The digital age has opened up new opportunities for businesses to reach customers around the world. Thanks to the internet, global sales have become easier and more accessible than ever before. If you are an entrepreneur and want to expand your target markets overseas, selling online is the ideal tool to do so. In this article, we outline some key steps to help you start selling your services online overseas.
How do you start selling online services abroad?
The first step is to determine what market you want to sell your products or services to. Indeed, launching a product or service in a foreign market requires market research. It is certainly worth doing a reaserch and selecting a few markets that seem most attractive for your business.
There are many research methods that can be used for this. For example: surveys, interviews, observations, statistical data analysis or focus group research. We, however, will not focus on these topics - we will leave that to the specialists in the field. 🙂
In our article, however, we would like to address an issue close to our hearts. What is it? Obviously related to the legal protection of your interests and guiding you through the process of marketing your products and services abroad.
Lawyer wanted! Compliance is the key...
Once you have tailored your offer for a particular market and its needs - once you know in which country and to which target group you would like to sell your products or provide your services - it is time for a specialist in legal issues.
This is because launching products or services on a foreign market involves a number of obligations that need to be fulfilled. These are imposed on the importer by EU legislation and regulations contained in international agreements as well as national legislation.
In particular, products or services should be analysed in terms of meeting the requirements for:
- product safety,
- waste policy (electro-waste),
- storage of the product and
- regulations relating to the protection of intellectual property, competition law or taxation.
PRIVACY POLICY AND SHOP REGULATIONS
If you are selling products through an eCommerce platform, you should also pay attention to the regulations of your privacy policy and shop rules. This is related, among other things, to the processing of buyers' personal data.
Remember that regulation of 'cookies' varies - depending on the country in which you market your product. Take into account that your privacy policy should be in accordance with the local regulations of the country where you sell to consumers. If you sell through a platform in multiple countries, check that your privacy policy corresponds to the norms indicated in the laws of the respective country.
CUSTOMS AND TAX PROVISIONS
If you sell your goods outside the European Union, verify your exports for customs legislation.
Sales abroad may also be subject to international agreements, such as free trade agreements, investment protection agreements or EU agreements.
When selling online overseas, taxation issues related to international transactions need to be considered. Investigate whether you have to pay taxes in the country to which you export your products and what the tax settlement requirements are.
What about services marketed overseas?
Recently, renewable energy services - specifically the installation of photovoltaic panels in the form of so-called photovoltaic farms or services for the individual customer - have become very popular. Countries such as Germany and Austria are leading the way here. These countries take great care to expand the fields of exploitation and generation of renewable energy, and subsidies in this regard are very high. In addition, the new German Renewable Energy Act "EEG", which has been in force since January 2023, favours the retrofitting of homes and businesses with domestic solar cells, as the remuneration for reselling energy continues to rise.
This is why countries such as Germany and Austria support the construction and operation of photovoltaic systems.
Polish entrepreneurs are increasingly looking for contractors outside our western border. This is primarily due to the prevailing inflation in Poland and the weak stabilisation of the zloty.
However, it should be borne in mind that the installation of photovoltaic panels in our neighbouring countries requires a great deal of knowledge of the market and the legislation which regulate, inter alia, issues relating to:
- regulations for solar installations,
- systems and procedures for reporting and certifying both the panels to be installed and the way in which they are to be installed, and
- employee entitlements for its implementation.
What else to bear in mind? Online sales of services abroad
It is worth thinking about contracts with your counterparty that protect your interests, the submission of possible contractual disputes to the jurisdiction of Polish law and the Polish courts, or the procedure for posting employees abroad to provide services. It is worth mentioning that sanctions for inappropriate posting are much higher than in Poland and amount to hundreds of thousands of euros.
Summary - Online sales of services abroad
And if you would be interested in finding out more about this, or if you are active in the FMCG, RES, construction, transport, temporary work or e-commerce sectors - we invite you to join us. We know these processes inside out!
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