Bank Guarantee or Cash Against Docs mentioned in #5, or Letter of Credit mentioned in #7 can all help to reduce your risk when exporting to a foreign country.
To use these payment methods in your transactions your and your client’s banks will both have to provide such services.
Basically (and to put it simply) you’ll have to prepare a set of shipping docs (such as invoice, packing list, air waybill, bill of lading, Customs docs/certs) and send it to your bank which will then forward it to your client’s bank.
Your client’s bank will release the docs to your client only against payment or guarantee to make the payment by an agreed maturity date.
The risks to both parties can be reduced but not 100% eliminated by employing any of these methods.
For example, in a case of using CAD or BG, the client can always refuse to pay for the docs or to ask their bank to issue the guarantee, in which case their bank will either return the docs to your bank (or destroy them by consent in some rare cases). Although your goods will stay in your possession extra costs will be incurred on stowage and logistics.
Remember the banks will charge for such services at both ends.
You’ll have to check with your bank as well as your client to find a mutually agreed payment method.
Quite a few banks in the UK such as Barclays, RBS and HSBC provide these services. For example, Barclays corporate clients get a global trade portal to log their collections online.