In most cases, yes — export sales should be reflected in your books and also reported in GST returns, so there’s no mismatch between (1) accounting sales, (2) shipping bills, and (3) foreign remittances.

For exporters shipping with courier shipping bills (CSB-V / CSB-5), many exporters report exports in GSTR-1 (Zero-rated supplies) and align the values with shipping bill details. If you keep filing NIL returns for a long period while receiving export payments, it can create reconciliation issues later.

CSB-5 (CSB-V) is commonly treated as the “proper” courier export shipping bill for commercial exports, and exporters often link GST reporting/refund workflows to CSB-5 shipping bills.

In the group discussion, CSB-4 was described as typically used for free samples and not considered valid for claiming GST benefits/refunds the same way CSB-5 is.

LUT (Letter of Undertaking) is a common route to export under GST without paying IGST upfront. If you have LUT, you typically raise export invoices as “zero-rated” and don’t charge GST on the invoice.

If you don’t have LUT, many exporters follow the route of charging IGST and then claiming refund — which can add cash-flow stress and compliance work.

If you sell on marketplaces (Amazon/eBay/Etsy), LUT still helps because the underlying supply is export. Your CA will map it correctly in returns based on shipping bill/invoice data.

Many exporters keep CSB-V (CSB-5) shipments within a low-value limit. In your group, one message states that total invoice value for a CSB-V order cannot exceed ₹25,000.

DNK (and now DOP contract setups in some contexts) are used by exporters to access India Post’s international services in a more structured way. In your group, DNK is described as rarely having issues, and when issues happen they often get resolved via complaint escalation.

One big advantage noted: charges are weight-based (not volumetric) (within dimension limits), which can be a game-changer for bulky but light shipments.

Your group listed 4 commonly used India Post international options. Here’s a clean comparison you can use on your page.

In the group, the recommended selection was: India Post International.

If the self-service portal account is not allowing commercial shipments, it typically indicates missing/incorrect KYC or exporter registration data. In your chat, the suggestion was to create an account on India Post customer self-service and submit documents, and get help from your nearest post office that handles international bookings.

Exporters discussed that DHL can add demand surcharges and may not always provide meaningful discounts even at high monthly volumes. When this happens, people often compare FedEx/UPS/Aramex or negotiate via consolidators for certain lanes.

In your group, Australia was discussed as having a high proportion of remote areas, with a quoted flat remote area charge (~₹2300) added on top of shipping in many cases.

Real-world takeaway: When quoting AU customers, always check the destination postcode for remote/extended area, or price in a buffer so you don’t lose margin.

Not always. Carriers can have different definitions and tables for remote/extended area and they change over time. Some exporters feel FedEx is “better” for AU in this context, but always confirm the current surcharge sheet.

Aggregators can be convenient (pickup, dashboard, labels), but exporters also report issues like delays, missing fields in exports (invoice order value column), and occasional transmission gaps to bank systems.

This is a common operational pain-point: bank portals often “auto-pull” shipping bills from ICEGATE/EDPMS feeds. If a shipping bill (or post bill of export) isn’t flowing correctly into that feed, it won’t show up for regularisation even if you physically have the document.

In your group, the exact issue was: payments/FIRCs already submitted, but shipping bills not reflecting, causing a mismatch where remittances look higher than “visible exports” in ICICI.

Use this step-by-step flow (works for most banks; wording differs per portal):

Exporters asked whether multiple AD codes can be registered. A practical note shared was: you may have multiple, but typically only one active mapping works smoothly at a time (implementation differs by setup).

In your chat, one exporter said ShipGlobal CSB-V usually shows automatically, but another said they found it wasn’t submitted and they had to email ShipGlobal to submit it.

In your chat, the guidance shared was: FIRC should be for the gross amount ($100), and the difference can be treated as conversion/payment gateway charges.

Practical guidance shared in the group leaned toward using USD/foreign currency (invoice/CSB aligned), then converting in accounting as per your chosen policy.

Best practice for clean reconciliation:

• Invoice + CSB currency: keep consistent (often USD for US sales).
• Accounting books: record base currency (INR) using a consistent FX rate basis (your CA will decide: RBI/CBIC/bank rate/policy).
• GST return values: usually mapped in INR; use the shipping bill/conversion basis your CA uses so it ties out.

In your chat, one exporter said they manually note invoice values for 10–20 packets/day, but that approach breaks at 100–150 parcels/day.

Best workaround: build your own Export Register from source-of-truth documents (invoices + shipping bills), instead of depending only on one platform’s CSV export.

Yes — and your group explicitly discussed using scripts to extract values from invoices (especially when the PDF format is consistent). This can generate an XLS/CSV in bulk and save hours every month.

The group suggested HSN 2106 90 99 for sweets/savouries (verify based on your exact product composition and CA/CHA advice).