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Importing (probably asked before)

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elliot

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I have been looking at sites such as made-in-china.com and was wondering how much effort and how risky is importing stuff from these sites in larger qtys and selling on eBay, etc.

I have no clue about this and am worried the prices when buying like 10 units of something such as a Android tablet there is profit going by what others are selling on eBay but it does not seem that high :/
 
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JAJT

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how much effort and how risky

Terrible questions.

If you are trying to avoid effort and risk, you need to seriously reconsider working for yourself.

Failures are the investments that entrepreneurs use to build success. Effort is the tool used to get to that success or failure.
 

elliot

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Thanks, I realise this but there is no bad in doing a little asking around if anyone has experience in this and if its risky to the point these people may take your money and run although I am thinking now when the word PayPal is involved....
I do not know if its wrong but I want to start small and loose or win small before stepping up slowly and importing mass units of stock, if this is the thing that can make me profit. Also the effort part well that was a bad thing to say I guess just unsure at this stage starting out where to put my efforts as its hard finding my way into something but I am willing to work evening after work just want to be doing the right things.
 

AllenCrawley

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If you're serious about this get an INSIDERS subscription. There is a legendary and epic thread now 40 pages long thats all about importing.
 
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hotshot

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There will always be some risk... that's why you start with a small order.

Check out the Legendary section of the forum... specifically the Addicted to Passive Income Deposits thread. Everything you need to know is in there.
 

tafy

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You make the profit when you buy, what this means is finding the right product at the right price is the most important thing. Start shooting off emails on alibaba asking for prices and you may stumble upon a winner
 

Ravens_Shadow

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99.9% of all questions you may have are answered in threads on the inside, which has already been said. I also back up on what JAJT said, there is gonna be a risk in everything. Importing takes a whole lot of effort to make sure things go over smoothly.

I've heard that looking for products such as "phones, tablets" and the like aren't worth importing because competition is so fierce. Try to find something that isn't in the US market yet.
 
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elliot

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Thanks guys, I am in the uk currently (the first thing I learned and got stung with was the extra foreign purchase fee from my bank to pay in usd). I am now having a little play with aliexpress and seeing what I can get/sell on. The second problem I have is postage costs and this makes me angry as I cannot see how all the big boys on this can sell for so cheaply, guessing they have a business deal with the postage companies.
 

tafy

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I am now having a little play with aliexpress

You are dealing with the middleman here, you need to go to alibaba.com
 

1step

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You are dealing with the middleman here, you need to go to alibaba.com
Not true, aliexpress is just for smaller quantities.. they are both owned by the same company and do the same thing. Alibaba is b2b and offers larger MOQ for the most part and aliexpress is more b2c and offers smaller MOQs.. there is nothing wrong with starting at aliexpress
 
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tafy

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Alibaba is b2b and offers larger MOQ for the most part and aliexpress is more b2c

You said it, Aliexpress is b2c. Full of middlemen selling goods to customers. Factories are not going to mess around selling individual items to customers. Although there are a few exceptions ofc

Oh and their postage takes 2-4 weeks mostly, I would not reccommend to start here. There are some great trading companies on alibaba if you want to import really small quantities

Here is an electronics wholeseller http://www.sunsky-online.com
 

1step

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Ive used both sites, almost everyone on both are "middlemen" because its almost impossible to find the legit manufacturer of the given items.
The best bet is to find your budget and see how many of your product you can afford in that budget, if your budget is small you will likely be ordering from aliexpress to get started. After validating your idea when you start to have larger orders and are looking on alibaba I have no doubt you will see some of the same companies offering products on both sites.

With all that being said, while looking over both sites start a spreadsheet and include a link to each product page, the price and MOQ. Find 20-50 who offer the product you are interested in and message them to find the best price. Just keep everything very organized and it will help you a ton in the long haul.
 

JAJT

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Thanks guys, I am in the uk currently

You're going to want to try to get into Amazon.com

The number of buyers from my understanding is exponentially larger. I'm in Canada and face the same issues but getting into .com was WELL worth it.

For the cost of shipping/duties - yeah, they suck. Factor it in. No way around it.

Get one thing working, THEN optimize. You'll never get everything perfect on the first run. Hell, you may even pay $500 for your first shipment, only find out you can sell them for $450, and then you've just paid $50 for a full course on importing 101. That's just about what my first deal looked like.

If you've read the threads on here and taken the advice to heart, you will never loose 100% of your money. Even a failure should bring you back close to 80-90% of it's cost.
 
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tafy

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You're going to want to try to get into Amazon.com

I would be interested in how to do this from the UK. Canada is very close to the US and connected by land, Uk is separated by the pacific and some nasty duties. I will search google to see how its done, see what they got.
 

Kerin

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I'm from Australia and it doesn't stop me from using Amazon.com. Check out FBA - the will do all the shipping and Fulfilment for you from the States.

All you will need to do is ship them a bulk lot of your product and they'll take care of the rest.

My main customer base is in the US - I will be sending off my first shipment to FBA. At the moment I fulfill everything myself - Australia has one of the highest postage costs in the world. You need to just price this in. If you do your proper research and choose products that are in demand and fulfil a need then people are willing to pay for it.

And if then you still think it will be an issue then maybe start selling locally to get your feet wet. Whatever path you choose, don't wait. Just go out and do it.
 

elliot

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Thanks guys some great advice here a little more than expected.
I am from the UK also tafy and yes its worrying as I have imported so much for myself before and been stung just once by tax but it still scares me as my product (trainers) was delayed and ended up being two months in total before arrival. Also our RoyalMail prices suck!
I was going to start with eBay as many do as its so easy then if I decided this is worth it try to move onto Amazon, etc and have a website on the side.
This is just a idea I have atm so will be nice if something comes of it but I know competition is crazy.
 
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tafy

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This is just a idea I have atm so will be nice if something comes of it but I know competition is crazy.

It's very tough, nearly every product you look at has someone selling it at thin margins already on ebay. Keep looking!
You have to add value by branding something as your own, I havent done it but I know its what I have to do to succeed
 

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