Cross-Border Crunch Time With Jonathan Witt From Sendle - Ep. 68
In This Episode
Peak season shipping can get complicated. International shipping can be a major headache. Combine the two, and it might seem like stress is inevitable.
But if you follow the best practices recommended by Jonathan Witt, senior partnerships manager at Sendle, your peak season cross-border shipping can be successful and stress-free.
The best way to get started
If your business hasn’t yet expanded to international markets, Jonathan highly recommends getting started. His advice? Start small.
“You don't have to ship everywhere. You don't have to sell globally. It's probably better that you are intentional and selective with countries that you want to sell to, because you want to understand the customer base, as well as all the requirements for shipping internationally.”
Avoiding customs delays
Delays lead to frustrated customers—something you don’t want to deal with during the busiest time of the year. By understanding and complying with cross-border shipping regulations, you’ll ensure your goods clear customs and arrive on time.
Jonathan shares a few things to watch out for. “Why do shipments get stuck? Usually because of missing or wrong documents, [like] your commercial invoice, which has all the product information.”
He continues, “Make sure that on the commercial invoice, you're associating your products with the right HS code. Make sure that you're listing the country of origin correctly in case that package does get inspected.”
DDP vs. DDU—what’s best?
If you’re shipping internationally, delivered duty paid (DDP), “where the buyer or the receiver has to pay all the shipping costs and duties and taxes upfront at checkout,” is generally the best way to handle things.
While delivered duty unpaid (DDU) can work in some situations, it’s best to avoid surprise fees upon package delivery.
As Jonathan puts it, “Being a little bit more transparent … just makes a better customer experience.”
Links
Transcript
Lori Boyer 00:00
Welcome back to Unboxing Logistics. I'm your host, Lori Boyer of EasyPost, and today we are gonna be talking about cross-border shipping, especially as it relates to peak season. That's coming up for 2025. This is one of the questions we get a lot from shippers out there, how to manage this. There's been a lot of challenges in this area, so by popular demand. I have brought back one of our favorites to work with, Jonathan Witt of Sendle. Why don't you go ahead. I like to call him Witty. So our, our dear Witty, he's the best. Why don't you introduce yourself a little bit, tell our audience your background, remind them who you are.
Jonathan Witt 00:44
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, thanks, Lori. Longtime listener by the way, so I'm pretty excited to, to be here. And yeah, as you mentioned, my you know, go-to nickname is Witty, so feel free to call me that. But yeah. My name's Jonathan Witt. As Lori mentioned, I'm the senior partnership manager here at Sendle for North America.
I've been in the role for just over two years now. Really loving the work that we're doing at Sendle. You know, we're truly leveling the playing field for SMBs by making shipping simple, reliable, and affordable. You know, packed loads of, of business benefits in there, like free pickups, no lock contracts.
24/7 customer support and we're a hundred percent carbon neutral. All great things, of course in today's day and age. But prior to that, I spent almost five and a half years at Shopify in various roles. It's actually where I developed a strong passion for shipping and logistics. Then it got me onto the logistics partnership team where you know, I spent time strengthening and developing our partnerships with a variety of carriers.
So. That's what got me into into the role.
Lori Boyer 01:45
Yeah. I love it. And I also love hearing about how people get into this industry 'cause it's so unique. It's, oh, okay. I had to say, I do get some guests who are like, oh, I've been wanting to be in supply chain or in logistics since I was little. That is often the anomaly.
It's, it is fun to see how people get in. But Witty is one of my favorites. He is so smart. He is so helpful, and so I think he is going to be the perfect one to help us walk through this challenge of what do we do? What are the best practices? What, you know, how can we make sure that we're not just bleeding money. But before we do that.
Witty. If somebody asked me one of the people I admire in the industry, I would say you, Jonathan Witt, you are amazing. Love working with you. But for you, one of the things we've been asking our guests is just about somebody they admire. So who is someone that you really admire from the industry and why?
Jonathan Witt 02:41
Yeah. Oh my gosh, that's a great question. I mean, thanks for, for saying me, but you know what? I actually have to say, probably one of you know an EasyPost employee of yours. Bobbi Richardson. She and I worked at Shopify together. Really dove into a lot of you know, postal relationship stuff and partnership stuff.
You know, my, my lead now Laura Hill has been a really instrumental part of my career development. So yeah, those, those two have just really, you know, allowed me to become kind of the partnership manager I am today. And I really love the space. I love how cross-functional the role is and just.
Being able to really take a lot of different components of the business, from sales network, marketing, product, mixing it all into one, and then you're, you know, you're building collaboration pieces and, and relationships with partners. So yeah, I feel like it's, it's a role I've, I've really enjoyed and kind of am a good fit for and just keep learning so much every day. So, yeah, I I love it.
Lori Boyer 03:39
Aw, that is so good. And giant shout out to Bobbi. I adore Bobbi. So Bobbi, she is wicked smart and she works so hard. No one works harder than Bobbi. So, love that. I also admire her so greatly, so I'm glad you brought her up.
That's awesome. Okay, let's try talk cross-border. cross-border shipping. I have a dear friend who runs an SMB and gets a lot of supplies from Canada, specifically, for this friend. And it's really been a struggle over the last year as we've had different tariffs and whatnot. She's constantly asking me for advice.
I'm basically need to get smart people like you to tell me what that advice is. So what do you feel like, first to start, are the challenges you're seeing? What are, you know, some of the disruptions and issues going on in 2025 that people are facing?
Jonathan Witt 04:36
As you kind of said, 2025 seems to be the year of trade changes.
As we all know, there's, there's new policies, new tariffs, new sanctions. All these things seem to sometimes, you know, change daily, if not weekly, monthly, all those things, right? So it's caused a, a lot of numerous shipping delays. It's increased the complexity in cross-border, for cross-border shippers.
A lot of confusion both on the businesses side and the customer side. So just everyone's not really too sure what's going on. And, and businesses feel uncertain, right? They're, they're always wondering what new rule is gonna come next or what, new fee or something like that. But you know, what businesses must do, I think is obviously stay flexible, stay agile, right?
So watch those global trade news really, really closely. Know your carrier shipping rules and requirements. So really, you know, study up on HS code stuff country of manufacturer, like where your item's actually being manufactured, your item value de minimis values, all of those things because that'll actually help avoid delays, surprise costs, and or any blocked or, you know, seized shipments at, at a border crossing, right?
Another thing to really keep a top of mind for, for brands is the customer experience really is top priority for your international buyers. It's been a challenging year, obviously to build out a, a strategy to keep international conversions high and prices competitive with tariffs and all of those things.
But it's good to be transparent and upfront about landed costs, right? So it gives the customers a peace of mind sets, clear expectations on what you may be paying and hopefully will obviously make it a better customer experience.
Lori Boyer 06:16
Completely accurate. I love how you mentioned the uncertainty because I feel like that uncertainty is worse and almost harder to handle than knowing you have a hard thing, right?
Like not knowing how to forecast, right. Not knowing what consumer intent is going to be. Not knowing what additional regulations. So you mentioned staying abreast of everything, making sure you're, you're staying in the loop. First off, I always like to say shout out to people who are listening. You obviously are trying to do your part to stay in the loop with things like this.
But do you have other advice in general, Witty for people who want to stay? You know, are there good sources to go to? How, how do you stay in the loop?
Jonathan Witt 06:56
Yeah, exactly. And it can be kind of hard to stay in the loop sometimes 'cause there's a lot of conflicting things out there. A lot of articles can be overwhelming, obviously a, you know, for, for folks.
But going to your carrier's website is a really good source of information. Usually they have help documents or something like that online that'll kind of give you the latest and greatest of, especially of like what they're requiring as a carrier since you're using them. All of that sort of thing.
You know, your news outlets to a certain extent obviously will kind of have the latest and greatest on all. There's a tariff here, tariff there. I actually signed up for some email you know, notifications to my inbox from like Supply Chain Drive and all them. They're a really great source of information and stuff like that.
But yeah, if you wanna try to keep it simple, usually your carrier websites is, is kind of the first stop for me.
Lori Boyer 07:43
Yeah, I love that. I think as well, you know, you kind of mentioned those sort of relationships, like reaching out to people, talking to your carriers, keeping those communications open. If you do see a news article about A, B, or C.
You know, ask people, people are happy to help. So that, that's fantastic. So stay flexible, stay in the loop. Make sure that you're kind of knowing what's going on so you can anticipate and you don't feel quite as uncertain. Are you hearing any vibes that there might be, you know, regulations people should be aware of, or anything else coming up or that's happened recently that people need to know about?
Jonathan Witt 08:20
I think, you know obviously de minimis value has a big, been a big one for the U.S. Mm-hmm. And it's impending.
Lori Boyer 08:27
In case somebody is just hearing de minimis for the first time. Will you explain what that is for them.
Jonathan Witt 08:31
Exactly. So de minimis value is basically the threshold that up to a certain dollar amount duties and taxes would, the good would be exempt from that.
So let's use the U.S. for example. A good manufactured in Canada, right? So for example, I can ship a good to the, to the U.S., anything under $800 is exempt from duties and taxes. So obviously that's a great way for my ecommerce business to expand into the U.S. because my customers aren't gonna have to pay duties and taxes on anything that's below $800. On the flip side, coming to Canada, our de minimis value is only like $20. So expanding into Canada or us Canadians buying from the U.S. we're kind of like, you know, ah, yeah, duties and taxes. Yeah. We'll probably get something, maybe sometimes not just depends.
But yeah, so that's, that's one to kind of really watch closely especially if you are selling into the U.S. if you're an international shipper, just because that de minimis value might be going away or likely is you know, within the next year or two. So really watch that news closely and see obviously what, what changes are there. It also kind of opens the door for opportunities as well. So study up on different international markets and see what their de minimis values is because it might actually pivot yourself and be well, that de minimis value in that country is this amount, and we actually have a decent amount of store traffic coming from that country. So maybe it's a new market that you'd never explored and you know, 2025, 2026 might be a good opportunity to, to, you know, expand your reach at and, and try to grab some more customers.
Lori Boyer 10:02
Yeah, no, that's, that's a great point. We actually have a podcast episode all around de minimis, so if you do wanna learn more about de minimis, check that out. But absolutely. The U.S. has had historically a really high de minimis. That 800 is really high compared to most people, and as you said, that is one of those things that is likely going away at this point.
So. Keep, just keep abreast of all of that. Any other regulations or anything that you feel like people should be kind of keeping an eye on?
Jonathan Witt 10:29
Yeah, exactly. I think another big one was country of manufacturers. So where that item's actually manufactured. So for example, bringing into the U.S. anything from China or Hong Kong has additional tariffs onto that.
If it was manufactured there and you're selling that, you know that product that was manufactured there, so you really want to just be aware of where your products are being made and, you know, can plan accordingly for those landed costs and whatever that looks like for your pricing model to your customers.
So that's another big one to, to kind of keep in mind. And then any additional tariffs obviously, if depending on obviously what you're selling and what the news is this next week or, or whatnot. Trying to keep up with that exactly. Next hour. Yeah. I don't know.
Lori Boyer 11:13
Yeah, exactly. And the next, you know, we, it is, this is kind of an era where we really need to keep our eyes on the news and, and what is happening more than often we'd need to in the past.
So just keep a close eye on that. I love your advice of looking for opportunities though, because anytime there's, you know, changes like this that does open up different opportunities, so that's a great point. One of the things that, as I've talked to different people and different shippers, sometimes they end up getting surprised by some duties and fees.
And I, I guess I'm, they're curious first, how do you not get surprised? How do you not get surprised? How do you not surprise customers? So sometimes our customers, those fees may get passed along to them. You know. What do you feel about DDP? What, what do we do about those, those fees and, and should we pass 'em to our customers?
Should we not? What are best practices around that?
Jonathan Witt 12:04
Yeah, for sure. And that's a great one too. So making international shipping as easy as you can for your customers is all about transparency, you know, at the checkout level, right? So like you kind of mentioned, if the choice between a delivered duty paid, DDP, or a delivered duty unpaid, DDU, really depends on, you know, what, where you're selling from and to what the item is, the value, all of those sorts of things. So to unpack that a little bit further, like a DDP solution makes most sense. And it's actually been, you know, the service that's been mostly discussed obviously this year with all these changes, but essentially it's when the buyer or the receiver has to pay all the shipping costs and duties and taxes upfront at checkout, so there's no surprises when the package arrives.
It does create a superior customer experience and a reduction in customer service inquiries. And it makes sense when the value of the item that you're selling is over the destination country's de minimis value or you're selling an object that is subject to additional tariffs, right? So.
Being a little bit more transparent about, okay, these are the, you know, fully landed cost to you just makes a better customer experience and then they can kind of make that decision based on knowing the information all ahead of time. Where a DDU solution is, the buyer or receiver pays those duties and taxes when the package actually arrives to them.
So that can obviously lead to some dreaded surprise fees and, and longer transit times just because it has to go through customs, look at everything and all those sorts of things. But the surprise fees, if a customer didn't know about duties and taxes or that it's gonna be this amount or something like that.
Obviously it kind of leaves or can, can leave a, a bad customer experience. But it, a DDU solution does make sense if you're selling items that are, you know, under the de minimis value for the country that you're, you're shipping to or if your goods are exempt from duty. So it, it really boils down to what you're selling and stuff like that.
But using a DDU solution or even DDP, it's, it's really about being transparent, you know, telling customers about the extra fees, like clearly at the checkout or the cart page. There's lots of things out there where you can actually show a breakdown or have a calculator on the checkout or the or the cart page at least.
Or at least, you know, at the very least, put all the information on a dedicated info page on your, on your website. So that customer education is really key to help with those conversions. And again, just reduce the customer service inquiries and, and bad customer experience for your, for your international buyers.
Lori Boyer 14:36
That really resonates with me. I know personally I would, you know, do not wanna be caught with some sort of surprise charge for anything. The fact that transparency and simply letting people know what they're getting so that they are available and, and able to pay and, and not be upset. Because it is pretty fast that people will say, wow, you know, sometimes we have the, we, if we choose to fly like the really cheap airlines, you're like, wow, this price looks amazing.
But then there's like 6,942 fees and it ends up being really expensive and it's a bad experience. And so, yeah. I love your advice about transparency. I know as a consumer myself, that that is the key. I'm, if I choose to pay that, then I'm comfortable with it. So that's great advice. What about, one of the things that I've seen in specifically talking to a different friend he has a business where he had a bunch of stuff coming in to the U.S. from Canada and it got stuck and, and he ended up missing a couple of deadlines for some customers he had, shipment wise business customers, so they're kind of larger and he was really freaking out about it. Well, how do you avoid this as a shipper? How do you avoid your stuff getting stuck? Where are the places, I guess, that you know, are most likely that shipments will get stuck? Are there things people can do about it?
What, what do we do in terms of making sure our, our goods flow through easily?
Jonathan Witt 16:02
Exactly, and I mean obviously customs clearance is probably the biggest delay and where things get bottled up the most. So why do shipments get stuck? Right, usually because of missing or wrong documents. So think your commercial invoice, which actually has all the product information on there.
So it's an easy way for a custom border agent to look at what's in this package and obviously clear it. Put any duties and taxes if it's, you know, wasn't a DDP solution like we mentioned earlier. All that kind of stuff. But make sure that on the commercial invoice, obviously you're associating your products with the right HS code.
Make sure that you're listing the country of origin correctly in case that package does get inspected and they're looking at it to see where it was manufactured. And another big one, if it's missing any health or safety notices. So shipping into the U.S., let's say, there's special FDA notices if I'm selling certain products like you know, supplements or cosmetics or something that falls in with those regulations.
So you wanna make sure that you have all those things lined up ahead of time. And that'll really help to really expedite your shipments through the borders and get cleared and all that, all those sorts of things. There's tons of. I mean, there's multiple tools out there that can really help narrow down the correct HS codes for your products.
So you can look those up super easily. You type in just like a description. Let's say I'm selling a white T-shirt. I can type in white T-shirt and I'll come up with the right code. You can look for other tools that'll help automate your shipping paperwork. So a lot of carriers will actually submit the commercial invoice electronically now, so it won't be another printout that you have to, like, stick on the box or anything like that. Sometimes it's still the case with carriers, but a lot of it's electronic now, which is all great for us. And you'll always wanna keep up to date on your carrier specific requirements. So again, looking at those help documents and stuff like that, it should list out all of your international requirements, maybe even down to the country level just depending if there's anything else that you may need. So, something that we kind of suggest here at Sendle as well to our customers is, again, those having those correct HS codes, all those FDA regulations if you need them. Consider what the de minimis value is for each country, like we were talking about earlier.
So $800 to the U.S. but it's only $20 to Canada. It might only be 20 euros somewhere else. Like it just really depends. Commercial invoice, like we said, you want to double check again, manufacture where your products are actually being made. So all that information is ahead of time. And lastly, maybe this is a pretty actually important one as well, is to ensure that you have the receiver's contact information, so that phone number and email address.
So ensure that you're capturing that information at your checkout as well. So it's included with the shipping label in case anything, you know, comes up with the shipment, the, the carrier will have the contact information for the receiver and it can make a, a, a better experience.
Lori Boyer 18:57
Oh, those are all amazing.
I, I have to say, Witty it seems like a lot. To remember. So I'm just gonna ask you honestly, like if you are using Sendle or something, do you help oversee all of the different things or, or you know, other technology or tools too? I mean, will they just flag and be like, hey, you're missing the receiver's information, or, I dunno, how do we automate all of that craziness?
Jonathan Witt 19:27
Exactly. So a lot of your shipping, you know, tools, platforms, all that kind of stuff that you may be using, if you, let's say you're coming to Sendle directly as well. When you're filling in in the information, it will prompt you for that information, or it might not even let you go to the next step without it.
So it's a really helpful reminder to be like, oh, input your HS code, like what's the country of manufacturer, all that kind of stuff. So, you know, it definitely does sound like all these crazy steps for international shipping, but a lot of the, you know, platforms out there and softwares or carriers specifically will kind of prompt you for that information so that you don't forget anything that's, that's really critical. And you know, there obviously trying to set you up for success as well, so that you're so that the shipments aren't getting bottlenecked at customs either. But so yeah, just trying to make sure you're, you're going along with all the prompts and, and filling in the information correctly.
Lori Boyer 20:16
Okay. So if I start my own SMB, I'm definitely gonna use technology because I feel like I would never, if I was doing it manually, I would definitely be messing up. Let's talk carrier diversification. So this has been a huge move over voy, you know, it kind of, I think, kicked off with COVID and everybody was just desperate for carrier space anywhere, and, but it's actually been growing and just last year I saw a stat, a 40 something percent growth in use of regional carriers or alternative carriers.
So. People are starting to get kind of savvy about carrier diversification. So how, do you have recommendations when it comes to carrier diversification with risk, especially when you're doing cross-border shipping? What, what do you guys recommend?
Jonathan Witt 21:03
And you know, I, I absolutely love talking about this this topic, Lori. So it's, it's.
Lori Boyer 21:09
And I love when you say a boat 'cause you're Canadian.
Exactly.
Jonathan Witt 21:13
For, for anyone that didn't know, they probably already got that, but.
Lori Boyer 21:16
You're one of my favorite Canadians. Yep.
Jonathan Witt 21:18
I know. It's so funny, like people say, I have a little bit of the, you know, Canadian accent if you will. I obviously don't hear it, but definitely at industry conferences and stuff, but no, I think this is it. It's really great. This topic I think it's one of the most critical parts of a brand shipping strategy really. And, and why do I think of that? It's just because you don't have to put all your eggs in one basket, right?
Like every carrier has its own strengths and weaknesses. So why not? You know, a carrier might be the best for heavy items. Another one might be best for quick shipments across country or something like that. So it just makes sense to tap into the strengths of multiple carriers for the different types of shipments that you may have so you can optimize for both cost and speed.
So, you know. Having a portfolio of carriers is really your ultimate risk mitigation tool as well, right? So we all see the headlines about labor disruption strikes or when a carrier hits, you know, capacity during, especially during peak season. When you're diversified, you can be agile and you can redirect that volume to another carrier.
Your orders will be delivered, you know, on time in your SLAs and stuff like that to your customers. And you're really building in that resilience piece. So, you know, really now is the time to test out carriers, to rate up, to have conversations with carriers and really fine tune that carrier portfolio before heading into peak.
Especially as, you know, we're talking about international. It might be good to have a, you know, a few on hand, just that maybe a carrier, you know, cuts a restriction off to a, a country for whatever reason, you can kind of go to carrier B and at least you still have volume flowing over to your customers in, in that country, for example.
Or, you know, peak surcharges come into play with this carrier. This one, it's less so you can obviously optimize and go with that one for a reduced cost and operating, you know, shipping cost for, for your business. So it's it's super important. It just really builds in that, that resilience piece. And you can, you know, play a little bit more team mentality, if you will. Everyone has a strength on a team, so why not pick out the carriers that have the strengths and can save you time and money as a, as an as, SMB as well.
Lori Boyer 23:31
I, I love that you talk about kind of your, your risk management there, because that is something, especially with, between, you know, all the natural disaster challenges we're having. Big storms out of nowhere. Or you know, all the geopolitical issues going on and tariffs and the stuff over in the Middle East and the Red Sea, and all of that can just be a, a sudden change. I think that's something you mentioned earlier was like changes are happening by the hour. And the ability to be flexible.
It was really interesting. I've been doing a bunch of studying up on this new topic of micro surges, which is where it's kind of the new peak where you get these massive orders, you know, kicked off by a tikTok trend or buy a, a huge snowstorm and everybody's suddenly shopping and you didn't anticipate and, and carriers maybe max out their their ability to ship in a certain region.
So that, to me, that just totally makes sense in terms of a risk management play that you want to be able to diversify you, you wanna be able to keep those SLAs. That's critical. I, I love, love, love that Witty. Okay. Let's say if somebody's just thinking about cross-border, you know, maybe they, they would like to, they've tested out, maybe they had looked at the de minimis and said, hey, I, I think I have an opportunity here, or something like that.
What is, what advice, what, what, what would you say that it's super important for them to have as they start out?
Jonathan Witt 24:57
Yeah, absolutely. So I think first and foremost it's a really good idea to know where your products are made or manufactured. Especially. Times right now is shipping into the U.S. and stuff like that.
So it's a really good one to kind of cross off the list early. Follow advice from your shipping providers. Again, kind of coming back to the help articles or specific requirements from carriers on their websites. So that's a really good place to start as well. Understand the transit times and communicate those to customers as well.
So, you know, what's the typical transit time from, you know, the U.S. to the UK, for example, or something like that, and being able to communicate that to your customer sets the right expectations as well. Obviously what we've been mentioning stay across the changes in tariffs and de minims values and stuff like that.
And as mentioned before, like this can be a really good opportunity for your business to, to, to look at other markets. Maybe you're seeing increased traffic on your website from a, a country and you've never really, you know, wanted to explore selling there or what that might take now might be the good time to expand that and, and grow the business internationally.
So those are all kind of key things to know. And then if you haven't before, definitely look into the HS codes and start of, you know assigning them to your products, especially if you're selling online. A lot of the ecommerce platforms and stuff like that, nowadays will have a spot for an HS code that'll, you can put it in there, assign it to the product, and then you, you know, don't necessarily have to think about it again.
'Cause it should pull in that information when you're generating the shipping label for it in some of the, the platforms and technology. So again, it can be automated and it's not as crazy as it sounds, but you're just making sure that you're having all the right information.
Lori Boyer 26:36
So true. Have the right information, and then be really transparent with your customers about it so that they know what's going on and you know what's going on.
And it's so great beyond just technology and automation. People in this industry are so good about helping each other and you know, it's one of the things I've loved this recently is being able to hear about people that you admire in the industry because people are really good. So there are so many different. You know, look at your, your different companies you work with, reach out and ask questions to them. If you're thinking of growing cross-border, I know here at EasyPost our CS team or our support team, they're so good. If people call and say, I'm thinking about doing this, does this even make sense?
And they're completely happy to just talk you through it and look at your situation and, and, and do that. And I'm sure it's the same at Sendle. So reach out. Don't be afraid to ask. Right.
Jonathan Witt 27:26
Exactly. And the same thing with our, you know, our customer support team's just fantastic. Like always pointing you to their right resources or answering questions.
I mean, they're, they're happy to, right. So, you know, there, there are resources out there that, you know, even no, there's no stupid question. There's nothing like that. Like, don't write out a question, don't be afraid. Exactly. So now's the time.
Lori Boyer 27:48
Yeah, that's perfect. Okay. So when it comes to peak in general, are there any mistakes that you often see, you deal with a lot of people doing cross-border shipping.
What are common mistakes? How do we avoid those?
Jonathan Witt 27:59
I think you know, common mistakes, again, missing information not setting expectations with customers especially when we're coming into peak, right? Like it's peak time at the border crossings as well. There's a lot of volume going back and forth.
So allowing that extra time you know, and setting that expectation with your customer as well with those transit times. Every carrier's gonna provide like a shipping holiday cutoff calendar or maybe your shipping platform or technology does with all the different carriers, cutoff things. So yeah, really obviously, take all that in and, and communicate that back to your customers or put it on dedicated pages and stuff like that. Those usually come out in September or October every year when the carriers kind of finalize that information. Yeah, and really just, again, it kind of comes down to de minimis values and stuff like that because those are the, the, the main kind of components of what a duty and tax is based on.
So just having all the right information and notices and all that kind of stuff ahead of time will just set you up for success and not, you know, a lot of stress about oh, where's my package? Or why is this stuck here? Was, is it being returned to me? Yeah, it's just no one wants to deal with those those things.
Lori Boyer 29:11
Totally makes sense. And again, you know, making sure your customers know as well, those cut off dates, that you've got that on your website that people know, hey, if I, I need to purchase it by this day, or it's not gonna make it by Christmas, or it's not gonna make it by Hanukkah or whatever it is.
People are aware, I know I'm, I'm a mom and I do a lot of online shopping. I know when I've maybe put it off a little too long, but making sure you have it there on your website is really critical. Being transparent about those dates and there's only so much you can do, so.
Jonathan Witt 29:41
Exactly. Exactly.
Lori Boyer 29:42
Okay, Witty this has been such a fun conversation.
If there is one thing that you could recommend people go and do. I, I hate having conversations where people are not actually doing something after. So what is something you would recommend they go and do today, this week, just now to make sure that they are ready for this upcoming crazy peak 2025?
Jonathan Witt 30:04
Exactly. And I think one thing you can do this week if you are selling internationally, like it's a great time obviously to check out everything's fallen in line, make sure there's no, issues with any shipments recently and, and kind of heading into peak. If you're just exploring international it might be a great idea to kind of dwindle down some countries that you're looking to expand and sell into.
You don't have to ship everywhere. You don't have to sell globally. It's probably better that you are intentional and selective with countries that you want to sell to just because you wanna understand a customer base as well, and what all the requirements are, again, for shipping internationally and stuff like that too.
So, you know, honing it in and being a little bit more intentional is actually probably gonna be more beneficial for your business. It'll help you obviously understand again, the transit times, do some tests, and really communicate to, to customers as well. It'll also help you know. You determine if you need a DDP or a DDU solution and what that might look like depending on the product and the, the item value that you're selling and stuff like that.
So, you know, you don't have to take on the world all at once. Rome wasn't built in a day, but you can be selective with the with the country list that you're, you're wanting to explore or expand into.
Lori Boyer 31:14
I love that advice. That is something I'm always saying is pick one. Pick two. Don't try to do everything because when you try to do everything, you do nothing. That's what really happens.
Jonathan Witt 31:23
You spread yourself too thin.
Lori Boyer 31:26
So pick something, think a little bit about your cross-border shipping as it's coming up for peak season. Think about if now's the time that you maybe wanna expand into a country and and do a little testing through the holiday season.
Super fun. So Witty, if people wanna connect with you or if they wanna learn more about Sendle how can they do that?
Jonathan Witt 31:44
Yeah, absolutely. So for Sendle, sendle.com a great resource for everything Sendle for myself yeah on LinkedIn and stuff like that. So definitely connect with me there. Would love to have a chat if you need to or, or whatnot there.
But yeah, I'm on all the socials, so.
Lori Boyer 32:02
Okay, love it. Everybody get out there. Kill your cross-border shipping this peak. It's gonna be awesome. I know that it seems a little scary, but I think there are opportunities. So, awesome. Thank you so much for being here.
Jonathan Witt 32:16
Well, thanks so much again. Again, long time listener.
Super happy to be here. And yeah, wishing everyone the best during this peak season and crazy international shipment time. So best of luck.
Lori Boyer 32:26
That's right. Thanks. We'll see you all next time.