2047 Comments (page 21)

Hey Barbara, we would love to help you out anyway we can. You can email bros @ startupbros dot com and ask any question you want!

Good Morning Will! What a smarty pants you must be, starting out as early as you did and making your way thru to financial freedom early in life. I am so happy for you! I found you thru James Altuchers book Side Hustle Bible, and I am also making my way thru your blog articles. Question: If money is very tight would the trip to China with you and your team in April '19 be overwhelmingly worth the price of admission into the business of importing? I think being in the company of those who think differently/larger than I, and the individual help from your team the answer would be a resounding yes! Thank You, H.

Hey Heidi, thanks for reaching out! And thanks for reading the article! Let's talk a little more about the trip in our chat. http://www.sourcingsummit.com/ if you go to the link we are available to chat whenever you have a moment :)

Hi Will, first of all thanks a lot for the article. Very interesting! At one point you are mentioning "If the factory can ship to my customers for me and handle returns, my business is next to automated." Please could you elaborate it further? Thanks a lot!

Everything I have found I would like to sell has a name that loiks like a brand. Am I able to sell that here in America under my business name then?

Hey Colleen, yes you absolutely can :) Create your own brand and create a better listing than the competitors. If you have any other questions let us know!

Hey Luigi, Yea I can expand on that! It's possible to have your supplier properly package and ship your products either directly to your customer, a fulfillment warehouse or Amazon warehouses. From there the fulfillment warehouse or Amazon would send your products to the customer and handle the customer service. There are companies like fbainspection.com that can work as the middlemen between your supplier and the warehouses. They're the ones that will pick up your products and prepare them to go into inventory. Is there something more specific I can help you with?

What kind of margins are you looking for? Is there a minimum profit you are targeting? For example is a product that you can buy for 20 and sell for 40 worth doing? Do you aim slightly higher ticket? How would you compare that to a product you can buy for 5 and sell for 20? Thanks

I’m really impressed by this article. I thank you for the effort you put into making this a public knowledge, this would have cost the reader but you made it free all the same... Thanks! My name is Fortune and i have been so interested in imports especially from China or Vietnam but the the thing i don’t live in the US where Ebay and Amazon serve as a huge platform to promote what i intend to be selling Could you guide me on how to be able to sell my goods locally in my country and still make good profit? I will be expecting your reply and many thanks in advance. My email again is [redacted]

Hey Fortune thanks for reaching out! I would love to help out. Have you checked out our Amazon article: https://startupbros.com/how-to-sell-on-amazon-fba/ There is a section about selling on Amazon while living outside the us. I think it will be extremely useful. If you have any questions at all please let me know and reach out via email bros@startupbros(dot)com

Hi Will Excellent piece you have wrote very honest and free from any bull! I have a product I mind but cannot seem to be able to find anyone on Alibaba who is able or willing to supply it - perhaps it’s something I’m doing wrong , the product isn’t super complicated so I’m not sure what the problem is . Perhaps I could email you a photo of the product.. I was thinking maybe the product is patented or something. Brian

Hey Brian thanks for the great comment! We're happy you liked the article :) Email us bros@startupbros(dot)com and we can help you out.

I used to import shoes from china and sell them on eBay. They hardest thing was finding and trusting a supplier. This is a great article and a very useful guide.

Does this works only in the us

No way! It can work from anywhere in the world!

How do you take into account the taxes in each country?

I found your article to be quite informative. I have a couple of questions about Alibaba. How do you know if a seller is a Gold Member? There are 5 things listed under the sellers name. I would think the first one is how many years they have been in business. What are the other 4?

Hi Will, Thanks a lot for your detailed guideline. I've been importing from Asia for 20 years. I want to share some lessons I drawed from previous failures. About supplier sourcing, buying from non-gold members is not enough. For most of the products I purchased, I still met all kinds of problems even I purchased from gold suppliers. Sometimes the sizes are completely wrong, sometimes the colors are not what I ordered, sometimes the product became all rusty or with numerous untrimmed threads, scratches, poor painting, etc. It's therefore very important to send a third-party inspection company to help you verify everything before paying the balance to your suppleirs. Be alert! Thre are even some pitfalls when you are choosing a third-party inspection company. My suggestions are: 1. Not to use a freelance or part-time agent. 2. Not to use small inspection companies or the one who offers you unreasonably low price. 3. Not to use the one without all of the necessary certification. The reason is that it's quite possible for these inspectors to receive money from the factory under the table and not report you the major defect. Use an organised professional one who offers you reasonable price. (Btw, the reasonable price is around 270-280 USD/man-day). About the payment, paying only by paypal is not the best solution. Once the supplier turns out to be a scam, it still takes a lot of time and energy to get the money back. The best way is to verify the supplier before placing an order. About the samples – I'm sure some of you have the same experiences. Sometimes the production lot is completely different from the samples you received. My suggestion is to make a pp sample before production. Besides, write all of your comments and details about the sample in the contract and ask your manufacturer to sign and stamp. About the MOQ. I came acroos many situations that the MOQ is at least 1000 or sometimes even 3000. The truth is, if the product you want to buy is their standard product, it’s ok to purchase at a low quantity. But if the manufacturer needs to make a new model for the product, the MOQ is usually high and model fee must be paid.

Ross this is incredible! Thank you so much for your insight :)

Hey Parth, the only country you need to worry about paying taxes for is your own. You wouldn't owe taxes to a country you don't live in. Only your own.

Hello Will instead of dropshipping I can buy inventory and just send from my home?

Yes, you absolutely can. We wrote an article about that called How to sell on Amazon :) You can buy inventory, send it to your house and sell it online.

So we have an article titled "Is Alibaba Safe" You should check it out because we go over so much there about Alibaba. So to answer your question if you look at any listing on Alibaba, then focus on the right hand side you can see "Gold Supplier, Onsite Check and Trade Assurance" All those are the most important things to look for on an Alibaba listing.

Hi, Will Thank you for your valuable information. I am currently selling on ebay. Some advanced sellers said that the competition on ebay nowadays is too difficult, too saturated and there is no point to sell on ebay low-cost products (commodities), some sellers sell only furniture, tools to make a decent profit? What do you think? Is there a point to sell commodities or to sell furniture, tools, home & garden, to make a decent profit? I am looking forward to your response, Will. Have a great day ahead! Best Regards, Chris

Hey Chris we don't recommend selling on ebay because the prices are lower there. But the important thing is not the price of the product you sell but the margin of the product. If you can buy something for $8 and sell it for $16 then it might be worth it to sell it on eBay. Furniture and larger items have less competition than smaller items but it might not be easy for you to import. You want to find products that you can import profitably without much headaches. Does that make sense?

Hi Will I'd like to know if you have any research on how to do this in the Nigerian market where I am currently looking starting. I'd be glad to read from you

Hey Will, I can't thank you enough for this, you helped me gather all the info I need within almost just one link. With that being said, I just have a question about Taxes. Being a US resident who has an income is supposed to pay taxes, I have indeed gone through the comments and read that you mentioned "any order that is below $800 doesn't get taxed", but I' am talking here about my profit, my income. don't I need to have my own Corporation? and I'm hoping one day I will be buying bulk purchases that are going to pass $800. So, what I'm saying is, do I need a corporation im only buying and selling samples in the beginning? and would I be able to get it later when I start making big purchases? should i just get it now? or am I not even going to need it? thanks in advance.

Hey benedict, product research is the same no matter where you are in the world. Is there any major factories or products that are unique to your country that you know American buyers would be interested in?

Because you are a US resident, you are able to start a business as an individual. There is no need to start a corporation or anything. You can focus on starting small and making sales. Once you make enough money in sales you can incorporate as an LLC. But let's say that you make $1000 in a year, as an individual you can report it as part of your income when you file taxes. Any money you make is part of your income for the year. There is no need to create a corporation.

Hey Mitchell, A great article and it has really motivated me and given me a clear direction for starting my own business. I have few questions and it would be great if you can answer them: 1. I have identified some products which do not fall under niche category but definitely are innovative products which are solving customer problems and not available in the market. Would you recommend to start with these products? 2. How should i calculate the selling cost of the product? like how much margin should i add and how to factor customs cost, import taxes etc.? 3. While selling on Amazon, were you registered as an individual or a registered company? I have plans to expand the distribution business to offline stores also and might have to register as a company. How should i go about it? Thank you so much. Regards, Shantanu

So in all, how much could be the minimum capital? Per considering small size products and a MOQ of 5-15.

Hey Fred, so if you're in the United States. Let's say for an order of 15 at $6 USD per product you're looking at $90 USD for the order, no import taxes on orders less than $800 USD. Then opening an Amazon account is $40 per month. And you want to spend some money on PPC ads like $50 to test the sales of the product. You can spend $180 on your first order and potentially still make a small profit assuming you can sell for 3x cost which is the minimum you should sell a product for.

Hi Will Great blog. A bunch of us here in South Africa are planning to start-up a business just like this and your blog has given us great inside info. We are planning to launch our own e-eCommerce platform (just because we got a guy or two in our group knowing stuff about this) for selling to the customers. The Rand Dollar exchange rate and import duties might be our biggest stumbling block to overcome. Thanks, Stefan

Hey Stefan, thank you so much for reaching out and reading the article! What you're starting sounds awesome. It sounds like you have some smart people working with you. I wish you all nothing but the best. If you run into anything you think I can help with please come back and send me a message!

Hey Shantanu, thank you so much for reading the article and for reaching out. I would love to answer your questions! Just a friendly reminder that if you run into any more questions or need any help at all don't hesitate in sending me an email to will@startupbros(dot)com. I love hearing from readers! A lot of your questions I answer in my huge Amazon article: https://startupbros.com/how-to-sell-on-amazon-fba/ In there you'll find answers to calculating costs, how to find products and everything about listing your products. But to answer your questions, I'll start in order... 1. In general you never want to start selling a product that has no history of selling because it's new. Something I was considering reading your question was if it's possible to sell something that's similar or in the same area of product that has a history of selling. Then once you prove the market works you can add your new product to the catologue. Does that make sense? 2. at a minimum you want to sell your products 3x cost. Usually when you sell for 3x cost there's enough for a profit. 3. You can start as an individual seller. On Amazon it doesn't matter if you're a registered company or not. You can be an individual seller with a brand name on your products. What you might want to register is your brand with Amazon, so no one else can sell products with your brand name, once you're making sales but don't let it stop you from starting. If you create your own website and start selling in physical stores what you can do is create an LLC with your brand name. I hope this all makes sense. If you have any more questions at all please don't hesitate to respond back or send me an email with all your questions.

Will, Thank you for sharing your insights. I have a couple questions related to business "structure", liability, and insurance. 1) When starting an import operation, would you recommend registering/starting an official "business" right off the bat? Or, just begin purchasing and reselling small quantities under the table until you reach a level where income and business taxes should not be ignored? 2) If you recommend starting an official "business" how would you recommend structuring the business? As a limited liability company, corporation, sole proprietorship, etc? Why? 3) My third question relates to liability. For example, say that I discover halogen light bulbs are a very profitable product. I proceed to ship out hundreds of light bulbs to customers. Later on down the road, these light bulbs are determined to have started house fires or caused some other sort of damage and my customers are now pursuing legal action against my operation for damages (official business or otherwise). How do I mitigate this risk and protect myself and my operation? Do you recommend purchasing general liability insurance right away? Or is it simpler and more cost effective to identify products that are, in general, safer. Such as cutting boards or blankets or something like that. Ultimately, how do you protect yourself and your operation from liability? 4) How do I find cheap packaging for my products? Thank you for your time.

Hi Will I enjoy reading all your marital. I'm a Disable Veteran. I can't work do to my combat injury. I was hoping you could help me to get an Amazon business started. I have bought some products from a supplier at a real whole sale type price. I can charge less on Amazon and Ebay make a real good income if the products sell. I need help getting started I'm a fast learner. I know your time is very value. Any help you can give me would be great. Hope to hear from you. I would tell you the product here but some one may copy what I'm doing. I think i have a real good supplier I also sent you an email.

There are a lot of comments here stating about the need to genuinely check your products on the ground prior to shipping. Alibaba even offer a check to conduct this service. It's around $100 (in my mind far too cheap) I mean would you be willing to travel to a factory, conduct a detailed inspection and write a report, all for less than 100 USD a day? I am not saying its a bad service. But when looking for quality issues, in my opinion, it's better to spend a bit more cash on a QC service while the products are in China than when they are on your customer's doorstep. I found out the hard way and am in the process of refunding a number of my customers due to the quality issues that have been found. Of course, I will be resourcing the products that I have already found work well. Anyway, the reason I am leaving a comment here is, first of all, to say thanks to Start-Up Bros as it was one of the first website blogs that gave me a wealth of information and confidence to go and actually do what needed to happen with my eCommerce business. And secondly for the information in this very blog post. Its all quality stuff. But I would ask that anyone reading this really does their due diligence when it comes to QC in China. I have actually now gained an agency in China that re-sourced the components that I knew sold well, and although their services are more expensive than the ones offered on Alibaba's own self-checking site, they really do drive to the heart of the quality. And much like this blog post, they have a lot of information contained within their blogs about quality in China, and how and why to conduct QC. Don't get stung like I did with poor quality stuff. 350-400 USD a day for a good decent report is a lot less than I am now paying for returns. Just for full clarity and openness, I am putting their website here, to help others. Not to advertise their service (which by the way is very good). There are numerous agencies in China that can help you check product. This is the one I have gone with. merchsprout.com

Hi Will. I am Ben, from Cameroon. I am very interested to start a local business in my country with importing goods from Alibaba/AliExpress. Thank you for your article which is giving good advices and orientations. I tried to set a dropshipping business recently but I faced issues related to the payment tools that are not working in Africa. I wish to get more advices and support from you, if possible. Thanks for your feedback.

Hi Will Thank you so much for this article. You are really helping people’s lives and giving me the courage and the knowledge to start up my own. I have a question relating to Amazon. Will I get a good reception from amazon customers if I decide to manually post my products at the post office instead of relying on amazon FBA which offers the customers the benefits of amazon ONE day delivery? I noticed that this is what the customers want, especially when a monthly subscription is paid. I’m just starting out; experimenting with products and cannot start amazon FBA until i have found the right product, supplier etc. Can I still make sales without these benefits? God Bless

Hello, Thank you so much for you informative article. Can I ask about the amazon account. Do I have to have a business amazon account to sell on amazon or just a normal amazon account is ok? Thank you

Thank you Me and my girlfriend have been thinking about doing this for a while because I'm sick of physical labour and would love to do something that makes extra money or even turn into a full-time thing. Like you said finding that product that works for me that someone hasn't already got is the hard thing. We just want to spend about $500 for now and buy a few things to try it out and get them sent here in NZ and then resend to a customer. Your write up was very easy to understand even for me lol, it was much appreciated. We thought about make up because that is a constant seller and is light weight but I guess we will search Ali and have a good look, it's exciting but man, there's a long way to go. Cheers Mike

can i ask, what products can i not sell from Aliexpress? like beauty products, etc ?? or does it not matter :)

Will, appreciate all the info. I had a business flipping products on ebay and amazon fueled by the supply chain issues during the pandemic. I sent you an email on making another go at e-commerce. Look forward to your thoughts. Cheers mate 🍻

Hi Will. Thank you for the informative article. The sample prices for products seems to be quite high. I have a product idea that would sell for approx 10-12 dollars. The supplier is looking for 20 dollars per sample plus 55 dollars for shipping. Would you offer less than 10 dollars for the sample in this scenario?

Don't negotiate on samples, rookie move. If you're haggling over hundreds of bucks, suppliers will assume you're a small fry. Get quotes from a few people to make sure you're not being ripped off, then pull the trigger on the best (not cheapest) one.

Thanks for the article! I am an aspiring entrepreneur and online seller too. What product categories worked for you and which ones do you suggest to avoid? Thank you :)