Euro wholesale vendors?

[ken]

Hello all,

I have recieved two emails in the last week from people who claim to be major wholesalers in European countries.

Have any of you any experience with this, and if you did how did it work for you?

thank you,
ken

[LtKojak]

Hello all,

I have recieved two emails in the last week from people who claim to be major wholesalers in European countries.

Have any of you any experience with this, and if you did how did it work for you?

thank you,
ken

And who these may be?

[ken]

I didn't say who they were for a reason, because I only wanted basic general information. I'm looking at this as if I'm trying to decide if it would be actually worth it to do this.

ken

[LtKojak]

I didn't say who they were for a reason, because I only wanted basic general information. I'm looking at this as if I'm trying to decide if it would be actually worth it to do this.

ken

Ken, as you know, I AM in Europe, so I could give you some info.

[big_teee]

I didn't say who they were for a reason, because I only wanted basic general information. I'm looking at this as if I'm trying to decide if it would be actually worth it to do this.

ken

So is that Guess what I'm thinking?
T

[ken]

Quote Originally Posted by ken View Post
I didn't say who they were for a reason, because I only wanted basic general information. I'm looking at this as if I'm trying to decide if it would be actually worth it to do this.

ken
Ken, as you know, I AM in Europe, so I could give you some info.

OK, I have a couple of questions.

1) How does the 'European wholesaler' system work compared to the US system? Here in the US you sell your pickups to the wholesaler for say 50% of retail with no tax paid. The wholesaler sells the pickups to the stores who collects any local/state sales taxes wherever they are. If he sells the pickups to final purchasers himself he collects the sales tax.

2) How does the European wholesale vendor system deal with VAT and shipping issues from the USA? For example, if I ship pickups to France how is the VAT calculated on wholesale items and who pays it? How is VAT on wholesale shipments calculated anyway?

3) How are the laws concerning wholesalers and wholesale shipments different in Europe and the US, and if there is an issue whose laws apply?

thank you,
ken

[LtKojak]

OK, I have a couple of questions.

1) How does the 'European wholesaler' system work compared to the US system? Here in the US you sell your pickups to the wholesaler for say 50% of retail with no tax paid. The wholesaler sells the pickups to the stores who collects any local/state sales taxes wherever they are. If he sells the pickups to final purchasers himself he collects the sales tax.

If you're talking 'bout VAT, you don't need to worry about. You only need to look at income tax, if your sales go way up.

2) How does the European wholesale vendor system deal with VAT and shipping issues from the USA? For example, if I ship pickups to France how is the VAT calculated on wholesale items and who pays it? How is VAT on wholesale shipments calculated anyway?

If you're EXPORTING, no VAT is applied at your end. Once your product reaches Europe, the importer pays VAT to the country where it's registered to, calculated an X % from the Price product+shipping: but that's nothing YOU need to concerned about. It's all the importer's resposability.

3) How are the laws concerning wholesalers and wholesale shipments different in Europe and the US, and if there is an issue whose laws apply?

I don't think I follow...?

PM me if you so want. If you give me precise questions, I can give you precise answers.

[David King]

You sell a widget to wlsr for $100, wlsr sends you the $100 but pays $19 extra to the customs agent when he /she collects the package at the port.

[ken]

OK, I have a couple of questions.

1) How does the 'European wholesaler' system work compared to the US system? Here in the US you sell your pickups to the wholesaler for say 50% of retail with no tax paid. The wholesaler sells the pickups to the stores who collects any local/state sales taxes wherever they are. If he sells the pickups to final purchasers himself he collects the sales tax.

If you're talking 'bout VAT, you don't need to worry about. You only need to look at income tax, if your sales go way up.

That's cool... of course I pay lotsa income tax already.

2) How does the European wholesale vendor system deal with VAT and shipping issues from the USA? For example, if I ship pickups to France how is the VAT calculated on wholesale items and who pays it? How is VAT on wholesale shipments calculated anyway?
If you're EXPORTING, no VAT is applied at your end. Once your product reaches Europe, the importer pays VAT to the country where it's registered to, calculated an X % from the Price product+shipping: but that's nothing YOU need to concerned about. It's all the importer's resposability.

You just answered the question I forgot to ask - how the local price for a product is decided

3) How are the laws concerning wholesalers and wholesale shipments different in Europe and the US, and if there is an issue whose laws apply?
I don't think I follow...?

PM me if you so want. If you give me precise questions, I can give you precise answers.

I'm sorry about this question. I'm paranoid I guess.
A few years back I recieved a long legalese contract to sign from another overseas wholesaling company wanting my pickups. About page 20 or so, there was a statement that I was to deliver a certain amount of pickups every month. Each month, the amount grew. If I couldn't keep up for any reason, my entire company was to become theirs. WTF. I didn't sign the contract. It sure burned nicely though.

So... what all of you are saying is that I should simply sell the pickups at wholesale pricing to a overseas distributor. The distributor deals with VAT and other local issues.



ken

[Steve Conner]

Re the third question: A business contract can contain any conditions whatsoever, after all, nobody is making you sign it if you don't like them.

When a contract is made between people in different countries, the contract itself should set out which country's laws apply in case of a dispute.

In the case of that contract that you (quite rightly!) didn't like, you might have had your lawyer delete the parts that you didn't like, add a clause stating that the laws of the United States would apply, and send it back to the overseas company for approval. If you don't have a lawyer, I wouldn't go signing contracts without one.

I don't believe you need any sort of a contract to export pickups. The biggest thing to worry about is what value you're going to declare on the shipment, because the importer will pay tax based on that value. For small packages, the courier company or postal service is the "importer", it collects the tax from whoever the package is addressed to. Many people will ask you to declare an artificially low value, but the flip side of that is that it limits the damages you can claim if the package gets lost or trashed.

[the great waldo]

Hi Ken

You did right to trash that contract, but I would think that it was probably an illegal contract that even if you signed it it would not be valid. There are laws at least in Europe to stop these kinds of contracts.

Cheers

Andrew

[ken]

I'm wondering if some kind of basic contract/agreement would actually be in order.

It could state things like actual wholesale price of a pickup, minimum order amount, the name of the shipping company, and things like that.

Unfortunately none of the local lawyers seem to know how to draw up something of this nature.

ken

[LtKojak]

Unfortunately none of the local lawyers seem to know how to draw up something of this nature.

ken

Ken, this contract is called "International Sale Contract" and the basic model's been around for over a century.

I'm certain you'd be able to download a basic model from your local Chamber of Commerce.