jeli1st
New Contributor
Hey ddzc,
1. If you know what products are a specialty in certain countries, you will then need to find a B2B site relevant to that country, but if you just want to browse while looking for ideas, you will need to search websites for any country that has an export industry. Some of the sites that I recommend are annoying and not easy to use, particularly if you are just browsing, but once you take the time you can find some real gems in the form of unique products that are not already being sold in the US or, UK etc.
When browsing, it is best to start searching in product areas that are of interest to you, even if you may not have previously intended selling such products. At the same time you should keep your eyes open for other product categories that just might be worth looking through.
2. The sites you mention above do have some international businesses (including US companies) offering products, but they mostly have suppliers listed from China. There is another very big source that I have used extensively in the past, but I simply can't disclose online because my contacts there would not appreciate an huge influx of inquiries from newbies. It is a source that is generally only known to the big boys in importing and it was for a long time my main sourcing site. Of all the user unfriendly sites that I have encountered this one is the worst, and working your way through it is tedious, and will lead to many dead ends. I give step by step instructions in my book on how to use it, but I know that very few of my book readers actually persevere with it because it is so slow to get results.
3. A major stumbling block to getting high profit margins via Alibaba is that the vast majority of advertisers falsely claim to be manufacturers but are in fact traders or wholesalers. They add their margin to the manufacturer's price before they quote you, so away goes at least 25% of the possible margin. If you deal with real manufacturers you will get the best price, and I advise against haggling to get that best price.
The landed price I always worked on included door to door courier delivery or EMS. There were many times when the margins were way above cost X 250%. One of my franchisees once wrote to me (letter on file) "....it is nice to make that occasional $50,000 profit for 1/2 day's work." His landed cost on one such order was around $7,500, and his selling price to the single customer was just under $60,000. I can quote him because I can prove it to the FTC, but I can't quote my own figures without opening up my tax returns from my business that I sold a few years ago.
The main tactics are:
- Find a product that is not already being sold in your country. You may need to look past the big advertisers and look for the small businesses. Or you may need to look in places other than China.
- Communicate slowly, slowly, with a small manufacturer until you build a rapport.
- Remember that you are an unknown quantity to them, just as they are to you. Build trust.
- Avoid allowing price to be the main point of discussion in the early stages.
- Don't ask MOQ. Wait until they tell you. Then request a quote on that quantity.
- Tell them you would like to place a trial order for x amount. (X = MOQ ÷ 5 or 10) and request quote. Single samples may be necessary first if the unit price is high.
Hey Walter,
i am slowly going trough your thread and writing everything important out. It might be the case that you've already answered a question similiar to mine later on in this thread.
You mentioned a couple of times that you should communicate slowly with the manufacturer to build rapport before ordering. So what are some things to talk about/ask them? Just general smalltalk about their company? How do you build rapport with the manufacturer?
jeli1st
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