As Piston_Broke identified the other day - stick to small stuff. Otherwise you will be ordering containers that will sit in your warehouse/backyard for months without moving.
Pitfalls with Importing - What don't I know?
- Thread starter skater
- Start date
As Piston_Broke identified the other day - stick to small stuff. Otherwise you will be ordering containers that will sit in your warehouse/backyard for months without moving.
Hi Skater,
I've imported a bit of stuff from overseas (China, US, NZ) over the past decade and agree with what the other posters said about starting small. The best experiences I've had was with products that could be posted, as they arrived when they were meant to and there were no exhorbitant haulage or storage costs.
Freight forwarders are a real hit and miss proposition - if you're small and your importing is irregular, they don't really want to know you, and they're never shy in charging you every sort of fee under the sun (17 different fees and charges once!). I had one experience where I was quoted $4,500 for shipping and ended up paying $8,600 - and the truck carrying the goods crashed on the F3 on the way from Sydney to Newcastle
As a general rule with importing and using forwarders, I usually found that what the goods cost me landed in my warehouse was about double the unit price ie buying sports equipment from China at $200 a unit usually ended up costing me $400 a unit landed. That was factoring in customs duties, GST, and whatever the forwarder charged. Things usually came in a bit under that, but I used it in my calculations as to whether something was worth importing.
The last time I imported something I just got them to post a whole bunch of boxes which all came to $950 each - much less of a headache
Jamie
I've imported a bit of stuff from overseas (China, US, NZ) over the past decade and agree with what the other posters said about starting small. The best experiences I've had was with products that could be posted, as they arrived when they were meant to and there were no exhorbitant haulage or storage costs.
Freight forwarders are a real hit and miss proposition - if you're small and your importing is irregular, they don't really want to know you, and they're never shy in charging you every sort of fee under the sun (17 different fees and charges once!). I had one experience where I was quoted $4,500 for shipping and ended up paying $8,600 - and the truck carrying the goods crashed on the F3 on the way from Sydney to Newcastle
As a general rule with importing and using forwarders, I usually found that what the goods cost me landed in my warehouse was about double the unit price ie buying sports equipment from China at $200 a unit usually ended up costing me $400 a unit landed. That was factoring in customs duties, GST, and whatever the forwarder charged. Things usually came in a bit under that, but I used it in my calculations as to whether something was worth importing.
The last time I imported something I just got them to post a whole bunch of boxes which all came to $950 each - much less of a headache
Jamie
Hi Skater,
I've imported a bit of stuff from overseas (China, US, NZ) over the past decade and agree with what the other posters said about starting small. The best experiences I've had was with products that could be posted, as they arrived when they were meant to and there were no exhorbitant haulage or storage costs.
Freight forwarders are a real hit and miss proposition - if you're small and your importing is irregular, they don't really want to know you, and they're never shy in charging you every sort of fee under the sun (17 different fees and charges once!). I had one experience where I was quoted $4,500 for shipping and ended up paying $8,600 - and the truck carrying the goods crashed on the F3 on the way from Sydney to Newcastle
As a general rule with importing and using forwarders, I usually found that what the goods cost me landed in my warehouse was about double the unit price ie buying sports equipment from China at $200 a unit usually ended up costing me $400 a unit landed. That was factoring in customs duties, GST, and whatever the forwarder charged. Things usually came in a bit under that, but I used it in my calculations as to whether something was worth importing.
The last time I imported something I just got them to post a whole bunch of boxes which all came to $950 each - much less of a headache
Jamie
hmm seems the chinese are taking a run at you. it really should be australian window cost 1000, chinese window cost 200 landed inclusive GST etc.
The last time I imported something I just got them to post a whole bunch of boxes which all came to $950 each - much less of a headache
Jamie
That's what I'm trying to do. Problem is that the damn Chinese person I'm dealing with only replies with emails once or twice a week and every time I phone him he says he'll send me an email which can take days.
He also can't understand that I want the stuff posted because it is "so cheap" to put on a ship.Arrgghh!
The last time I imported something I just got them to post a whole bunch of boxes which all came to $950 each - much less of a headache
Jamie
This reminded me of a funny freight story from our company. I cant remember the background, but for some reason, we had asked for one of our suppliers to send us boxes to rebox some products.
They sent them assembled!!!!!!!
it was about 50 assembled boxes, each 40cmx 40cmx 10cm boxes.. and the freight costs were absolutely huge........ shipping all this air around the world.
Yes, common sense failed on that day...
My rele's-in-law imported a massive amount of black marble from China for their kitchen benches - beautiful stuff - at a fraction of the price to buy locally. This was even thru a middleman so that when the shippers dropped the first container load, smashing the lot, it was replaced free of charge.
damn right - i was importing for myself. and then i do small bits and pieces here and there for other ppl but when i put up this question on another building forum - got bashed up pretty bad about it.
competition is good i would say and with high AUD why not?
