- Your first port of call is a clearing agent, who deals with the importing process on your behalf. Smith recommends using one that comes as a reference from someone in the importing business.
- Your clearing agent will arrange for you to get an importer’s code, which you need before you can import goods.
- Your supplier overseas will hand your goods, invoice and packing list to what is known as a forwarding agent.
- As soon as the goods are handed over to the forwarding agent in India, they become your responsibility, if you are buying Free On Board (payment option). It depends on which incoterms (shipping payment terms) you are importing under. Smith takes out annual Marine Insurance based on estimates of how much she will import in a year.
- The forwarding agent gets customs clearance for your goods and organises all the documentation required for the goods to be exported from that country.
- The forwarding agent books a freight vessel or aeroplane for your cargo.
- They will then do a bill of lading (for sea freight) or an airway bill (for airfreight). This is a legal document showing that the goods have been handed over to the shipping line or airline.
- The goods are dispatched and the forwarding agent will contact your clearing agent in South Africa and send them the invoice, packing list, bill of lading or airway bill to start processing the documentation
- Your clearing agent prepares a bill of entry from the invoice, attaching the relevant duty tariff to each item. They deal with customs on your behalf.
- Depending on your arrangement with your supplier, you will need to make a foreign payment for the goods at some point. This can be done in various ways, including a TT payment (telegraphic transfer) done via the bank.
Boost Your Income: Five Proven Strategies for Mid-Career Professionals
You’re 40 something, mid-career, and you feel stuck. You need to make more money, but you don’t know how.