Importing and selling

[mosdef]

My first progress thread. Will start this so that i can track my progress, and hopefully someone can learn from it.


So maybe 2 years ago i tried to import stuff from China and sell, it was y a failure, basically because i gave up to fast. Market in Sweden is to small, either i have to find products that sell well or find a way to sell outside Sweden(Hello FBA). One product i found in China i gave to my little sister and she is still importing and selling it. Making her about 200 dollars a month. Good money for her

Im also working full time, and trading options on the side.

Current status :

Yet to find good products to sell. Before this day is gone I'm going to write down the 5 best products I've found.

 

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[mosdef]

Update :

Already found one product that i want to sell. Dont know yet if its illegal to sell or not. I would be the only one selling this item on the swedish "amazon". Checked for sales on amazon and ebay and seems to be selling good.

item x price 8$ can be sold for around 20 dollars = 12 dollars profit.

Worth a try right?

Edit : tried a different search word on the swedish site and bomb 3-4 sellers...

 

[RoadTrip]

Be sure to check on possible sales numbers. Are you sure you want to sell in Swedish maketplace?

I'm from the Netherlands and scaling is constantly a problem for me


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk

 

[mosdef]

Be sure to check on possible sales numbers. Are you sure you want to sell in Swedish maketplace?

I'm from the Netherlands and scaling is constantly a problem for me


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk

At least you guys have 16 million people living in Netherlands.. We are only 9 million

Whats your solution to this? I think i will have to get into UK, Germany,Italy and Spain market. FBA is the only way...

 

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[RoadTrip]

Haha, yes you're even worse off.

I don't have a solution yet. I'm selling an ebook and one physical product. But scaling is the problem. Maybe I should add more products as a solution and sell more to my current customers. I was also only using Facebook ads due to strict adwords regulations. My google ad has recently been approved so trying to get traction there.

Also, I'm looking into Amazon again both U.K. or Europe for than matter and USA. Seems easier to start in Europe because I feel I'll have more control that way. Could expand to US after that




Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk

 

[Jimbo70]

Importing and Selling, as in buying in bulk from alibaba / dhgate ,then reselling it on amazon? Sorry if it's a stupid question .

 

[mosdef]

Importing and Selling, as in buying in bulk from alibaba / dhgate ,then reselling it on amazon? Sorry if it's a stupid question .

You're correct.

 

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[MoneyDoc]

Will you be shipping the product yourself or using FBA?

Also, keep in mind there's other fees involved when selling on amazon. So adjust your costs because your profit won't be as high as you think.

 

[amp0193]

Update :

Already found one product that i want to sell. Dont know yet if its illegal to sell or not. I would be the only one selling this item on the swedish "amazon". Checked for sales on amazon and ebay and seems to be selling good.

What is the Swedish Amazon? Link?

 

[amp0193]

What about exporting Swedish goods to the U.S.?


My mom puts stuff from this site on her Christmas list every year (my great-grandfather was a swede, I'm 25%): Hemslojd Swedish Gifts


After staying at a Malmo Airbnb last year, my sister and I both really wanted to get a Swedish style coffee-maker... but I can't find one that doesn't cost hundreds of dollars.


pic:

Americans are obsessed with IKEA. So, I'd say they're already warmed up to the idea of buying cool Swedish stuff.

 

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[mosdef]

Will you be shipping the product yourself or using FBA?

Also, keep in mind there's other fees involved when selling on amazon. So adjust your costs because your profit won't be as high as you think.

If im going to sell on amazon i have to use FBA. Since there is no amazon site for sweden. Basically amazon takes 10-15% right?

 

[RoadTrip]

@mosdef

I wonder if you can shed some light on your experience with Amazon USA vs Amazon UK regarding physical goods. Obviously, there's less competition in UK but also less volume. With the new Amazon review regulation, how do you feel delivering a quality product would compete in either market these days?

 

[mosdef]

@mosdef

I wonder if you can shed some light on your experience with Amazon USA vs Amazon UK regarding physical goods. Obviously, there's less competition in UK but also less volume. With the new Amazon review regulation, how do you feel delivering a quality product would compete in either market these days?

Im afraid im only in the searching for product phase. So i cant answer this question im afraid.

 

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[Cwholesale]

My first progress thread. Will start this so that i can track my progress, and hopefully someone can learn from it.


So maybe 2 years ago i tried to import stuff from China and sell, it was y a failure, basically because i gave up to fast. Market in Sweden is to small, either i have to find products that sell well or find a way to sell outside Sweden(Hello FBA). One product i found in China i gave to my little sister and she is still importing and selling it. Making her about 200 dollars a month. Good money for her

Im also working full time, and trading options on the side.

Current status :

Yet to find good products to sell. Before this day is gone I'm going to write down the 5 best products I've found.

I dont think the market in Sweden is to small you just need to find other ways to sell your products.

Did u try to sell it on tradera.se ? if so i understand that it was a bit hard , more and more people are moving away from that right now blocket.se is dead as well . citiboard.se is full off scammers. i guess facebook is the best sales channel for you in sweden and make shippment to all diffrent provinces. To sell with FBA you should take a close look to the % and fee they charge its a lot.

Try to skip looking at alibaba.com aliexpress.com dhgate.com etc find other suppliers with a more strong product that you can sell with a competetive pricing.

Regards

 

[RoadTrip]

I wonder if you can shed some light on your experience with Amazon USA vs Amazon UK regarding physical goods. Obviously, there's less competition in UK but also less volume. With the new Amazon review regulation, how do you feel delivering a quality product would compete in either market these days?

Im afraid im only in the searching for product phase. So i cant answer this question im afraid.

You're right, sorry. I wanted to ask this question to @MoneyDoc but referred to you by accident. @MoneyDoc, I guess me and mosdef are both curious to your opinion on using Amazon USA vs Amazon UK.

 

[mosdef]

I dont think the market in Sweden is to small you just need to find other ways to sell your products.

Did u try to sell it on tradera.se ? if so i understand that it was a bit hard , more and more people are moving away from that right now blocket.se is dead as well . citiboard.se is full off scammers. i guess facebook is the best sales channel for you in sweden and make shippment to all diffrent provinces. To sell with FBA you should take a close look to the % and fee they charge its a lot.

Try to skip looking at alibaba.com aliexpress.com dhgate.com etc find other suppliers with a more strong product that you can sell with a competetive pricing.

Regards

why do you know this much about swedens markets live in combodia? And how do you mean sell throu facebook?

 

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[Cwholesale]

why do you know this much about swedens markets live in combodia? And how do you mean sell throu facebook?

I can speak swedish as well just contact me and we can talk more if you want to.

 

[mosdef]

10 sample product ordered.

Lets get this ball rolling. The one product that im selling at the moment got competition by one seller, he sell 50% than me.

My sales has gone done dramatically. I have lowered the price to match his. We are selling the exact same product.

Reasons 1 to brand : Barrier of entry higher. Not as easy to copy you.

 

[mosdef]

Man, finding product with good margins is hard....

Keeep grinding...

 

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[mosdef]

Man, finding product with good margins is hard....

Keeep grinding...

Edit: Im going to post worthless posts like that to keep me from quitting...

 

[mosdef]

Find a product i want to look more into. Contacted 5 supplier 2 replied.

Supplier 1 : Only wanted to provide 1 sample product for 100 dollar.

supplier 2 : 10 samples plus shipping 95 dollar.

So contact more than one supplier when finding a product. Some suppliers just want to make a quick buck..

 

[amp0193]

Find a product i want to look more into. Contacted 5 supplier 2 replied.

Supplier 1 : Only wanted to provide 1 sample product for 100 dollar.

supplier 2 : 10 samples plus shipping 95 dollar.

So contact more than one supplier when finding a product. Some suppliers just want to make a quick buck..

Not so much a quick buck, as sending you one unit when they typically send out 10,000s is just not worth it.

Depends on the product, but $100 for 1 sample plus express shipping isn't that unreasonable.

 

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[DrkSide]

Find a product i want to look more into. Contacted 5 supplier 2 replied.

Supplier 1 : Only wanted to provide 1 sample product for 100 dollar.

supplier 2 : 10 samples plus shipping 95 dollar.

So contact more than one supplier when finding a product. Some suppliers just want to make a quick buck..

To add on to what @amp0193 said. My products range in the $10-$20 cost range and I normally have paid double the cost plus an extra $60-$100 for shipping.

While you are testing the supplier the supplier is also testing you.

Now I get free samples from my good suppliers even when I don't request them. Sometimes they will just send me 2-3 of an item that they think I will be interested in and fits within my niche.

 

[mosdef]

I see what you guys are getting at. But i did contact more than one supplier and got an offer for 10 samples for 95 dollar...

 

[mosdef]

more hours into finding products. For me its quite hard to find good products. With good margins..

 

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[DCDeuce]

more hours into finding products. For me its quite hard to find good products. With good margins..

I'm curious, are you aimlessly searching Alibaba, AliExpress and DHGate...etc just looking at hundreds and hundreds of products? I ask because you may need to do something as simple as going for a walk outside and seeing what people are doing, buying, talking about...etc

I'm also in the product research portion of my Ecom business and the first product I found was literally looking at me when I walked into a Starbucks, I've ordered a few samples and realized I wasn't happy with the margins although the cost to purchase was about 75% of what I could sell it for (product was 5.35 to make, resale was around 25.00 not including shipping) I let it go though.

Why?

Because I bought and read @Walter Hay book and I read through some of @Vigilante older post from 2013 that are still being posted on in 2017 and realized there was just too much competition and my margins would probably start to shrink once I got my first order.

It seems like you might need to read through @ddall 's progression thread from 2014, he literally lays out what he did to get started, his thread helped me tremendously.

Lastly, when you are looking for a product, even if there is some competition 0-2k think about what you can change about the product to make it better, for example - I found a product that millions of people use, that I would never use - I went to Starbucks and sat down and waited till someone came in with the product that I was thinking about selling. I asked this person what they liked about the product and what they hated about the product.

I then went home and looked at all the negative reviews (as @biophase does) and figured out what I could do to make it better based off the negative review and what this person told me in out 3-minute chat.

I'm in no way an expert but I tend to look for a product that has a margin that is at least 3x what I can buy it for, if I can get it for 5.00usd the least I will sell it for is 25.00. I do not think if you buy a product for 8.00 and sell for 20.00 is going to be difficult because shipping will eat your margin and branding will eat the rest.

Try thinking outside the box or try searching for things you wouldn't use or try just going for a walk somewhere there are a good amount of people and see what they are using (not cell phones). The first product I found was a product my sister-in-law ordered, I walked into the Starbucks and it was sitting on the table, it was the first thing I saw when I walked in. I was curious so I hopped on Amazon and could not believe my eyes when I saw how much it was selling for...it has over 2k reviews and people were buying them by the three's and four's....insane, I though.

Good luck buddy and DO NOT GIVE UP, business is all about starting correctly - it really doesn't matter how you start, it matters how you finish.

 

[mosdef]

@DCDeuce Very good post. Thanks a lot.

I try to find product online and in real life. Looking at what my sister and her friends are using and talking about. Same goes for my GF and her friends, but also my males friends.

When i look online i search, amazon, Ebay, Alibaba, Aliexpress but also regular e-com sites.

Its pretty hard i must admit. But the hustle goes on

 

[mosdef]

another day, couple of hours into searching for products. Nothing yet..

End my job at 17 directly home and searching for products. 1 hours til i go to sleep and back to work...

Hustle continues.

 

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[mosdef]

Well. 15 minutes later it seems i have found a potential product. Found a website selling this product for more than 210 dollars....I can get it from Alibaba för around 10-20 dollars.

Another site is selling it for around 150 dollars. Hopefully quality from China can match.

Action : contacted 5 suppliers...

 

[amp0193]

Well. 15 minutes later it seems i have found a potential product. Found a website selling this product for more than 210 dollars....I can get it from Alibaba för around 10-20 dollars.

Another site is selling it for around 150 dollars. Hopefully quality from China can match.

Action : contacted 5 suppliers...

Those are really really good margins. Too good, maybe.

Not saying it's not possible, but "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is".

Do your due diligence on this one.