Hi, I'm starting an ecommerce store using drop shippers. The products will be sourced and shipped within the U.S. (targeted at mainly U.S. customers). The problem is I'm from Singapore and wondering is U.S. customers will think I'm shipping from overseas if I put my local business address on the website. Should I register a virtual office address instead? Every advice is appreciated, thanks in advance.
I guess it's best to come clean from the start. You could tell the customers that all shipments are made from the US and how that works, but that your main offices are in Singapore. People are becoming used to that. However, they may think you're a fake operation if you tell them you are in Arkansas and then they find out you're not.
I would have US based phone, support (during us times), and servers. I would list your Singapore address and info as main, but also list a us information and what not for convenience. If a user has a problem, they wont want to spend $1/min calling Singapore. Does this make sense?
You might look into some VoIP solutions for customers to contact you as well. That way it might be cheaper for you in the long run. If you do decide though to get a local VoIP number I would try to get it with the same area code as your address so it does not look fishy.
Actually, you SHOULD use your Singapore address. It actually gives you better image of global trader who can therefore get better prices for customer from other parts of world. Which begs the question why you would source from within US? I mean if it is dropshipping products, most of the time it is sourced from outside US. So your dropshipper is taking a big cut, maybe?
I agree that you should use the Singapore address, but I think US based information is necessary for contact reasons. Good luck!
Use skype in, and you can get a US number and voicemail for about $4 a month I believe. If you add skype out, you can call back to the US for just over 2 cents per minute. The quality isn't as good as a landline, but I'd put it up there with a cell phone.