How to Start Exporting: A Step-by-Step Guide for First-Time Exporters

Start with the HS code

The Harmonized System (HS), run by the World Customs Organization (WCO), gives every product a 6-digit code shared by more than 200 countries and economies. Each country adds digits for its own tariff: the US HTSUS uses 10, the EU Combined Nomenclature 8 and TARIC 10, and the UK 10 for imports. Your own country's export code is therefore not the importer's code, and duty is charged on the destination's full national code.

The code is decided by legal rules, not by the product's marketing name: first the heading texts and the section and chapter notes, then the six General Rules of Interpretation (GRI) in order. It decides more than the duty rate, because it also triggers additional duties, permits and other agency checks, and the product-specific rule of origin in a trade agreement.

Describe the product fully (what it is, what it is made of, what it is for and how it is packed), shortlist headings with Triplicate's HS code lookup, then confirm the full code in the destination's official tariff. If the duty, a permit or an origin claim depends on the answer, ask for a binding or advance ruling: WTO members must issue advance rulings on classification and origin. Triplicate's note on finding the right HS code explains the rules step by step.

Check the destination's rules for your product

Customs duty is only part of the picture. Food, cosmetics, medicines, chemicals, plant and animal products and some electrical and electronic goods often need a registration, notification, certificate or permit in the importing country, and often only a local company can hold it, so the buyer or a local representative has to act before the goods leave. Relief from duty, for example for samples, does not lift these product rules.

Labels are part of the rules too: language, ingredient lists, the local responsible company's name and address, and often the country of origin. The US requires almost every imported article, or its container, to be marked with the English name of the country of origin, and unmarked goods pay an extra 10% duty unless they are marked, exported or destroyed under CBP supervision. South Korea (listed goods), India (retail packages) and Saudi Arabia also require origin marking, while the EU, the UK, Japan and China mainly regulate food labels and false or misleading marks. "Made in" or "Product of" plus the full English country name works for most destinations, and a mark never replaces a certificate of origin.

Some examples from Triplicate's market notes:

• EU cosmetics: a Responsible Person established in the EU holds the safety-assessed product file and notifies each product in the free CPNP portal before sale. Great Britain needs a separate UK Responsible Person and SCPN notification.
• US: cosmetics need no FDA approval, except color additives, but MoCRA requires facility registration and product listing. Foreign food facilities register with FDA, and every food shipment needs FDA prior notice before it arrives.
• Japan cosmetics: a Japanese company with a cosmetics marketing licence notifies each product to its prefecture before sale, and the label lists all ingredients in Japanese.
• China food: overseas factories register with China Customs (GACC) in CIFER, under Decree 280 since 1 June 2026, and prepackaged food needs a Chinese label.
• ASEAN cosmetics: Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore each require a local company to notify every product before import or sale.
• India: goods covered by a Quality Control Order cannot be imported unless the factory holds a BIS licence or registration and the goods carry the BIS Standard Mark.
• Saudi Arabia: regulated products need a SABER Product Certificate of Conformity, others the importer's self-declaration, and every consignment a Shipment Certificate (SCoC).
• Pre-shipment certificates: Kenya, Nigeria, Iraq and some other countries clear regulated goods only with a certificate of conformity for each shipment, issued in the exporting country.

Registrations and export controls at home

Check what your own country requires before the first shipment. In India, for example, no one may export or import goods without an Importer-Exporter Code (IEC) from DGFT unless specifically exempted, and exporters also register their bank's AD code with customs on ICEGATE and usually file a Letter of Undertaking (LUT) to export without paying IGST. In the EU and the UK, every business established there needs an EORI number to import, export or transit goods. A business outside them usually does not need an EU EORI just to sell to EU buyers, because the buyer or its customs representative declares the goods with its own number.

Every exporter should also check export controls. Dual-use items, meaning goods, software and technology with both civil and military uses, usually need a licence or general authorisation when they are on a control list. Most everyday consumer goods, such as cosmetics, food, clothing and furniture, are not listed, but classify each product against the list of the country you ship from (in the US, an ECCN on the Commerce Control List, or EAR99 if not listed). An HS code can only flag that an item might be controlled; it never decides it.

Sanctions are a separate check: screen the buyer, consignee, end user, forwarder and banks against lists such as the US Consolidated Screening List and the EU, UK and UN lists, because a product that needs no export licence can still be banned for a sanctioned party or country.

Choose the Incoterm and the importer of record

Incoterms 2020, in force since 1 January 2020, is still the current edition. Choose the rule that matches who will really load the goods, book the main carriage, insure them and clear them for export and import, and write it as rule + precise place + edition, for example "FCA [your warehouse address] Incoterms 2020" or "CIF Shanghai Incoterms 2020". The most common mistakes are FOB, CFR or CIF for containers, which pass risk only when the goods are on board (use FCA, CPT or CIP instead); EXW when you will load the truck or clear the goods for export anyway (sell FCA at your premises); and vague places such as "FOB China". Incoterms do not deal with price, payment terms or the transfer of ownership, so put those in the sales contract.

The rule also decides who clears the goods at destination. Import duties and taxes are paid by the buyer under ten of the eleven rules, and by the seller only under DDP. The importer of record (IOR) brings the goods through customs in its own name and answers for the duties, taxes and accuracy of the entry: normally the buyer on FCA, FOB or DAP, and you or someone you appoint on DDP. In the EU the declarant must in principle be established there, so a non-EU seller needs an EU indirect representative and usually a local VAT registration; in the US an importer of record needs an importer number and, for formal entries, a customs bond; and in Brazil a foreign seller may not arrange import clearance. If you cannot meet these obligations, quote DAP or DPU instead of DDP (see Triplicate's note on the importer of record).

Price the offer from the rule. Freight is in your price under CFR, CIF, CPT and CIP, and insurance too under CIF and CIP, which require cover of at least 110% of the price on Institute Cargo Clauses (C) and (A) respectively; if the buyer wants all-risks cover, agree Clauses (A) or use CIP. Agree in writing who pays terminal handling charges at origin and destination, and show freight, insurance and other charges separately on the invoice: the EU and UK add transport and insurance up to their border to the customs value, while the US leaves international freight and insurance out. Triplicate's export price calculator helps you build the price for the rule you quote.

Agree payment terms and send a proforma invoice

Payment terms decide whether you are paid before or after the buyer can take the goods, and whether a bank, not only the buyer, promises to pay. The US International Trade Administration ranks the main methods from most to least secure for the exporter: cash in advance (usually a T/T wire transfer), letter of credit (L/C), documentary collection (D/P or D/A), open account and consignment. Incoterms say nothing about when or how you are paid, so write the payment term as its own line.

For a new buyer or a risky market, ask for cash in advance or an L/C, confirmed by a bank acceptable to you if the issuing bank or the country is a concern. Under D/P and D/A the banks handle the documents but do not guarantee payment, and under D/A the buyer gets the goods before it pays. Open account is among the riskiest options unless backed by export credit insurance or factoring. If you ship before full payment, use original bills of lading made out to order and release them only when your own bank confirms the money has arrived: a scanned payment slip shows that an instruction was sent, not that you were paid.

The proforma invoice is your offer or price confirmation before shipment. The buyer approves the order, pays a deposit or applies for its L/C against it, and in some countries uses it for an import licence or to buy foreign currency. Number it, date it, give a validity date, and show the goods, unit prices, currency, Incoterm and named place, payment term, HS codes, origin and your bank details. Write the payment term in full, such as "30% T/T deposit on order confirmation; 70% T/T balance against copy of B/L" or "D/P at sight, subject to URC 522", not "T/T 30 days" (see Triplicate's notes on payment terms and on proforma vs commercial invoices).

Book transport and make documents that match

Give your freight forwarder or carrier the cargo details early: it books space and issues the bill of lading or air waybill from your shipping instruction, which takes the package count, weights and volume from the packing list. State the consignee, the notify party and the B/L type (original to order, telex release or sea waybill) to suit your payment terms, and check the B/L draft line by line before it is issued. For sea containers, give the carrier the verified gross mass (VGM) before its cut-off: no VGM, no loading. Most US-bound ocean cargo needs an Importer Security Filing at least 24 hours before loading, and the EU's ICS2 needs an entry summary declaration for all modes, so the forwarder needs the same data in time.

Customs compares the import declaration with the invoice, the packing list and the carrier's manifest, and a different package count, weight, description or consignee is a common trigger for a hold. The importer or its broker deals with customs, but you usually supply the answers about the goods and the price, so send copies of all documents, origin proof and certificates before the goods arrive and stay reachable until release.

Make every document from one set of data, so the package count, weights, description, consignee, HS code, currency and Incoterm agree everywhere; Triplicate's free generator makes the proforma invoice, commercial invoice, packing list and shipping instruction from the same data. Check these documents in particular:

• Commercial invoice: the final bill for the goods actually shipped, one per shipment, with the parties, a specific description, quantity, unit price, currency, Incoterm and place, origin of each line and charges shown separately. Invoice the real price: customs can ask for the contract and payment records.
• Packing list: carton numbers, contents, net and gross weights and dimensions of each package, with totals that agree with the invoice and the bill of lading.
• Certificate of origin: only when the buyer, the L/C or the destination asks for one, or to claim a lower duty under a trade agreement. A non-preferential certificate usually comes from a chamber of commerce; preferential proofs depend on the agreement (see Triplicate's note on certificates of origin).
• Dangerous goods: perfume, aerosols, nail polish and lithium batteries must be classified, packed, marked and declared by trained staff or a qualified forwarder. Never describe them as "samples" or "gifts" to avoid the rules.
• Wood packaging: solid wood pallets, crates and dunnage must be treated and carry the ISPM 15 mark; state the packaging and its ISPM 15 status on the packing list.
• Samples: "no commercial value" still needs a realistic value per item, never zero or a token USD 1, and a precise description (see Triplicate's note on shipping samples).