2047 Comments (page 13)

I am at the point where I have found a few products I'm confident will yield a healthy return. My question pertains to logistics. Will the supplier ship a sample right to my door? At what point do I need to start incorporating a courier service, freight forwarding, etc.. and dealing with CBP? Thank you, you guys are awesome!!

Hi I have one quick question that confuses me all the time, so how do you deal with the bar code issue? Do I really need a bar code if I sell things on amazon? Thank you!

Hello, I am starting a business and I have 1 final thing to do and it's killing me- finding boxes to ship things in. 1. I would love to have a nicer box however it may not be necessary. So at this point I just need to figure out where to buy boxes at the best rate as the box and shipping are a make or break. Do you have feel like China or US or if anyone has suggestions it's all I need and maybe I will write an article soon on my journey!

Hi, I have a question for you. Recently, I am trying to ask for a sample products, the products only cost $4 but the shipping cost is $30. does it sound right? do they usually offer free shipping ? thanks

You'll usually need a bar code. You can buy these on eBay and apply them right onto your product.

It's usually best to use the boxes supplied by your supplier or shipper.

Great article and very sound advice i am going to try my luck or should I say plan well to succeed using your ecperience

Hello, thank you for taking time to answer all the concerns. Great article! Now my question, I went to China to learn a little bit more about the business environment. I finished in YiWu, north of Shanghai. I found the articles I was looking for, BUT how do I process the shipment? Once I do the orders, do I have to find a truck that takes the merchandise to the shipping area? Then what? How do I find out the taxes in China? The documents I need from the shipping company? How about the insurance? How do they process the packaging info from the stores to the shipping? Do you know a logistic company that can help me with this? Thank you!! You may respond to my email.

Is it the same steps if I want to import items to supply hotels, restaurant etc. Have anyone done this before?

Absolutely! The only difference is in the distribution model.

My one friend got it some kind of trouble doing this kind of business. My one simple question is legal without paying anything like tax thing or we pay that somewhere???

Hi, Thanks for this post. I have 10,000 feedback on ebay selling homewares etc however my uk based supplier has decided to create about 10 different fake profiles on ebay and has undercut me and other buyers and has quickly built 150,000 feedback 'under the radar' so his larger customers (ie amazon) do not know that he is competing with them directly! I would do the same myself to be fair but I was really struggling to compete and eventually gave up trying to sell these goods and eventually sold all my stock (some of it at a loss to just get rid of it)! I have stumbled across some goods I picked up at an auction and sold them quickly on ebay making decent money..as a result I have now managed to source the products on Alibaba from gold supplier, have recently had samples delivered and I am happy with price/impressed with the quality. These goods are from a branded US company so I would imagine they are 'copies' as they are coming from China however they are identical to the ones I have already sold without 1 single concern so I am happy to proceed if there is money to be made. I have made contact with shipping company who will deal with the import for me and once they arrive in UK I can uplift the goods in my box van (few runs to storage!) and they are located only a few miles away! My questions are: 1) Qty v Price issue/question? The supplier has quoted a very good price for 20ft container (800 case) ..i can buy for £5.00 case and sell at £72 (superb mark up) however this is slightly risky as I don't want to order enough stock that will last me 10 years if they don't shift quickly!!...his price for smaller qty is almost 3 times higher so the maths suggest I should just take the risk as would be getting extra 3rd stock for same overall price really? What would you suggest? 2) Payment of goods? I paid my gold supplier for the samples/shipment of samples through paypal. Should I insist on paying for the goods with paypal? Should I ask for terms or just agree to pay all in advance? Should I ask for a pro-forma invoice and is there anything else I should do/agree on to help the negociations run smoothly? Although the overall amount of money is not too large (£3000) I still want to make sure I operate sensibly here as wouldn't like to send £3000 to foreign lands for nothing!!! Any help would be greatly appreciated. Stephen F I will keep in touch with you and will get back to you with any questions.

Hi I have several questions! Specially regarding shipping costs/options and what kind of margins did u keep for your products in order to make a decent profit. I am planning to import home decor accessories and I can not start with 500 and 1000 pieces. And prices on Alibaba are pretty steep if I add the shipping and customs duty costs here in india. Any thoughts? Thanks

Hi Will, Thanks a lot for you post. I found it very useful! Very powerful article! Have few question for you if you have a time for respond, please. I am from Ukraine and have some understanding of how importing and sales works in my country but I don’t know at all how it works in USA. I want to research this because I’m planning to move to Canada and want to build smth similar there. 1) Taxes. As I understand that is very critical and accurate thing in USA/Canada. For example, in Ukraine, everybody tries to avoid paying taxes and the system is so bad and buggy so it easily allows working “in grey”. So you can work with cash up to rather big values – let’s say you can buy your own house and several sport cars having almost zero in your bank account’s cash-flow. So my question is – how this organized in importing + eBay/Amazon business? Is taxes handled in eBay/Amazon or Paypal account automatically or how? What should I do to avoid jail in a new country? =))) sorry if the question is very silly, just everybody in my country knows that taxes and laws in USA/Canada is tough =) 2) Limits. Are there any limits to work with Importing+ebay+paypal - can I earn a lot using this simple (I suggest it is simplest) scheme? Let’s say – will this work for turnover = $5000 and income $1000 per week? If yes, then what about turnover $15000 and income $3000 per week? Or I should create unlimited LLC and all other stuff like office, registration, fees etc? Thank you very much for you post again, hope you can find few minutes for answering me. Regards, Ivan

Hello, This article is an AWESOME READ! I'm trying to find something my wife can do from home so she doesn't have to work. Thanks for these tips and your valuable insight.

The best. What you think about sale of mobile phone? have one supplier of iphones 6 per $169 genuine. Thanks. Mario Castro

My question is about marketing. You didn't really go into detail about what exactly you do to market and also you talked about coupons and promo. Where do you get these coupons or where they just coupons you created yourself? Thirdly. At what point did you create your own site to sell through?

I think you'll like this :) https://startupbros.com/rank-amazon/

Will, I just read your blog from the start, then I got to the point where you mentioned you were 16, I am really impressed. You are quite amazing and considering you had no one to help you it makes it even more impressive. Well done and keep at it, you are an inspiring chap!

Do you not do this anymore? Is it profitable for you at this time?

Hi Will, Thanks for the great article. I had a couple of follow up questions and it would be great to hear your advice: - Where you incorporated as a company or did you pursue this business as a private person? And if yes how was it possible? - I don't know how it is in America but in Europe we have to consider custom taxes and VAT when importing goods from outside the EU. Was it the case for you and how did you manage still to make good profits? Thanks!

Hey will, I was just wondering how you make a company name as alibaba is asking me to put one in. is it possible for a 16 year old to create a legit one or did you use other means?

HI, Great article. Reading this at 2.00 in the morning. I am struggling with what to sell in the UK. I seems that many sellers on ebay/Amazon are undercutting everyone by selling for 99p. What products do you think are worth looking at? Thanks

Check this out: https://startupbros.com/step-by-step-guide-on-how-to-find-a-profitable-product-to-sell/

Hi Will, Thank you for posting this article. This is really an amazing article that I was searching for long time. Still I had not started anything, but searching for more information to make myself clear and finally landed here. The things whatever you said here is more understandable. I always used to think about one thing in all kind of business. "IF US, WHY NOT THEM?" If we are buying from suppliers and selling at higher cost to make profit means, why wont the suppliers sell by themselves directly to the customer to make a good profit? Waiting for your answer. Thanks once again.

Will you please email me and let me know how I can order things from Alibaba? I want to try using T/T, but I do not know exactly how to place an order except maybe message the supplier and let them know to help me place an order.

how many auctions were you running when you were selling 50 a day and how many auctions did you run consecutiveely for the same product?

can you expound on the hint, dont sell what you buy im a lil confused here

I have a good supplier of stuff (led lights), I need to make something I designed. Only thing, I need to have a factory put it together (Sewing) for me . So I can sell my thing on amazon/ website and not be back ordered. I can put together my self but not for many orders. Any suggestions you could give me would be much appreciated. Thanks

Very well done on the business opportunity. Iam allittle skeptical though. The prices on the electronics are just really hard to believe. In your experience are the phones,TV's,laptops,notebooks,what have ya. Is that stuff lagit???

Will, was a very helpful article. Ive contacted some suppliers and recieved quotes for samples and shipment quantities. Im a little unsure how to negotiate ( eg how much lower i should counter offer by ). reading your comment am i right in interpreting that i can negotiate shipping costs on samples aswell, considering ive been quoted $25-$60 for mostly DHL. By the way im in Australia but not sure that should matter. Kind Regards Dan..

Hi, Great stuff. This seems a very good idea with some hard work and good ideas !! My question is, is Albiba good to use for me being in the UK. Or any alternatives you know of which are good for the UK ? Thanks Vince

Most of our UK clients find their suppliers on Alibaba. You can definitely use it.

A further question, Is there much i need to think about with regards to VAT, Customs, Duty or any other tax ? Or can i literally just Buy from a supplier, get it here & sell it via which ever channel i choose? Thanks YOU ! Vince - UK Based

Hi I'm also researching importing some electronics products from asia. The problem I'm finding is this. Imagine an items costs 45 dollars. At the end of the road, the item will cost more than double that amount due to shipping, customs and taxes, VAT; etc... Then I still need to add a markup to be able to earn some cash. So let's say the item's real cost is actually 100 dollars (hardware value = 45 dollars), I can then sell it at 110 dollars to make a measily 10 dollars.... it gets even worse when you have to calculate in broken units. Customers expect excellent warrenty (replacing broken stuff) and that means every once in a while you'll lose 100 dollars (the broken item) so that means you'll need to sell 10 items just to break even. I don't even calculate how much it would cost to send the units back to asia because that would really cost too much! Next, customers expect free (or extremely cheap) shipping. Loads of competitors offer it so here I am wondering how to even manage to get SOME profits going when I have to give it away in the form of free shipping... You could say, why not pump the price up to 120 dollars then? Well that's easier said than done. At the price of 120 dollars, the customer will quickly run in the open arms of competitors with much better prices. I sometimes feel I have no chance but then again I don't want to give up. There HAS to be a way to make ends meet no? Any advice? Have I chosen the wrong product? I can't seem to find products with 100%+ markup, only around 10% because otherwise I would be too expensive!

Hi, Thanks for the Thread, found it more than Helpful ! On the Alibaba website, some things may state, 100 Pieces & some may say 100 units - Please may you advise what these terms mean/stand for Thanks !!!!! James

Yo, I think you could make money on those camel-clinching yoga pants. I really feel like they are a good investment, especially since they are trying to outlaw the public showcasing of them. You could make the world a better place one nylon-knuckler at a time.

I like your program and have listened to your workshop training. My concern is that I live in Hawaii and shipping costs to the mainland add to the already high overseas shipping costs and customs brokerage. Any suggestions?

Great article, and i've read almost every comment and reply and learned a lot from this as well. I've been doing a lot of homework on importing products from China and this article and QnA in the comments has been the most useful. I am working on importing and branding stainless steel water bottles. My concerns are: 1. Samples, product cost is $2-3 at MOQ yet they are asking $60 for 4 samples and another supplier is asking for $90. Seems unreasonable. 2. For samples they are asking for courier account, should I ask them if I can pay PayPal? I noticed you address this a fair amount in your comments and say PayPal only, but I also saw that you said DHL is ok as well in a couple comments. I also see you mention "protect yourself" with Pay Pal a lot in your comments, can you explain this in comparison to a DHL account? How does PayPal "protect you"? 3. You do not mention anything about hiring a quality control agent, which is something I read about getting for the production of a product, do have any thoughts on this? 4. Should I expect the company to have a export license? Or do they typically have export agents? 5. I see you mentioning the LLC for the company but more specifically for products with more liability. Would you recommend this for products of lesser liability like mine? 6. In verifying the company, I learned that I should ask for customer testimonies or companies that they represent. A company I am looking at will not provide a customer list, should I be concerned? 7. Should I only get products from the manufacturer, or do you think trade companies are acceptable as well. I was told to try to source only from the manufacturer, but it seems like the manufacturers I am considering are all Manufacturing/trade companies which I assume are also larger companies. Do you have any thoughts on this? Thank you and ALOHA from Hawaii.

Robert, a detailed question sheet so here goes the answers which will hopefully help you! 1. Standard practice for the factories to ask for many times the worth of the product. This weeds out the buyers looking for freebies. Most factories will agree to refund the costs off your order when you place it. 2. Courier account is pretty standard. I did however have a bad experiance with one company using my DHL account to send samples out at my cost. I normally ask for them to quote the shipping with the samples and pay both together. 3.Quality control is a good thing if its a product that needs it. If your talking to a company that makes water bottles then I think the samples you check out should be ok to run with. You need to find out what grade of aluminium they use to make sure its a food grade one. 4.If the factory does not have an export license then you will have to go through an agent. Down fall here is obviously another middle margin and some agents tend to deal with many factories so they may switch from one to another depending on the price they get. 5. I'm based in Australia. I always incorporate a company for my business dealings as it gives me tax breaks on the VAT/GST when its applied to goods i import. 6. I wouldn't give out my customer base either. You might own a water bottle factory and try to undercut me! 7.Go with the manufacturers when you can. Its a much cleaner deal when theres just the two of you in the mix. Heres a couple of factories for you to check out. Remember the golden rule, everyone needs to make money so be courteous toall that you deal with. As a 2nd year gold supplier myself I cant believe how rude some people are. http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/750ML-aluminum-water-bottle_1982317789.html?s=p http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/BSCI-Factory-Promotional-Aluminum-Water-Bottle_60125395901.html Both have FDA approval. Good luck Jim

I come from a Chinese factory, we don't accept PayPal just because the buyer protection in US. If a fraud order our products via PayPal and then open disputes, we get nothing even when we submit the evidence. To avoid the risk, you can choose C/C for large amount transfer.

So you are only using Alibaba as a guide? You are not suggesting we purchase from their site?

Thank you so much Will.. Really I am so happy, Thank God for finding your article, it is really great help. I just want to know is fulfilment by amazon same as dropshipping? If yes, it is a good one and safe? Secondly if no, is it advantageous to use that system of course after having ordered samples and check then sending the shipments there? Thank you a lot for your assistance.. May God Bless u and Guide u.

Hello there, awesome article by the way. seriously. But i've got a question for you. It is about shipping fee. I really don't get how private people at all can sell from ebay and make a profit. Lets say a german guy imports sunglasses and sell them for 10 dollars each. He buys them for 4 dollars and make a 6 dollars profit. Eventhough, here goes my question: if you are selling on ebay and the buyer is from any other country but german then the seller must ship the sunglass to the buyer and pay a ridiculous¨shipping fee? the shipping fee will be like 20 dollars+. but the profit was 6 dollars so now its 20-6=-14dollars? How are people doing this? this might be a stupid question but i really don't get the logic here. /Mikkel

hello ihave ordered twice from aliexpress. haven't received either order yet. I bought a small quanity- 10 of each item. I opted for "free shipping" and the product is in china. I am wondering if I order and pay for the Fed Ex shipping would they take the order more serious and would I get it? thanks please help really trying here

Hi Will, great read! Inspirational in fact! I'm english and it's maybe an American expression but I'm not really understanding the "low-ball to anchor the price" comment. Do you mean go in lower than you are prepared to pay so they can bid you up and feel they've won?? I've booked on the trading session so looking forward to that. Many thanks Jill

HI THIS IS AREALY INTERSTING AND HELPFULL ARTICLE . I AM ALSO DOING SOME WORK TO START MY ONLINE BUSINESS AND WAS LOOKING FOR SOME IMPROTANT POINTS. THIS ARTICLE IS VERY HELPFULL.

Hello! Awesome info. There is a product I am very interested in working with but cannot find any on alibaba with a gold member standard nor a verified supplier status. I am so frustrated bc I really want to order this product. I have emailed an unverified supplier in S Korea explaining my lack of confidence. Any ideas? THANK YOU!! Looking forward to the webinar!

Hi Will, First of all, I gotta say really enjoyed reading your insight and thanks for sharing it. My question is when you request a sample of simple product should I expect the supplier to pay for everything including shipping? Are there any key words that really grab attention of these Asian suppliers. Let me know. Thanks

Do you have to have a DBA to start up on alibaba? Is there anyway around this??

Hi Will, I am just contemplating doing some business on Amazon and have been following your advise to find the best product to sell but I am overwhelmed, can you help with any one product to I could start with? Thank you James

Hi Will. Thanks for this amazing article...answered a lot of questions. Could you give me a ballpark timeline on how long it takes for an order to arrive from across the seas to the midwest? And approx. how much it cost for your initial orders from your article here. Like if I ordered 30 coffee mugs?

Hi Will, Enjoyed reading the article..very excited to read the follow up. However, one thing that's intriguing is - how/why did you lose money 'most' of your money in other future ventures? Didn't the 2 - 3 years of solid build up experience teach/protect you from failures in the future ventures? I'm not a very risk taking person, I'm trying to understand what/how went wrong in your subsequent ventures, which made you lose most of the money. Thanks much in advance for sharing your knowledge and experience!

very nice article. I am an entrepreneur myself, i have been to china, i currently am importing from China, i sell on ebay, my 7th account ;) and amazon, I also have 3 retail kiosks in the mall, I have some really great ideas and i am looking to work or collaborate with some like minded people. I would like to talk to you and pick your brain and you can do the same. send me an email if you are interested. Thanks.

Thank you for this article! I have a question about shipping from China. I have ordered my product, and the supplier asked for my FedEx number so they can ship it to me. Do you have any idea what they are asking for? Do I need to sign up for a certain FedEx account or something? Please help me, I'm stuck! Thank you!

what about these barcodes? Do I need a barcode or upc to sell these items. I do not have a upc of my own.

Hi will, i would like to know if you ever ordered in bulk like 10000 items for instance, how it was delivered and how did you go pick up the stuff?

You can request for the FREE copy of this CD at and make your business grow from an acorn to a mighty oak. When setting up a description on You - Tube, place your URL at the start. The main issue is, nobody is all SEO experts, exactly how should we optimize our sites for SEO when we hardly understand it ourselves.

Thank you for sharing! I'm in the start up process right now of looking for a good niche, going back and forth between beauty products and jewelry. This article has been very inspirational :)

Wow, super helpful article! Thank you! I am Amazon FBA seller and just starting my import business. I'm on a very tight budget...would you mind giving me some ideas of products to start with for less than a buck? ;-)

Hi, thank you so much for helping our and writing this blog. it really helped me out A LOT! I do have one problem though and i'm sure i'm not the only one. I can't seem to be finding an item to sell. I don't know where to start. I looked through the amazon movers and shakers, but it's really hard to find any of those items on Alibaba. Looking forward to hearing from you! thanks again, Meir

Thank you very much for sharing your experience online, really i found the way to start the business with this blog. Kindly let me know how can i reach you in terms of business queries. Thank you.

Wow, great read!! So helpful. I'm ready to order my first product from China soon. I have a very tight budget starting out. Can you give me a few ideas of small items I could get for under $4.00 (cost, plus shipping) and turn around and sell for 13 - 17 bucks? Right now, I'm looking at water bottles, a lot of different silicone products and small kitchen items. Thanks!! I would appreciate your reply. ;)

Thank you so much for sharing all of this information. I have found a cell phone accessory I would like to sell at craft fairs, trade days ect.. What are the legalities of selling a product I purchased from China then re-selling it - do I need to know what company made the actual product - would I be violating any copyrighting/patent/royalties another company may have? If the accessory happens to be a fake/nock off are the any laws I would be breaking? Thank you in advance for your assistance.

hey.. i have question...if anyone can answer it for me, will be highly appreciate that... i have listed up a hoodie for sale (auction starting at o.99c) starting at sat 5pm for 10 days . didnt get a single bid for 10 days. next time i came up with a mountain bike (used) perfect condition.. good photographs...but no bids again.. is it because i am new on ebay and i dont have much reviews? i have just one positive feedback from a seller .

When your importing do you have to pay huge shipping costs on top of the per item rate for products? Just curious about what I should expect in that area of it. Thanks for the great article!

hey I've come accross this chinese supplier he doesn't accept paypal nor escrow. BUT he is a 9 year gold supplier has complete assessments and I CAN'T find anything on google that says that they have scammed anyone. nor have their names been listed at alibaba scammers . they are true manufacturers so should I go for it. My heart tells me yes even though it's gonna be my first time transacting not through paypal

If you can accept the risk, do it!

yes i stardet and i find suppliers and their sent my quotations and i am waiting to sent my crt catalog but i dont know with wat price i will list product in ebay amzon etc tell my how i now and supplier to sent price of product and charge of me

What type of ebay account should I use to sell? I already have a personal account tho. And do i need to get a license to sell on ebay like sell alot on ebay? What happens when the tax filing comes? Youre suppose to report everything on irs right.

I have to say this is the best article I've read, by far, on importing from Alibaba. One tip I can give that I don't think has been brought up yet: If you have any computer/design/engineering skills offer to work with the Chinese for a while. They pay comparable or more than US firms and you will pick up on how to talk and deal with them VERY quickly. I was fortunate enough to have this kind of opportunity but it is really not hard, having a US trained engineers on staff is almost a status symbol for the larger companies and will open a lot of doors, if you can't find the products you need with the family you work with (They tend to be extremely oriented toward family ties in business), then you will learn how to present yourself to other manufacturers. Also: It's worth noting you are selling your story and your company to a manufacturer, even though you are technically their customer you can never forget this. Will: I've been a fan a long time, keep it up 'cause most the entrepreneur blogs lose sight of what's real.

I placed a reasonably small order from a seller I found on alibaba. I communicated with them through my personal email and after an exchange of about 40 emails we made a deal. I sent them my payment...less than 500 bucks.This was to cover the order and shipping thru DHL. They sent me tracking number which does not work. I contacted my seller only to have my email bounce back as undelivered. This happened 3 times. I went back to Alibaba and used the contact option only to receive a new quote (lower price btw) from a different agent name. I tried my original contact email a 4th time and found success. I was told that my order was in customs not to worry. That was 3 days ago. I just now contacted seller for an update and received this in response. Dear Vikki, So sorry to inform you of your orders were hold in customs. And you need to pay for tariffes. I am dealing with it these days. I can't encounter the issue just like your order situation, i am feel sorry for you. I have paid 80% tariffe with my last salary and commision, but still don't enough. Would you pls pay for 20% for yourself, that is $ 180. Customs will release your orders when you pay for $180. So sorry for that. How about your opinion about it???? Looking forward to your reply,tks best wishes celia So...just tell me...I can take it. I am screwed right? What do I need to next? I am determined to make this a success so quitting is not an option for me. I believe we live and learn. Any advice guys?

hey guys, how do i get into the workbook spread sheet. what do i have to do??

I really like what you guys tend to be up too. This type of clever work and exposure! Keep up the good works guys I've included you guys to our blogroll.

Hi Will, thanks so much for this... i stumbled upon your article after having bumped into an older guy who is staying at my hostel. He's made some money selling high priced steam showers. Now he's onto luxury sinks. My question: How do I find out what's hot and selling on my local Amazon site? Just because a products has only few or no ratings at all, does it automatically mean theres no demand for it? Best regards out of Salt Lake City. Steve

Steve, I think you'll find this article useful: https://startupbros.com/step-by-step-guide-on-how-to-find-a-profitable-product-to-sell/

Hi Will! Thanks very much for a very informative blog which I read it again and again when I work with my start-up project. Yet a question raised for me in the legal aspects. Since we just start the business with small stock shipped from China, can you suggest a company who are willing to handle the importing procedure for us? For example, DHL/ Fed-ex, can they handle this matter and is it mandatory that we must be a company to import the goods to US? Thanks very much! Chloe

A lot of times you can use your supplier's shipping account for the first several orders. Flexport is great for handling customs and stuff like that.

Hello, If I live in Canada, can I find a way to ship to people in the US at a competitive rate ? The Canadian Amazon is not interesting, so can I still follow the advgices you give and succeed even if I am in Canada ?

Hi Meryem, Absolutely! Actually, some of our more successful clients live in Canada. This method can be used anywhere in the world. It's just a matter of selling into countries with healthy markets.

Thank you for your repply. Now I am a bit confused : should I sell on the Amazon.ca to canadians, or should I sell on Amazon.com to americans. If I sell to people in the US I am afraid of the shipping costs. Do you have any ideas about how to lower those costs while shipping from Canada to the US ? Thank you !

Moreover, you talked about your clients ? If I become a client it means you do some consulting with me ? How can I become a client and what are the costs ? Thanks again !

Hi will, great article! this might sound dumb but how does the shipping and handling work? A supplier is asking for $20 shipping on a $2 product. Would that $20 apply the same as if i ordered 100 units instead of 1? Or do they calculate it by quantity because paying $20 for S&H on a $2 product defeats the whole purpose. Any advice from you other readers is most welcome! =)

Thank Kyle for your advice? Can you share a draft estimation of how much percentage the shipping and custom will contribute to our cost in your experience?

Hi, I am sourcing product in China, they always ask me for shipping account which I don't have. Could you tell me how can I create shipping account? Thanks!

Hi Jimmy, shipping on samples is almost always WAY high. It will come down as you order more

Honestly, you should probably just be using your supplier's shipping account to get going

I do not even know how I stopped up here, but I thought this post was good. I do not understand who you might be but certainly you're going to a famous blogger if you aren't already. Cheers!

Just starting out with the import/e-commerce business. When ordering samples or product from a supplier, what address do you use for shipping - your home/business or a P.O. box? Thanks!

can u recommend any company to buy accesories for phones, and led light bulbs?

Your home is fine, so is the PO box. Factories won't care

Use alibaba.com to find one ;)

Hi, Great article! I have dabbled a little on Alibaba but mostly with the wholesale side. I recently read your article and started stripping my searches down to Gold Suppliers only, but Ive found it a little difficult to find many Gold suppliers who take Paypal. Most are T/T L/C Haven't done huge shipments from China since we dabbled in the knockoff market in shoes until Ebay shut us down. we were using Western Union in the $2000 range per shipment. Luckily we never got scammed but that is still my biggest fear. Is Paypal the only way you would purchase a large order now even if they have the Trade Assurance Program?

Hello,everybody here,I'm Gavin,I found this blog occasionally. I am a supplier in China & I think Mr.Will Mitchell's viewpoints are not 100% correct, at least many points I'm sure he is wrong ! Firstly, I'm very surprised so much guys are confused the problems that we think they're too simple & clear & normal. I'm writing this message is only for eliminating the misunderstanding between you&us, and for knowing more friends here. I don't wish to get business here. 1. Many good suppliers are not in Alibaba. The current Alibaba is not 10 years ago's Alibaba. Many suppliers don't like it. 2. "Golden suppliers "in Alibaba don't stand for " they are good suppliers" . Anybody pay 20,000RMB per year to Alibaba, you can be Golden supplier. So,Golden suppliers only stand for they have money, don't stand for they can supply good quality, good service, good transport. 3. About Paypal, nobody like to use it in China. There are many reasons. I only say using Paypal or not, don't care about the suppliers credit. 4. I read some messages following this blog. I think I can answer almost questions. Because they're too simple & normal for a professional supplier in China. If anybody have the questions, I'm glad to answer you. 5. @Mr.Will Mitchell, I hope we can communicate each other. My email: [redacted]

I agree but nobody likes to ACCEPT paypal even in the US, it is needed to protect the buyer sometimes

You can buy from me and i will let you earn more money

sorry, I can't find the onsite checked box on alibaba

You have to have a registered company just to sign up for Alibaba?

Hi thank you so much it is very valuable to me all that is written. I dont have a website and not computer savy but other than that quite wise enough to know yr words are true and valuable. I wanted to start a business as I have natural Talend to pick good things and yr article is very good. what made u part with this knowledge I wonder? Mostly people wouldn't? Unless u r a good soul? Thank you from my heart. God bless u

Good question. Where can I see the answer to this?