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You've heard from me, in articles like this one, this one and others, that international customers can be a key part of your business's growth. But Greg, I hear you ask, how do you find those customers? How do you get your merchandise delivered quickly?

The answer to the first question is simple: offer items that overseas buyers want. Tasos Marinos of SoccerCorner.com capitalizes on the popularity of soccer around the world. Based on Lancaster, PA, the company sells shoes and other soccer equipment through four Angelo's Soccer Corner retail stores in Pennsylvania, and through its website.

What about the second question: overcoming the speed and reliability issue while providing for returns of international shipments? Marinos turned to a shipping service with an innovative way of getting its customers' orders overseas fast: GlobalShopex. His most popular international items are also easy to ship: indoor/outdoor soccer cleats. He ranks the most popular destinations for these and other items as:

1) Canada;
2) Australia;
3) The United Kingdom.

GlobalShopex says it can get items to overseas locations like these in 4 to 10 days. Here's how the process works:

1) Merchants sign up to integrate their shopping cart with GlobalShopex, choosing one of three service options. There are no setup or monthly fees. In most cases, the merchant agrees to pay GlobalShopex 10 percent of the price for each item they ship on purchases (see Step 3 below). This enables merchants to add an "International Shipping" button on the product listing. On the SoccerCorner.com site, you see this button at checkout:

2) Overseas customers click on International Shipping button and, depending on the type of service they have set up with GlobalShopex, they either finish the transaction on the merchant's site or are taken to the GlobalShopex site where they choose shipping options.

In the SoccerCorner.com example, they are taken to the GlobalShopex checkout where international costs are displayed, and shipping information tailored to the destination country is presented.

In the screen image below, I have chosen Adidas Youth FR30 TRX FG soccer cleats and specified shipping to Australia. The cleats cost $59.95. I also choose Priority Shipping (5 to 7 business days). The cost is $36.29 for shipping. (In this example, Standard shipping offers delivery in 8 to 15 business days for the same cost; presumably, in most other cases Standard shipping costs less than Priority.)

3) Here comes the unusual part: when the customer completes the transaction, he or she is not actually the buyer on the SoccerCorner website - GlobalShopex is the buyer. The customer pays GlobalShopex the purchase price and shipping fee. Once that transaction is completed, GlobalShopex purchases the item at a 10 percent discount from the merchant. The 10 percent is GlobalShopex's fee.

4) GlobalShopex has the item sent from the merchant to their facility in Miami. Colleen Petschulat, vice-president of business development for GlobalShopex, explained:

"Once we clear the order, we return to the merchant's site and place the order online with the merchant, paying them with a company credit card or automatically, and arrange to ship to our hub in Miami. The merchant ships to us then we ship to the buyer. It does add on a few days, but we ship pretty fast from our location, so from the international customer's perspective, the total transit time is still very reasonable for an international shipment."

The 10 percent discount to GlobalShopex is optional, however. Suppose the merchant wants to pay GlobalShopex 5 percent of the transaction; in that case, GlobalShopex will pass the extra 5 percent on to the customer in a slightly higher shipping fee.

Like other international shipping services, GlobalShopex uses different shippers depending on the country. For some destinations they fly directly themselves - they have contracts with various airlines and partners who deliver the last mile.

GlobalShopex guarantees the shipment to the buyer and provides package tracking on all shipments, taking on any risk of fraud and chargebacks. It creates country-specific checkout fields for international buyers and makes checkout forms available in English or Spanish. The company accepts wire transfers and MoneyGrams or services like China's Alipay as well as credit cards and PayPal.

Its parent company, eshopex, is an international freight forwarding company that has been helping U.S. stores ship to international customers since 1999. "In 2010 GlobalShopex launched as a way to integrate directly into the merchants shopping cart and provide a full/risk free solution to merchants while giving the international customers a great, reliable experience buying from the USA," says Petschulat.

It observes the returns policy of the merchant. Returns are requested by the customer to GlobalShopex. "If the merchant is willing to accept the return back, the customer has to pay for it to come back to GSX," explains Petschulat. "We only pay for the delivery if it's our fault (we sent the wrong size, color etc.)"

Another unusual feature: GlobalShopex provides some international marketing for its clients. In Latin America, the company has partnerships with some large banks, which advertise the merchants on their websites. The company also does email marketing with PayPal, Alipay and other services, and some in- house marketing as well.

For Tim Bayless, vice-president of sales and marketing at JessieSteele.com of Berkeley, CA, GlobalShopex delivers fashionable aprons and pajamas to countries such as Canada, Australia and Mexico. "They enable our company to have a global presence, which is very important," says Bayless. "Shoppers globally are more savvy and they expect goods to be available anywhere and at any time. GlobalShopex allows us to do this."

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About the author:

Greg Holden is EcommerceBytes Contributing Editor. He is a journalist and the author of many books, including "Starting an Online Business For Dummies," "Go Google: 20 Ways to Reach More Customers and Build Revenue with Google Business Tools," and several books about eBay, including "How to Do Everything with Your eBay Business," second edition, and "Secrets of the eBay Millionaires," both published by Osborne-McGraw Hill. Find out more on Greg's website, which includes his blog, a list of his books, and his fiction and biographical writing.

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