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In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Eric Brouwer writes:
> hello!
>
> For a school project, we are supposed to write a business proposal for a
> hypothetical e-commerce site. The business I plan to write about is setting
> up a Lego resale operation worldwide. The main concept is this: We all no
> there are from time to time Lego sets that are only available in certain
> countries. As collector's, we all might be interested in them. If Lego
> won't fill our need, let's set up a site to help each other. Basically, if
> there is a US only set, the US branch of the site orders as many of the sets
> as they can, and sells them to international buyers. If it is a UK only
> set, our UK operations buy the set, and sell them.
First of all, let me congratulate you for your e-business choice. Such kind
of service is always needed, and I'd be a user of it rather frequently.
> As part of my proposal, I need to address certain concerns. Such as:
>
> What potential problems could arise, or do we need to be aware of, regarding
> international trade laws?
That would depend, both on countries and sort of business (scale, I think).
If your e-business were to work on a basis of "order from US, re-sale
throughout Europe", using one office in the US and another in the EU, there
would be laws to worry about both sides of the Atlantic to make the first
half of the deal, but for the second half (european distribution) it would
be much easier - supposedly trade laws are identical throughout EU. The
opposite is also true, I think.
Of course, if you plan to make distribution directly from source in small
parcels, all items can be marked as gifts... therefore becoming exempt of tax.
> Are there any international tax laws to think about?
Maybe you could try .au for info about this. For what I've understood, they
have experienced practically all sorts of custums difficulties in trading
overseas...
> How do you handle shipping around the world?
I dunno, that is usually something that can be arranged between seller and
buyer. In some cases seller offers some pre-determined fares for S&H, but I
don't think there is a general rule for it.
> If any of you incredibly intelligent people
LOL! That is nice as a compliment! Thanks! ;-)
> could lend a student a hand, I
> would greatly appreciate it! Are there any other considerations I need to
> address? Keep in mind, the business idea doesn't need to be a good one. I
> just need to make sure I look at all aspect of the proposed company. And it
> is only hypothetical!
Why only hipothetical? You could start your own company, virtually: first,
find a couple of buddies from different places that would like to help, then
put up a brickbay store (for instance), and then wait for market
opportunities. It is nothing that hasn't been done before, or at least it is
not impossible.
Hey, you could try to ask in .market.theory about this!
> Would it even be legal for a company to do something like this outside of TLG?
Why not? Isn't it what toy stores around the world do, order from LEGO DK,
and then sell it locally? The only difference is that instead of ordering
from a single location, you can order sets from multiple ones. TLG would not
be damaged in any way by your actions, since they would earn the same and
have a wider distribution chain (toy shops are a whole different issue...)
Hope to have helped (somehow...),
Pedro
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