To be sure I would suggest checking with the patent office, Im doing that next week for the product I want to import. But, you can probably sell those as no-brand with no worries, I am checking the patent office because I want to imprint a name on the product and selling it under that brand because I feel it will sell way better that way. Ive seen some people already selling the same product under no-name and I want to do it to stand out from the crowd, to make it easier to market. Im guessing the "Manga" product seller is doing the same thing, especially if its about a promotional product.
186 Comments (page 2)
Pleased to make your acquaintance Raymond. Perhaps we can work together?
Hi Will, Me and a mate have been considering starting a importing business in New Zealand. Unfortunately, we do not have a big online sales store, the best we have is a much smaller website called Trademe. If we were to start selling products, we wouldnt know much about where to sell them to, and your advice would be much appreciated.
Do I need to call customs and setup an account before I consider importing?
Hi Joel, What type of products are you wanting to sell?. Trademe.co.nz is a consumer classifieds site which is probably not the best in the long run as it also sells second hand things. You could however test your product on there. Firstly check the number of people who are searching for your product in NZ on the net. Use google and bing keyword tool. If no one is searching, the internet is not the place to sell. If a lot of people are the internet will help. From the suggested keyword bid price you will also get an idea of the seriousness of the competition for those products. Good luck
Hey Will, Hope all is well. Great post. I think a lot of this applies to selling any product online. I'll be sharing. :)
Dude, loved your posts. keep up the good work! here is a question, what would you do if you were in a country where ebay and ebay like web sites don't exist? where online shopping is not as common and you have to sell in a more conventional methods! somewhere like IRAN ? love to hear your thoughts
Hi Keenan, The best way to sell high volume is with promotional products. Find a patented product that lends itself to being a promo product and contact the inventor. I was nickel and diming it until I discovered this market. You can easily sell 10,000 or more at a time and be a middleman.
Hey Will! I was just googling around about importing from China when I found this site and well... It has been 6 hours since then and school starts way too soon for me to be getting enough sleep tonight... :D I really love the site! Since most jobs (even those just for the summer) either require specific educations or lots of working experience since before I thought I might as well do something funnier, and something I can learn a lot from during the summer (and continue with when i'll start studying at the university this autumn). I have some thoughts about a few products worth trying out and will contact quite a few manufacturers tomorrow. But I have a few questions. First of all, is it worth selling something that is (almost) season specific? If my main focus is to get a certain product to the swedish market and that item is "for" summer, is it still worth going for despite the short summer (like 2 months, thi specific item may be of use for about 4)? I ask this not only to inquire about if you can make money, but also what will be best for ME in order to A: Learn about all this, B: keep business going (I could focus on a few year round products related to the other one) and "make a name". Making a huge amount of money isnt the most important aspect, but I dont want to work "to much" and get nothing, which I probably wont have to after following your guides. Id love to get an answer ASAP since I am eager to get going. :) Also, I hope my English makes sense, Ive been getting some bad feedback from my teachers lately....
Hello sir, You are so intelligent thanks for your ideas. Can you say something about business related to tours and travels. Also am from India. Regards
Ok, here is what I don't get. How does the money = time spent shipping, customer service, returns, etc. work out to your benefit when each order is only a small marginal profit? If I'm spending all day boxing and shipping product as well as on my laptop, I might as well have a W2 job with benefits and no risk. :-) Is the goal a market test to eventually move into a drop ship situation? Or I could see if you selected a product in the higher price zone as well as have a decent margin to not eat up all your time dealing with fulfilling 1000 tiny orders. Am I missing something here?
Hi Will, interesting piece, thank you. Just curious, what kind of numbers are to be expected on a monthly income on the average product, and over what time does it take to come in? Thanks Victoria
That was great and educating. Please kindly show me 1 or 2 geniune companies to import from. How can one import without spending too much. Thanks for your responds
Hello Will, When will be the next webinar? I'm attended the webinar last night 4a.m (Malaysia) but fell asleep at the middle of the webinar.
Your website is a treasure trove of information.
Hi Julie can you please elaborate on how to go about doing this? what is a Patented product that lends itself to being a promo? How can we find products like this. thanks
Sorry for being one of the annoying ones with a generic question. I have one sample shipping in now that I got for free & talking to another supplier right now for another sample. And I did its It all on my own, well and your blog helped too. Thanks, Brandon
Awesome Brandon!
Dear Will I have prepared an online store and really want to have my own business but i do not know which product should i buy and sell it online. i am from iran there is little online stores that works perfectly such as digikala.com and chareh.ir. my biggest concern is about shipping cost that it is high for cheap products and expensive products needs high investment. i find your website useful. Im trying to read your articles but i think you can help me in this regard. can you please advise me? regards Saeid Bahadori
ive been looking for about a month now and for me i feel that sports nutrition and supplements would be a good way to go, with one particular product i found having a higher protein value than most which is the main thing people purchase the product for so i guess that would be my USP/competitive advantage. Do you think this is a good idea, or should i steer clear of consumables? also i feel that with consumables people are loyal to a particular brand and may not trust the product i would be selling as it is an unknown brand name, is the market too competitive and with too many established brand names do you think?
Wow nice article, i am from india, i am planning to stat my business with in one month time but the difficulty i am finding is import licence. an import licence is needed to import products from china. so i stated serching for indian suppliers but that cost a little bit more to me.
Hmmmmmm not in my experience. You try "creating a brand" in a niche that is profitable. It is as likely as finding the "silver bullet" product that is going to sell itself. OEM is expensive and very hard to do thousands of miles away over skype. Either take your products to China, India or wherever and stay there whilst it is developed, or look for a homegrown manufacturer. There is no guarantee with a Chinese manufacturer that what you agree on will be what is made and sent to you. Again, very few genuine factories/companies actually take paypal or escrow as there are plenty of scammers who order then get charge back. This is not the way to suss out scammers. The truth is the only way is to get your sample. To have a chance of success copy something that works and add your own "flavour". Make sure that change is simple and inexpensive to work out, (how about a large power button on the tablet you sell). Adding your own brand logo will not be too expensive. You will have to order quite a few items though so don't think success can come on the cheap BECAUSE IT SURELY WONT!!!
Can you elaborate by HOW one generates a "lead-machine" in the baby niche? Doesn't have to be this particular niche but is this mostly content generation and getting people to sign up for your email list?
Mint info will, awesome work, thankyou thankyou thankyou for your hard work
So with my father and grandfather already established as italian wine and coffee importers i hope to use their distribution channels and contacts while i find something in italy that my busienss partner and i can try to import. i feel that i am being lazy by just searching online but have no way of getting to italy to start my search. am i missing an avenue for searching for my first product?
Oh, so glad you talked on this topic, thank you very much @Will Mitchell I have many would-be importers asking me exactly the questions you have listed, and some ask questions like What other importers import from you? Do you/they make a good money? ... ... Yes, yes. The key points you have also listed. But I am willing to add one more concern which is your INTEREST(of course not money), the thing you are willing to do 7days a week and not complaining.
Oh, My god. this blog is so helpful, thank you @Will Mitchell(not sure if remind you). I have some would-be importers keep asking the questions exactly you have listed, which is really a collection. And of course you have a very clear and rational answers which I can not agree more, but I would like add another point which I think is more important, your INTEREST(of course not only the money), the thing you are willing to do 7days a week without any complain. Like for me, I love international trade, so I can work at least 10hours a day. And try to learn how to make it better such as study your blog, you know what, In CHAINA, many websites and blocked includes yours. But I got here finally. This is because of the desire.
Just wanted to thank you. Your content is so good. I am blown away every time by the quality. I read a lot of books, but your content beats many of them. And they are all selling for 19,99, minimum. I am sure that, you are keeping away a lot of people from frustrating and wasting there time on problems. Greetings from Germany
Very good blog post. I absolutely appreciate this website. Stick with it!
Hey WILL love your articles! Anyway, I am looking at ways to market/gain an audience for my product. It has fit all the requisites which you have laid out, such as price and profit margin. However, I have not gain ONE buy in the last two months. At least I just imported a few samples (thanks for the advice on that) I am thinking of whether to quit the idea or perhaps start focusing on selling only through face-to-face contact such as local flea markets, though I was hoping to work primarily through online selling. If you have any suggestions please send them my way. Best. JM
hey,you've got an amazing site there! i am a 16 year old girl who is planning to import first hand copies from china . seeing the demand in india ,i think it could really work out .i am not only restricting my business to hand bags but i will also deal in accessories and stoles etc. what do you think , will this idea of mine work out?i am planning to supply these to online websites like jabong, amazon , flipkart, and snapdeal aswell !
Thank you for your information, I find it to be very straight forward and helpful.
Brilliant piece thankyou, answered my questions and changed my perspective!
hi will , thanks for all that useful info, i would like to start up as importing body building supplement and selling as well, nut in my country there are a few two to shop which are selling the same brand almost 90% of the same item im about to import so how can i compete with them, please comments thanks john
What are the steps for getting samples from china? Do you ask for several samples or just one? How do you go about paying for shipping on samples? Is this the same process as if you are ordering bulk? Thank you for your help.
Check out some of the other importing posts ;)
Hi, Is there a service that help us to re-brand the product? If we order some good from China How to put our own logo to the product? I think some factory there don't have the service. Can you suggest some website to help us brand our product package? Thank you for your help.
Usually your supplier will be able brand the products for you. We usually use 99 designs for logos, but fivrr can work too.
Hello Julie, Would you mind elaborating just a little on the idea of "Find a patented product that lends itself to being a promo product and contact the inventor"? I'm very interested in this route, but just a little foggy on the idea. Thank you in advance!
Hi Will, Thanks for share your thoughts, I think the same way but it is good to confirm that I am right ! Glory
Hi Zach, You can find promotional products through the Ad Specialty Institute (ASI) or just Google something like "unique promotional products" and contact the inventor directly. Sometimes you can find new inventions on inventor websites or through Inventor's Digest Magazine. Get them before they become mainstream.
Hi Zach, First of all I want to say I think you deliver some great value; so in other words - thanks startupbros. Zach, what she means, (or at least this is one way of doing it) go to the patent office (you can do this online) and check the individual patents and who the owner is, then you have to research which product it belongs to and check if there is a market on amazon (this is usually done by a patent lawyer this is why so little people do this, because as soon as they here law/lawyer/etc they get scared and think they cant do it) (I assume you could check if you could make sales with a simple lead page strategy). The same can be done (like the patents) with teddies/puppets/toys ect for famous movies; the only problem, and this is the biggest hurdle, you require a license, a license can easily cost + USD 50k (and sometimes even royalty fees). I wanted to export Disney figures, hence I contacted them; they requested 50K a year. The entry prices is pretty high if you dont have sure sales yet. Here come the good news, there are ways around the patents (disney figures not so much), and I'm speaking about legal ways. You just have to know how the patents (law) work.
Will Wanted to say Thank you for all the powerful information you have on your website. It is mind boggling for someone new to the market, but it is also Awesome. Thank you again
Hi Raymond I found this thread and came across your comment. Do you still have an interest in exporting/importing? I am a young Australia entrepetener wanting to make a start in the industry. I am seeking out a potential supplier from China for this year to begin business with, it will be a first time in the industry for me and i wan to make sure i establish a connection with someone who knows the industry well and who is also a current supplier from china who would be able to help me out with leads, information and possibly future negotiations. I have many connections with the mining industry here in W/A and other large corporations all across Australia. Networking to me plays a huge part in the overall success of any business and networking could be a major key factor in this industry. If you are interested and wish to get back to me with information at all that would be greatly appreciated. I would love to hear back from you. Thanks for taking the time to read this email. Mell. ;)
Will Mitchell You are awesome Read all your post regarding amazon and importing, I think your posts have more value than some courses which claim $XXX-XXXX I am from China and I want to sell stuff on amazon (why I found ur great blog) but no idea which product is good.
Hi. I have a great patented jewelry organizer. Any size of chains, necklaces, bracelets can be secured without ever being tangled. It has place for every type of jewelry. In case of natural disaster such as fire, flood etc. you can take and live in a matter of seconds. From opening and mixing and matching and closing takes about 30 seconds. Everything is plain view. The question is how the people will learn about this benefit and get it instead of those cheap, bulky furniture so called "Jewelry organizer"
Wow....lots of posts on this thread, Will. Exactly how old is this post? Lol I'm just kidding, some really good content on here Will. Anyways, everytime I think I have a new idea, I then Google it only to find out that my awesome idea has already been invented just a few months prior. So my BIG question is.....Can I legally take a known patent and find a manufacturer in China or India and make minor adjustments to it and resell it on Amazon? Sourcing is daunting enough, please give me some good news Will!!! Thanks man, loving your blog. =)
Thank you for all the great (and even better free!) info. It was just what I needed to push me in the right direction. In one of your YouTube videos you guys were using a spread sheet to calculate landed costs which was said would be put up for us on your site. Is that available anywhere? I don't see it and if not I will just make one of my own.... Thanks again for everything! Kerstin
Lawyers are the ones that can legally give legal advice ;) You've got to change it a certain amount though
Hi Bill, thank you so very much for your easily understood, step-by-step guidelines - I'm very new to this but feel far more confident to give it a go You rock Bill
By ways around you mean changing product design at least and components at most that are protected? Assuming so, will you have to hire both lawyer and R&D consultant to make sure product can be changed? Must they estimate the level of product uniqueness required to be attained to make sure it's no longer seen as one infringing IP of original?
Hi my name is Bilal Hassen. I saw your YouTube video on importing and heard you mention Amazon FBA. You mentioned that utilizing FBA,you can sell products without having to touch your merchandise. My only concern is making sure that the shipment I ordered from China arrived OK. In other words, how can I make sure that my shipment didn't arrive undamaged and that I received what I ordered BEFORE I have it forwarded to an Amazon fulfillment Center?
I have a dump question why i only see the top 100 ranking products on amazon i mean how to find products that have ranking higher than a 100 lets say 1500 i think it will would be much easier for me to find a niche there ...
You mean we actually have to f**ing WORK? That really sucks.
my brain is swimming in the deepest of the 'analysis paralysis' waters right now... FARK!
So I have been just getting into alibaba and dhgate are those a waste of my time . I have found something that is an pretty untapt market . I've only found really one company in China that is doing it and in Washington state it would be a huge deal . Because of the legality of marijuana . I just am having a hard time believing it hasn't been tapped yet . so my product is legit . or that product I'm importing is . and every body that has seen it has to have it . please email me I'm really inexperienced in this and I know I have found something huge .
Wow, my mind is overloaded with info, but I'm so grateful to come across this site. So... newbie here and I have a few questions 1. in a nutshell if you were to create a business card what would it say? lol. 2. how do you describe your business to your friends? 3. What would you say you would need as an average amount to get started on a shoe-string budget? Thanks to all for your expertise and guidance :-)
I love your every post a lot. Very usefull post. I'll buy you a glass of beer if you are here :D Thanks for sharing Will.
Hi Will, Thnks for this blog. Iam from india and planning to start import biz from china. I am doing research for last 3 months to understand this business. Your blog has given me some ideas to start the business. I think getting a good party in china is a big deal.alibaba reviews are not so good..so got fearful to bring stocks via this website. Is there any other site to buy product.
biz? you mean "big" right? i though there is so many trusted suplier in alibaba. for "big" deal just seek for supplier that come with trade assurance, you'll get lower price if you buying things in bulk. what kind of things are you looking for, maybe i could find some reference for you. I planed to visit shenzhen in october, i'm about to make preety big deal with one of supplier that i found in alibaba. i need to make sure about their factory's credibility, product warranty, after sales service, etc. trust me once you've found the right supplier on alibaba you'll get best price offer from them.
Hey, Will! Aye buddy I have been a fan of yours for a long time now and come to find out you have affiliation with Orlando! I live in Orlando, thats awesome! Hope all is well with you buddy.
I am still unsure how to customize my products with my suppliers! How do you do this and also when will a blog post come out so we can learn how to design our own products? Sounds awesome! Thanks!
Hi Will! Im 13 and im really into things like dirt bikes and quads and I've been wanting to get into motocross but have no money whatsoever. I wanted to start importing to make some cash even though I know it won't stack up as fast as I thought it would but im worried, I don't know exactly what to do. I am quite the businessman in my family but not online and I want to start but I don't have much a clue what to do. A detailed walk through with pictures and examples would help or just a walk through through email or something? Sorry I'm asking a lot it's just im new so I have a lot of dumb questions. Thank you, jayce
I'm starting my own import/export company can you tell me a little more about your product????
what if you are new in the market and don't have brand with that far reach
Hey Will ! Awesome posts, been readin ya for the past few days, and I'm about to make the leap of faith :) Question about shipping: when you order goods, would you consider letting the supplier handle the shipping, or should I definitely undertake that process myself? If so, how does it work? They give me their address > I order the shipping service? Thanks and looking forward to hearin from ya!
Hi Will, great piece of information you've written there! I have just a few small questions. Around halfway through you'll start talking about rubber kitchen gloves ("Let’s lookup rubber kitchen gloves") and then you'll start telling that there are 400 items listed (btw. is "items listed" the same as "results"?) But yes, you start telling that 400 items is a lot and that we should be specific... so then you say that you change the name to "rubber kitchen gloves." I've read and re-read this sentence many times, but I just can't wrap my head around it, because isn't that search enquiry exactly the same as the original search? Both times you write "rubber kitchen gloves". Many thanks in advance if you can answer this one for me. ~Ester
What exactly is a margin? And how does it profit you, if at all?
Depends on your size of shipment, there are a couple of options 1. Airfreight-You will need to book with a forwarding agent in China to handle your shipment, then have someone in US to clear your shipment (someone like me :) 2. Express (UPS/DHL/Fedex) - Your supplier should be able to handle it for you, or you can try to find an agent who might offer a cheaper price. 3. Ocean freight - This option is normally for importers who order more items that can save them money on shipping, same with airfreight, an agent in China will book for you, a broker here will clear imports for you and arrange delivery if you need. I am a licensed customs broker so I can help arrange all of this if needed. Thanks.
What is the next step in figuring out importing fees if you've selected a product you want to import? I already know how much it costs to buy and sell on Amazon/eBay, just wondering what are the best next steps. Cheers
Looking forward to your webinar tomorrow night, one question, when I tried to join ALIBABA,it said you have to have a reg. company, is there a way around that?
Glad to have found you. I am enjoying your posts and wealth of info. I was all excited until I read this one. I guess because I want it to be easy! Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Brenda
This article is very useful and helpful, I just started my online store and the details I am getting about choosing product and talking to suppliers is just what I need. Such useful advice. I am just curious bto know is there an article on your site about how to send payments to suppliers where you don't get ripped off? Thanks Angela Also I signed up for the webinar Nov 23rd this Monday I am going to miss it I work a full time job but wondering if there will be a replay? Thanks :)
Hi bro. your post is great in details. You really walk through me with my decision. Thanks.
Really useful article, Will.
Hi hope you well I live in South Africa and myself and my wife were looking into importing something from China Germany anywhere do you have any ideas for us for a start
Did you even read the post?
Thanks for the article. I have a question regarding price. What kind of prices should we look for when importing from China? Thanks!
If you have any questions or want to be an awesome person, leave a comment below. I’ll be sure to respond! Lol. I do not see one response from Will
There are a lot of issues in importing goods. Having a good partner in logistics and freight will lessen your fears in handling the products.
I blog quite often and I truly appreciate yokur information. This article has really peaked my interest. I will book mark your blog and keep checking for new information about once per week. I opted in ffor your Feed as well.
Hey, its nice phases of words in post make readers mind aware about Import services. we all are aware of internet and digital media is a one of the best source of knowledge.
I agree with you. A reliable freight forwarding company or freight forwarder will make your work much easier.
Great post to make a person aware of the import services. The issues to find a good product is very common for import business and many factors affect a product value like margin, reliability, warranty. Also, you have shared some of the competitive advantage points for which I completely agree. Thanks for the information.
Hi what is the normal mark up For imported linens?
Thanks for all the info