importing from china

dclewis

I was looking into buying items from China to sell over here in Ireland. I have found one company that is selling what i,m looking for for less then 2 euro. J know that any one else that sells the product over here ranges between 20 and 30 euro.

My question: how can you trust something coming from so far if you cant see it. How do I know he is legit. And would I have to pay any sort of fees such as customs duties

stephenpalmer

dclewis wrote: »

I was looking into buying items from China to sell over here in Ireland. I have found one company that is selling what i,m looking for for less then 2 euro. J know that any one else that sells the product over here ranges between 20 and 30 euro.

My question: how can you trust something coming from so far if you cant see it. How do I know he is legit. And would I have to pay any sort of fees such as customs duties

If there selling it that cheap it could easily be a scam. However there would be a huge markup on it. Friend of mine made a fortune importing UGS from china at much less then half the price and the were the real thing.

If the product is selling and you know you can sell x ammount it might be worth your while to contact the actuall supliers and even fly over there. But think about it 1000 products at that much of mark up your laughing!


Hope you make some money. Oh actually on another note if your worried about the quality just buy a few of them yourself and see what there like? Easiest solution I can think of anyway.

maxer68

Its quite easy to see how €2 becomes €20 retail on some products.

Does the €2 include nice retail packaging? - That will add 50c. So we're at 2.50.

Is the product bulky? - Shipping costs are about 3k for a 40ft container including charges & local delivery. A single pallet from china will cost about €500 after customs charges & local delivery. - That's proably another 50c - 80c added.

Add in duty - possibly 10% but depends on the product.

As its a low cost item, the importer will add about €3 - €4 for everything from warehousing to local delivery to accounts staff to credit facilities + of course profit.

You're now close to €7.50 as a trade price.

Ifs its not a big mega seller, a retailer will have to at least double this and add vat, bringing the retail price to €18 / €19 at retail.

They could be scamming you too!!!

Axwell

If you are looking at importing any serious and worthwhile amount i.e a container or half container then you should be talking to a logistics company who will talk to you about the fees involved and organise the shpping of the item from China right to your door.

Give Rudy - the guy in this post a pm and he will be able to give you info on getting the stuff over here.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=61542421&postcount=3

As regards sourcing it that depends on the site you use and a bit of research on your behalf.

http://www.alibaba.com/ and http://www.dhgate.com/ are the two main sites that people would look at.

MrMatisse

taobao is like ebay only in Chinese..........

allthedoyles

Most of the websites above sell fake / counterfeit / replicas / etc ......................watch out

Axwell

allthedoyles wrote: »

Most of the websites above sell fake / counterfeit / replicas / etc ......................watch out

snoopd wrote: »

How to determine whether a site is legitimate?

To word it correctly its not the sites that are fake it is some of the suppliers on them. There are premium sellers and such that are probably more secure and then obviously there are recommended methods of payment etc and ways to deal with sellers on the site. So a bit of research needs to be done before just jumping in buying something.

bmstuff

I don't really see the risk with importing 2 euro/each items from China.
Worse case scenario you lose a few quids. Just start little with the chinese, over weeks and months the trust will hopefully take over.

As for the 10% import duties? Yea try again, import duties will at the very least be hit by the VAT, so that's 21% (Unless you import spaghettis...), +4.5% (like car speakers) or 8.x% (like radios) + transport companies fees (2% with DHL if I remember well) etc...

So at the end of the day, a good bought in China costs to your door delivered 30% of the initial price you paid.

Anyway the rates will vary, depending of what you are getting.

Be patient and do not underestimate the cultural differences and language barrier. These can be higher that the great wall of china sometimes.

mari2222

Google "taric" and it will lead you to a site where you can see the rates of duty applying.

honeymonster

Most legit suppliers will allow you to place a sample order.

You could also ask him to provide a reference of an existing customer in europe, usually you can get one based in the uk.

If that doesn't work you could always pay someone to check out the supplier and there are a number of Irish buying agents who could help you out.

newmug

Slightly O/T, but where would you get an empty container on its own? You see builders and farmers with them stuck in the corners of their yards sometimes. Do shipping companies sell them off or something?

RATM

Importing from China can be tricky and my advice (from experience) is to never put in any order without some samples being delivered first- it builds trust and lets you 'try before you buy'.

I work with a Chinese importer (based in Dublin) from time to time and he has his brother on the ground in Shanghai which is a huge advantage. His brother sources 3 or 4 samples of every product they import and sends them on here first for quality checks. If they're satisfactory then the bulk order follows. The two lads mainly import things like electronics, (phones,modems, bikes, etc) in volume and make an okay living out of it. The family in Shanghai appears to have some pretty good contacts as I'm surprised by the amount of different items they can source.

So to the OP I'd say make sure you get samples first, also escrow is an option and finally ensure you understand the terms of shipping, ie is it shipping to Dublin port or to your door? If you're doing it regulary then it is essential to have someone on the ground in China who can organise things from that side.

jamiecoins

i bought a few items this way no customs occur as they mark the items as gifts , i would steer clear from dhgate . as its a scam search google for reviews of the site horror stories i use deal extreme its very good but no samples

MagicMarker

jamiecoins wrote: »

i bought a few items this way no customs occur as they mark the items as gifts , i would steer clear from dhgate . as its a scam search google for reviews of the site horror stories i use deal extreme its very good but no samples

Look at what forum you're posting in, I don't think the guy wants to buy an iphone, maybe a pallet of iphones, do they mark them as gifts too?

maxer68

jamiecoins wrote: »

i bought a few items this way no customs occur as they mark the items as gifts , i would steer clear from dhgate . as its a scam search google for reviews of the site horror stories i use deal extreme its very good but no samples

DH Gate is a marketplace of thousands of chinese sellers. As someone who has been importing from China for 25+ years, its handy for small items and if youw really know what you are looking for and understand the way prices work in china. Too cheap and its crap, too expensive and you're being ripped off.

For the untrained eye its a difficult one to call and really depends on the product.

The few times I've used DHGate, it was fine, but they were all generic products and quite simple. I did also get some LED GU10s and about 30% of them blew in a week. - Thankfully it was just 50 of them.

Overall, I don't see a huge difference between the higher quality DH Gate sellers and a good wholesaler - maybe 15-20%. The items I got just aren't available in the quantity I needed them for local or uk sources.

mayun

only in China.

ssbob

I recently started working for a company who are importing from and exporting to China(the company is owned by 2 Chinese people who travel back and forth), as mentioned above things can be very cheap coming from China but by the time everything is paid for then the per unit price is often double what you bought it for. They take samples of products here and manufacture them there, obviously they don't ri[p off branded products but manufacture a range of products from Garden Furniture to their own brand car tyre to towels, blankets, linen..........................

TylerIE

newmug wrote: »

Slightly O/T, but where would you get an empty container on its own? You see builders and farmers with them stuck in the corners of their yards sometimes. Do shipping companies sell them off or something?

I dont have names of sellers but they available for long term rent at ridiculously low prices last year (something like e10/week), and for sale for around 1200 - 1500 eur last year from a few suppliers around Dublin port. Both rent prices were ex VAT and delivery

As surprising as this may seem, seemingly we are importing a lot more goods than we are exporting so some shippers need to get rid of them!

meyant

This is a good thing.

Bandara

Chinglish

You've now touted your own business and that of a forwarding company in every single one of your 11 posts.

This forum is for us to help each other, not to use as a free advertising vehicle.

RUDOLF289

dclewis wrote: »

I was looking into buying items from China to sell over here in Ireland. I have found one company that is selling what i,m looking for for less then 2 euro. J know that any one else that sells the product over here ranges between 20 and 30 euro.

My question: how can you trust something coming from so far if you cant see it. How do I know he is legit. And would I have to pay any sort of fees such as customs duties

Hello DC Lewis,

apologies for not replying sooner.

Working through Alibaba can be hit and miss. There are some very good companies out there that advertise on alibaba, but you have to be careful.

Have you considered using a sourcing company. I can put you in touch with at least 4 Irish companies that source products in China. They have Irish people based in China, understand the culture and the way business is done and have an extensive database across a wide range of products. Because they know the way, they probably buy at the sharp end.

If you are looking at Chinese companies and believe you have found a good source, these sourcing companies could still assist you. They can do factory visits and/or pre-shipment inspections. That should give you some security for the money you pay to the factory that a) you are dealing with legitimate businesses and/or that product you have paid for (before it actually leaves China) is as per specification.

One final word of warning. Do not leave the shipping arrangements to the Chinese supplier. They will get an absolute sweet deal for the shipping. However, you will end up paying a lot of unexpected charges here in Ireland, including a socalled China Import Service Fee. I would recommend you source quotes from Irish Freight Forwarders and arrange the shipping from this end.

Feel free to PM me if you need information

Cheers,
Rudolf289

rainbowdash

honeymonster wrote: »

Most legit suppliers will allow you to place a sample order.

Sometimes they charge a high price for this. A lot of them are plagued with teenagers with big dreams and no money - they need to sort the wheat from the chaff the same way as we do.