Ship from India Without a Warehouse There

Three ways to offer shipping from India

1. Each customer opens their own account with an Indian forwarder. Nothing to set up, but your customer deals with the forwarder, not with you, and you have no part in the shipment.
2. A partner account with an Indian forwarder. You open one business account, add your customers, and the forwarder receives their parcels, records them against each customer and ships them, with tracking in your name. You keep the customer and set your own price to them.
3. Your own office or warehouse in India. Full control, but it means a company, a lease, staff and export paperwork in India before the first parcel moves.

For a courier company starting out, the second way is usually the sensible first step: it costs nothing to set up, and you can move to your own operation later if volume justifies it.

What to check before you choose a partner

• Customer records. Can each parcel be recorded against your customer, and can a customer's parcels wait for each other, or go one by one?
• Proof on arrival. Is every parcel weighed and photographed when it arrives, so you can answer your customer before it ships?
• Your name, not theirs. Do the tracking emails reach your customer in your company's name?
• Rates. Is there a partner rate for regular volume, and is there a minimum before you can start?
• Who pays. Can you pay each shipment from your account, or send your customer a payment link?
• Collection. Will they collect from suppliers, and where? Everywhere else, how does a parcel reach them?
• Parcels, not cargo. A courier parcel service and a freight forwarder are different businesses. Ask which one you are talking to.

How India Rabbit does it

Courier companies, parcel forwarders and shipping agents abroad use one India Rabbit business account. Each of your customers gets a code; the Indian store or seller addresses the parcel to India Rabbit with that code, at our warehouse in Kerala. We weigh and photograph every parcel, hold it free for up to 30 days, and ship it to your customer, paid from your account or by a payment link, with the tracking emails in your name. We collect anywhere in Kerala, ship to every country, and handle courier parcels only, not freight. There is no minimum, and partner rates are agreed for regular volume. See India Rabbit for courier companies.