Need advice about drop shipping from the US

[ActiveE]

Has anybody got any experience of drop shipping products from America? I am in the process of developing my site and I am sourcing my products to sell. I have found some great wholesalers in the US that are willing to drop ship for me until my business picks up.
The problem I am having is, if I get the products sent direct to my customers from america then they may be hit with an import duty bill. Now obviously I don't want this to happen to my customers, I would much rather have all the duty's included in the price but after speaking to somebody and HM revenue and Customs it appears there is no way around this. Do customers that purchase online expect to have to pay custom dutys on their purchases? Any information that anybody has on this will be brilliant. From what I could gather from the guy at customs, it is the sole responsibility of the recipient of the goods to take care of vat and import duty's. This is good because I can keep my prices really low without having to add these on top but it's not exactly fair on the customer if they get stung with a bill before they get their purchase. Do you guy's this drop shipping from abroad is a waste of time? Sorry to ask so much in one post!

Rich

[petad]

Hi Rich

We use drop shipping in the UK, and that is fraught with issues, such as having no control over the shipment process, not knowing what stock the drop-shipper has etc. etc., so I imagine those problems would be even worse sourcing from the USA.

My personal view is that customers will be put off big time if asked to pay import duty and tax after they have made a purchase, and would also be concerned about stuff coming from abroad, and if it would ever arrive. And what about warranty issues if the product doesn't work, and the costs of returning it for a replacement/refund?

Don't want to be negative, and if the products can only be sourced from abroad, some people may be willing to accept these issues, but in my opinion you would be better bringing them in to your own premises and then selling them from here (not always affordable, I know).

Pete