This is the first article in my importing series, and in this installment I want to go over some of the basic facts and make sure we all know what to expect from importing.
Firstly, I want to stress you don't have to be a large nationwide wholesale and warehousing business to be able to successfully import goods and make money from them.
With the advent of the internet and email you can now find and contact almost any type of foreign manufacturer available. There are many businesses in China and other parts of the Far East producing good quality products that are keen to find new western trade links and if you find the right company they can be quite happy to help you get started in order to progress the business relationship and get further repeat orders.
Having said that there are a few points you need to bear in mind. Firstly most manufacturers only sell in large bulk quantities so in most cases you will need a reasonable amount of capital to invest in your first order and depending on the size of the products you will need somewhere to store them. This doesn't mean it's impossible, for example many manufacturers will allow you to make a sample order to inspect the products and delivery cycle which to them will be very small indeed but to you may be as big as you can manage, but if you have done your homework and there is a good market for your stock then once you have the first batch sold you can reinvest the profits to be able to afford the second larger batch.
If you are looking to buy small items such as electrical accessories then storage will not be a problem at all because at that size you can fit them in your garage or spare room for example, but if you want to buy trampolines then you will need some extra space! Storage doesn't have to be a problem either if there is a good profit in the bulk order then you should have scope to cost in for storage. If you have a look around quite often there will be a local logistics business that will let you have a few racks worth of space for quite a reasonable price, and you may be able to negotiate a package deal including picking up the stock from the docks and taking it into their store.
What I'm trying to get across is that all issues associated with importation can be overcome with good planning and research and you can do it on a much smaller scale without costing it a fortune, if you pick your products carefully the profit potential can be far higher than you might find from a local trade distributor. You may even be able to offer trade prices to smaller eBay businesses and become a distributer for the stock yourself!
There are other issues to consider before importing for the first time so please look out for my next article regarding your legal responsibilities. All of my articles and further video tutorials are available to read on my site listed below.
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396
Date Published :
Jul 7 2008