Importing From China Seminars

[Hysteria]

Has any one attended any seminars in regards to importing?

What were your thoughts and did you gain much knowledge or was it more of a sales pitch for their future services?

If you have experience importing where did you find the best place for information or did you use a broker to take care of sourcing and shipping etc

Cheers

 

[b simpson]

Check out the canton fair. It's huge and over 3 phases.

Next one is next month.

 

[skater]

Has any one attended any seminars in regards to importing?

What were your thoughts and did you gain much knowledge or was it more of a sales pitch for their future services?

If you have experience importing where did you find the best place for information or did you use a broker to take care of sourcing and shipping etc

Cheers

I've never been to any seminars. Didn't even know they exist. Would be interested in more info on this to see if there's stuff that I don't already know.

My first overseas shipments wee small stuff under $1k from USA. Then came larger ones via an import agency, but still from USA. Now I'm bringing stuff from China as well.

I just have sourced suppliers online, then spoken to my import agency and taken it from there. Just like property, I've picked it up as i'm doing it.

 

[dex]

It's not rocket science. If you know what you want to import go find a supplier online (Alibaba) or at a trade show, get yourself a freight forwarder and away you go. The tricky bit is finding a good supplier who won't bait and switch with inferior products. The trickiest bit is finding the right product and deciding whether to sell your stock retail or wholesale and whether to open a shop front or sell online. You'll be paying for your stock in USD. Expect to pay about US$1,700 for a 20' container FOB from Ningbo.

 

[ok180]

Check out the canton fair. It's huge and over 3 phases.

Next one is next month.

That place is a gigantic waste of time. Too much stuff, too big, too much confusion and only a small sample of products on display from the suppliers.

Best thing to do if it small stuff get them to send you samples and get someone to go to the factory to check it out. Just use alibaba to source suppliers.

If it is larger items, same thing but might be easier to go over there and see the products in the flesh. Try to find a few suppliers close to each other so you can hit it in a few days and decide. You will find various regions tend to produce certain items so it's not hard to do.

 

[b simpson]

To prevent bait and switch with inferior products my mate hires a buyers agent in china to oversee things.

 

[D.T.]

To prevent bait and switch with inferior products my mate hires a buyers agent in china to oversee things.

How doed he know if the BA isnt amongst the game?

 

[b simpson]

How doed he know if the BA isnt amongst the game?

Well with china nothing is certain

In my mates case he has been importing for a number of years. He even gets some stuff modified to his specs.

A few years ago he received a second shipment of a product that was switched for rubbish product. I think he trashed $15k worth of stuff, a whole container load, to the tip.

He then engaged a BA and since then he hasn't had a problem.

I dabbled a bit in importing a few years ago. My issue was china loves to sell things for a dollar cheaper than the next factory. When everyone does it things get too cheap. An item which has a price of $25US per unit but made dodgy, when if they just charged a few dollars more per item, and had a good QA department things would be much better. They counter that by giving you 2% extra products for free to cover warranty. That's ok if the failure rate is less than 2%!

I reckon the hardest part is picking the right products. I'm a gadget man so no good at choosing household products. Find something the lady in the house wants and you are onto a good thing. I don't have a lady.

 

[Hysteria]

I've never been to any seminars. Didn't even know they exist. Would be interested in more info on this to see if there's stuff that I don't already know.

My first overseas shipments wee small stuff under $1k from USA. Then came larger ones via an import agency, but still from USA. Now I'm bringing stuff from China as well.

I just have sourced suppliers online, then spoken to my import agency and taken it from there. Just like property, I've picked it up as i'm doing it.

I'm going to one in Brisbane in a few weeks. Brendan Elias..suppose to be an import guru. It's free and convenient so might as well see what he has to say.

Many of these seminars are designed so that you come away with more questions that you went in with, which of course requires additional coaching/mentoring/training........which of course you need to pay for, or buy the e-book.

Most information can probably be found on line and in forums.
I will report back on my my findings!