Ins and outs of importing from China?

I see your E mails from 2004 about Chinese imports. I am just starting also. I am curious as to how it has worked out for you.
My advantage is I have mainland relatives through my wife. I am in LA area, have resources to buy a container, and can and do travel to China. However I still know nothing. I want to import commercial lighting. I have available markets in commercial electrical construction. If you can share any knowledge with me I would appreciate it and offer whatever future partnering that we can agree on.

Ted Clark

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Rules and regulations for importing from China
I am a small businessman. I want to buy items in retail stores in China, ship them to the USA and sell them in the USA. I understand it is not legal to do this without an invitation or approval from the Chinese Government. If my understanding is correct, how do I go about obtaining the invitation or the approval?
Please let me know.
Jack

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Importing from China
Hello there!! thanks a lot for all the information you are sharing, I'm starting my business by buying and selling stuff on the internet, however I would like some information about importing a small container, can this have a variety of products or does it have to be an specific line of products?, do I pay taxes on the products I'm importing?. A couple months ago I sent some printing equipment to South America so I know that transport and logistics inland are way more expensive.
I had the phone number for a China Chamber of Commerce a while ago, unfortunately this office was on the WTC , Is there any other place where I can find more information??
Thanks

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Re: Importing from China

Mayfe wrote:

can this have a variety of products or does it have to be an specific line of products?

Yes, it can be mixed. Though there might be complications from this, your freight forwarder will be able to advise you on the specifics.

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do I pay taxes on the products I'm importing?

Yes.

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Is there any other place where I can find more information??
Thanks

Look for a freight forwarder, they will want your business and should be able to answer just about any question you have.

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Importing from China
Dear Craven de Kere,

Wow, I have bern reading your responses and they are helping me a lot. i am also totally new to this, so I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions as well.

I want to import a beach chair that I saw on the beaches in Venice Italy. they caught my and my 22 year old daughther's attention immediately. Since we are the average buyer and we would definitely buy them for ourselves, we think America would like them too. We haven't seen them here at all.

I found several maufacturers in China, one of which has a great design and is willing to send me 2 samples to my door for $19 each plus shipping.

I don't really have a marketing plan in place yet. Probably going to knock on doors of stores that carry the same type of item.

Most of the manufacturers offer 20' containers with about 320 chairs for about $ 15 to $ 20 a chair. I have checked the big stores and this type of chair retails for about $40 to $50.

Do you think with all the shipping and broker fees, there is enough profit in this item.

I live in south Florida. I live very near the port in Fort Lauderdale and not too far from the port in Miami.

Do you know any companies in this area for freight forwarders and customs brokers in this area?

Can you explain again what DDP actually means. How can I get the manufacturer to agree to this term?

Do You recommend asking for CIF?

Forgive me if I seem all over the place...this is overwhelming.

Thanks,
Risa

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about importing from china to wholesale to dollar stores
Hello:
I was reading about your comments about importing from china and I am very interested in finding out what is the process of becoming a wholesaler for dollar stores, I am in the process of opening a dollar store but I would like to get into the wholesale market to supply dollar stores in my area. what are the cost involve on this, process or any kind of information that you can provide me with , it would be really appreciate it.,thanks

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Importing
I am trying to import a type of foam from China. I have been emailing and searching on the web for this foam for months. I cannot seem to find anyone that manufactures this foam in China. I know it has to be made and used over there. I am wondering how do I go about finding the product I want to import. I know most of you have your products and want to know how to import it. I just want to find the darn product and then worry about importing. Razz

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Importing From China
Hi, I am trying to import hook ands latch from China. I live in Florida and sorry to say don't have a clue where to start and what I need to do. I have talked with the manufacturer via e-mail. I've gotten that far, but have no idea what to do next. I would appreciate and info you can give me. Thank you

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Re: Importing from China
For some reason I didn't see this post till now, but will try to answer in case you still need it.

risadd2 wrote:

Do you think with all the shipping and broker fees, there is enough profit in this item.

Before logistics even comes into play my first question would be why retail stores would use you as a middle man? Why wouldn't they order directly?

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Do you know any companies in this area for freight forwarders and customs brokers in this area?

Not personally, but the companies I worked with didn't have to be local and they knew people to work with. I liked M.E. Dey a lot.

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Can you explain again what DDP actually means. How can I get the manufacturer to agree to this term?

It basically puts all the risk on the manufacturer and because of that reason you are unlikely to convince a manufacturer to ship on those terms without overpaying for the risk. If I were a manufacturer I would ship them to you with such a huge markup that I wouldn't mind if anything went wrong on the way.

Manufacturers don't tend to assume shipping risks, especially not at small volume.

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Do You recommend asking for CIF?

I think you should ask about as much as you can, but what you are likely to get is FOB and only FOB as an option.

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Re: about importing from china to wholesale to dollar stores

hugcu wrote:

Hello:
I was reading about your comments about importing from china and I am very interested in finding out what is the process of becoming a wholesaler for dollar stores, I am in the process of opening a dollar store but I would like to get into the wholesale market to supply dollar stores in my area. what are the cost involve on this, process or any kind of information that you can provide me with , it would be really appreciate it.,thanks

I have no idea what the costs are, but can tell you that if you can't figure it out you'll have a hard time running the business.

Here's what I would do: go to a dollar store, and ask the owner how it works.

I suspect that you'll run into competition that is already at volumes that make this a very unattractive venture. If you gain more information and think it's viable I can try to answer your questions but I'm not in your area and can't help you with such a general query.

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Re: Importing

flexoguy wrote:

I am trying to import a type of foam from China. I have been emailing and searching on the web for this foam for months. I cannot seem to find anyone that manufactures this foam in China. I know it has to be made and used over there. I am wondering how do I go about finding the product I want to import. I know most of you have your products and want to know how to import it. I just want to find the darn product and then worry about importing.

Find the product (physically), and research. Ask people where they bought their product. Call companies and ask them about their suppliers. That's what I did when I was stumped. Then I networked some more.

If you know exactly what kind of foam it is, you should probably be able to find some information on the internet about a supplier, but even then there are many more with no web presence and you need to network.

But with my internet caveat aside, this is the most popular Chinese Manufacturer's Directory I know of online: http://www.alibaba.com/

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Re: Importing From China

minidriver wrote:

Hi, I am trying to import hook ands latch from China. I live in Florida and sorry to say don't have a clue where to start and what I need to do. I have talked with the manufacturer via e-mail. I've gotten that far, but have no idea what to do next. I would appreciate and info you can give me. Thank you

I don't have enough information to answer you as you don't mention what you are trying to do other than "import". The logistics of importing and subsequent distribution tend to rely on the details.

So in general:

- Source the product.
- Find out how much it would cost to ship the product to the place you will store it.
- Find out how much it costs to store it.
- Find out how to distribute it.

You need all the costs along the way, because with a product without a large markup and that's not worth much for the weight/volume any of those points can make it unprofitable.

So ask the manufacturer to recommend a Freight Forwarder and ask the Frieght Forwarder all the questions you may have. Make sure you know the details about the shipment from the manufacturer (shipment size, weight, cube etc) and get a good idea of what you want to move and where you want to move it and start asking for quotes.

You'll have to network a lot to get any efficiency and in the logistics world the standard prices are a starting point for discount negotiations that get bigger and bigger as you use volume as leverage.

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i can help u!
hi!my name is marko,from China,

if you have any enquiry about import from China,maybe I can help you.

Also ,I know where you can buy good and cheap item from China.

you can reach me by e-mail : markocao(at)foxmail.com; msn:

markocaoxq(at)hotmail.com ,any comment would welcome!!!!

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@smaness,

Dear Sonja,

Good day to you.

I am sandeep mani tripathi from india. I do a lot of trading from china. I import goods from china to india. I also export goods to USA such a home furnishings, handicraft, carpets, bags , shawls, terracolla gift items, statues etc.
I can help you in sourcing, logistics from INDIA AS WELL AS CHINA.

If you are interested, Please do let me know.

My contact details are:
sandeep mani tripathi
Premium International
M-101 Rail Vihar, Sector 62, NOIDA, INDIA
Phone: +91-9811601010

With warm regards
Sandeep

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Can someone recommend some logistics companies for sea shipping that deal with customs and marine insurance and deal with china and nj?

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@GeneralTsao,

You should be careful, when you buy goods. yYou can do a due diligence investigation on the manufacturers you find on the internet. You also can assign a local investigation agency to do that.

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@englishdavis,

Hello English Davis.

Thank you for your support! I was interested in importing Apple Accessories from China. I wish I can directly go to China and directly find a warehouse/factory to negotiate and all of that personally, but wishful thinking. So the second best thing to do is to find the connection with them online? I feel the places that can offer the best bargains wouldn't even have a website? Basically, I need help even finding a vendor. Although they are not hard to find, I know the ones I found on the websites they can go for cheaper. So where do I go to find the bargain? Do you have any helpful websites or contacts?

I don't know anyone in this industry so makes it quite difficult for me do this alone. So I really appreciate your time and support!

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@englishdavis,

btw, how can i contact you directly? my email i "xxgremlinxxmsn.com"...thank you again~~!!!

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@GeneralTsao,

Hi General Tsao : I am customs broker ... here's my email add : [email protected] Re: your million question on importing.

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@Craven de Kere,

Hi
We are looking into importing electroics from China. We are new at this and need to find out what the first steps are.
1. Do we need a special License
2. If we import what are the duties or costs
3. Do we need a special license to sell items in the US
4. You mentioned Broker .... do you have a good one to recommend?
Any help? T

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Ins and outs of importing from China?

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