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Fillable commercial invoice for Product quality

Did you guys hear about Drake?  He shows up at this Raptors game. He pulls out this lint roller. He's doing it on his leg. Someone sees him, they catch it on camera. It goes viral. And what happens at the next Raptors game? They give out thousands of these branded as Drake, and every time the Raptors  scores like, Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. I just had to say that,  guys, it's awesome marketing. Take that for what it's worth,  apply to your Amazon store. I have no idea how you will,  but I hope you like that. Guys, I'm excited because the commercial invoice is a big  part, not just of getting your goods into the US to sell on Amazon  or your e-commerce platforms, but it also allows you to defend  yourself when someone comes after your products and says: “Hey,  that product is not authentic. Hey, Amazon, take them down.”  And you know, it's a competitor. So the first thing I'm to give you  is super classic and super important, and I'm surprised how many  people don't know about this. But actually I learnt this from  working with sourcing agents. Before you pay that final payment to your supplier  required them to send you the  commercial invoice in English. Now, if it's a Chinese supplier and English  is not their native tongue, it's fine. You can still have them send it to you and get  someone to translate it over into an excel sheet. It really is simple. It's not  complicated, but require it. And if you require it, they  will send it to you, I promise, because they want their money. And then when someone complains about  your listing and says it's not valid, what is Amazon going to ask you?  What is your commercial invoice? And you don't have to go  create some bogus invoice. You don't have to go buy from  an American supplier to say: “This is my invoice and make  sure that the numbers match up.” We've all been there. We know that  just get it directly from the supplier. Now, if they can't send you a commercial  invoice, I can almost guarantee you you're working with a trading company  or someone really, really shady. Now trading company doesn’t mean  shady. But just keep that in mind. Today is exciting because I'm going  to give you 18 line items that go on this commercial invoice. Now, a lot of commercial invoices look different. This is a very simple, basic one. I just printed this up just so you can  have an idea of what it looks like. It is not insanely complicated. There's just a lot of detail. And once you understand the  basics, it really is simple. The cool part is you don't even have  to be the person who fills it out. Actually, your exporter is  going to do that for you. “Seth, who is the exporter?” It is the supplier who's managing the shipping. Now, the supplier themselves don't really ship it, but they're responsible, especially  if you're doing what's called Delivered Duty Paid, DDP, which  means they're going to ship it from China all the way to Amazon  fulfillment center for you. And you don't have to do a  thing. Now, some people do EXW and all these different options. I so much prefer DDP. Because it means those products get  there without me having to do anything. In fact, the customs agent is built in. They will take care of all that complicated  paperwork related to the commercial invoice. All you have to do is pay the tariff. But I know it's OK. If you watch my last video, if you're a student at Just One Dime,  you already know how to do this. You know how to calculate your costs and profits. You're equipped to make money, but  that's for Just One Dime student only. Item number one is going to be seller.  So you're going to see it right here. Seller on the commercial invoice. Now again, you don't have to fill it  out, but I want you to be able to read it so that you understand what you're talking about, because there's a few things on here that the exporter might put on there and  you might say: “Uh-uh. Don't do that. I need you to change this.”  Especially when it comes to the commercial value, which  I'll speak to in a minute. That way, you don't get in trouble  with the federal U.S. government law. Item number one is the seller. It's simply the exporter. It’s the supplier who's shipping it out. It's going to have their name and their address. That's it. Also called the exporter. \ By the way, make sure they  have an exporter license.  You can even ask for it. “Hey, just by the way, before you ship  it, please send me the exporter license.” Now again, if the suppliers  working with the freight forwarder, the freight forwarders should be able to give them the export license  and they can send it to you. Line item number two. Sold to. That's you, the buyer. That's me, the buyer. So if they… If you were receiving  those goods, it's coming to you. Let's say, you know, a bunch of lint rollers, if those goods are coming to you,  you are the ‘Sold to’ person. Because you're buying, it's going to your address. Now there's a little twist here because  line item number three is ‘Ship to’. Now ‘ship to’ could be where they are shipping it,  not to you directly, but to a  third party like an intermediary. So that's the shipping address. Then that person or entity or company, which  is, by the way, is usually a freight forwarder, they're responsible to get  it to your final destination. So just keep in mind that  when the two are different,   but if they're shipping it directly to you or to Amazon's fulfilment center,  then ‘sold to’ and ‘shipped to’, ‘sold to’ is going to be you and ‘ship to’  you will be Amazon's fulfillment center. One of the tiniest items on the entire  commercial invoice is going to be… Guys, can I get a full  screen on this really quick?  Commercial invoice number. It's just a few little digits. It's really important because  your supplier will give you that number based on their records. They have this system that  automatically generates numbers. Well, that number is prized by Amazon. They love this number. They need that number. If they don't have that number, when  they ask for a commercial invoice, you're going to be in trouble. So  just make sure that number's on there. Line item number five. Customer reference number All it is is it's a number that  the supplier identifies you by. So you are a number in your system, kind of like a Clone in Star Wars, if for  lack of a better illustration. But you're a number and that  number does matter to them for the records, it's not a big deal. The customs people don't care about  it, the sellers don't care about it. It's just for the supplier themselves. Line item number six is terms of sale. All it means is the term on the  delivery and the sale agreement. Now, where it gets in more  detail is line item number seven. And that's terms of payment. For example, if you're paying 30%  upfront, then the remaining 70% that would be part of your terms of sale. Now sometimes they're going to do  what's called letter of credit. So you don't have the money, but you have so much credibility that  they receive some kind of letter. This is this is proof that  Seth Kniep or you, Bobby McGee, my good friend, will pay  the remaining amount needed. Line item number eight is currency. Currency of settlement. It's the kind of money you're paying with. Is it CAD? Is it USD? Is it Pesos? Is it RMB? Whatever it is, RMB is Chinese yuan. I'm not talking *mimicking R&B music*. Not that kind of R&B, what are you thinking? I can't believe you thought that. No, I'm talking about ‘R’, ‘M’ as in mouse. B, it's... It's like saying a dollar for USD. It's Chinese yuan. Line item number nine is mode of shipment.  Now there are three main  kinds of shipments you can do. You can do by air. You can do like plane. There's Air Express of the two main one.  You can do by ocean, meaning by a ship. And usually you do that if you have a larger number of items. You're willing to wait three  to five weeks to get it. But the per unit cost goes way  down compared to airfreight and especially compared to Air Express. But when you are just testing a  product, AirExpress is perfect. The third one is surface. Just think about the world and going  across the surface of the world, like by railway, by train or by truck. So this will state which one is the primary mode of shipment. Line item number ten is quantity. Very simple. How many units am I  actually shipping in these boxes? Line item number eleven is a  description of those goods. Again, you're going to see here a product  description along with the harmonized code area where you can put it down. Now, this is really important. Sometimes a supplier, a manufacturer,  a factory will recommend that they change the name of the goods  so it gets through customs more easily. There was a day like back in 2014,  2015 where that worked great, but today I don't recommend it because  customs are opening a lot of boxes and they are checking them  to make sure the description in the commercial invoice matches  what is actually in the box. And if it does it, they can take your goods, they can auction them off, they can make money off of it  to pay for the customs fees. Never talk to you again. It's not worth it. So just don't do it. Don't. Don't. I’ll come to your house. Make sure that description is accurate. In fact, it usually includes  not just the quantity, but even the unit of measure. That's why there's a lot of details in here where you can like put the size of the boxes, the gross weight per container, the  type of container, stuff like that. Again, you aren't writing this out,  but it's good for you to understand it so you can apply it. Free tool. Click below. There's a link. It will show you the most common incoterms  possible for any kind of shipment. This is like understanding tax  law, which some lawyers have said is the most complicated  thing in the world. It's insane. But what we did is we created an entire tool that shows you all  the main terms, what they mean, who is responsible for every stage of the process, not just the customs but over the  sea, getting to the warehouse, getting it imported, paying the customs  duties, getting it all the way to Amazon's fulfillment center or your garage  or wherever you like to store your goods. So click that link below.  It's a free tool for you. Number twelve is unit of measure. This is the total weight and total gross weight in kilograms per description line. So for every… If you're… If you are  shipping multiple kinds of goods, each one will have its own  weight that is calculated there. Line item number 13. I was going to try to say 13 with fingers,  but I don't have that many fingers. So forget it. Boom! Line item number 13 is unit price. This is the per unit price  for the goods being shipped. Line item number 14. This is the  total price for all the goods. Now we talked about this in another video. I just have to re-emphasize. Do not undervalue or understate  or let the supplier do this,  the actual value of the goods. “Seth, how do I know the value of the goods?” Well, if you're buying ten pineapples  and each one is $10, that's $100, they're going to have them put down $100. And when you look at that commercial invoice, if the supplier puts down a lower  amount, brings it under $2500. So you don't have to pay the tariff. Guys, I know it's tempting. You're  like: “Seth, I'm going to save money.” Yeah, but you're not really going  to save money if customs finds out and you can't ever import again in your life and you get a bunch of fines  and fees added on top of that. You don't want to hurt trust  when it comes to importing. So just to make sure, you include that. At this point, you're probably asking what in the world is he  talking about pineapples for? There's another video Just go  to my channel, you'll see it. I talk about declared value. I break it all down. And if you really want the inside scoop  on that, become a member Just One Dime. Line item number 15. This one is almost actually more  important than the invoice number, which we talked about before. This  is the total commercial value. Now, just keep in mind, these numbers  don't necessarily line up with the boxes. These boxes don't have numbers. I'm just giving it to you in  numbers to keep it simple. This one is commercial value  or total commercial value. What it means is the value of the goods,  how much you are paying for the goods, make sure you write that item,  that total down accurately, and it doesn't include the cost of shipping. It doesn't include the  customs fees and the tariff. It's just the cost of the goods. Line item number 16. Package marks. I promise you, this is the  weirdest of all of them. All marks on the boxes are included in this field. For example, you're going to have, if let's just say you have twelve boxes,  so one box will say one of twelve. Next one, two of twelve, three  of twelve, four of twelve. So you need to indicate that  on the commercial invoice so they know when they get it. We're looking, guys, for 15 boxes. OK, got it. Seven of fifteen.  Put that on the truck. But think about the fact that these physical boxes are going to be moved by real  people and machines to get to you. So make it as easy for them as possible. Well, in this case, make sure your  exporter makes it as easy as possible. You're going to include the  shipping companies name, the country of origin, for  example, was this made in China? And by the way, if it was manufactured, let's say, in another country like  Pakistan and they shifted to China, but China is where your supplier is, country of origin is actually China, not Pakistan. In other words, the place  where you're sending money, where you receive it from, that's  technically the country of origin. Just in case you're wondering about that. The destination port of entry, for example,  it could be Long Beach, California. The package weight in kilograms,  the package size, which includes the length with the height, all of  that and the shippers control number. This is an identification number for the shipper, for the freight forwarder, for  the exporter who's sending it out. They actually have to have a control  number that proves that they're legit. Line item number 17. Miscellaneous charges This may or not may not be relevant, but I just want you to be aware of it. This includes anything that you  would be miscellaneous charge for, such as packing fees, extra insurance  fees, export transportation, et cetera. And again, they're paid by you, the buyer. Line item number 18. Last but not least, is certifications. Now, certifications include  any kind of certification or   declaration required by the receiving country, not the exporting but the importing country. Again, if you have a child's  product and there's a high risk that the child could choke on it, you  need what's called a CPC certification. You can get that through  SGT. If you really don't know what I'm talking about, but you are a member,  then you do know what I'm talking about. This allows you to get the product into  the country without customs saying: “They don't have the certifications. There's a high risk that this electronic product could start on fire, so we can't let it in.” It's really important if that product  needs any certification to sell on Amazon, have it taken care of before  it comes into the U.S. It'll make the importation easier. I cannot tell you how many Amazon sellers  who didn't know what they were doing did everything right, except this one. And as a result, their product was  stopped and they had to wait four or five, sometimes six months before  they could ever see their goods. Can you imagine sending a lot of money over for your business and then for six months, you don't receive the goods you can't sell them? You don't want that to happen to you. Don't do it. Before I go, let me give you a few tips, you understand commercial invoices even better. There's a lot of different reasons they're used. The destination country is going to need it before they can release the goods through customs. If your goods are damaged or lost  in transit, it actually serves as a supporting document for your insurance claim. Again, that's something that we teach the  members at justonedime.com/fireyourboss. A bank may need to see it before  reimbursing funds under a letter of credit or documentary claim, for example, if  you have the credit but you don't have the freed up cash because you've  invested it, let's say, in real estate. Well, that letter of credit  proves that you're going to pay. The supplier loves that, but  it has to be… They need this. They need it on here in order  to validate what you're doing. Otherwise customers will not accept it. Exporters can use this to support  foreign credit risk insurance claims. I'm not going to go into that right now, but I just want you to be aware of these things. Commercial invoices guys are so important that US export regulations require exporters, check this out, retain it for five  years from the date of shipment. So, the exporter, the supplier in  China has to keep it for five years. If they don't, they can have a problem  exporting anything into the U.S. in the future. A commercial invoice is not the  same as a pro forma invoice. Also known as a PI. When you first talked to the supplier and you say:  “Hey, give me these lint  rollers, how much do they cost? How many can I get? What does  the Minimum Order quantity?” They're going to send you a little quote,  an approximate, how much it will cost you. Maybe even the shipping cost. When you receive that from the supplier,  that's a proforma invoice. Very different than the commercial voice. This is   what you need when you're shipping it before you make that final payment.