If you sell products on the Internet, sooner or later you'll have to make a decision about whether or not to accept orders from outside of your own country. Chances are you'll consider the potential for fraud, the cost of shipping out of the country, and difficulties in getting paid. But one thing you may not be aware of is that you can't ship all products to all countries.

Guns, weapons and body parts are among the big no-no's. But many seemingly innocuous products are on various countries' prohibited or restricted lists.

Many countries, for instance, have restrictions on shipping common items such as food products, tobacco and vitamins. Valuable jewelry is another item that is prohibited by many countries. Shipping consumer electronics to India is prohibited, but shipments containing these goods up to the value of 200 Indian rupees (gift value) are at present released after the words “Released on caution” have been stamped on the item.

A few more specific examples: you can't ship horror comics to Scotland, color copiers to Russia, Saccharine in tablets or packets to France, or musical instruments, dice or card games to Iran.

In Ethiopia, cassettes, video tapes, books, and magazines require authorization of the Ministry of Information and Education.

To be sure your shipments will be accepted in destination countries, be sure to check the International Mail Manual Index of Countries and Localities list of major prohibited items. You can find it online at http://pe.usps.gov/text/Imm/immctry.htm.

You'll also want to read the documents available online at http://www.upu.int/customs/en/index.shtml from the Universal Postal Union.

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