Business shipping from Uk ....To Kenya

Business shipping from UK




After my last post re the online retail shopping from Uk I just thought I should shed some light on Business shopping and shipping from UK.



By business shopping I mean buying in bulk or in wholesale with the aim of resale. This is clearly different from the retail shopping in a few areas.



Firstly, you should be buying from wholesale online sites for obvious reason. some of these sites are

QCLOTHING.CO.UK

CITYSHOES.CO.UK

ETC ETC

although everything5pounds.com is quite cheap although not necessarily a wholesale shopping site.



secondly, whilst shipping you would need to use a bulk shipper and not a courier to incur less cost.

You can ship using a straight forward box standard agent from UK and sort out the customs whilst in Kenya. Or you can use the good old Somali shipping and let them do the work for you. I use MAP EXPRESS CARGO - Google them for their contact info.



thirdly, the VAT is payable for retail goods and not for wholesale goods going outside the EU. so if buying to send to Kenya you don't pay the 20% VAT. however to claim this back you would need proof of export, this can and will be provided by your shipping agent on request. But you will have to pay for the VAT upfront and then get a refund once you have the proof.



Most wholesale website will quote the price of the good exc-VAT because most businesses with a VAT number don't need to pay VAT (It is standard in Kenya as well, at least on paper), because they claim that back monthly. So always add the 20% to the price on the website .



Obviously, the goods are in bulk. For instance whilst buying shoes, it is standard to buy a unit. a single unit is made up of 12 shoes - 1pair each on size 3 and 8, 2 pairs sizes 4 and 7, 3 pairs sizes 5 and 6. This is a unit, so you cannot go and ask for 5 pairs size 5 and the rest size 6. Their is no wriggle room on the standard units.

so if you are intending on buying for brides maid the wholesale websites might not work for you due to the sizes.



and finally the shipping is straight forward with the Somalis, you pay either here or before collection in Nairobi. pretty easy.



It takes a week for air shipping and 8 weeks for sea shipping.

Obviously the EU restriction on what can be air freight applies. for instance you cannot fly perfumes