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On my way - my first product order
I am so absolutely amped up right now. I feel like I am just floating on clouds, the world is my oyster and for the first time I am doing something about it, I am not waiting for the magical solution to fall in my lap. The funny part? I have not even actually done anything physical yet, all I have done is lay some foundation stones. Doesn’t matter though, I am taking my life in to my own hands and I am doing something!
The start of my story can be found in my introduction thread here: Hello eh! From the Great White North.
After reading Vigilantes excellent thread on his tactic I have been completely inspired. You can find his handy work here: http://www.thefastlaneforum.com/fast...-deposits.html
Here are the steps I have taken and my progress so far. I initially started out reading Vig’s thread and going to the Government of Canada import websites to learn as much information as I can. For those of you in Canada here are some links to start your reading with.
Importing Goods Into Canada
Canada Border Services Agency - Small and Medium Enterprise Centre - Importing Guide
From there I realized that I need an importing licence number from the government, I am still not completely sure where this comes in to play with my orders and importing, but I have one anyways.
I spent a few hours each night looking through alibaba, eBay and Amazon to try and locate a product. BAM! I found one, it hit me in the face like a ton of bricks. I did some serious googling and found the direct contacts for the company and have been emailing them steady for about a week and a half now. As of this morning I am all in place to send my payment to the manufacturer for a sample shipment of a few products to test out.
I decided that if I am doing this I might as well go all the way, and go through all the correct legal channels. I incorporated a business last week which set me back $450, small potatoes in the larger scheme of things. Using my incorporation number I set up an importing licence which I am still waiting to hear from the government on. They provided me with the number online but it says not to use it until I receive my official letter in the mail (it should come this week).
Using my business papers I went to the bank and set up a business account, now I can keep my business expenses completely separate from my personal expenses. I also want to figure out how to transfer my internet account and my cell phone to my business in order to have that all written off. If this all works out I will be tracking down a CPA in 2013 to help me maximize everything I can write off and to make sure I am getting the maximum benefit out of being incorporated.
Using my business bank account I set up a new PayPal address for that, as well as a new eBay account. I already have an existing eBay account with 280+ original feedback and over 1000 positive feedback comments, but I decided that I want to start fresh with a business one and keep my personal one separate in case I ever want to abandon the business one.
If the items have a market I will be setting up my own website to promote and sell the items as well. With every eBay sale I will be sending a thank-you note and information on my website and other products that I sell. Perhaps a coupon as well to encourage more future sales.
I took a “loan” out against myself on a Whole Life Insurance policy that I hold and this is going straight into the business account, the funds should arrive this week. With that money I will be sending a portion for the test run of products and I will be paying myself back for the incorporation licence. After my first test-run of sales I will use another portion of my “loan” to fund a larger order of products, with the proceeds of that I will either continue to grow the business or pay my loan back.
So in summary I have done the following
- Found a product and manufacturer
- Incorporated a business
- Set up an importing account and Business Number
- Set up business banking, eBay and PayPal
Once I receive my loan money I will be putting in my sample order this week. I am beyond excited! My only reservations so far are that the items I picked are slightly larger and heavier and are fairly high priced. I do not think that they will sell huge quantities. The up side is that they have a large mark up and so I will not need to move a large number of products. Shipping in Canada may be murderous though.
My next goal is to find another product in the next while that is small and has an even larger audience. My foundation is already set up so none of that will have to be done again.
I will keep you all posted on my progress as it comes along. Oh, and the best part about all this is that I am having fun. I have spent several hours every single day doing this for at least 3 weeks and it doesn't even feel like I have done any "work", it has all been enjoyable. If only my day job was like this!
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It's good that you are taking action, but couldn't you have minimized costs alot more during testing of the products? You don't need an llc to buy/promote on ebay, amazon, etc and you can get a domain and test e-commerce store running for less than $50 and promote that along with attaching an adwords account if you want. That however is where most of your expense will go. Then install analytics software and test how to increase traffic to your site and convert best. I would combine the interest thorough analytics and sales on your site along with the interest you receive through amazon and ebay to gauge how well your product will sell.
I'm new to this, so my plan could be flawed. To me that's just a cheaper alternative that gives you a good idea of potential sales before dropping alot of money. After all, most entrepreneurs preach you need to get get customers before you build a business.
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As far as I know I need to have an importing account to legally bring things in to Canada to sell again. I went the corporation route because I want this to all be legal and I will eventually need one anyways. The corporation I set up will essentially be a holding company that will have these brands at arms length. If I ever find a real smoking product that the world just has to have and is knocking down my door to buy I can always create a separate entity entirely for that product or brand.
Right now I have the ability to bring in whatever I want legally, and sell it under the parent corporation. At least that is the theory, I am all new to this!
Also, with what I have spent so far its been peanuts for what it could provide, and the education I am already getting. A few years ago I would have easily spent this much money on a few weekends out at the bar. Heck, even now trying to save money I end up spending $100+ a night if I go out and have a few drinks. It is not cheap going out in Canada. So spending this money on something worthwhile just makes me feel that much better.
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Hi Blackkramer,
I am just curious. Why did you decide to import instead of export? I meant Canada is rich in natural resources. You can make more money by exporting natural resources (have not much idea but guess minerals, oils and woods and wood pulp etc) and goods related to it compared to importing goods and selling.
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Exporting would be incredibly interesting. Have you looked at the Russian billionaires? They are packed with people in natural resource exportation and the steel industry.
I don’t even know where to start with exporting natural resources but that is on my “to learn” list for sure! I currently work in oil and gas and saw first hand just how bad some of these larger oil companies mess up their “small” oil plays that are only worth a few tens-of-millions. They are more interested in their plays that are worth hundreds of millions to billions of $$$. Plus with their giant bureaucracy and the number of people involved in everything it is not possible for them to even fix up bad producing wells. I saw one small oil company pick up an entire waterflood field that was done poorly for fire sale prices because the big company did not want to deal with the headache. The small company purchased it for ~$15,000,000 and even if they did nothing their ROI was 3 years. They were planning on changing downhole sweep patterns and at least doubling production, not sure if they managed that or not because I moved.
Another example was a regular operator who paid attention to well performance. He raised capitol and bought several underperformers and fixed them up for about $1,000,000. Fast forward two years and from swapping his newly fixed wells for even more underperforming wells and fixing those he now has a company that makes him net about $10-30,000,000 a year. Last I heard he was offered somewhere in the tune of $50,000,000 for his company and he turned them down. Three years prior he was making $30/hr pimping his time out.
Canada is COVERED with oil wells like this, if I could gain the knowledge required to find these underperformers the potential for huge money is unlimited!
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Well the first payment is off, no idea how long it will take for my product to arrive but it should be here in the new year! Great time to start something new I figure.
I have also really been paying attention to when people complain about things, I thought of an awesome idea that would be PERFECT for the fast lane! An app that would make a service provider more money, save the consumer time and give them more information, and be completely passive once implemented and people are using it, with a small fee going to be every time the service provider uses is.
Does the service provider make money off it? Check
Does the consumer benefit and save time? Check
Do I make money for providing this? Check
Win/win/win! It does not get any better than that. I am going to start this right away. It is going to be hard as heck as I don't know how to program but I enjoy learning. Bring it on world!
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After some issues trying to get my product shipped out during Christmas/New Years I was finally able to have it shipped. Less than a week later half of the product is now in my house! How it was able to get here so fast is beyond me. It takes 3+ weeks to ship a letter to my brother on the other side of the Country and yet I can get large boxes shipped from the other side of the world in a week.
I started playing around with the items last night to see how they work and will continue to be doing that throughout the weekend. I have a few more concerns now that I actually have the product in my hand, but hopefully they can all be solved shortly.
More updates to follow!
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Just a short update - I have posted two items for sale on eBay (multiple quantities of each). I had no idea eBay was such a pain in the ass for registering new accounts for selling. I even linked my new account to my personal account to prove that I am real so that I can up my selling limit.
Want to know what they upped the limit to? 30 items or $1500 a month, whichever comes first! What a freaking load. I guess in a way that is good, it keeps some scammers off of eBay, but for a legit person that is a pretty serious hurdle. Especially when you prove you are real with your existing eBay account that has been active and in good standing since 2004.
The items that I am listing are not want I want to do long term. During this process I have come to realize that they are too big, too complicated, and too expensive. If customers want to return them the shipping costs will be high, and they are likely due to get damaged in shipping (hopefully not too often) because they contain circuit boards. I still strongly believe that this could be a real hit. I am keeping one for myself and I will be using it all the time because of how awesome it is, so if I am any indication people will want them, haha, time will tell.
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I'm getting started in importing soon myself and have never held an ebay account before except for a very few personal purchases.Originally Posted by blackkramer
30 items per month seems like a reasonable restriction when getting started but I'm more concerned that people will not purchase as readily from new sellers with zero feedback. I think the saving grace is going to be paypal's most hated feature: unreasonable buyer protection. This is all just theory though, I can't wait to actually get started.
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I have a personal account with apparently no limits, I have over 7k worth of personal stuff up for sale right now. I did not want to test out any products on that account though as I do not want the potential for negative feedback.
I may be shooting myself in the foot short-term by going with a new account, but I am sticking with it!
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I just made my first sale under this account on eBay. It is a little frightening as the buyer signed up for his eBay account today. He has already paid for the item so that is good, but with the new PayPal jibber jabber I am hoping he doesn't just get his money back once he has the item in hand.
The item that sold is my cheaper option, in the ~$40 range. The other item I am offering right now is significantly more expensive at over $200. If a new eBay account had purchased that one I would be a little more nervous.
Hopefully it all goes well and they are satisfied and a real customer. Boo yea!
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