Ship now, pay later: The advantages of customs bonded warehousing

If you’re already familiar with shipping internationally, you’ve probably heard the term ‘Bonded Warehouse’ or ‘Customs Bonded Warehouse’, but what does it mean?

The term ‘bond’ means the warehouse authority ensures you won’t face any monetary loss once the taxes are paid.

Essentially, a bonded warehouse allows you to store your goods in another country, free of import duties and taxes, for an indefinite period of time. They are ideal for retailers looking to securely store goods in-country, while waiting for their products to be purchased. This goods and services tax deferment helps retailers save time and costs when it comes to customs duties.

A bonded warehouse adds flexibility to your operations. Stock can be imported and stored before a target peak period begins, making products immediately available to your customers in times of high demand, without delays.

As long as you import from outside your destination country, storage in a bonded warehouse can be advantageous regardless of the type of product. Many even support cooling and freezing systems for bulk storage of perishables. If your company re-exports outside the region or country, a bonded warehouse is the solution to avoid double payment of import duties and taxes.

“You’re an Australian retailer who, thanks to a targeted marketing campaign, has started getting increased sales in Europe. It’s fantastic for your business to start entering another market, but your customers are frustrated by the long waits and your profits have taken a dive because you’re hit with goods and service charge bills left and right. You feel like you’re often paying the same bill twice! By choosing to work with bonded facilities, you can send the inventory you know your European market is crazy about to a local European bonded facility. This means your products are much closer to your customers, cutting delivery times significantly and also means you only incur duties and taxes when goods are purchased and leave the facility, leading to predictable customs charges that are paid gradually, rather than all at once.”

By choosing to bulk ship goods internationally to a customs bonded warehouse you can minimize import duties by choosing optimal rates at optimal times. And in the case of re-exporting goods, no import duties would have to be paid.

Meanwhile, Brexit has left a lot of businesses wondering to what extent the new taxes and tariffs will affect their goods flows. Many UK businesses are now taking advantage of bonded warehousing facilities in the EU to help manage cashflow. Bonded warehouses allow retailers to import goods from the UK into the EU without having to pay import duties until the products leave the warehouse and enter ‘free circulation’.

Borderless360 has access to customs bonded warehousing options in the UK, the Netherlands and Melbourne, Australia. Our facilities are affiliated with forwarding partners providing access to the most cost-effective fulfillment solutions.

If you’d like to know more about our warehouses, get in contact here.