www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Does anyone on the board have experience exporting items, as a business, from the CR to the US? My wife and I are starting an online store to sell coffee, cigars, arts and crafts. Correos Costa Rica is really crazy on price. They more or less charge $30 per kilo. Thus, just sending a 500 gram bag of coffee is like $15.... ie. more than the coffee itself.

I have checked out a site called http://costaricasuperstore.com/ They somehow have this under control. It is a tico run business out of Santana. Thus, if you buy three bags at 500 grams, the price of shipping does not go to $45, but something like $18, which is more sane.

Does anyone have any experience getting reasonable prices out of Correos? I have called jetbox and the other guys.... they are way over the top on shipping.


Thanks for your help!

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http://TipsCostaRica.com for pratical advice on living in Costa Rica.
In order to write about life, first you must live it! - E. Hemingway.

Why not become an Amazon retailer? You can ship all your product to the Amazon warehouse and they will do all the fulfillment for you. You could keep your site but when they click to buy they get routed to your Amazon site for checkout and fulfillment.

I know his biz is primarily from the US to CR but you may want to see Rafa at AirmailCR..

http://www.airmailcr.com/

his office is in Sabana Sur

_________________
Why settle for just one woman when you can enjoy them all?

This is a great idea. I was not aware that amazon would act as a distributor. Thanks for the great advice!

_________________
http://TipsCostaRica.com for pratical advice on living in Costa Rica.
In order to write about life, first you must live it! - E. Hemingway.

I do know of one person here who does something similar, especially with coffee. His part time hobby has, however,turned into a full time gig.

His business model is putting a store front in near the Liberia Airport. That store front offers a free coffee tour and explains the roasting process as well as ample samples of coffee you can taste test and take a big cup to go for free. If you choose to buy a bag while you are there great. If not you leave with a business card for a web site to purchase once you have arrived back home. Guy exports raw beans as this is cheaper and taxed less (don't forget it is not just the shipping but the import taxes, no free trade agreement between CR and US, they will hammer you on both ends doing business and not paying taxes. Simply living and being a resident of Costa Rica does not exempt you of filling a federal or stated (if applicable) tax return.) beans are then roasted in a location in Austin, Texas and then packaged and shipped to final destination.

Company is called Sunburst Coffee, google "sunburst coffee costa rica" if you want more info.

If you want to ship cigars and tobacco products I would only assume you have to deal with ATF rules and regulations that I personally have no idea about.

Thanks for the reference. As I understand customs, shipments under $200 are automatically passed or exonerated and both cigars and coffee are acceptable. I imagine Sun Burst is much bigger than that. However, My wife and I working on tiny elvis funding.

_________________
http://TipsCostaRica.com for pratical advice on living in Costa Rica.
In order to write about life, first you must live it! - E. Hemingway.

Yes, Amazon has the most efficient warehousing and fulfillment operation on the planet.

So, buy in bulk here and send there on a container? My only concern then would be customs fees. Shipping more than $200 is subject to customs and does not get a free pass.

_________________
http://TipsCostaRica.com for pratical advice on living in Costa Rica.
In order to write about life, first you must live it! - E. Hemingway.

He started out roasting beans and packaging coffee in Escazu centro. He delivered locally and mailed to the U.S. I was a customer when I lived in Miami and use to order my coffee from him in 5 lb lots and never had a problem with customs or getting the coffee delivered to my house.

Nice to her he is still around and successful.

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Chi....watch the following video. Although this is a piitch to sell an expensive system, they talk a lot about how to set up an amazon business. There is a lot more to learn than what is on this sales pitch but it does spell out the basics of how to set up an online Amazon business and might set you in the right direct. Amazon is an amazing marketplace. hope this helps


http://ewebinars.com/webinar/?trackingI ... 5lgfrhugft

The other idea, maybe dumb, but check how your anticipated competitor's are doing it, even if you have to order something cheap from them to one your friend's in N America.

I sell on amazon with their fulfillment program. I could help you get setup with that. I sell several thousand items a month and they store them in their warehouses and do all the shipping for me. Definitely the most economical way to ship, you would just need to get the product to the us.

Would shipping by Sea in 55 gallon barrels help you out? Cost is $120.00 and takes 9 days by sea. Weight does not matter. I don't work for them.

We handle the size of barrel or box you send to us. We have a set price rate for the Jumbo Barrel 14.5 cft / 55 gal barrel, depending the destination. Please let us know the size and destination and we can give you the quote. Cargo needs to be deliver to 2800 NW 105th Avenue - Doral, FL 33172.

Best regards,


Enrique E. Estrada
SeaPack, Inc.
Pricing Manager
2820 NW 105th Avenue
Doral, FL 33172
Dir.: (305) 592-1195 ext. 254
Tel.: (305) 592-1150
Cell: (305) 582-7438
Web: http://www.seapackline.com
"Where Service Comes First"
We are moving....Please note SeaPack will have a new address as of July 1st 2013. Our new address is: 9950 NW 17 St. Doral, Fl. 33172

You are doing it all wrong and fighting a losing battle by trying to fill orders from Costa Rica.

What you need to do is send everything to a US fulfillment center and then ship orders individually from there.

Sure you pay for one large shipment (which you can send by LTE relatively cheap), but you have the luxury of shipping half pound orders for as low as a couple dollars with 3-5 day US delivery with tracking.

This is the ONLY way to do a business like that.

And avoid Amazon like the plague. Their fees are insane (15%-20% per order plus different fees and tons of forced refunds to any customer that complains) and their customer service is terrible. Definitely not merchant friendly. That doesn't mean you shouldn't list your products on Amazon.com (to capitalize on their existing shoppers stumbling into your product) but to use them as a fulfillment center for all orders is a terrible idea.