want to say that solarize is with one R It’s just SEL S E ll E. R. I s e.com. All right, Kelsey. All right. Thank you. I wonder boy wonder she didn’t say squire this time. Yes.
Kelsey 42:22
Thank you. Oh, you’re just so well, Squire. Alright, well, thank you, everyone for watching today’s episode. Of course, if you are interested in joining our lunch with Norm family, our beer nation as we like to call it, go over to our lunch with Norm Facebook group that’s lunch with non Amazon FBA and ecommerce collective and be part of the group. And also, if you’re interested in our paid services, that is our membership program that we have, you can join that at lunch with norm.com. And just click on the membership area, there’s about three different tiers. And there’s one $3 Just buying us a cup of coffee for the month. And then it goes all the way up to a tier where you can get q&a sessions with me in norm multiple times a month, along with guest guest lessons. So we just had Amy Reese on, and we got to pick her brain for about an hour and a half. And it was just crazy. It was a great session. And we learned a lot. And we really thank Amy for doing that for us. As also just want to mention the seller Meetup is happening October 15. So please, you can go over to seller meetup.com for the q4 mastery, marketing events and the meetup with norm or will be in Austin there along with a couple others. And a couple that’s done a ton. Yeah. Yeah. Brian Johnson, Liza, Monday, Morales, and Tim Gordon or gonna be there. So I think that’s it for me, unless there’s anything from you as your coffin.
Norman Ferrar 43:54
Well, if his brother did his job, the newsletter should be out. But I doubt it because it’s Thanksgiving today. And he’s on his way home to Montreal. So he’s not going to get paid this week. But if you are interested in seeing the newsletter, and receiving it’s all content, it’s just content content, more content, just go to lunch with norm or over to Norman farrar.com And subscribe to the newsletter. And I think that’s about it for today. I just wanted to thank everybody for coming on. I wanted to wish all the Canadians Happy Thanksgiving. So we’re in October, not in November. And so hopefully enjoy your turkey meal tonight or today. And join us every Monday Wednesday and Friday at noon Eastern Standard Time. And like always, thank you for joining the the episode today. Thanks the community for being the community. We really couldn’t do it without you. So thank you and we’ll see you on Wednesday. Mantra
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
