What are the requirements for doing foreign trade and how to learn?

Since you have studied for so many years, you must have learned a lot. I suggest you adopt Chairman Mao's strategy: learn war in war. Grow up in actual foreign trade.

First, crack the three key secrets of foreign trade.

Compared with ordinary domestic trade, foreign trade is indeed a completely different industry, and the complicated procedures and various technical terms are daunting. However, as long as we start with the three most critical characteristics of foreign trade, we can crack all the secrets of foreign trade.

Imagine a real foreign trade operation. Mr. Wang, a foreign trade salesman in Ningbo factory, is doing business with British businessman Johnson in London. We can easily imagine the problems we will encounter:

1. Normally, buyers and sellers don't meet. Negotiate transactions by telephone, fax, email, etc. Fortunately, the development of computers and the Internet makes this process easier and easier. Through websites, e-mail, QQ or MSN instant chat software, digital photos, cameras and other channels, we can easily communicate, display products and bargain, just like everyone sitting at a conference table.

2. The trading cycle is very long. A batch of goods is usually transported from Ningbo to London in the most economical way, that is, packed in containers and transported from Ningbo port to London port by ocean-going freighters (if one party is not a seaport, part of the railway or road journey must be added). At present, this process only takes about 25 days by sea, and the time for stocking, unloading and inland transportation is often more than one month. Therefore, it often takes a month or more for the buyer to receive the goods under negotiation. Accordingly, it takes about time for the seller to recover the payment. In fact, for some seasonal household products or targeted holiday consumer goods, long-term contracts are usually negotiated several months or even a year in advance.

3. The transaction cost is high. Even by sea, the cost is still high. The sea freight of a container cargo (about 30 cubic meters or 20 tons) from Ningbo to London costs about 1 10,000 yuan. Faraway, remote or small-scale ports have higher prices. In addition, there are some fees for handling import and export procedures and bank fees for foreign exchange settlement, which are often fixed and have little to do with the transaction volume. This method is obviously not cost-effective for small transactions. In order to share the cost, it is obviously more cost-effective to have a large transaction volume. This is also a feature of international trade-large volume. Most goods in international trade are wholesale in batches, and "containers" are often used as the unit of transaction volume.

4. There are many intermediate links. From Ningbo to London, goods will go through many links. For example, many commodities must be inspected before export, which is operated by the State Administration of Import and Export Commodity Inspection and Quarantine. Declare to the customs of the buyers and sellers in charge of import and export; Transported by ocean shipping company; Collect money through the bank; Pay taxes to the tax authorities; Similarly, our country also controls foreign exchange in particular, which belongs to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and is managed through the declaration of foreign exchange receipts and payments.

Because foreign trade has the characteristics of not meeting each other, long delivery cycle, long journey, large quantity and high amount, and many intermediate links, the natural risk will be greater, and once there is a problem, the loss will be great. For this reason, for hundreds of years, the international trade community has also formulated trade practices and agreements accordingly, including internationally accepted goods quality standards, price calculation, responsibilities and rights of buyers and sellers, etc. In order to ensure the trade order to the greatest extent. At the same time, banking, international freight forwarding and insurance also have very mature and perfect cooperative operations.

However, there is still an important problem-the transportation and storage of a large number of goods are expensive. From factory delivery to customer receipt, there are many links involved, and it is impossible for the owner to supervise and keep them all the time. Especially in international trade, most of them are changed hands at different levels and resold in batches. If they are all delivered in kind, it will not only greatly increase the transportation and storage costs, but also increase the loss of goods during loading and unloading. The best way is to simplify the process of physical transshipment, so that the goods only go through four links: factory-loading dock warehouse-unloading dock warehouse-customer. Thus, the key point of foreign trade optimization, the most efficient and the biggest has evolved: document transaction.

One of the key secrets of foreign trade: document transaction

The so-called document transaction is to use a set of documents to represent the goods. The transaction is based on this set of documents, and whoever gets this set of documents is the owner of the goods. In this way, the goods will be as motionless as possible, and the documents can be bought and sold at will, and the holder of the documents will decide when and how to finally dispose of the goods. This set of documents usually includes several core documents:

1. Bill of Lading (B/L)

2. Invoice. Different from the concept of ordinary invoice, the "invoice" in foreign trade refers to the signature document made by oneself, which lists the name, quantity and price of goods.

3. Packing list. A signed document made by oneself, listing the volume, weight and packaging of the goods.

4. Other documents describing the goods, such as the inspection certificate to prove the quality of the goods and the certificate of origin to prove the origin.

Among all documents, the bill of lading is the most important, because it is the proof of the ownership of the goods-the proof of property rights with internationally recognized legal effect. Invoice and packing list can be made by yourself. Other inspection certificates and certificates of origin, etc. It shall be issued by the corresponding national institutions, such as import and export commodity inspection and quarantine bureau or institutions recognized by both parties, such as private inspection companies and freight companies, according to the characteristics of the goods and the requirements of the buyer.

In a sense, foreign trade operators are not faced with piles of articles, but piles of paper. Therefore, it is not surprising that a foreign trade salesman has completed a transaction without seeing the appearance of the goods from beginning to end-all he has to do is to handle the stack of pieces of paper carefully. It is not difficult to imagine that most of the time, trade is based on documents rather than physical objects, even if the goods themselves are perfect, the documents are flawed-such as data errors, lack of relevant supporting documents and so on. -The deal may fail. On the other hand, even if the goods have problems and the documents are complete, they can still be traded smoothly in the initial stage. Of course, this also brings some risks, such as forging documents for fraud. However, fraud itself is a criminal act in all countries of the world, and there are corresponding investigation measures.

In a word, the role of documents in foreign trade is decisive. To understand many special professional operations in international trade, it is necessary to establish the concept that foreign trade is actually buying and selling a set of documents.

The market competition is fierce, and in many cases, price has become the only factor that can clinch a deal. We often see foreign businessmen exporting goods at a price lower than the domestic sales cost. Are they crazy? No, even if the price is lower than the purchase price, foreign trade is still profitable. This is the second key secret of foreign trade: the tax refund system.

The Second Key Secret of Foreign Trade: Tax Refund System

Tax rebate is an important concept in foreign trade, and it is also the main profit source of foreign trade business at present. For the convenience of management, the state assumes that all products are for domestic circulation and consumption, so value-added tax is generally levied, and the tax rate ranges from 6% of the selling price to 17%. Under normal circumstances, the price before domestic purchase or export is tax-inclusive, that is, the price for which VAT has been paid. If the product is used for export, this part of the tax should not be levied, and some or all of the tax already levied can be returned to the exporter according to the procedures.

If you buy a batch of color TV sets from domestic factories, the price includes tax 1 170 yuan, in which 1000 yuan is the net price and 170 yuan is the paid value-added tax. According to the national regulations, the export tax rebate rate of color TV products is 17%, that is to say, after the color TV is exported, the tax bureau will refund the tax to the exporter 170 yuan. In this way, even if exporters export at the uniform price of 1 170 yuan, they can still get the tax rebate of 170 yuan as profit income. In this case, if the exporter takes a part of 170 yuan to make up for the price reduction, even if it is sold at a price lower than the purchase price of 1 170 yuan, there is still a profit.

Foreign trade transactions are usually relatively high, and the corresponding tax rebates are also considerable. Of course, the state is also very strict in tax refund management, which is closely combined with foreign exchange management. Before export, you need to go to the foreign exchange administration department to get the export tax rebate verification form and declare the total export amount. The verification form also needs the customs seal to confirm that the goods have indeed been exported. After receiving the payment from foreign buyers, you have to go to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange with the bank receipt and verification form for verification, and then wait for the tax refund with the VAT invoice, and you can get the tax refund.

Therefore, the source of foreign trade profits, to a considerable extent, comes from the export tax rebate in the national export tax rebate system, which is one of the most remarkable characteristics of foreign trade and closely related to the daily operations of most foreign trade salesmen.

The third secret of foreign trade: letter of credit transaction

In international trade, buyers and sellers are far apart, and the preparation and delivery of goods with different backgrounds and the payment period for goods are very long. Therefore, commercial credit has become a big problem.

As an exporter, I am worried about what the buyer will do if he changes his mind after preparing the bulk goods. What if the goods are shipped all the way abroad and the customers don't want them? Or don't give money? Naturally, I hope that the buyer can pay first and then stock up and deliver the goods. As an importer, what should I do if I am worried that the exporter can't deliver the goods on time? What if the quality and quantity of the goods are unqualified? Naturally, I hope that the seller will deliver the goods first and then give money after verification.

Of course, this contradiction can also be resolved through negotiation by the buyer paying part of the advance payment or deposit, but it is not the best policy after all. On the one hand, the buyer's bonus takes up a lot, on the other hand, there is really any dispute, and both sides are both lose-lose, which is unfair.

Thus, a special mode of foreign trade operation: letter of credit. The appearance of letter of credit is based on the characteristics of foreign trade "document transaction"

The so-called letter of credit, in layman's terms, means that the buyer and the seller agree on the trading conditions in advance, such as name, quantity, quality standard, price and delivery time. Then the buyer finds a bank (usually the buyer's bank or a bank with a certain guarantee) as a "middleman" and submits these trading conditions to the bank, which will issue documents as the basis for the transaction between the buyer and the seller. The responsibility of the bank as an intermediary is to supervise the trading behavior. The seller prepares the goods to be shipped according to the documents, and then delivers the full set of documents representing the goods to the bank. After the bank verifies that the documents are correct, it will pay the payment directly. With banks as intermediaries, buyers and sellers will no longer trade money and goods directly, but trade with banks separately. If the seller does not deliver the goods on time with good quality and quantity, he will not get the money; Buyers don't pay, but they can't get the goods. With the bank as a guarantee, as long as the seller pays, they will definitely get the money. This will not occupy the buyer's funds, but also give the seller a good credit guarantee. This kind of document used to prove the commercial credit of both parties is called a letter of credit.

The most basic letter of credit generally has four sides:

1. The importer is responsible for applying to his own bank to open a letter of credit, and is called a letter of credit applicant.

2. The importer's bank-responsible for opening letters of credit, reviewing documents and paying funds, is called the L/C issuing bank.

3. Exporter-the beneficiary of the letter of credit, who is responsible for the shipment according to the letter of credit and enjoys the payment guaranteed by the letter of credit.

4. The exporter's bank-responsible for receiving the letter of credit for the exporter, handing over the documents and contacting the issuing bank, called the advising bank.

In addition, the bank that is ultimately responsible for the transfer is called the reimbursing bank of the letter of credit, which is generally the issuing bank; It can also be paid in advance by another bank and charged a small fee, which is called the negotiating bank of the letter of credit, usually the advising bank.

Letter of credit is the most important and commonly used tool in foreign trade. In order to regulate the use of letters of credit, the International Chamber of Commerce has formulated a unified standard "UCP500", that is, "Uniform Provisions for International Documentary Letters of Credit", as the basis for use and arbitration.

Regarding the actual operation of the letter of credit, we will give an example in the fifth section of this book, Classic: Guide to Letter of Credit.

By understanding the three key secrets of foreign trade: document transaction, tax refund system and letter of credit settlement, we have basically mastered the essence of foreign trade. Now we can finally clearly understand a standard export operation case flow:

Find a customer-sign a contract-the customer opens a letter of credit-prepare the goods according to the letter of credit-deliver the goods to the freight company and obtain the bill of lading after commodity inspection and customs declaration-prepare a full set of documents according to the letter of credit-deliver the documents to foreign banks, which will transfer the payment to domestic banks after examination-and go to the foreign exchange bureau for examination according to the receipt of domestic banks.

With the basic knowledge of foreign trade, the next final preparation step is to build two necessary tools for foreign trade: computer and English.

Second, the sharp weapon crash method-computer and English

Because foreign trade buyers and sellers don't meet, as the most convenient and effective office tools and contact methods in modern times, the importance of computers and the Internet is self-evident. Mastering computer knowledge and skills can save a lot of money for your smooth foreign trade. Office documents and tabulation software are the most basic. In addition, there are the most common picture viewing and modifying software ACDSee, Photoshop with many functions, AdobeReader, a file browser in PDF format that international trading companies like to use, and so on. The biggest advantage of e-books is that they are not easy to be modified, deformed, lost or infected with computer viruses during file network transmission.

The most important thing is to learn to find information and collect information online. This work runs through the whole foreign trade process and is the key. This book will also introduce skills according to the progress of the tutorial. The first thing to understand is an important tool-search engine. The so-called search engine is the "wizard software" of online information. According to what people want to know-the key words of the content-such as "hardware tools", "transportation company", "foreign trade skills" and "export commodity inspection and customs declaration", this software searches for relevant information web pages in the vast internet world. The addresses of these web pages tell you that you can browse and find the information you need. There are many such softwares on the Internet, which are free to use at present, such as the most famous Google. Fill in the internet address

You can access this search engine. Fill in the keywords of the information you want to know in Google's search bar, and click [Search] to open a wonderful Internet world.

There are many similar search engines with different functions. For example, a search engine is good at finding Chinese information. In addition, the search engine itself has many functions. Take Google as an example, it has functions such as image search. If you enter the keyword "socket", you can directly see a large number of pictures of different sockets, and learn more according to the webpage where these pictures are located, such as the specifications, models, manufacturers and contact information of these sockets. This information collection method is very effective for finding manufacturers or understanding your competitors.

Skillful use of search engines can infinitely enlarge your ability and make a new person quickly become an "all-knowing" expert.

Another focus is foreign languages-mainly English. This is also a question that many non-international trade professionals are concerned about and hesitant about when planning to engage in foreign trade. English is not good, can you do foreign trade? Or to what extent should English be achieved? This problem should be viewed from two aspects. On the one hand, business itself is an art of communication. Bargaining, competition and cooperation, and deeper mutual communication and understanding will be more helpful to business-especially in China, people pay attention to the world and advocate the way of making friends before doing business. From this perspective, the more fluent English is, the better. But it doesn't mean that foreign trade must be as tall as English majors. Business English itself is a tool as long as it can be used. Think of those hawkers who deal directly with foreigners, such as Xiushui East Street in Beijing's early years, border trade between China and Vietnam, China and the Soviet Union, and Wenzhou people who travel around the world. How good can their foreign languages be? Dozens of words learned temporarily, some simple and fixed sentences, plus strokes and a calculator, the business is not small at all. After all, you are a buyer and a seller. As long as you can basically understand language communication, you can make do at first, and then learn while doing. Now you are learning, and your progress is much faster than learning books at school. From this perspective, there is no need to shrink back because of English. In oral English, master several common greetings, hundreds of quantifiers and adjectives such as quantity, time, date and quality, plus some nouns related to your products, and you can start working. Anyway, important things will naturally fall on paper and be sent out in written form. If you don't understand something, you can look it up in the dictionary temporarily.

It's easier to do it with words and solve it with computers. Kingsoft PowerWord and Kingsoft Express, the famous translation software, can accurately translate words, while the latter can roughly translate sentences and articles-although there are many mistakes in grammar and sentence patterns, at least you can get a general understanding, and you only need to make some minor changes yourself. People with poor English often make the mistake of "Chinglish", that is, piling up English words according to Chinese grammar. This is really funny, but so what? "Your conscience is broken" is a meaningless Japanese Chinese sentence, but everyone knows what it means. This is the "practical" "art".

Of course, you need to be very careful when it comes to important documents such as contracts. Fortunately, foreign trade contracts have a relatively fixed format. After years of use and improvement, its terms are basically watertight, just change the commodity name, quantity, amount and delivery time accordingly. The format of these commonly used foreign trade documents will be illustrated by examples in this book.

In fact, foreign trade colleagues have summed up English model essays covering almost any situation you may encounter. In daily written and oral communication, just copy it. You can find such an example by entering the keyword "foreign trade English" or "foreign trade common English" in the search engine. In the specialized forums of foreign trade industry, such as Alibaba.com Businessmen Forum, there are more detailed and detailed classifications.

Therefore, there is no need to be afraid of language barriers. It's good to have a high level of English, but you can give up what you want with a poor level.

Computers and English are two basic tools for foreign trade. The higher the level, the flatter the road.

Obtain a foreign trade "pass" by applying for export rights or agency, linking and filing. Choose the products for distribution, understand the principles of foreign trade and prepare the necessary tools, then you can travel all over the world.