Export of goods

An export is the delivery of goods to third countries (countries that do not belong to the European Union (EU)). In the case of international goods movements, the sender is the exporter and the recipient is an importer.

When you export goods from your country, you need to comply with various customs formalities. These include completing a customs declaration, presenting commercial documents and paying customs duties. The exact customs formalities vary depending on the country of destination. Before you ship your goods, you should check the customs regulations of the destination country. You can find detailed information on the website of your local customs authority.

Process your export declarations directly through us!

With LetMeShip, you can easily complete the export declaration and accompanying documents for your exports in our shipping platform. It allows you to create electronic foreign trade documents directly after booking your shipment. Sign up for free and get started.

In international trade and when exporting to third countries, you should have the following commercial documents and information ready.

• Transit document T1 if necessary
• Export declaration
• Commercial or pro forma invoice
• Export licence
• Certificate of origin if necessary
• Preferential certificate if necessary

There is a lot that you as a company have to consider when it comes to customs formalities for your imports and exports. Your advantages:

• Free registration without contract or volume commitment
• Multi-carrier shipping: a large selection of experienced carriers who will accompany the entire customs clearance process from your booking
• All-in-one system: shipping and booking platform in one, including document uploads and archiving
• Information on the customs process and forms to download
• Personal customer service, available to answer your customs questions from your first booking with us

To secure your goods, we offer the LetMeShip guarantee in our service portfolio. It protects your goods against transport damage, loss and theft. During the booking process, you can choose whether you want to send your goods with or without the LetMeShip guarantee.

The delivery time depends on the chosen shipping method, the destination country and the current traffic situation: as a rule, it takes 1–3 working days within the EU for your goods to reach the recipient. It can take 4–8 weeks to Switzerland and China, and 2–4 weeks to the US.

The cost of exporting goods is made up of various cost factors such as transport costs, customs duties, insurance costs and packaging costs. These in turn depend on what you are shipping, from which exporting country and to which receiving country. Make use of our price comparison after registration.

Suppliers of goods to business customers within the EU show the invoice amount without VAT, while the customer has to pay the VAT as an acquisition tax in their country. The supplying company (exporter) in your country must prepare a summary report of its net export sales and send it to the to the tax authority. The tax authority in the receiving country uses this information to check that the receiving company has properly taxed its supply of goods. Net export sales must also be reported in the Advance VAT Return. All companies liable for VAT are required to do this. You can also settle exports to third countries as export deliveries tax-free. This means that all exports to a third country are exempt from VAT.

For exports to other EU Member States, a VAT registration number must be applied for once at the local tax office. The tax office is responsible for the intra-community VAT control procedure, together with the partner authorities in the EU member states.

With LetMeShip you have all of our shipping options at your disposal: we can reliably export your products as a parcel, on a pallet or as bulky goods within and outside the EU – to almost any country in the world.

Absolutely! And we do it all the time! Our shipping partners have a huge fleet and a global transport network. With our air freight services we offer you reliable and fast options to make sure your urgent goods exports to Africa, South America, China and other oversea destinations worldwide go smoothly. For particularly tricky exports, just talk to us in person.