AMA - Ask me anything on sourcing/importing from Asia..

[lovecharm]

Hey every one,

Since every one has been helping me out and giving me tips on online marketing, so I thought why not give some value back to the community by sharing my knowledge..

I have offices in China, Hong kong and Bangladesh. We manufacture clothing in Bangladesh and export to major brands in US, UK and EU. We also source tons of stuff (raw materials) from China, India, Hong kong pretty much every week.

So if you have any questions regarding importing or sourcing or how to deal with suppliers in Asia then ask away, I will try my best to help you out.

LC

 

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[Runum]

No questions from me at the moment. Thank for the offer, questions coming soon.

 

[lovecharm]

Cool, will look forward to it..

Mind you, I would also like to point out.. I am new in online marketing world (seo, email marketing, traffic conversion etc), so if any one wants to mentor me on that then I can certainly mentor them or help them source things from Asia..

I have offices and staffs who can source things, audit the factories, check if the supplier is genuine or not (frankly speaking whenever the supplier hears that we have offices in china then they simply don't even bother to do anything silly) and do all the paper works, this will be a gold mine for some one who has no connections in Asia or in two minds about importing.

LC

 

[eliquid]

Questions:

1. Name the 3 best ways you find the people that you source from. Since a lot of us are not in China, write from that perspective of someone in the West or out of country.

2. Name your 3 best negotiation tips for someone needing small quantities and the rep doesn't seem interested.

3. best way to import it to the USA and any pitfalls you have to look for, like having "authority", customs, etc. What are the best ways to get it from China to the USA and how do you get it from when it lands in the USA to your "warehouse"

4. How do you handle returns of damaged goods from your source

5. Give us 5 "issues" or "ah ha" moments you realized in importing and sourcing most noobs do not know about.

 

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[Jake]

Feel free not to answer this one as it's not exactly the type of question that you offered to answer but..

How did you find the buyers? Are you manufacturing their designs? I'm interested in how the deal was put together.

and a specific question - Is it possible to purchase quality 100% cotton yarn for less than $3 per kilo? I pretty much got laughed at when looking. If possible, I potentially have a huge buyer so please get in touch.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Can you disclose which major brands you supply?
Also, do you deal in textiles? (Like cloth, rags, etc.)

And can I change the title to "I've made millions importing/exporting, ask me anything" -- LOL.

 

[theag]

+speed in advance because I have a feeling that this will become a great thread. no questions yet but I will certainly have some soon

 

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[Pershing]

I've just started in the brokering business, if you tell me more about your business, I would like to cooperate with you, if you want. I'm from Italy.
I have not a multiyears experience in this, but I'm very professional and motivated.

My compliments for your achievements

 

[lovecharm]

Questions:

1. Name the 3 best ways you find the people that you source from. Since a lot of us are not in China, write from that perspective of someone in the West or out of country.

2. Name your 3 best negotiation tips for someone needing small quantities and the rep doesn't seem interested.

3. best way to import it to the USA and any pitfalls you have to look for, like having "authority", customs, etc. What are the best ways to get it from China to the USA and how do you get it from when it lands in the USA to your "warehouse"

4. How do you handle returns of damaged goods from your source

5. Give us 5 "issues" or "ah ha" moments you realized in importing and sourcing most noobs do not know about.

1:- Well, Online. Go on alibaba, aliexpress, dhgate etc. See the suppliers and then add them on skype or Trademanager, then talk to them (well chat with them via IM as a lot of them can't speak english properly).

I must point out, you need to have good skills to asses people online, in that way you will be able to find reliable supplier..

Couple of pointer for you to start off with:-

a) How hungry he/she is? Meaning, is she really eager to close the deal, does she answers all the questions quickly and looking eager? If yes then they are the right candidate to deal with. I have met suppliers who are not hungry and they have this attitude that if they sell then its fine, if not then its cool too.. You don't want to deal with that sort of people.

b) Look at the company profile also see if they have been verified or audited or not etc.. Those are to see if they are legit or not.. Also how long they have been in business for, any past reviews from past clients will be definitely a bonus as well..

c) This one is obvious but in my experience majority of the problem comes up because of this.. COMMUNICATION.. You need to judge if this person can understand you quickly or not.. If not then its better not to deal with them in first place, because they will mess up things, even though it was unintentional but still you don't wont suppliers sending you wrong products or doing things that you don't want them to do.. You see you have to understand that level of english is still not at average level in Asia, so when you say things to them then most of the time they simply didn't understand it, however they won't tell you that they didn't get it, they will simply nod and will do what THEY THINK YOU TOLD THEM.. So communication is a MASSIVE problem in Asia and according to my research and experience 7-10 problems arises because of that..

2:- Well, here are my 3 tips:-

a) Find some one who will sell you small quantities to begin with.. I know its obvious and it might take some additional work, but this is by far the best way. For example, when we work with brands, we have a a minimum amount, if they won't get that they we are simply not interested to even talk with them... We have that minimum amount because of our cost and the business model we have.. So doesn't matter what you say we can't change that because our business is set up that way, we simply can't cater you because its simply not possible.

b) Now, some times some companies can sell you in small amount, they dont usually do it because they will have to do additional work, not because their business is set up to work with big quantities only. If you get those type of suppliers then show them the big picture and show them the projections. Eg, you are ordering 3-4 items at a time, however you will be doing it frequently every week, so in a month they have sold you about 16 pieces etc.

c) Simply ask them if they know any other suppliers who will sell you in small quantities or not.. Majority of the supplier will know who sells in small quantities or simply have other sister concerns who can cater you.. They will easily pass you the details.. We have couple of sister concerns as well who can cater clients with small quantities, when we get those sort of enquireys then we pass them on to the sister concerns.

3:- Well, I am from UK so not too familiar with US customs and regulations..SO my best bet will be talk to couple of freight and forwarder company they usually have all the details and will be happy to give you all the details regarding customs and clearance, price, delivery time etc.. If you are importing via air then its much easier and much faster but it costs a lot too.. So talk to the customs or go to their website and they should have all the details that you have.. Mind you, in USA, they have some tax free countries, which means if you import certain products from certain countries then you don't pay any tax. Its called GSP, you can get more info about it on here:- http://www.ustr.gov/trade-topics/tr...ce-programs/generalized-system-preference-gsp

4:- Well, you will need to be up front about returning goods and what will happen if they are damaged from day 1.. Majority of the supplier now a days are accepting returns or giving you discounts.. That wasn't the case back in the days.. But peoples attitude is changing so its good. But the main thing is, you will need to have a clear guide lines regarding this topic, if both of you agree then there shouldn't be much problem in future. As I mentioned in point 1, you will need to asses the supplier online and have to find out how reliable they are.. So develop people assessing skills and be and be a good communicator, then you won't get problems in long run. If you are dealing with an honest supplier then they will definitely help you out if there is problems with the goods.

5:- Hmmm ok here are the 5 things:-

a) Communication, majority of the supplier in non english speaking countries don't understand what you are looking for straight away or their catching speed is slow, so make sure you really take time to explain them and make sure they understood exactly what you want..

b) Build a good relationship with the supplier, treat them like friends, ask them about their life and things etc.. If you have a good relationship with the supplier then a lot of rules can be bent..

c) I know this might sound sexist, but I tend to have much less problem when I am dealing with female representative.. They seems to be much more reliable, hard worker, negotiates less and have much less needs compared to the male representatives. If some one negotiates less then you will be getting the best price much quicker.

d) You might have to stay up till early morning if you want to close the deal quick. You see if you are in USA and your supplier is in China then there is a huge time difference. So you will have to stay up till late night to catch the supplier (as its morning in china) and when you see him/her online then you can start the negotiation and the momentum is not lost. If you are trying to deal quickly and they feel that you are also moving fast to close then some times they will reduce the price slightly more compared to the other clients who are slow and taking longer time to close the deal. SO momentum is the key and make sure you stay up till late so that the momentum is not lost.

e) Try to learn everything about your product also the technical stuff as well.. In my experience, lots of customers comes to buy things but they don't know the technical stuff. You see there is a big difference between making a single prototype product and then making mass production of it.. Sometimes when you are doing mass productions then that product might not be the same as you gave the supplier. So my advice is, try to know as much as possible about your product. For example you want to buy mountain bicycle, then learn what materials are usually used in making it, how strong are they, if you want strong bicycle then which type of metal you will need to use, if you want your cycle to not rust then what sort of spray should be used etc. If you bought a bicycle and you never specified if you want anti rust paint on it or not and the supplier never put that, then if the cycle rusts in 2 months and your customer complains, whos fault is it? Yours (because you never told them) or your suppliers?

So there's your answers...

 

[lovecharm]

Feel free not to answer this one as it's not exactly the type of question that you offered to answer but..

How did you find the buyers? Are you manufacturing their designs? I'm interested in how the deal was put together.

and a specific question - Is it possible to purchase quality 100% cotton yarn for less than $3 per kilo? I pretty much got laughed at when looking. If possible, I potentially have a huge buyer so please get in touch.

Buyers came by word of mouth. We are one of the manufacturing giants in Bangladesh (have over 8000 people), in other words top dogs, so buyers comes to us.

Yes we manufacture their designs sometimes we design for them, depends on what they want..

You need to give the counts.. For example, 7 counts 100% cotton yarn is about $1.50 per kilo, 12 counts 100% cotton yarn is about $1.80 per kilo. I can get them from Bangladesh or china..

 

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[lovecharm]

Can you disclose which major brands you supply?
Also, do you deal in textiles? (Like cloth, rags, etc.)

And can I change the title to "I've made millions importing/exporting, ask me anything" -- LOL.

The brands we are working or have worked with are Lee, Wrangler, Ecko, Next, MGB, KIK etc.

Yes we have textiles, spinning, dying etc. We have a vertical setup.

 

[lovecharm]

I've just started in the brokering business, if you tell me more about your business, I would like to cooperate with you, if you want. I'm from Italy.
I have not a multiyears experience in this, but I'm very professional and motivated.

My compliments for your achievements

Hey,

Well, I have explained what we do in this thread, so you can PM with your plan and we will see what can be done..

Congrats on the brokering business.

 

[Jake]

Buyers came by word of mouth. We are one of the manufacturing giants in Bangladesh (have over 8000 people), in other words top dogs, so buyers comes to us.

Yes we manufacture their designs sometimes we design for them, depends on what they want..

You need to give the counts.. For example, 7 counts 100% cotton yarn is about $1.50 per kilo, 12 counts 100% cotton yarn is about $1.80 per kilo. I can get them from Bangladesh or china..

Thanks..and welcome to the forum!

I'm going to send you a PM.

 

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[Talisman]

Awesome. Importing's my main focus at the moment.. I know I should have questions, but it seems to be more of a case of I dont know what I dont know.

Back in the day ... How did you start out with shipping things? Did you use a freight forwarder? Air freight? How long ago was it?

Im only shipping things via air at the moment, I haven't done anything by sea, it seems a lot more complicated than having DHL dropping it at my front door within a week. As long as my margin is still acceptable, I am fine, but there are definitely things I'm missing out on (including bigger margins) by sticking to air-express...

Umm yeah.. More information .... All I can ask for is "More please"? I'd love to have a mentor, particularly someone who specialises in importing, but I am not sure I can help your SEO/marketing side as much as some of the more established gurus (especially considering that I haven't made my millions yet). However, if you wish to PM me, I would be more than happy to share any/all knowledge I have about that side of things.

Cheers. And watching this thread closely!

 

[lovecharm]

Back in the day ... How did you start out with shipping things? Did you use a freight forwarder? Air freight? How long ago was it?

Im only shipping things via air at the moment, I haven't done anything by sea, it seems a lot more complicated than having DHL dropping it at my front door within a week. As long as my margin is still acceptable, I am fine, but there are definitely things I'm missing out on (including bigger margins) by sticking to air-express...

Umm yeah.. More information .... All I can ask for is "More please"? I'd love to have a mentor, particularly someone who specialises in importing, but I am not sure I can help your SEO/marketing side as much as some of the more established gurus (especially considering that I haven't made my millions yet). However, if you wish to PM me, I would be more than happy to share any/all knowledge I have about that side of things.

Cheers. And watching this thread closely!

Well we ship in and out from various countries as we have offices in various countries.. Rules and regulations varies a lot from country to country, however shipping and importing is a bit more difficult in Bangladesh, plus you have to bribe in many places as well.. On the other hand in china and UK its much straight forward and easy compared to Bangladesh. We use freight forwarder in all the countries, in China and UK freight forwarder is pretty much like one stop shop, but in Bangladesh it isn't, there are many agencies you have to deal with, which mean more work and more hassle.

I am sending you a PM with my skype ID, add me and we will chat over there time to time..

 

[LibertyForMe]

Do have recommendations for a good freight forwarder? You mentioned working with them a lot. Any recommendations on how to find a good one?

 

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[Nosferatu]

Wow ! this thread is a find! Thanks a ton LC, im definitely looking forward learning a bit as im currently opening a business importing goods from china and india.

I can definitely help with any SEO or Internet Marketing( initiatives you need as well, as I've been an affiliate marketer for some time.

Cheers and Speed++


I do have some questions for you, but i'm running out the door at the moment. I will contact you soon !!

 

[lovecharm]

Do have recommendations for a good freight forwarder? You mentioned working with them a lot. Any recommendations on how to find a good one?

Well I know good fright forwarder in UK, China and Bangladesh. But not in USA, I am guessing you are looking for US forwarder right?

General rules are:-

1:- In western countries freight forwarding is easy so the companies are easy to deal with and are very helpful generally. Majority of them are one stop shop, they do all the paper works, storage and transportations for you...
2:- When you call them some will quote more and some less, its mostly because of the speed of delivery and the speed they process your import. We use both the cheap and expensive depending on our stocks situation.
3:- Its best to go with the company who can do the transportation, paper work, storage etc. It will save you a lot of work and hassle. Besides its not expensive to go with those one stop shop either, so go with the big ones.
4:- Try to educate yourself on tax and VAT so that you can keep an eye on whether they are charging you the right amount or not.. Some times they can over charge you but when you call them up then they will say oh sorry, we made a mistake, we will refund you straight away... So its better to know.

 

[Hassassin]

Hi lovecharm (weathers been great here in UK LOL !)

I wanted to ask

I'm seventeen and have recently started work ( a month ago). I am currently just saving up capital for investing into a a product to import , for now my aim is

1. To find a valuable product
2. gather enough capital
3.secure a good supplier
4.start selling on ebay and amazon asap and take things from there.

My problems are:
1.I really do not know how to do market research/or find a valuable product to import.
2. I don't know how much I need to start
3. Do I import and sell in the UK only, or sell internationally ( i'm guessing only to the UK to start of with right ?)
4. Any books/websites you suggest I should read the crap out of regarding importing ?

Many thanks I'm committed to making it work and would really appreciate a successful importers input!

 

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[lovecharm]

Hi lovecharm (weathers been great here in UK LOL !)

I wanted to ask

I'm seventeen and have recently started work ( a month ago). I am currently just saving up capital for investing into a a product to import , for now my aim is

1. To find a valuable product
2. gather enough capital
3.secure a good supplier
4.start selling on ebay and amazon asap and take things from there.

My problems are:
1.I really do not know how to do market research/or find a valuable product to import.
2. I don't know how much I need to start
3. Do I import and sell in the UK only, or sell internationally ( i'm guessing only to the UK to start of with right ?)
4. Any books/websites you suggest I should read the crap out of regarding importing ?

Many thanks I'm committed to making it work and would really appreciate a successful importers input!

Hey,

First of all, well done on taking the initiative at such a young age. You are definitely ahead of your age group and if you keep working hard then you definitely have a bright future..

I started my first business on ebay when I was 18. I was selling sterling silver jewellery, I saved up some money and started buying them in small quantities and then when the cash flow started to pick then started to buy in bulk.

To be honest with you, if I were to answer all of your questions then I will simply need to write a book as its such a huge topics to cover from market research to key word research then finding supplier etc..

There is one gentleman in here and he got a website StartupBros — You don't need a job… You can go and check it out.. He seems to have lots of helpful tips there and he also started at young age (around 17) i think..

Plus have a look around the forum as there are plenty of posts on finding profitable niche, getting good suppliers, marketing etc..

So my suggestions will be, look around, learn, implement, have faith in yourself and never give up..

You see a loser is some one who fails then tries again, fails again then tries again and then gives up... However a winner, well, he just doesn't gives up till he wins..

Good luck with your venture and i will finish this with a famous success story:-

Harland David Sanders, the famous KFC "Colonel," couldn't sell his chicken. More than 1,000 restaurants rejected him. But then one did, and today there are KFC restaurants bearing his image all over the world.

 

[GENT3861]

Not to steal the Thunder from the thread, but @Jake if you don't mind me asking how did you get the buyer? I am young and just curious if you had a previous business contact or just walked in off the street?
Thanks

 

[HD_edacity]

Hey LoveCharm great thread

I have two questions:

1) I was talking to a supplier(american) and tried to reduce the price but i guess that pissed him off and now he wont reply to my emails. His price was high but his MOQ is so much better then the other guys I've messaged, I don't want to hound him and seem desperate should i just move on or is there some way to recover?

2) When dealing with a alibaba supplier selling say "mickey mouse" shirts, how can you be sure that its licensed and you wont have Disney come knocking on your door?

 

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[lovecharm]

Hey LoveCharm great thread

I have two questions:

1) I was talking to a supplier(american) and tried to reduce the price but i guess that pissed him off and now he wont reply to my emails. His price was high but his MOQ is so much better then the other guys I've messaged, I don't want to hound him and seem desperate should i just move on or is there some way to recover?

2) When dealing with a alibaba supplier selling say "mickey mouse" shirts, how can you be sure that its licensed and you wont have Disney come knocking on your door?

Well, here are the answers:-

1:- One of your major weapon in negotiation is time.. So if I were you then I would not contact him for several days or weeks, then after a week or two I might just drop him a casual email, do some chit chat and then bring back the topic.. In the mean time, during those silent time look our for other supplier as well... In that way, if he still refuse to do business then you already have some leads to work with as you have been looking around.. Try to learn to have a poker face during negotiation, in other words, don't show your eagerness at all.. It comes with practice..

2) Weird, as literally 48 hours ago we were discussing about this with one of our client since he is buying designer brands clothing from us..

So what you do is, ask for a approval letter from disney where they states that the manufacture (seller) can sell the mickey mouse t-shirt because its surplus or damaged or cancelled order etc.. Usually designer brands gives that sort of approval letters because the manufacturer have to clean up their store room, we know that we have that sort of clearance letter. If you have that letter from disney then you are good to go.

 

[HD_edacity]

Wow, thanks for the info I will definitely ask for a approval letter if i end up ordering.

Its already been like 2 weeks, my negotiation skills need work, I come off way to formal and "cold" I think.

 

[alexjoo]

Hi lovecharm, thanks for doing this!

I started toights.com last year. Basically, I found a manufacturer that prints onto pantyhose, but we did probably 6 months of testing since I needed specific black ink on black material. Anyway, I bought very minimal stock (2000 pcs). I did lots of research so the process to get it from a piece of Nylon in a Chinese factory to finished products in boxes in my apartment was quite easy (also, I'm a graphic designer with clients who import then sell products through Wal-Mart, so he helped me communicate with the factories).

So my problem isn't the buying side -- it's the selling side! Can you give an example of how you "made it" or how you got your first major deal with a distributor or big brand retailer? So far I'm selling online, piece-by-piece, just to keep the high margins intact.

(By the way, I created this company before reading Fastlane Millionaire. The book was such an eye-opener that I'm beginning to despise running an inventory-based business that I need to babysit!)

 

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[DjSuperman]

If I wanted to get something unique, or complicated manufactured, like a Toy, or Electronics.
How would I find a manufacturer for that?

 

[Jake]

Not to steal the Thunder from the thread, but @Jake if you don't mind me asking how did you get the buyer? I am young and just curious if you had a previous business contact or just walked in off the street?
Thanks

Ear to the ground.

I haven't done any business with them but a friends family has their hands in a lot of different things across Asia. He mentioned he was looking for something because their supplier is running at max capacity. if I can provide what they're looking for at a certain price point I can keep the difference.

 

[tonglim]

Hi LC,

I operating buynow.com.my since 1999. one of the major used pc and desktop....wonder how can i ship used working IT products like notebook to Bangladesh?

 

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[lovecharm]

Hi lovecharm, thanks for doing this!

So my problem isn't the buying side -- it's the selling side! Can you give an example of how you "made it" or how you got your first major deal with a distributor or big brand retailer? So far I'm selling online, piece-by-piece, just to keep the high margins intact.

(By the way, I created this company before reading Fastlane Millionaire. The book was such an eye-opener that I'm beginning to despise running an inventory-based business that I need to babysit!)

Hey

I can tell you how we did it but it won't be much use to you because its totally different scenario here.

You can easily set up a factory in Bangladesh, not many people worries about orders as there are plenty of customers in the market.. Some may decide to approach the client directly and some goes through agents..

We used to be agents and we used to place the orders in factories. Then we opened up our factories and started expanding..

You have several options :-

1:- Set up your own brand and start to build up on it.
2:- Look for the brands who sells items that are same as yours and approach them, you might think that they will say no, but in reality you have a massive plus points as your items are manufactured in USA.
3:- Some how try to get access in to fashion universities graduate students, majority of them are trying to set up brands where they will design but looking for manufacturer, so you can work with them as well.
4:- Approach some small retailers who sells your items, if they are not big companies then chances are they are always looking for manufacturer, so that can work for you as well.


Good luck.

 

[lovecharm]

If I wanted to get something unique, or complicated manufactured, like a Toy, or Electronics.
How would I find a manufacturer for that?

Well there are many ways to do that..

ONLINE:- Alibaba, esource etc, plus you can google toy manufacturer in.... etc..

OFFLINE:-

1:-Look out for agents who deals with manufacturer, agents are scattered all around the world. They are mostly the first contact point of the manufacturer.
2:- Go to countries where your items are usually manufactured and talk to the factories directly, visit them as well. I know, this seems to be the hardest and difficult option out of all, but this is how the multi million dollars deals are made. We do it all the time.. I will be in Hongkong and then in Bangkok within next 30 days to close some deals. Yes it's expensive, business class ticket, 5 star hotel etc, but if I don't go then the deal will not be closed and some one else will get it instead of me..