Retail e commerce export throguh ebay and amazon

This query is : Resolved

Querist : Anonymous

Querist : Anonymous (Querist)

28 September 2017
This query is on behalf of 100s of e-commerce EXPORTERS

Communications have been done in the past by some of us, and it has resulted in some actions being taken to make things easy for e-commerce trade but we still have a long way to go.

Firstly- I want to emphasize the importance of the e-commerce exports sector by mentioning two small points:

1. Global Business-To-Consumer Industry is a $2Trillion+ market growing at 19% every year.

2. E-Commerce exporters derive the maximum value home. e.g. If a blazer is manufactured by an Indian factory and sold by Macy's USA for 100$, then only 20-25% value is added in India and rest is added outside India. Whereas in case of e-commerce exports, 70-99% value is realized within India because we are in direct contact with the customers.

Secondly, the transaction size in e-commerce trade is less ( usually less than 100$ ), and number of transactions is high.

Third, I want to make it absolutely clear that e-commerce exports happen through two mediums-
1. Through marketplaces who connect buyers and sellers- Amazon, eBay, Etsy etc :: The marketplaces are NEVER the buyer of our product. They ONLY act as a market-maker. The payments of hundreds of small transactions are collected by Amazon/eBay and disbursed to our Indian bank account once a fortnight in INR.
2. Directly through website- Buyer directly places the order on our website. The payment ( in 99.99% cases ) is handled by PayPal and they combine payments of multiple transactions and send payment to our bank account in INR after deducting their service fees.

Our understanding of CSB-V: A courier company ( like DHL, or FedEx ) collecting various small commercial shipments ( less than rs.25,000 value ) and getting them cleared under courier mode. Clearance in courier mode means the shipper doesn't have to arrange a) A lot of documents- Commercial Invoice, Packing Lost, SLI etc. to send the documents b) No need to pay the export clearance charges which usually ranges between 1700-2200rs. per shipment. No post-shipping documents are provided
500
Minimum charges of hypothetically sending a commercial e-commerce shipment before CSB-V: Rs.750 ( minimum charge of 500 gm applied in DHL/FedEx ) + Rs.1800 ( export clearance charge )= Rs.2550
Minimum charges of sending a commercial e-commerce shipment after CSB-V: Rs.750 ( minimum charge of 500 gm applied in DHL/FedEx )

Now the most important part of the email- the grievances of the sellers:
1. No option of sending small shipments ( less than 50$ value ) legally TILL DATE : Tens of thousands ( or maybe even lakhs ) of low value goods are exported from India directly to customers all across the world. The goods include fashion jewellery, T-Shirts, small food packets etc. IndiaPost is the only option available for most of the sellers. There is no way to send them as a legal commercial shipment even now.

2. Squaring off of transactions under CSB-V: Currently only DHL provides the CSB-V facility. Even if we do use the CSB-V tool by DHL to send our shipments, how exactly does getting the GST refund process works? The documents in traditional exports- Shipping Bill Copy, AWB copy, proof of payment from the buyer in USD etc are not available. How exactly does claiming the MEIS benefit happens?
We haven't found a single private consultant having answers to these queries.

3. Remittances received till now for e-commerce shipments: Thousands of sellers are selling internationally on eBay/Amazon/own website since 5 years, and some even since 10+ years. All the shippers have proof of sale, proof of dispatch and payment received in INR from PayPal/ Amazon. However the shipments were sent via IndiaPost for MOST of these sellers, and few sellers sent via DHL/FedEx etc which too didn't provide any option of sending small e-commerce shipments and hence the shipments didn't go through the commercial clearance process. Is there anything that we are supposed to do about these remittances?

Most important- A common response we have received is- “If a transaction involves money, it has to be sent under commercial mode". However, it is absolutely clear that sending, for instance, a 20$ kurta was not possible under commercial mode due to the FIXED charge of Rs.2550 and enormous documentation and large number of transactions. It is not possible even now, to send it via DHL/FedEx.
Sending it through India Post is THE ONLY SOLUTION even now.

We would request a solution on this at the earliest.