When dealing with shipping internationally, especially from abroad to the U.S., setting the terms of the transaction from the moment the customer requests a quote is incredibly important. To avoid problems, unwanted costs, and even potential legal issues, there should be no room for confusion or ambiguity in the contract you set up with your customer.
If your organization intends to ship or receive items to or from overseas, it is important to understand an integral part of the international shipping process: the Harmonized System (HS) and Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), which were developed by the World Customs Organization.
The most important thing to remember when it comes to Customs is that inspections happen randomly. They can happen to anyone, at any time, and there is no way to determine if an inspection will take one day or two weeks.
At first glance, logistics management might seem as simple as ensuring an order gets from point A to point B. In reality, handling logistics is much more complex, since many details are not necessarily intuitive – they are learned through trial and error (which can quickly become costly.)