Might Retire in Half The Time Thanks To Due Diligence

[Darius]

So I jumped into importing about a week ago.
Found a product not widely sold in the US and with my variation, it is not sold at all.
Im assuming it's because of the hoops you got to jump through to get it here and sell it without too much trouble.
or maybe people are just lazy, whatever.

So I found suppliers, ordered samples, and thanks to joining the INSIDERS part of the forum, decided to start asking for Hi-Res photos of the product INCLUDING the packaging.
I normally just ask for the product and not the packaging.

So I had every supplier that I bought samples from and some that I was planning on buying samples from, send pictures of the packaging...and guess what?
They all sent me the same exact packaging.

I normally see a lot of re-used photos on sites like alibaba and thought that must be normal.

Purchased a couple more small samples.

Had more suppliers send me photos of the packaging, and once again.
THE SAME PACKAGING

Some suppliers had fuzzy pictures, some had clear pictures of the packaging on a white background, others had pictures of the packaging in "their" factory.

That's when the question WHY really kicked in.
Like why are they using the same CUSTOM packaging that they did for "their" customer.
They couldn't all be selling to the same person.

So I observed the packaging a little more and found a factory name on one of the boxes. Checked the other ones, and found the same name, some pictures was easier to find it.

Now I never really payed attention to the suppliers factory name, only the representatives name but now my WHY was too strong to not look.
I needed to find out who the real supplier was so I could confront the rest that claimed to be the factory.

Guess what? NONE of the suppliers I talked to, had that company name. WTF? Only ordered samples from 3 suppliers but I talked to 30+ suppliers.

So I go onto Alibaba, enter the company name that I seen on the box and found them.
They have all their pictures listed on there. (Explains where all these "suppliers" got it from)
Their prices are FOUR TIMES cheaper than the cheapest supplier I talked to!

Also, as I type this, one of the suppliers I thought was "one of the best", emailed me back after I asked her why the company name on the box is different from her company.

She replied
"xxx company is our factory, my boss has the stock of the factory. My boss also has this xxx trading company,"

Now I know China business is much different than ours but you mean to tell me he has 2 companies, possibly more thanks to all the pictures I received about "their" packaging, of the same product??
On his main company, he is listing FOB prices 4X cheaper than all his other companies?
Makes no sense, so I contacted the main company and will go from there.
ALSO
I know China labor is cheap but DAMN she works for his company, and in her signature she has 1 company, her websites show 2 different companies, AND her email shows a different company?
Show that type of middleman work ethic here in the USA and she should be living good.

Also received another email as I type this from her
She states "my english is not that good, do you understand what means I said? This is a joint stock company, I have three bosses"

I told her thank you for clearing things up, I appreciate her honesty.

Time to talk to her boss then instead of her.

Moral:
If you find yourself asking WHY....find out why and don't stop until you find out why.
Pay attention to little things. I would have never found the main factory if I didn't pay attention to the little factory name at the bottom.
I never really understood due diligence until now.

PS: This is my first time experiencing this, so its quite fun. At least I know which factory my samples are coming from.
Lesson learned.
On paper my profit just quadrupled.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

On paper my profit just quadrupled.

As you extract layers from the supply chain to the end consumer, profits rise. This is why I love self publishing as it gives you the opportunity to extract middlemen for max margins.

 

[Talisman]

Nice work. I think I'm yet to find a real manufacturer/factory. Maybe one. Still getting a more than acceptable price from the trading companies for the products Im selling, but you've encouraged me to dig deeper.

 

[Runum]

It is fun finding the actual supplier and by pass the middleman.

 

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[Vigilante]

So I jumped into importing about a week ago.
Found a product not widely sold in the US and with my variation, it is not sold at all.
Im assuming it's because of the hoops you got to jump through to get it here and sell it without too much trouble.
or maybe people are just lazy, whatever.

So I found suppliers, ordered samples, and thanks to joining the INSIDERS part of the forum, decided to start asking for Hi-Res photos of the product INCLUDING the packaging.
I normally just ask for the product and not the packaging.

So I had every supplier that I bought samples from and some that I was planning on buying samples from, send pictures of the packaging...and guess what?
They all sent me the same exact packaging.

I normally see a lot of re-used photos on sites like alibaba and thought that must be normal.

Purchased a couple more small samples.

Had more suppliers send me photos of the packaging, and once again.
THE SAME PACKAGING

Some suppliers had fuzzy pictures, some had clear pictures of the packaging on a white background, others had pictures of the packaging in "their" factory.

That's when the question WHY really kicked in.
Like why are they using the same CUSTOM packaging that they did for "their" customer.
They couldn't all be selling to the same person.

So I observed the packaging a little more and found a factory name on one of the boxes. Checked the other ones, and found the same name, some pictures was easier to find it.

Now I never really payed attention to the suppliers factory name, only the representatives name but now my WHY was too strong to not look.
I needed to find out who the real supplier was so I could confront the rest that claimed to be the factory.

Guess what? NONE of the suppliers I talked to, had that company name. WTF? Only ordered samples from 3 suppliers but I talked to 30+ suppliers.

So I go onto Alibaba, enter the company name that I seen on the box and found them.
They have all their pictures listed on there. (Explains where all these "suppliers" got it from)
Their prices are FOUR TIMES cheaper than the cheapest supplier I talked to!

Also, as I type this, one of the suppliers I thought was "one of the best", emailed me back after I asked her why the company name on the box is different from her company.

She replied
"xxx company is our factory, my boss has the stock of the factory. My boss also has this xxx trading company,"

Now I know China business is much different than ours but you mean to tell me he has 2 companies, possibly more thanks to all the pictures I received about "their" packaging, of the same product??
On his main company, he is listing FOB prices 4X cheaper than all his other companies?
Makes no sense, so I contacted the main company and will go from there.
ALSO
I know China labor is cheap but DAMN she works for his company, and in her signature she has 1 company, her websites show 2 different companies, AND her email shows a different company?
Show that type of middleman work ethic here in the USA and she should be living good.

Also received another email as I type this from her
She states "my english is not that good, do you understand what means I said? This is a joint stock company, I have three bosses"

I told her thank you for clearing things up, I appreciate her honesty.

Time to talk to her boss then instead of her.

Moral:
If you find yourself asking WHY....find out why and don't stop until you find out why.
Pay attention to little things. I would have never found the main factory if I didn't pay attention to the little factory name at the bottom.
I never really understood due diligence until now.

PS: This is my first time experiencing this, so its quite fun. At least I know which factory my samples are coming from.
Lesson learned.
On paper my profit just quadrupled.

Speed+

 

[Jonleehacker]

Moral:

Join the Fastlane INSIDERS

Great Story.

 

[Determined2012]

In the big scheme of things most of those suppliers who all have different company names are often times all from the same anchor company--- so if you turn down one "store" and shop with the next it's a good chance it's still the same group of people you are trying to negotiate with... I find this to be true on AliExpress as well as Alibaba and even more true when I flew to China and actually met with the vendors in person...

My take away was that at the end of the day these "stores" are running a monopoly on their products and the best way to get the best price is tell them how much you want to pay in Yuan---- When I was in China I saw everyone offering 50% LESS than what the seller wanted and still able to make deals- the dirt dirt dirt cheap prices were unbelievable----

Lets not even get started on the replicas and knock offs- they have high and low quality ones- depending on which you want....To watch them in the shops and markets was a fascinating experience.

I also think that what they insure that item for when shipping is a good indicator of what that item is really worth-

Like I ordered something and paid $43 for it- but they insured it for $8 dollars....

Sorry- I've been drinking....

 

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[Rerun]

Nice detective work and solid action taking. Creating your own luck!

 

[theag]

Title is kinda misleading if you just started out

 

[LeungJan]

In the big scheme of things most of those suppliers who all have different company names are often times all from the same anchor company--- so if you turn down one "store" and shop with the next it's a good chance it's still the same group of people you are trying to negotiate with... I find this to be true on AliExpress as well as Alibaba and even more true when I flew to China and actually met with the vendors in person...

My take away was that at the end of the day these "stores" are running a monopoly on their products and the best way to get the best price is tell them how much you want to pay in Yuan---- When I was in China I saw everyone offering 50% LESS than what the seller wanted and still able to make deals- the dirt dirt dirt cheap prices were unbelievable----

Lets not even get started on the replicas and knock offs- they have high and low quality ones- depending on which you want....To watch them in the shops and markets was a fascinating experience.

I also think that what they insure that item for when shipping is a good indicator of what that item is really worth-

Like I ordered something and paid $43 for it- but they insured it for $8 dollars....

Sorry- I've been drinking....

I've also noticed this. When we go to haggle in the markets for souvenirs we get the down under 8x, they have a foreigner price and a Chinese price.

When we go home and check on ÌÔ±¦Ãø - ÌÔ£¡ÎÒò»¶ (somewhat similar to chinese amazon) we notice that the price they sell it for is the original price they offered us before we got it down.

Love the due diligence! Respect, if I could speed you again I would..

 

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[gummybear]

I assume this is common practice with Chinese suppliers. The people who are advertising and selling on the internet are often not the same guys doing the manufacturing. So it's just clever Chinese internet sellers who are leveraging arbitrage opportunities. They'll sell to you for $20 and turn around and order it from other factories for $5.

A disturbing trend that I've noticed is that some factories/sellers are beginning to sell directly to American consumers on eBay, Amazon, and other areas. And customers are buying from them, even with the 2 week+ waiting time. They take good pictures and make the products look really appealing.

10-20 years ago, a guy in China probably won't speak English and has no clue what American consumers want. Now everything is more globalized and these Chinese firms have much more outreach. This doesn't mean that importing won't be profitable anymore, just that eventually the Chinese will figure out how to sell to the US themselves and importers will have more competition. Tick tock.

 

[RHL]

Speed+. Great detective work.

 

[CommonCents]

Sounds like a big oppty for sourcing consultants that travel to or located in country.

I am looking to source a few products as well. Any references to sourcing consultants that do some legwork?

 

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[Determined2012]

Tick tock.

The clock is definitely ticking, and it's ticking faster than most may think.

I too have saw Chinese vendors selling direct on EBay.

Not only that there is a growing number of people shopping on AliExpress as an end consumer- I'm trying to say that they know where the American store is wholesaling their products from so they are going to AliExpress and buying the 1 or 2 items that they want totally bypassing what the markup price would have been if they shopped with the American store. Not only is this terrible news for people who want to import- it's going to get worse because while sample prices for test products used to range $3 - $4 I am now seeing stuff being priced at $7- $11 dollars....meaning the Chinese vendors are still raking in every dollar, bigger profits- because now they are getting the wholesale customer, as well as the end user.

I would love to support the American stores that resale items they imported from China, but it's hard to because I know I can get it for $7 on AliExpress with free shipping, opposed to paying $28 just to get it faster than the wait to receive in the US.

If the Chinese vendors start using DHL for all their shipments- to be faster- they are going to really disrupt things in a big way for American shops/stores...more and more people are using AliExpress in the same manner that they use eBay and Amazon.

This is on a small scale- don't know if this would be true on a larger scale.

Just crazy---- this is when you will see what American stores/shops are really providing value--- I think superior customer service - making every sale feel like VIP might be a way. I don't know...

But I'm already thinking that the whole AliExpress cash cow has exploded and it's time to find something else.

ETA: I don't like that the Chinese vendors are selling on American EBay---- even sometimes trying to get their origin/location listed as an American state....I don't like it for 2 reasons- one if you shop with one that you thought was American- because you filtered that way- you assume about 3-4 days shipping, only to then wait 2-3 weeks...You get that Manila envelope with the Chinese words- and you feel duped... Because what you ordered and paid for you also assumed was Authentic and now you feel like damn I just brought a replica or a fake...

Smh..

In some ways it's frustrating because you do want "a good deal" so you shop eBay instead of the brand name retailer- but then you are probably getting fake merchandise and products...

Man. I just want to be a producer and forget about consuming AND importing/wholesaling. I want to be the manufacturer.

 

[CommonCents]

Here's the big problem w/ far east selling direct here. they don't understand the US market, and their customer service is horrible. I have bought a couple phone covers direct and been ok but recently received a cover for new samsung note3 that wasn't as advertised. I'm not gonna pay postage to send the dang thing back even though it was quick n cheap coming my way. I did buy a couple jackets as well, and they recommend buying a couple sizes over your normal size, but the items were still wayyyy too small. I learned my lesson on trying to save a few bucks, I think many others will too.

 

[Determined2012]

I'm going to disagree on the part about their customer service being horrible! I swear I have received 3 telephone calls- where my actual cell rang- not Skype or some App - I was called by someone in China in each case with them asking how things went with my product, and also if I wanted or needed anything else. Blew me away---- I was also asked if I minded leaving some feedback in regard to the transaction.

The Chinese business people are very clever and savvy---marketing seems to be a really strong suit of theirs... I have been trying to figure out how I can mimic what they do- in regard to how fast they are able to get market share--- even with all the barriers of language and location. They have a winning formula.

 

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[tafy]

I agree and when I was sourcing products on alibaba a quick search showed chinese sellers selling the same thing on ebay uk at prices I couldnt touch!

This will only get worse as we get more globalised and they start posting faster and faster. If the manufacturer is doing this it is a bit silly because its gonna put the importer off their product.

What I see is the manufacturer setting up fba accounts with amazon and selling worldwide!

 

[Kerin]

So I jumped into importing about a week ago.
Found a product not widely sold in the US and with my variation, it is not sold at all.
Im assuming it's because of the hoops you got to jump through to get it here and sell it without too much trouble.
or maybe people are just lazy, whatever.

So I found suppliers, ordered samples, and thanks to joining the INSIDERS part of the forum, decided to start asking for Hi-Res photos of the product INCLUDING the packaging.
I normally just ask for the product and not the packaging.

So I had every supplier that I bought samples from and some that I was planning on buying samples from, send pictures of the packaging...and guess what?
They all sent me the same exact packaging.

I normally see a lot of re-used photos on sites like alibaba and thought that must be normal.

Purchased a couple more small samples.

Had more suppliers send me photos of the packaging, and once again.
THE SAME PACKAGING

Some suppliers had fuzzy pictures, some had clear pictures of the packaging on a white background, others had pictures of the packaging in "their" factory.

That's when the question WHY really kicked in.
Like why are they using the same CUSTOM packaging that they did for "their" customer.
They couldn't all be selling to the same person.

So I observed the packaging a little more and found a factory name on one of the boxes. Checked the other ones, and found the same name, some pictures was easier to find it.

Now I never really payed attention to the suppliers factory name, only the representatives name but now my WHY was too strong to not look.
I needed to find out who the real supplier was so I could confront the rest that claimed to be the factory.

Guess what? NONE of the suppliers I talked to, had that company name. WTF? Only ordered samples from 3 suppliers but I talked to 30+ suppliers.

So I go onto Alibaba, enter the company name that I seen on the box and found them.
They have all their pictures listed on there. (Explains where all these "suppliers" got it from)
Their prices are FOUR TIMES cheaper than the cheapest supplier I talked to!

Also, as I type this, one of the suppliers I thought was "one of the best", emailed me back after I asked her why the company name on the box is different from her company.

She replied
"xxx company is our factory, my boss has the stock of the factory. My boss also has this xxx trading company,"

Now I know China business is much different than ours but you mean to tell me he has 2 companies, possibly more thanks to all the pictures I received about "their" packaging, of the same product??
On his main company, he is listing FOB prices 4X cheaper than all his other companies?
Makes no sense, so I contacted the main company and will go from there.
ALSO
I know China labor is cheap but DAMN she works for his company, and in her signature she has 1 company, her websites show 2 different companies, AND her email shows a different company?
Show that type of middleman work ethic here in the USA and she should be living good.

Also received another email as I type this from her
She states "my english is not that good, do you understand what means I said? This is a joint stock company, I have three bosses"

I told her thank you for clearing things up, I appreciate her honesty.

Time to talk to her boss then instead of her.

Moral:
If you find yourself asking WHY....find out why and don't stop until you find out why.
Pay attention to little things. I would have never found the main factory if I didn't pay attention to the little factory name at the bottom.
I never really understood due diligence until now.

PS: This is my first time experiencing this, so its quite fun. At least I know which factory my samples are coming from.
Lesson learned.
On paper my profit just quadrupled.

Love it. Such a great idea - I'm in the midst of talking to a few suppliers now and will do exactly as you mentioned. The prices they are all quoting me are around the same range, which seems unusually high especially when I know how cheap it is to get stuff made in China.

Cheers