Can FlavorCloud ship internationally B2B?

B2B (Business to Business) wholesale shipping is essential for businesses looking to send large or bulk shipments cross-border. International B2B can be important when working with international suppliers and distributors, selling directly to international business, large scale events and more.  

B2B features  

Our B2B offering uses an agile approach focused on leveraging a large, established network of carriers. FlavorCloud provides optimal express freight shipping choices of carriers with heavily discounted shipping rates. FlavorCloud routing intelligence picks the best carrier based on the best choice for commodities and value but also on historical performance of carriers for a given country. 

Major features included are:  

• Dynamic classification – FlavorCloud handles all dynamic classifying and updating your product catalog to meet B2B compliance requirements. 

• Automated Customs Clearance – FlavorCloud acts as Importer and Export of Record (IOR/EOR) and clears customs for all high value orders with all risk carried by FlavorCloud. Cost saving on B2B clearance are up to 30%. 

• Insurance – Opt-in insurance is available on shipments for additional security. 

• Visibility – Using FlavorCloud’s tracking tools you have complete visibility and trackability from end-to-end. 

Limitations for using B2B  

FlavorCloud can support multi-piece pallets, gaylords, or bulk consolidation. There are a few requirements that are necessary to ship B2B.  

• B2B shipments are offered through our Express Freight network with full automation of compliance and customs clearance. 

• B2B Returns are supported as well through our platform. 

• An order must be flagged as B2B in the FlavorCloud app, within Order settings, to facilitate the necessary steps downstream for shipping the order.
  • Note: For Shopify merchants leveraging the B2B checkout flow or creating B2B draft orders with FlavorCloud, we will automatically recognize these orders as B2B and update them accordingly! If you’re processing a large number of B2B orders, we suggest leveraging our APIs for the most streamlined experience. 

Activating B2B  

To activate B2B on your account, reach out to our support team at support@flavorcloud.com for more information. They will be able to discuss B2B specific rate cards with you and ensure that you are set up to modify orders to ship B2B.  

Setting up B2B API  

B2B shipments are best supported through our API services. Check out our API documentation for setup instructions and examples.  

Manually marking an order B2B 

In the FlavorCloud Admin, go to Orders and select the Unfulfilled order you would like to ship with B2B. It must be unfulfilled to manually change to a B2B order.  

Under Transaction Type, update the order from Business to Consumer to Business to Business. This will trigger FlavorCloud to ship the order with all customs compliance documentation updated to include B2B– specific information and avoid delays. This manual step only applies for orders not created via Shopify B2B checkout or the Shopify B2B draft order flow.

Returning B2B shipments 

When returning B2B shipments, FlavorCloud provides discounted transportation rates and automates the paperwork required for clearing customs.  

However, all B2B returns are processed with responsibility of customs and payment on the recipient of the goods being shipped or transported. The technical term for this is delivered duties unpaid (DDU).  

Therefore, the consignee, or the recipient of the goods, will need to be prepared to manage customs inquiries and additional landed costs normally paid at delivery.  

B2B pricing  

B2B pricing is more complicated than D2C because of the large liabilities that are taken on by FlavorCloud when shipping B2B orders. Pricing is broken down into 3 parts – Shipping costs, landed costs, and platform fees. Shipping and landed costs are guaranteed at time of fulfillment and typically paid by the consignee. Platform fees are typically borne by the merchant. 

• Platform fee  

• Landed costs  

• Shipping costs 

If you have received a B2B quote, it is valid for at most a week. Quotes are generated real time and should be booked as quickly as possible. FlavorCloud always optimizes quotes for the best rate at time of generation, with fluctuating carrier and shipping costs these should be booked as soon as possible.

For more information about B2B pricing, reach out to our support team at support@flavorcloud.com