2047 Comments (page 8)

It is very good articel! I live in Estonia and I want to start selling products made in China but there is big problem. I want to sell them in Ebay and Amazon but the delivery for example to England or somewhere in Europe costs A LOT. Should I forget my dream?

Hi Will, First of all, great post! It was really helpful. You said at one point that you could write an entire post just on negotiating...please do!

Sorry Sriram, I just noticed I completely misread your question :-D I don't know of any tools to get the sales history for Amazon, but there is an awesome one for eBay (which they operate themselves) called Terapeak. It's the best product analytics tool out there, and you'll be able to pull all the data you want (and more). Here's an affiliate link, if you're feeling nice :) - https://startupbros.com/terapeak Hope this helps!

Thanks a lot for the kind words Tim, I'm glad we could help! Awesome to hear you're taking action on it - feel free to comment or email if you run into any roadblocks. Good luck!

I don't think Jim is responding the everything anymore, but I am planning on doing a Q&A webinar with him soon! If you get our emails, you'll see it for sure :)

See my above comment Kevin - I'll be doing a Q&A with Jim soon!

Feel free to email me your questions or post them here Amanda! Just reply to one of the emails you get from us :)

Email me any time Gabriel, just reply to one of our emails :)

Glad you enjoyed the article Curtis! I stored my products in my house originally, and eventually started dropshipping. I actually still have some products in my garage that I never sold :) It's not too expensive to get a little bit of warehouse space, or a storage unit, or even pay a friend to use some spare room. If you get to the point you need to do that, you should be making enough to cover it anyways. You can sell multiples of the same product, I think that's probably the right approach :) Hope this helps!

No problem Schrader, happy I can help! Maybe we'll charge one day, but not this time :-D

^^^great advice!

And I'm lucky to have awesome readers like yourself Lakky! :)

Thanks for reading Pallavi! I started in 2003/2004. Things have changed quite a bit, some things are easier and some things are tougher for importers. But, the same can be said at any point in time :)

Glad you liked the article Azeem! It is a great community, I'm lucky to have them around :) Good luck on your business!

No prob, freshie burn 8-)

Absolutely! If you get big enough, money management starts to play a big factor :)

This is an amazing article!!! I have a couple questions though. I have been looking around on alibaba for a while. A couple weeks before I read this. My product is Damascus knives. How would you go about asking for lower price and drop shipping? Also, what are your suggestions with dropshipping on alibaba? Will most sellers do it for free? Thanks! GK

When importing, do you have to do anything with customs and border protection? Like register, or pay taxes, or fill out some kind of paperwork? I'm excited about the prospects, but worried I'll make one mistake and end up in trouble. Thanks in advance!

Absolutely! :)

No problem Olya, happy I could help! China post is good, they do take longer to ship but they are solid. If you're shipping paper, it's going to be REALLY heavy though. I'm not sure if you can get cheaper prices locally, but be sure to shop around! Good luck :)

Thanks Enoch, glad you liked the article! Haha, no I'm not affiliated with AliBaba in any way - I don't even own any of their stock! :) Awesome idea for a post column, I'll definitely put that in my list of articles to write! Thanks for the idea :)

Awesome to hear you're getting started and taking action May - don't be discouraged by that! At 18, you're way ahead of the game. Yes, labels can be tough in the US. I know this from my failed T-shirt business :) You can hire companies over here to label the shirts for you, or you can get your supplier to do it. There are suppliers out there that will do that kind of work for an extra fee, but it sometimes drives the MOQs up. I'd also look into if anybody is even getting in trouble for that law. If it isn't being enforced, I wouldn't worry about it. There may also be loopholes, like if you put a disclaimer or something. Just do your research and keep your eyes open to opportunity. Hope this helps!

Thanks Pete, glad you liked it! They will usually mail the samples if you push them to, but some suppliers don't like to. You can generally give them your account number and it is safe, but if you don't want to do that you can set up the UPS pickup yourself, or just tell them you won't do it unless they mail it... Hope this helps!

Customs and duties and all that fun stuff isn't too tough in the U.S., but it is in some countries around the world. Generally, you're shipping company will have a customer brokerage that will help you to get it through for a small fee. As you get bigger and more regulated products, it gets more complicated - but in general, it won't be close to the hardest part of importing :)

Haha, I actually imported Damascus knives and swords for a while when I was younger - good times :) You can't really dropship from overseas, it needs to be domestic. The best thing I've seen is to get hooked up with a distributor or somebody closely affiliated with the factory, and go with them. It's never free, but you can find factories out there that have great dropshipping programs built out. Hope this helps!

Ouch, that hurts Rick! What was the reason that they hit you with that $600? Shirts are actually surprisingly regulated, especially ones with multiple fabrics. I've honestly never had a problem importing them though, and definitely never a charge of over $1/shirt. I'd be interested to hear what exactly is was for. Also, did you speak with DHL about customs before shipping? Your shipping company will usually charge you ahead of time for the customs charges they expect to incur...

Awesome to hear that Steve, I give you one thanks for each time you read it :) I do marketing consulting on a case-by-case basis, although I've been trying to get away from it. I still have a few close clients though that I'll always help :) Feel free to email me though, I'm always around to listen...

Oh, it's coming Lucas :)

Thanks for reading CK! Generally, I try to sell domestically before internationally. It may be easier to spread out in Europe than elsewhere, but I would still look at domestic markets first. It's always going to be cheaper to sell domestically than internationally.

Thanks Eric, yes you can definitely do that! In fact, I recommend it in my latest article :) Here's the link, maybe you can find some more value out of that - https://startupbros.com/import-why-you-cant-find-a-product/

I'm also glad you found our blog Mai! :) Awesome to hear you're taking action on this article... The only way to see the volume of an item sold is through Terapeak, a product analytics tool that eBay owns. You can access and play with all of eBay's data for the past 5 or 10 years down to the keyword or specific product. Very powerful stuff! Hope this helps, and good luck :-D

Glad you liked it Winnie! You don't need UPC codes to sell on Amazon (last time I looked), you just have to find it manually. UPC codes are just the easiest way to enter in bulk SKU's :) You could also just create your own product listing if you wanted to, but that's a little tougher to promote. You can even buy UPC codes for relatively cheap, I believe less than $100. Hope this helps!

Glad you like our stuff Alex, thanks for the support! It's tough to know exactly what low/med/high volume is by the completed listings page. You have to almost get a feel for it, which is why I say you'll want to spend some time doing it before you even know how to find products. You can see the exact number of items sold per day/week/month/year/etc, and even look at historical trends and whatnot with a product analytics tool eBay owns called <a href="https://startupbros.com/terapeak" rel="nofollow">Terapeak</a.> - it's very cool :) I would do worldwide if you're planning on selling and shipping worldwide, which you probably don't want to do mainly. So search domestically if you can :) Good luck!

Sorry for all the questions Will.. just not sure on selling the same product at the same time when the branding is different... Cheers

Will, Great article. I found a product niche with great margins that I would like to start importing. In my intial communications with Alibaba suppliers I found there to be a lack of flexability with MOQ, high sample charges, and very high per unit shipping costs. I then switched over to browsing Aliexpress and found most of the same products that were on Alibaba for only a few dollars more and free shipping. What I don't understand is why people are paying more than double the price for these items on ebay and triple the price on Amazon? Is it because people don't know about or trust Aliexpress? Also, are Aliexpress sellers willing to offer discounts for larger orders? Thanks!

PLEASE REPLY WILL! 2nd attempt you mentioned you found airsoft company that worked great for you I'm also attempting to start a business somewhat like the one you had can you PLEASE share the companies name you worked with it will really help me! Thanks btw awesome article!

Glad you liked the article Tracy! You don't want to compete with Chinese sellers directly, it's usually a losing proposition. You can't drop ship from China either, it needs to ship domestically. Check out this post, I think it may help on the "how to compete" side of things - https://startupbros.com/import-why-you-cant-find-a-product/ Hope this helps!

Glad you liked it Tim, and good to hear from you again :) For the most time, any time there is a major brand printed on an item, or it is an exact copy of a branded product (think iPod) - it's counterfeit. If there is a company around to sue you for using their trademark or patent, then they will likely try. I don't know of any website to check for that though, sorry. Hope this helps anyways :)

Thanks Jonathan, glad you liked the article! AliExpress is trying to become an Amazon type of thing, but they won't ever compete with them. The shipping times can be as long as 21 days for items coming from AliExpress. It also carries all the risks and complications importing does, things the typical buyer doesn't want to think about. Most AliExpress sellers actually sell on AliBaba as well, or their suppliers do :) Hope this helps!

Starting to think that maybe trying just two different suppliers (brands) and selling from separate ebay profiles/stores will be my best option. Price according to quality of product and profit margin, plus market them on Ebay in very similar ways. Hopefully this way I will get the best idea of what the customers want, price range and what product they prefer.

Like I said in the article, airsoft guns are now illegal in China. It's significantly more expensive now, and there isn't much money to be made.

Thanks a lot Michael, glad you liked it! Airsoft is much tougher now that it is illegal in China, I wouldn't be able to recommend anybody you could still make money off of. I'm sure there are distributors out there willing to do low MOQs, or maybe even dropship. Finding suppliers is one of the tough parts :) Hope this helps!

Thanks a lot Shaun, happy to hear the article helped you out :) Great that you're taking action and have already find a product to test. To answer your questions - Yes, you want to sell from one eBay account. I believe they will ban you if you have multiple accounts. I would list your items at whatever you want to make on them, and then move it down if they don't sell. Eventually you'll find what's called the market clearing price, the minimum it will go for. You just do the same thing with Amazon... I think you're over-thinking it a bit - just list and see what happens! Good luck!

Glad to hear you liked the article and are taking action on it Melanie! I don't recommend setting up a legal entity for yourself until you're making enough consistent money to justify it. So, don't do it unless you think there will be money coming in for the next 6 months straight. It isn't your highest priority. I don't recommend any of Alibaba's competitors, they are all significantly easier to scam on. Any company trying to export will list on Alibaba first, so I don't see a point shopping around on their lesser-known competition. Factories in Asia are always willing to do modifications. Some are more expensive than others, and they usually require a higher MOQ. Check out my latest article, it talks about this - https://startupbros.com/import-why-you-cant-find-a-product/ You need to make sure that your supplier has their products certified, easy as that. Check this article for info on that - https://startupbros.com/how-to-avoid-scams-middle-men-and-fraud-on-alibaba/ Heavier items are much more expensive and risky in general. You have a higher tendency to damage it during shipping, and it costs a fortune to ship around defective items or returns or anything like that. The shipping costs can add up very quickly, especially if you get a bad batch of products, or deliver a bad batch to your customers. It can easily kill your business. Hope this helps!

Hi will, This post is really great! Especially the detailed rules for searching the right product. I'm living in China(native Chinese^^), and work as a freelancer building websites for my clients, or work as a contractor with USA companies. On the other hand, I have tried to do some affliate marketing, as I could build website myself. However, I find that takes a lot of time to do the writing and marketing. Maybe I'm good at communicating with Chinese people, but I'm not a good writer, especially English writing:) I also tried to sell something(adult products) in domestic market, but it's very competive oline and my supplier(they provide dropship though) apparently asks more money for even a single item. Anyway, it's a failure. So I think maybe I could start to sell stuff oversea. I didn't choose Aliexpress(it charges nothing to sell products there, but it may provide other charged service), as I think it's very competive there too. We have almost same products from similar suppliers from China. In addition, all sellers there are from China. You see, sometimes, people(usually a bit richer people) from other countries,e.g USA, may think Chinese products are of low quality, so they won't take a look at this site at all. So I have some other options here: 1). Sell stuff in ebay.com, or amazon.com, or ebay.de. I know it's going to competive too, but I haven't tried that. I know this kind of platform is always competive. I have a store at Chinese popular c2c site http://smiletrl.taobao.com/. I find it's very competive to sell these adult products there. So I'm wondering will I meet the same situation when I start my business at ebay or amazon? I mentioned ebay.de because I studied some German when I was at college. Maybe the English market is too crowded, so I could try the German Market. Of course, my German is not as fluent s English, but I think if there's real money inside the market, I could spend time/money in practicing it. Do you think it's wise for me to sell products in German market, given I don't have any oversea selling experience before? 2). Sell stuff on my own website. I could build ecommer sites by myself and add functionality, like the coupon, the email subscription, the cart, or other things that an ecommerce site requires. The challenge for me is to add products manually, and get product description (Although I'll have the same work to do with ebay, I don't want to do this since I have created a complex website.) Maybe I could copy those things from my supplier's website? Compared to those popular platform, e.g., ebay, my own website doesn't require much money to sell those products(ebay charges everything as I know.), but of course building my own website may require a lot of time and some other site design fee(I'm a back-end web developer). It won't so competive at my own website, but I need to get traffic for my own website. So which way do you think is a good fit for me? 3). Dropship or not. I have a friend, who builds websites by himself. He may have about 100 websites selling a lot of products. All his products are dropshipped. he finds products from Aliexpress, or some other Chinese platform and does dropship(It takes so much time to add all those products!). He may not earn a lot for each item, but he doesn't need to store any inventory, and no need to ship products himself. He also sell counterfeit products. as he said that the most profitable products he could get. However, considering I will ship products from China, as those dropship sellers do, there's not much shipping difference for me. Although they may have checper ship fee as they have been in this business for a long time. But apparently, I won't get much profit margin for each product, and my price have to be higher than those sellers online(they come from aliexpress, not alibaba. Alibaba usually does wholesale, most of them don't support dropship I think.). So, do you think I which way I should go? 4). Advantage and disadvantage. This post is talking about importing products from China for reselling in USA. But i'm in China right now:) I think the advantage for me is to get easier access/communication to different suppliers in China, while the disadvantage is I have to ship single items to my buyers at other countries for a relatively long time Do you have some advice about how I take use of this advantage and avoid the possbile disadvantage?. This is a really long comment. Thanks for your patience and time to read and perhaps answer it;) Thanks again!

Also, do you think it would be benifical to get a partner in USA? Maybe I could work with another reliable person in USA to make my business more smooth?

Hi, I made a comment a few days ago about importing Damascus knives and you said that was were you started too..... Well for the past 2-3 weeks I have been looking for a supplier and have contacted five of the top rated gold member sellers of my product on Alibaba. They have mostly all said they could do samples but that they would be like 150 dollars for one knife.... Could you help me find a good seller or tell me which one you used? Thank you BTW again, AWESOME ARTICLE! It helped me a lot when it came to what to do after I find my product.

Hi all , I am going to sell plastic item (10 x 1 x 1 cm) on Amazon .I have found chinese supplier however he is unable to put private logo/label/graphics onto it.I would like to customize my product.Now, I am considering sending my item to different manufacturer which would be able to put a private logo onto it.I haven't done it before and I don't know any manufacturer which can do that.Does anybody has any experience of doing it?Or it is better search for different supplier who would potentially offer this service ?

The market is probably much different than when I did it back in 2006, and like I said I only tried - I couldn't make a profit off of it. I was making money on Katana's for a while, but the volume wasn't there to keep doing it. Good luck!

If you're just trying to put simple designs on and your supplier refuses - it typically means they aren't the source of the product. I would definitely shop around a little bit and see if you can find a factory that will do what you want - then you can probably find the true manufacturer as well. Hope this helps!

Awesome, glad you liked the post - hope you got some value out of it! You can make money doing anything; affiliate marketing, import/export, door-to-door sales... As long as you can work your hardest at it every day for a long time, you'll make money on it. No matter what field you go into, you'll have a lot of failure. The difference in entrepreneurs is that they interpret failure differently, and it only motivates them more. You can do any one of your ideas, they are all viable business ideas. But again, you'll have a lot of failure in every one of them until you figure out what you're doing. I think it's much more important to think about what you could wake up and do for 12 hours a day, for several years straight. That will be much more important in the success of your business than the idea itself. Great business ideas are a dime-a-dozen, and don't hold up to the slightest dose of reality. They change instantly upon beginning to build them. Hope this helps, Will

Yea sure, it's always good to have business partners. But a partner for what exactly? What are they doing for you, and what are you doing for them? In general though, I'd assume it's good to have strong relationships in the US if you're doing business overseas. But don't neglect your domestic markets either, there may be more money to be made in China right now than the US...

Hi Will, Thanks so much for your above advice. They count a lot for me:) And yeah, I need to think about what an oversea partner would be beneficial for both sides. Right, the domestic market is large too, I will go through it. Thanks again!

Thank you do much - I had no idea how to get started, before I came across your post. Just have a few questions though: Is it possible to do this from other countries fx Denmark? Could I import stuff from China and sell it worldwide on eBay? Did you do that or did you only sell to the US? Should I just sell to Denmark? Mette

No problem, hope it helped! I have to tell you though, in the past 2-3 years, I've heard of more people making new money importing into China rather than exporting. I don't understand the markets well enough to make a play like that, but if you've lived there for a while you probably could!

Glad you liked the article Mette! I would recommend trying to sell domestically before doing anything international. If you had access to a top-of-the-line logistics chain/system, I would say you should compete on international shipping advantage. But, I'm assuming you can't ship worldwide cheaper than anybody else, so that's definitely not where you should try to compete.

Hah, thanks:) Well, I will try!

Let me know how it goes! Good luck :)

Nice bit of compilation, Will. I'm curious - what are you doing now to make money (if that's not too personal)?

Very Thanks for sharing your personal experience. This post is very helpful and useful for me. I want to know your suggestion or advice regarding target market (national or international) for me. I want to develop my own brand around apparel category within a niche. (I have not decided my product yet but hopefully soon) I am from Pakistan where eCommerce is growing but not saturated like USA and other countries. One of the main problems is that there is no online payment gateway here in Pakistan. (Other payment options are local banks, mobile services or cash on delivery.) So I can’t sell my product on big chains like ebay, amazon or etsy because I have no international online account. If I sell a product through my website to the international market then I can get good margins on different products due to currency differences.( $ 1 = PKR 100 ). ( I may use western union or money gram etc – would you suggest to use these services ?). Or if I sell locally then I can use local payment options but margin will be low. What would you suggest me in the long run (I want to develop my own big brand). Should I start selling products directly into the international market with big margins but with no online account. Or should I start locally with more control on all operations but with low margins? One more thing that I am a developer and can develop my ecommerce website and can market my website locally or internationally. Thank you.

Wow This is like winning the lotto. The info are on the dot and you expressed all the must know. I thank you so much for sharing your knowledge free. I was surfing the net this afternoon about import/export from china and look what I found, your site with ton of information and some of them never cross my mind if I were to ask an expert about import and export from china. Thanks a million for the kind hearted free information. Your are a very good person. God bless you Fatou

what is your comments of selling suitcases online. How popular to be sold online.

Hey man! Thank you for what you doing here. I have a question about UPC bar codes. If a product from China comes without any UPC (ect.), do you purchase UPCs for each item?

Hi Albert, suitcases online i think is a great idea. one thing though is your shipping alot of air. If it was me I would make up offers where i could stash smaller cases inside each other so no extra shipping costs (check weight restrictions) and a bigger invoice value for you. really easy to have small value added items to sell as well. Locks, straps etc. Good luck Jim

G'day all, its great to see so many budding importers on here sharing information. As a Gold supplier myself on Alibaba you need to be aware of the protocol when selecting and talking to potential suppliers. 1. If you send a message and it lacks any real detail with just a price request you are probably either not going to be answered in detail or taken very seriously. 2.Alibaba platform is about doing business. Chinese workers have to eat and factories have to make profits. It is unreasonable to expect them not to.You want to make a profit on the item your selling, why shouldn't they? 3. Don't be surprised that your price seems not that cheap. Everyone is catching up and China in particularly is going through an industrial revolution. Workers demand higher wages, standard of living and it all has to be passed on. It also highlights the slim margins some huge companies work on. Take the dollar store for example. When your selling it for $1.00 how much can you be making in profit once operating costs are taken out? less than i would be inclined to make an effort for. 4. Striking a price with your supplier: So you found the product and now your at the haggle stage. I work (from experience) that the first price i get i should be able to negotiate an extra 5-10% reduction. The key here in the word negotiate. Not screw. Most horror stories from young people getting ripped off in China starts when you ask for unrealistic pricing. Unreal price = unreal product (in a bad unreal way!) Try talking quantities, packaging options before you just try and drive the price down. Help them help you. Have a great time making money out there all. Remember, unless your very lucky you wont retire off the first shipment unless it comes with next weeks lotto numbers! Regards Jim Go Pro Now Ltd www.contactlenshub.com

Will is spot on, you might be dealing with a trader. Other potential problems could be your qualities might be light. Small plastic items are usually shot through tooling that open and shut millions of times all year. To change the tooling for your logo is a big ask. It would be cheaper to have a tool made from scratch then its your own. I had an 8 aperture tool made for plastic components a few years back. It cost me 700.00USD, i sold it to my customer for 5000.00USD. I then make a margin on everything that goes through it. Thats where you need to be Daniel. Happy to assist. Jim

Thanks Will.I looked at the other offers of the same product and there are other sellers who offer a logo and/or a custom pattern on similiar product - but it is a bit more expensive.I used to search with keyword such as "product custom label" ,"product provate label" ," product print on plastics" but the result wasn't satisfying.The right keyword is "product logo" - this gave me lots of possibilities. As I searched around I came to the same conclusion as to what Jim is saying about. A printing tool is the emarging market.Many sellers (especially from China) don't put custom graphics on their products.Probably they don't have their own printing machine. Now I came to the point where product without the logo is sold for ~1$/piece but with graphics on it for ~3$/piece.My own printing tool is worth considering when sales will be in thousands Daniel (My last comment didn't show up).

You're right.It's really a good article....If something I can help you,please send mails to me.Thanks. Regards Winson

You're looking at it! I help entrepreneurs get started and grow their businesses online.

Glad you liked the post! I always suggest that you try your hand at your domestic market before trying anything internationally. Good luck!

Haha, thanks for the kind words Fatou - glad you liked the article! Good luck to you on your new import/export business :)

Awesome idea Jim!

No problem Vitaly, thanks for reading. Yep, it's not too tough to buy UPC codes - but it's also not necessary to sell. I would only buy them if I had to, but they're pretty cheap either way.

Great info Jim - wish I could feature/highlight comments like yours! :)

Glad you liked it Winson!

Will, This page has a ton great stuff on it, thanks so much. I have solid information on what it will cost me to buy and ship 1 cubic meter of woven bags from Burma to the US. I believe the last thing I need is the cost of a customs broker but am finding it difficult to get information. Do I need a customs broker for 1 cubic meter? Do you have a general idea of the cost at 1 cubic meter or 20 foot container? Thanks, William

Thank you for sharing this. what do you think the best items are to sale during the holidays?

Dude! that is a brilliant honest article! thanks a bunch ! Randon

Hi Will Very useful thanks. Living in New Zealand the potential market is small (4 million / 1 million in Auckland). Could include Australia though. One plus is that I'm a graphic designer and have many years' experience in branding. Struggling to think of a product though. I notice that car booster seats have just been made compulsory for up to 7 year olds so I guess there will be a need for these. They're bulky products though and you have to be aware of safety rules. Any thoughts? Tim Garman

Hi Tim, car seats are probably in the hard basket. The testing requirement and distribution of this type of product are normally always tied up with major chains. Most parents (speaking from experience) like to go to a store and look and get sold the product. As a KIWI myself I would look at whats popular in NZ. Rugby has to be the standout. What about wet weather ponchos or similar. You could arrange with the clubs to have them personalized and sell in for a modest profit whilst each club then gets a fistful as they normally do! Not having lived in NZ for some years i might be off track but some low cost items have great attraction for people because its an easy spend. Good luck mate! Jim

You talk about selling light bulbs. How about the quality? Light bulbs are not all the same. What if the brand name light bulbs are counterfit??

Larry, choose your supplier carefully. Start with gold suppliers on Alibaba. These would have been checked out thoroughly (trust me as I am a gold supplier and we get looked at very closely). Once you choose one or two ask them for customers they supply. Most will be happy to tell you. Make sure they have certification pertaining to their industry such as ISO9001 and CE etc. Its all about checking and being comfortable.

Ok, So you say to have a different email you give them so they don't spam your real one. However when we make a paypal do we use our real email or our email for them? (I don't use paypal so i dont know if when you order they see your email.)

Hi Will, amazing articles - I think it's great how you've decided to help people out by posting your experiences for all to see! Also, mega impressed that you seem to respond to all queries :) Just a quick thought, and apologies if you've already answered this, but I was wondering if you had to open a business banking account to ensure everything was legit in that sense? Thanks in advance Donal

No problem William, glad you liked it - and sweet name! :) I don't have a ton of experience with shipping single pallets, but I believe there are logistics companies that will pick up your single pallet (or whatever) and group it up with a bunch of other small orders for shipping. Then once it's in the US, they break it down and ship your pallet to you (or some store it in their warehouse). Like I said, I don't have a ton of experience with it - so you'll have to ask around. Or be on one of the Q&A webinars we will be doing soon (with more experienced importers than myself). Hope this helps!

Whatever you can make money on! There's tons of ways to make money over the holiday season.

Haha thanks Randon! Glad you liked it :)

They probably won't email your paypal address, but you can also change your paypal email. I think you can even set multiple addresses so you can give different information to different people. Either way, no big deal if your supplier has your email - he shouldn't spam you!

Thanks for the comment and the kind words Donal! You don't need to open up a business banking account, but you can if you want to. I would suggest doing that along with all the State filings after you have some sustainable revenue coming through the business. Before that point, I usually run the 'business' as a sole proprietorship (or now through one of my other companies). Hope that helps!

Loved your story, very inspiring! What can you tell me or lead me in the right direction with, creating my company name/to get registered, any legal requirements, etc..

Wow.. very exhaustive article on importing. Thanks you very much for enlightening us.

Will,Great work.... Have you used any private drop ship companies,good or bad ones from what I have seen it apears they have their own inventories they want you to buy from.

it is such a joy to see so many people wanting to create their own destiny. Robert, drop ship companies normally have an inventory that's the key for them. Their are logistic facilities that will take your stock and pick and pack for you but that's when your doing some serious volume. Good luck Jim

It use to be easy to just find a good supplier on Alibaba and resell on your own ecomm site or eBay. But now with value of the US dollar decreasing and the Chinese are getting greedy from the profit margins they were once making before the crash of 09...it's getting harder and harder people. Products need to be made in America again! Real soon! Maybe we can start a site to promote USA manufacturing patriotism, Heck, the only thing i can build is code.

Hey great Site! I have some questions. Should we be paying for tax when buying from china? Though paypal? and are their any legal issues that we should watch out for as buying and selling. These would be pretty useful for all of us. Thanks!

Hey awsome article! I have a tow questions: 1- What is the difference between alibaba and aliexpress . 2- How i can pay to the factory and guarantee my right and the quality of the product

Glad you liked it Jorge! Like I said in the article, I wouldn't do any of that until I had predictable revenue coming in. But, when you want to set up an LLC or whatever, it's pretty simple. You can use something like Legalzoom, or go through and figure out how to do it in your jurisdiction. It's fairly simple!

No problem Sunil - hope it wasn't as exhausting to read it as it was writing it :-P

Thanks Robert! I haven't worked with any companies like that, but they may be good. Sorry I couldn't help more - check out Jim's comment below though!

Thanks for the help Jim!