Anyone have experience with importing from South America?

[GravyBoat]

Gentlemen and ladies,

Wanted to be clear and consice with this question.

What are the logistics looking like from Peru to America? Any insights on shipping time? Shipping large 2ftx2ft items that can be folded and stacked. Do I need a custom's broker or is there a cheaper way?

Calling the state importing department tomorrow, but was wondering if anyone here had experience with this before I waste 2 hours sitting through a government phone tree just to get some questions answered.

Thanks to all!

GravyBoat

 

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[GravyBoat]

Skyped (video) with about 8 different suppliers, had them show me their shit. Chose the top 5 and went to step two: Ordering

PROBLEM NOW IS:

The sheer difference between the American business culture that we're used to, and the way of life down South. These people are not punctual, not very reliable, hard as F*ck to reach, etc.

I would say the main difference is:
American business is a culture of accountability. If you F*ck up, it's your RESPONSIBILITY to take OWNERSHIP of the problem and do all you can to fix it.
South American business culture is a culture of excuses. WHY did you not get back to me? WHY is your home phone the same number as your business phone?

We're talking far down the food chain here, dug to the absolute LAST step between retail and manufacturer. These are the people who don't have a website. These are the people who hardly know how to use a computer. These are the people with 6 employees creating the product in some forsaken shack. And THESE are the people who I want to deal with.

This post is acting as well as a bump for the above questions. If anyone can chime in with experiences importing from Latin America, please let me know. I've only ever imported products from China before (Alibaba) and it was nothing like this at all since these people understand that keeping a "Gold Supplier" rating on the site actually means something. Not to say this way of business is WRONG for Peruvians and Ecuadorians, just something completely different than what I'm used to

 

[Yankee427]

I have personally never dealt with importing from Peru, but one of my best friends is Peruvian and has family in Lima. If you have questions about business culture in Peru, if you want to PM me the certain questions I can ask him for you. If he doesn't know I'm sure he can ask his family over there.

 

[PopEmersen]

Where do you find suppliers in South America? Do you have someone that can speak Spanish for you? Maybe that could help

 

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[GravyBoat]

Where do you find suppliers in South America? Do you have someone that can speak Spanish for you? Maybe that could help

Yes, my partner in this operation is from Venezuela and has family in Arequipa and Lima (and surrounding). We Skyped with the woman today and she is flying up to Canada. Planning on meeting her there to get a feel for the products. I found my suppliers by researching the living hell out of my product, then digging even deeper. Get on the phone, get on Skype, get these people to talk to you. You WILL find answers.

I have personally never dealt with importing from Peru, but one of my best friends is Peruvian and has family in Lima. If you have questions about business culture in Peru, if you want to PM me the certain questions I can ask him for you. If he doesn't know I'm sure he can ask his family over there.

That would be awesome. I need to get a full understanding of the people, businesses and way of life in Peru. It is MUCH different than here. We have 1 or 2 suppliers that are lined up to ship us their entire "In Stock" inventories as of now. We are still calculating logistics, but I'm seeing INSANE margins just because the labor and materials are so cheap there. Several hundred bucks is a month's wages for these people.

I will PM you sir, thank you for the contact.

 

[GravyBoat]

Where do you find suppliers in South America?

To find these people, you have to DIG man, I can't stress this enough. Just call them with NO SHAME and tell them exactly what you want. You want to talk to the guy they get the parts from. You want to talk to the lady in the back putting the parts together. I stress again, THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT ONLINE.