Many australian companies have discovered that to successfully gain entry to an overseas market for their products or services or to increase sales volume in that market it is necessary to have a representative there. An overseas representative is a person or a firm that has a business in the overseas market who can promote the products or services of the Australian exporter in that market.

An overseas representative is a midway point between exporting direct to the market and the firm establishing its own presence in the overseas country. Exporting direct means that all arrangements relating to the sale are handled by the firm in the exporting country. Exporting through an overseas presence means that the firm has its own offices or plant in the overseas country that either handles imports from the parent firm in Australia, sources imports for the firm in Australia, or manufactures the product or provides the service directly in the overseas market. In the case of sales through an overseas representative, that representative will find customers for the exporter. The exporter will usually either enter into contracts with those customers directly or sell to the representative, who will in turn on-sell to customers.

The chief reason for appointing an overseas representative is to increase the profits of the exporting company by increased sales. The overseas representative will have much greater familiarity with the local market and potential customers than does the Australian exporter. This will help to increase sales in a variety of ways.