Home › For business › Sending sarees and handloom abroad
Sending sarees and handloom abroad
Textiles are the most straightforward thing we send.
Describe it as what it is
The single most useful thing you can do for a textile parcel is write a real description. Cotton saree, 1 piece travels. Apparel invites a look. Put your bill for the order in the box and we build the declaration from it.
Why a light parcel can cost more than you expect
Airlines charge for the space a box takes, not only what it weighs. A carrier works out a volumetric weight from the dimensions and bills whichever is greater, actual or volumetric. Sarees are light and bulky, which is exactly the shape that gets billed on size. Removing retail packaging and folding tightly is the whole difference, and it is worth doing before the parcel leaves you.
If you are sending several orders to the same country in the same week, let them accumulate: storage is free for 30 days, and one denser box beats five base rates.
What to keep away from the textiles
Coconut oil and liquid pickles leak, and they ruin fabric. If a customer has ordered both, tell us at booking and we pack them apart.
The two ways a parcel leaves here
Everything on this page turns on which of these you are, so it is worth settling first. There are two, and we run both.
If your business is registered as an exporter
You have a GSTIN, an IEC and an AD code. Your parcel ships as your export: it goes under your own IEC, and you authorise our carrier to file the shipping bill (CSB-V) on your behalf. You pay the freight, and the commercial invoice carries your business.
If your business is not registered as an exporter
We call this the simple route, and it is the one most Instagram sellers, boutiques and small shops start on. On this route you do not export at all. Your customer abroad receives the parcel as their own, under our personal forwarding terms — the same terms any individual uses to send their own belongings home. You book the shipment here, put your own bill for the order inside the parcel, and send it to our warehouse. We weigh it, photograph it, and send your customer a link to pay the shipping. As soon as they pay, it goes, and they get tracking in your name.
Where to start
Open a business account and tell us what you sell. We call every new business on WhatsApp within a working day, usually to settle exactly the question this page is about, and you are on the right route before your first parcel moves.
Questions
How should I describe a saree on the invoice?
By what it is and how many: cotton saree, 1 piece. Not apparel. We prepare the customs declaration from your bill.
Why is my saree parcel priced on size rather than weight?
Carriers bill the greater of actual and volumetric weight, and volumetric is worked out from the box dimensions. Light, bulky parcels are billed on space. Packing tightly without the retail carton is the fix.
Can I combine several customers orders in one box?
Not for different customers, since each parcel goes to its own address. But your own stock going to one stockist or one customer can and should be consolidated, and storage is free for 30 days while it accumulates.
Read next
Sending jewellery abroad
Jewellery is the category where the gap between what a seller assumes and what a carrier covers is widest, so it is worth being...
How small businesses actually ship abroad
People searching this mostly end up on Reddit, because what they want is someone who has actually done it rather than a page se...
Can my customer abroad pay the shipping?
Yes. On the simple route your customer pays the shipping themselves, through a link we send them, and the parcel ships the mome...
Shipping abroad for a small Indian business · What cannot be shipped · Work out the cost
Send your next order
Open a business account and tell us what you sell. We call every new business within a working day, usually to settle exactly which route you are on.