What do eCommerce sellers need to know about international compliance?

No matter what kind of eCommerce business you are trying to grow, there are laws and regulations you must follow to ensure that you protect against international money laundering and financial crimes. Other compliance regulations involve what you can sell and ship — and to whom — while others involve privacy or specific taxes and tariffs.

Without a doubt, international eCommerce rules can be very complex. And if you don’t comply, you can’t simply claim ignorance. It’s important to educate yourself and work with a team of international compliance and global payments solutions experts to ensure that you do things correctly. Because if you don’t, you could amass substantial fines or even lose your business.

Let’s take a closer look at 4 specific international compliance issues.

1. Cross-border and global payment solutions

Moving money across borders is complex and fraught with regulatory complications and issues. Not only can a payment data breach damage your eCommerce brand, it can also result in hefty fines. You will want a payment solution that is Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (DCI-PSS) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)-compliant, as well as a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate which is a global standard security technology that enables encrypted communication between a web browser and a web server.        

2. Taxes

No matter where you live, every eCommerce business will pay some form of sales tax or business income tax. You may also have to pay customs duties on your imports — or your international customers may have to pay duties and taxes. Ecotaxes are also gaining popularity for non-sustainable items, shipping, and packaging. One way to solve the problem of taxes and tariffs for customers is to create an all-inclusive price that covers any potential taxes or customs duties.

3. Licenses and permits

Depending on what you are selling, you may need a business license or permits. Check the requirements in the countries that you’re operating in.

4. Data privacy

While it’s tempting to capture and use all the personal identifiable information (PII) — things like full names, addresses, social security numbers, debit and credit card numbers — that you collect about your customers, international privacy laws prohibit merchants from using customers’ PII for analytics. You may also be required to ask your customers’ permission to collect, store and process their data. For example, the GDPR is an EU-member act that lists seven regulations online businesses must follow or pay a violation of €20 million ($24.3 million) or 4% of global revenue, whichever is higher.

By working with a payment provider who is licensed to operate in your region you can make sure that they are addressing these issues and protecting your funds, and keeping cross border payments safe.

Start growing your business today with LianLian Global.