# How can we start shipping to Africa and other countries overseas?



## famas35 (Apr 21, 2010)

Hello all.

We have built a following on our fb page through our ministry. We have a small tshirt company but we do have a website. 

Lately we have been flooded with requests from other countries for our tshirts. We know there are lots of scams out there when dealing with other countries, continents etc, but we have built such a following that we believe MOST of these requests are sincere.

We would like to know, how do we set up to ship to countries like Nigeria (Lagos) for a decent shipping cost and how do we find out how much it will cost the customers per order? We will be encouraging people to purchase at least 2-3 shirts per order to save on shipping which we believe they will do. We would like to jump on this before someone takes many of our designs and ideas and supply the current demand for these these shirts.

Many would like our ministry logo on shirts as well. What are some steps we could take to set this up? I searched the forum on international shipping but nothing for shipping to Africa came up!

Should we just do an ebay store or set up through our own website? Also we do have a few well TRUSTED contacts in Nigeria, Uganda and the UK who are willing to help us in any way possible and we could share in the proceeds with them, just not sure how to set this all up! Any help, suggestions would be appreciated! Thx!


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## lben (Jun 3, 2008)

I'm thinking the international shipping for just a handful of shirt would be astronomical. When I've wanted to buy something from overseas they usually want me to purchase a truckload or thousands of pieces, so needless to say the purchase wasn't made. You could check FedEx and UPS websites and also USPS has international shipping info on its website.

If you get an order for say 50,000 shirts just assume it's a scam.


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## famas35 (Apr 21, 2010)

lben said:


> I'm thinking the international shipping for just a handful of shirt would be astronomical. When I've wanted to buy something from overseas they usually want me to purchase a truckload or thousands of pieces, so needless to say the purchase wasn't made. You could check FedEx and UPS websites and also USPS has international shipping info on its website.
> 
> If you get an order for say 50,000 shirts just assume it's a scam.



No no, maybe people are misunderstanding what we are asking. We are in contact often with our readers. So most will only be ordering 1-3 shirts per order. What I am asking is how do we offer international shipping? And at a reasonable price for potential customers overseas especially countries like Nigeria, the UK, South Africa etc! Do we do this by setting up an ebay store? Or is there something that can be added to our website? 

Can anyone help with this question?


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## lben (Jun 3, 2008)

I'm not misunderstanding anything. You are looking for a cheap way to ship overseas. I'm simply telling you that one does not exist. You would have to set up shop in those countries and print there in order to have shipping that wouldn't be out of this world. In order to get a volume discount from say UPS or FedEx or some other international shipping company you would have to be shipping tons of products overseas, not 1-3 shirts at a time.

It doesn't matter if you are selling on your own website or off eBay, you will still be dealing the exact same way with UPS, USPS, or FedEx. If you want to sell from your website you will have to have an e-commerce site setup so that you can take money. Or do it with a PayPal module on your webpage. Shipping again is handled by you, not the website, or eBay or PayPal.

The only other way you could do it would be to contract with a printer over in those countries to do your printing and shipping to that country for you. Then you could offer a good deal.


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## dazzabling (Sep 21, 2011)

Go to USPS website and look for international rates. If you have a select number of countries you can figure out the postage based on Zone. I suggest USPS International Priority and either an account with Endicia or Stamps.com. Both have 30 day free trials, also you can order shipping supplies, printer (thermal highly recommended 4x6 label- endicia or Zebra) and scales.You can fit 2-3 shirts in a USPS Priority Tyvek envelope (its not flat rate) but its the most economical way.

USPS Tyvek Evelopes are free but have a international weight limit but can be used domestically as well.

Endica has a DYMO 4XL thermal printer but if you are doing a lot of shirts a day I suggest a Zebra thermal printer both print 4x6 labels. They don't use ink so that is economical and professional looking. 

Stamps.com works better with international shipments less tempermental and Endicia is faster with domestic shipments. 
But its a personal perfence, both have the function to email your customer.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

lben said:


> You are looking for a cheap way to ship overseas. I'm simply telling you that one does not exist.


Actually, it is pretty inexpensive to ship t-shirts internationally with USPS International mail.

I've shipped 1-3 t-shirt orders internationally for almost 15 years with no problems. 

The customers understand the shipping costs that they have to pay when ordering from the US, and USPS rates are competitive enough to make it worth it for them.

Shipping to the UK and Australia for one t-shirt is only about $7 or so. Shipping to Canada/Mexico is almost the same as within the US (about $3)

I use the setup dazzabling mentioned above (USPS, Endicia, Zebra 2844 Thermal Printer, shipping envelopes from the Valuemailers eBay store) and it works great.



famas35 said:


> Should we just do an ebay store or set up through our own website?


@famas35 Do you already have an ecommerce store on your website?


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## StampsComCorp (May 17, 2011)

Hi famas35,

Stamps.com is a great option to print USPS shipping labels for international shipments. The service costs $15.99 month and you get access to all mailing classes (Click-N-Ship site only offers Priority and Express Mail). Customs Forms are integrated inside the software automatically choosing either the long customs form (Form 2976-A) or short customs form (Form 2976) for your package. You also get access to each country restrictions - not necessarily important for t-shirts but good to know for other products.

When shipping international, First Class Mail International is a great option as the rates are much lower than Priority Mail International. Countries in Africa fall into Zone 7, 8 or 9 for First Class Mail International rates. 

As dazzabling mentioned, Tyvek envelopes are a great option to ship t-shirts for both domestic and international shipments. They are very strong and the Tyvek keeps the overall weight down (Tyvek is 0.5 ounces vs. a Priority Mail Flat Rate box of 4.5 ounces).

Let me know if you have any questions on Stamps.com
Thanks!
Eric
Stamps.com


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## 321go (Aug 13, 2011)

Be very very weary of purchases from africa, nigeria in particular, they may be poor and uneducated on the most part but their abilty to hijack credit card and paypal accounts is astonishing! I was selling iphone cases a while back, and what seemed like a legitimate sale via paypal was a complete fraud. They use fake paypal accounts and send you fake paypal confermation emails to trick you into thinking they have paid, so you ship. they are very very smart, and they target everybody for any product, they will scam the most innordinate things to resell at home. I read a story where a guy in the US sold his boat, $90 000, he recieved payment, but then the payment was taken back. The fraud victim got his account and his 90 grand back, the sneaky african got his boat, and the American lost everything. 
Just be careful and very weary.


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## spamunch (Mar 16, 2010)

I think he can ship to Nigeria. He just has to be careful that's all. You could use UPS, DHL or Fedex. That would be a little pricey. However as long as your customers are willing to pay, then you would be fine. Preferably, you should stack orders and ship them off by air in a carton (box) all at once to your trusted contacts. The customers would then pick the items up from your contacts. Search around for shipping agencies around you. You could ship for as little as $4 a pound, and the items would get there within a week. If you can't find any around you, Google shipping agencies owned by Nigerians and give it a go. There are lots in Houston, Texas and LA, California 

If he's selling 1-3 shirts. The possibility of being scammed is close to 0. Scammers only succeed in scamming greedy people who want to reap where they did not sow. Africa is open for business. There is a growing middle class and that's the next frontier for making big money. Call them "poor and uneducated" at your own peril and miss out on the money making. 

I don't believe the story about the boat. Are you telling me the American shipped a boat to Africa without confirming the money was in his account?


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## 321go (Aug 13, 2011)

spamunch said:


> I don't believe the story about the boat. Are you telling me the American shipped a boat to Africa without confirming the money was in his account?


 
Apparantly the money was indeed in his account, but the scammers used a hijacked account to pay it in, when it was discovered all the money was redeemed from the boat owner, leaving him with nothing. I cant vouch for the legitimacey of the story, i read it on a forum a while back, I dont see why somebody would write out a long story including addresses and email addresses to watch out for if it wasnt true. But who knows.


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## 7thInningSports (Nov 15, 2010)

I get 2-3 of those scam emails a week. To get that many, someone has to be falling for them?????


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## Thr3e10 (Feb 14, 2012)

Hi,just got on to this post.im from nigeria and i own a successful tshirt company with both a branch in UK and nigeria.most of what you get might be scam but be rest assured some a legit.i for one amlookimg for a company that can supply readymade tshirts with my designs to partner with.i intend to start production form overseas as materials of fabric we get here arent up to per most times.i can confidently tell you that nigeria,though known for many bad things,is a potential and yet unexplored market.especially if there is a company that is willing to supply,say fabric,i can guarantee you it'll sell out once the quality is good.


Sent from my iPad using TShirtForums app


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