Importing from China

[Blue]

Last month I was contacted buy a company in China who wanted to produce products for my stores for me. This will be my progress thread about it.

I asked the supplier for some pricing terms. They sent me a list of products and prices for 200-1000pcs. I chose a product that was $25/ea.

I asked them to send me 2 samples. They sent me 2 samples for $110 including shipping. I wired them $110 and paid a $45 international wire fee, so $155 for 2 samples.

I received the samples rather quickly and was happy with them. So I contacted them about mass producing them. I wanted to change a few things on the samples. They were very good and accommodating my changes and adding little things here and there. When all was said and done, I was at $27 each including all packaging. I sent them my logo, product labels and inserts in PDF form.

They wanted a 200 count order, but I ended up ordering only 100 pieces. Freight to the US was about $900 via cargo ship. So my cost was $3600 for 100 pieces. I had to wire them 30% before production began which was 2 weeks ago. I should be getting my product in middle of May.

In the meantime, I am exploring a range of other products and even inventing some myself, they are making them over there and I should be getting samples of these new products sent to me soon.

 

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[KevMoDee]

A friend of mine sells NFL jerseys on ebay and through craigslist that he buys through manufacturers in China. I couldn't tell they were fake until I went online and looked at a website that described in detail what to look for to distinguish real from fake. He has to deal with seasonal swings and players coming into and out of favor with the fans, but he makes a few bucks here and there. I guess this is technically illegal, but it's my only exposure to Chinese manufacturers. From what he has told me, they are eager to earn his business, any adjustments that need to be made are made promptly, and they have been extremely reliable thus far. Hard to not make a profit when the Chinese work for so little.

 

[WestCoast]

Blue-

Congrats on going for it, always a good feeling! I hope it works out well!

Some questions to ponder:

What's the distribution plan? Direct sale, wholesale?

$27 for a unit is good if the retail price is $100 and bad if the retail price is $37. Where do you land?

--
International wire fee is pretty high, check with a credit union if you are going to be doing them regularly.

What duty will you have to pay on them coming in? Budget for that, plus customers clearance/brokerage fees.


$900 sea freight for 100pcs sounds very expensive, perhaps they are high volume objects? Maybe you're on east coast? A full 40' container from London to Long Beach, CA is ~$4000US.

USD is very weak for importing are you buying in USD?

When you get the product, remember, you don't get what you expect, but what you inspect!


----
For the dude selling counterfeit jerseys, man, that sounds like a recipe for trouble... yikes

 

[Blue]

Blue-

Congrats on going for it, always a good feeling! I hope it works out well!

Some questions to ponder:

What's the distribution plan? Direct sale, wholesale?

$27 for a unit is good if the retail price is $100 and bad if the retail price is $37. Where do you land?

--
International wire fee is pretty high, check with a credit union if you are going to be doing them regularly.

What duty will you have to pay on them coming in? Budget for that, plus customers clearance/brokerage fees.


$900 sea freight for 100pcs sounds very expensive, perhaps they are high volume objects? Maybe you're on east coast? A full 40' container from London to Long Beach, CA is ~$4000US.

USD is very weak for importing are you buying in USD?

When you get the product, remember, you don't get what you expect, but what you inspect!


----
For the dude selling counterfeit jerseys, man, that sounds like a recipe for trouble... yikes

MSRP will be $129. My plan is to distribute to dropshippers and dropship them for retailers also and of course retail them myself in my shops. Hope to start with 100 per month, but I feel I can easily do 200 a month and possibly 500 during Xmas.

Not sure about any fees, as far as I know, I'm paying $3600 to get them delivered to my door.

I don't mind the wire fee because in the future my shipments will be alot more if the 1st 100 go well.

I don't know if shipping for $900 is high or not. Sounded high, but it could include the duties and taxes. I'm winging it and adjusting as I go. I could have brought in 200 for $1000 shipping or 500 for $1300 shipping. But I'm doing this slow.

I am paying USD.

 

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[bonkers123]

Hey blue do you mind telling us what the product is? Do you have a link to your web store? Have you sold any units so far and what are your plans long term? Hope all goes well!!

 

[veecy]

I've got experience with Chinese manufacturers, and it really can be hit or miss. I'm not sure what type of product you're selling, but usually it's necessary to have someone at the factory to do a QC check along every step of the manufacturing process. I'd suggest you ask them for pictures of the final product before they ship to you.

But if these guys turn out to be good, then congrats! It's amazing the prices that some of these suppliers can offer.

 

[Blue]

Hey blue do you mind telling us what the product is? Do you have a link to your web store? Have you sold any units so far and what are your plans long term? Hope all goes well!!

Nope sorry, won't tell what the product is or what the store URL is. I've sold many and have a successful store. Long term is to have my own brand of products imported directly from china.

 

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[Blue]

Got an email saying that my products were done and have been shipped out. They sent me pictures of the crates and boxes and the products. Everything looked fine. I wired the rest of the money over today for my 100 pcs and also some samples of new stuff. Now just gotta wait 2 weeks for it to get here.

 

[Sparlin]

Blue, I posted this in your user notes last week and haven't seen a reply yet. Please read it over and take the time to comply.

Thanks,

Sparlin (Mod.)

Hello Blue,


Welcome to the forum. It seems you are finding your way around the community pretty well. There is a ton of great info. here for those who are eager to learn. The reason I'm writing is to remind you to post an introduction thread. This allows forum members to understand your background and what your interests are. It doesn't have to be very detailed and please remember to not promote any businesses. The reason for this is because the goal is to meet peers rather than someone with a sales pitch. Glad you decided to join us.



Good luck in the Fastlane!

 

[Blue]

Blue, I posted this in your user notes last week and haven't seen a reply yet. Please read it over and take the time to comply.

Thanks,

Sparlin (Mod.)

Hi Sparlin,

I would rather not post an intro to the forum. I'm here to contribute but just don't feel comfortable posting any background info. I hope you understand.

 

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[Sparlin]

You've been vouched for by a forum member. No problem and welcome!

 

[Blue]

So this is what I found out. The company in China is shipping door to door. This is the $900 shipping cost.

However, I need a customs agent to complete the paperwork once it arrives at port. It looks like it will cost me about $300 in fees and then pay some duties which I don't know yet. Also, if it gets stuck in customs I may have to pay warehouse storage fees and also on and offloading fees that could be $100 a day.

My cost per pieces could end up $40+.

I also contacted some other shipping companies to get a better bid on my next shipment. It came in about the same. Here is a breakdown.

OCEAN FREIGHT $90/cbmx2.4cbm) $216.00
DOCUMENT TRANSFER FEE $ 65.00
Warehouse in and out fee $65.00
Warehouse fuel surcharge $15.00
AMS $35.00
Clean Truck Fee $2/cbm) $4.80
Pier Pass ($3/cbm) $7.20
Inbound fee: $30.00
Inland charge $55/cbm or 363 kg $132.00
Door delivery charge $68.00
China local charge: $244.20

TOTAL DUE: $882.20

 

[Lost]

I was once importing Nike shoes from China until customs seized a shipment saying they were fakes.

The factory had told me it was an official Nike factory that just made extra units for themselves to sell.

I lost all the money, and Im sure customs were all wearing new Nike around the gym!

 

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[Blue]

So this is what I found out. The company in China is shipping door to door. This is the $900 shipping cost.

However, I need a customs agent to complete the paperwork once it arrives at port. It looks like it will cost me about $300 in fees and then pay some duties which I don't know yet. Also, if it gets stuck in customs I may have to pay warehouse storage fees and also on and offloading fees that could be $100 a day.

My cost per pieces could end up $40+.

I also contacted some other shipping companies to get a better bid on my next shipment. It came in about the same. Here is a breakdown.

OCEAN FREIGHT $90/cbmx2.4cbm) $216.00
DOCUMENT TRANSFER FEE $ 65.00
Warehouse in and out fee $65.00
Warehouse fuel surcharge $15.00
AMS $35.00
Clean Truck Fee $2/cbm) $4.80
Pier Pass ($3/cbm) $7.20
Inbound fee: $30.00
Inland charge $55/cbm or 363 kg $132.00
Door delivery charge $68.00
China local charge: $244.20

TOTAL DUE: $882.20

Finally got my product today. Final costs for shipping and customs:

$900 shipping
$120 warehouse fees
$280 customs taxes/duties
$300 customs paperwork fees

My total product cost is around $40 a piece. Now its time to sell them!

 

[Blue]

Update: Well I sold 2 of my 100 so far at $100 a piece. I need to sell 38 more and the remaining 60 will be all profit.

Next week I will start wholesaling these out.

 

[ITA]

That's great. You were lucky to get a good supplier, especially since they contacted you vs you contacting them.

 

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[shuriken]

U should go to visit your supplier in China.

 

[Blue]

U should go to visit your supplier in China.

Shut the F*@k up.

 

[JimN]

These days, for many items you do not have to take the difficult road anymore. Visiting China, messing with language and strange payment conditions. Site like taobao and especially Alibaba have a control system which has worked fine many times already. It is not without risk, but checking the reputation of the company works well. But keep it simple, no complicated products.

 

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[bonkers123]

Shut the F*@k up.

Blue you have to really grow up...stop using profanity online and ignore what these people post...they are just ignorant.. What does it matter what they say as long as you know you are doing good then who the hell cares what others are saying..I am in the wholesale industry as well and I have recently sold out on all my cases and made back what I invested. I have remaining 100+ pieces in stock which is now all profit from here on...Wholesaling and reselling can be either easy or hard it all depends on the market for that item..Just keep going at it I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT!:eusa_clap:

 

[Blue]

Oh Bonkers, I was just yelling at a spammer who was post whoring.

So anyway, I've had my product for 14 days and here is an update.

I bought 100 units of varying configurations. I have 4 variations of my product, let's just call them blue, red, green and black.

My "color" breakdown was 40 blue, 40 red, 10 green and 10 black, based on my research and previous sales experience.

I have sold 5 blue, 0 red, 3 green, 2 black for a total of 10 sales. I may have made an error on this because I have sold 3 greens today and only have 7 left. My "green" product variation is unique and nobody else has it, therefore there wasn't a market for it and I just figured I'd make a few to see how they do. Looks like I'll have to order more "green" next time.

10 sales at $100 a piece for $600 profit in two weeks.

My product is being sold by a nationwide dropshipper now. It was added last week.
It has also been placed into 1 retail online store as of yesterday.

No sales have come from any wholesalers yet.

I admit that I've been lazy. I should have contacted 20-30 retail stores by now to push my product.

Started a google adwords campaign this week with a $100 adwords coupon. I'm using adwords to get the brand name out. This will make retailers want to carry my product.

Looking at my analytics, it looks like its working because people are finding my site by searching for my brand and not the product name.

 

[SKM430]

what's the product/brand?

 

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[Darkside]

Does anyone know how to find a reputable Chinese clothing manufacturer. I doubt Blue will reveal what his is so does anyone know a way to find out which ones are legit and do good work?

 

[rscully5]

I am also in the beginning stages of importing goods in from China as well.
I am trying to do CIF shipping terms.
I am asking them to air these goods.

However, I have NO idea what to do when the goods come into the US.

Can I have them air these cartons - 50 cartons in total to my address?

Do these cartons have to be sent to an airport?

Do I need a business tax ID to collect these cartons or can I just use my name and SSN if needed?

I really have no clue on how to handle the logistics.

Can someone please help?

I am sorry for hijacking this thread.

 

[Blue]

I am also in the beginning stages of importing goods in from China as well.
I am trying to do CIF shipping terms.
I am asking them to air these goods.

However, I have NO idea what to do when the goods come into the US.

Can I have them air these cartons - 50 cartons in total to my address?

Do these cartons have to be sent to an airport?

Do I need a business tax ID to collect these cartons or can I just use my name and SSN if needed?

I really have no clue on how to handle the logistics.

Can someone please help?

I am sorry for hijacking this thread.

I'm just trying to understand shipping also, FOB and CIF is confusing me. If it's a small package I would air them over via DHL direct to your home.

I'm shipping by sea and have to go through ports and warehouses. I don't know if you need a tax ID or SSN, but you would need a customs broker and they may ask you. I filled out a power of attorney but don't remember if that info was on there.

I would much rather the factory in china take care of everything and I just send them the money but it doesn't work that way.

You can do what I did, just do it and see what happens. If you product has a big margin, which it should, the extra charges shouldn't be that bad.

 

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[Blue]

Update on my products: I have sold 35 of the 100 that I imported from China. I placed another order for 200 but it will take 2 months to get here. I'm running out of stock on a couple of the colors. I only have 15 blue left, so I sold 20 of them in the past month and only 5 of the other colors. It would suck to run out but that's what I get for not ordering the second batch sooner.

Sales are starting to come in from other retailers. I saw my product on sears.com last week. It's also all over ebay and amazon now. I must admit it's pretty cool to see other people selling your stuff.

 

[Blue]

Time for another update.

I have sold 89 of the 100 pieces that I imported. Back in July I placed another order for 200 more. The 200 aren't here yet, but I have 9 sold on backorder already. Last week I decided to order an additional 200 more, so I have 400 coming in in the next 2 months. I hope that it will be enough to get me through Xmas.

I'm using a new shipping method and my China supplier is telling me that all prices are included except customs tax. We'll see if that is truly the case.

I am now retailing and wholesaling my stuff. Obviously I prefer retail because I make so much more per sale. Wholesale orders are accounting for about 20% of the orders.

 

[rscully5]

Blue

Thanks for the updates and congrats on your booming business!!!

Are you a one man operation?

I am too.

For your next shipments are you still doing ocean and FOB pricing or have you changed the terms.

I have not yet ordered anything but I am curious to know if you have your supplier sign contracts?

 

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[Blue]

Yes it's one man right now. I am going to try FOB to the port in China and then have a US forwarder and customs agent take it from there. I still don't have a good handle on shipping. This will be my 3rd shipment and my 3rd different method. I don't know which is better. My first 2 shipments arrived with no issues and a few hidden costs but no big deal.

I don't have any contracts with my suppliers.

 

[AJ.]

This thread rocks.
Thanks for sharing the information.

I'm now inspired to start the process for manufacturing and importing from China.
Have a couple of ideas...
Thanks!