Trade and barter are two of the oldest forms of business known to man, and while the principle involved is straight forward in a domestic context, importing introduces a number of new dimensions to be considered.

You usually have to deal in a foreign currency, with the associated risks of currency fluctuations, track all costs associated with loading, packing and transporting a shipment, possibly allocating these to arrive a real costs, and also have to take taxes and tariffs into account.

The Stamina Importing System provides a straight forward solution to these problems , keeping you fully informed of every aspect of a shipment, including costs and shipment status, allowing you to concentrate on customer service and pre-selling shipments before they arrive.

Import management usually starts with an order raised on an overseas supplier in the Purchase Orders System, though in theory this is not necessary.

As your order is processed by your supplier or agent, the status of each order line, or the entire order, can be updated to reflect what is actually happening if required. This allows key personnel to be able to act on this information, for example warning customers of a delay because of a break down at an overseas manufacturing plant.

Commercial Invoice details can be entered as soon as they are to hand, and the system verifies costs and quantities against the original order.

Multiple commercial invoices, from various suppliers, can be consolidated into a single shipment if required. Direct costs associated with the shipment as a whole, or any individual commercial invoice, can also be accumulated.

These costs can later be spread over the related items on the basis of weight, volume, number of units or dollar value, whichever is most appropriate for the expense incurred. The costs themselves are collected from the Accounts Payable System, and can be in any known currency.

Assuming that the correct tariff codes and rates have been entered against the products, and the necessary exchange rates are available, the system can automatically calculate the appropriate tariff and tax amounts for you.

If you use the services of a customs agent, this routine allows you to check his calculations, and adjustments to the automatic calculations can be made if necessary. The system automatically raises an entry into the Accounts Payable System for these amounts in either case.

When the shipment arrives, and has been cleared, real landed unit costs are calculated including taxes, tariffs and pro-rata ancillary costs apportioned as noted above, for all of the products in the shipment.

At this stage, or earlier if required, entries are generated to the Accounts Payable System for the commercial invoices in a shipment. These can then be paid using spot prices, letters of credit, foreign exchange contracts etc. via the overseas payment module, which automatically recognizes profits or loss on foreign exchange transactions.

The Stamina Importing System will help you better manage all aspects of your importing activities, providing you with accurate costing information, keeping you well informed and ultimately allowing you to offer your customers a higher level of service.

Click for Importing System Flow Chart