How To Import Goods From The United States To Nigeria
The United States is Nigerians’ second choice after China when it comes to the importation of foreign products.
It’s not far fetched that the United States is the top destination for technology products.
Furthermore, it houses most of the biggest tech firms that produce both hardware and software. As such, most used phones, computers, and other gadgets are best imported from the United States.
Other things that are often imported from the United States include cars, clothes, laptops, books, etc. These products are cheaper and safer to import from the United States.
Bear in mind that; when you import bigger goods from the United States to Nigeria, you pay very high duties and charges. Plus, it takes more time before it can reach the ports. Small goods are faster. In less than two weeks you can get them to your location.
Why Should You Buy From The United States?
These are some of the reasons why United States is the best place to buy some of these things.
-Quality
Products obtained from the United States are of higher quality than those obtained from China and other countries. Though, many of the products you will import from the United States are directly or indirectly sourced from China.
However, China produces better quality for people in Europe and America. The reason is that they can afford the price. This applies to why it’s best to import most fairly-used products from the US.
-Good Usage
If you are buying fairly used goods like IT gadgets or clothes you will get better reasonably used products and they will last longer. That’s where most Tokunbo cars and okrika clothes sold in Nigeria are sourced from, and amazingly, they still look good as new, even when the first owner might have used them for more than 4 years.
-Good Specification
Goods from the US are often of good specifications and premium standards. You can get most of the top products from there.
-Discount
The United States also sells goods at a cheap price, just like China. It’s cheap, coupled with better quality and durability. Thus, this means better sales and bigger profits.
Now let’s go over to the procedures involved in buying and shipping goods from the United States down to Nigeria.
Importing Goods From The US To Nigeria
The first thing is to decide on what you want to import and where you want to buy it.
There are lots of websites to purchase cheap products in the USA. A good example is on Amazon. Some of the other online stores include eBay, Walmart, Dillards, Offerup, Best Buy, etc.
Amazon and eBay, for example, will help you ship your products to Nigeria after buying them on the website. Though this might come at an expensive price, but it is well worth it.
On the other hand, some of the other stores only deliver products around the United States or its environs. So, even if what you’re looking for isn’t available on Amazon or eBay, you can still buy from them and have it shipped to Nigeria.
Here’s what you have to do:
Look for a shipping company and sign up on their website. Ishop, DHL, and FedEx are trusted platforms when it comes to this. Once you have signed up, you register to get a United States address.
The company will assign an address to you. So, while shopping at any of the US online stores, you input the address as your delivery location. Once it’s delivered, the shipping company will pick them up and have your goods shipped down to Nigeria for you.
Though their fees might be a little costly, it depends on the size of your goods. The bigger the goods, the bigger the freight.
Once your goods reaches the Nigerian ports (which usually takes 3 to 30 days depending on the platform used), you will be the one responsible for how it gets to your location. What you do is just get in touch with a logistics company. They will help you deliver it to your location. It will not be too costly.
Bottom Line
Importing goods from Nigeria or from any country isn’t easy due to the stringent import regulations. However, importing from countries like China and the United States has been the easiest, though it comes with lots of hassles too.
Unfortunately, not all products are cheaper to import from the US, or else you will be running at a loss. However, things like new and fairly used laptops, phones, desktop computers, TVs, cars, and clothes are best to import from there.