855 Comments (page 4)

Yea, they can be decent for low MOQs sometimes - but they are not the source, and thus not as cheap or reliable or flexible. Good to know :)

Thanks for checking out the site Jay! Hope you got some value out of the post :) Most of the answers to your questions are in this article, I'd check it out - https://startupbros.com/how-you-can-make-big-money-importing-from-china-the-rise-and-fall-of-my-empire/ Hope this helps!

Awesome to hear you found a product to import Jon, the first obstacle is jumped :) Usually you can arrange for 50% up front and 50% after delivery, or at least 70% deposit. I would just try to negotiate, and mention that you want to build a long term relationship and are willing to re-negotiate in the near future, after a few good orders. Hope this helps!

Awesome to hear that Jon! Yea, shipping can sometimes take a while. The bigger customers usually get shorter lead times. If they can't do any shorter than that, it's possible they are middle-manning it. Not always a bad thing, but something worth knowing. Good luck!

Yea, Freight/free on board refers to the liability transfer that occurs once they give it to your shipping company. It means if something is damaged in transit, it's your responsibility to deal with it (or your shipping company, insurer, etc) - but definitely not them.

No problem April, happy I could help :)

Thanks a lot for your kind words Tee! Glad you could get some value out of it, hope it can help you escape the grind :) That's definitely a good strategy, to import products and sell to retailers. It's a little bit tougher, and could take some creativity/differentiation, but it's possible. Furniture will be a tough market if it is tough to ship, because every mistake will cost you much more. Especially if you're new, big heavy products can kill importers. That being said - I've never tried! Good luck to you :)

Joe has it right Rohit. It's almost unheard of to dropship from Asia to the US, or continent to continent in general. You can do it, but it's going to take forever and arrive in strange Chinese packaging. You need to find a warehouse/distributor domestically.

Glad you liked the article Jovanni, hope it helps with the new fashion business! AliExpress is good to buy samples from, most sellers on there also sell in bulk on AliBaba. I wouldn't recommend WorldWideBrand or any of those that require a registration fee, I think I mentioned that in this article - https://startupbros.com/how-you-can-make-big-money-importing-from-china-the-rise-and-fall-of-my-empire/ If you haven't read that article and the other importing articles on here, then read all of them! It's very unlikely you'll be scammed if you follow all that advice and know what you're doing. Good luck!

Awesome to hear you're taking action Michael, hope the article helped! Glad to hear we are "top-tier" - I try my hardest :) Thanks for the comment!

Thanks Brian, it's always nice to get positive feedback from somebody with experience in the field! Perhaps I got lucky, it was a good couple years :)

Glad you like the page Flo, thanks for the kind words. I figure it people take the time to message me, I should at least have the decency to reply. I will say though, comments are my favorite ;) This was all done in the US, but I'm sure most of it applies in Germany. Yes, you'll have to deal with VAT tax and a couple other things that I didn't. But I'm sure there are tons of different opportunities that are less saturated. Yea, you want to estimate your total costs obviously. :) Hope this helps

Hey John, not sure I understand your math here. Check out this calculator, it might help - http://www.csgnetwork.com/salesmarginmarkupcalc.html

Awesome to hear that, glad I could make the list Chamaldo :) Couldn't agree with you more - nothing makes me happier than people actually using the stuff I write :-P

Hi, firstly thanks for some good info! Me and my business partner are looking to source a manufacturer for a new product. Very simple to manufacture but not sure if/how we can find a good reliable manufacturer in china, Any advice would be greatly received. Thanks Lee

Sherry, the only way I know how to check for this is to ask your shipping company, your customs broker (usually affiliated with shipping company), or your supplier. They are usually pretty small, except when importing highly regulated or valuable products. But this is all based on Florida, USA. Other countries, and even other States, could have different laws and fees. There are definitely items that are illegal to import. I would steer well clear of cocaine, children, volatile weapons - things like that. :-P Again, every place has different laws - down to the city. I don't know how to figure them out in your area, I usually use Google or call a lawyer. There are also legal forums and things like that. Most MOQ's aren't concrete. Just ask your supplier. There are some good websites out there now to build e-commerce sites in a snap. I'd recommend Shopify, Volusion, or BigCommerce Hope this helps, and good luck!

Thanks a lot Kurt, glad you saw some value in the importing articles! I absolutely know that game - I'm still working on firing all my consulting clients so I can focus on product development. Like you said, it's no fun trading time for money. But, it taught me TON about business and marketing - definitely a necessary stepping stone for me. Haha, that's awesome - Kyle and I are big paintball fans. As you might know, we used to play professional paintball with Tampa Bay Damage when were were 16-19. We will have to play sometime, though I haven't in years :) Not a bad gig for him to do. I have some experience with selling paintball gear. Plastic stuff like pods, squeegees, swabs, mask straps, etc you should get from China - he can make good money if he becomes known as the guy at the field who sells cheap, decent gear. You can make good money on paintballs themselves too, if you can find a good supplier. When we were playing with Damage, we would get as many cases as we could for $15 and sell them for $30-50. But, they are tougher than the plastic stuff to make money on. Then everything else you need to be a distributor for the big brands (Empire, JT, Dye, etc.) Not too tough to become one though. There's still a lot of potential for innovation in there too - things like the Speedfeed and all the custom headbands and JT straps - all decent money-makers. You won't be a billionaire, but maybe a millionaire :) Hope this helps!

That's basically what Escrow is Kushal. But, it's still better to do your Quality Control before they ship it from their factory.

No problem Adrien, glad you liked the importing articles! If you sell any product with another company's logo on it, you could get in trouble. Does that company care enough to find out and put the money into chasing you around? That's a different question entirely :) Good luck, Will

Thanks Uros, I'm glad you liked it! Yea, I wouldn't guess that the products I list there are too good. Those suppliers have probably had a hundred people asking about them since I posted this :) Try this, it might help - https://startupbros.com/import-why-you-cant-find-a-product/

Awesome to hear you're getting started and taking action Lee! Best of luck to you :) The process for finding a manufacturer is pretty similar to finding any supplier. Just make sure you make your prototypes in the US, then have them duplicated in China. China is great at duplication, but not great at prototyping. And the US is vice-versa. I would also send prototypes to a bunch of different suppliers and get a quote to see what it will cost. Hope this helps!

Cool man! Yeah, I'd love to play you and Kyle. I get Pierce! It sounds like a market worth testing, if even for the object lesson. Thanks for the tips! What do you think of a paintball subscription? F'rexample, a guy wants to try out a variety of paintballs but doesn't want to have to think about it and do all the searching. Would you nibble at something like a prepaid no-brainer subscription where an endless variety of paintballs arrived on your doorstep, courtesy of UPS? Heh... gotta quit "working" and get back to my vacation with my son and my Dad. Talk atcha later! Keep Stepping, Kurt

I personally wouldn't do the paintball subscription, just because they are a nightmare to ship (and players know this). I believe that's one of the reasons they have such a high markup, a lot of the shipments get damaged. One broken paintball per bag of 500 will discount a whole box (2000) of inventory. Now, a subscription service for swabs, pods, stuff like that - that might work. If you don't go out of your way to hold on to those, you usually lose a few every time you go out. Hope this helps!

Hey just wondering how shipping costs enter into the equation, is there a bulk discount with air shipping..? It seems that at 6-10$ an item to ship domestically you are eating through all your margin, what was your experience?

Yep Nicholas, shipping is one of the main costs for importers and online sellers. There are bulk deals, you'll hit them once your company gets up and running - but I wouldn't depend on it beforehand...

what exactly are US Trademarks and how do you know if something is trademarked?

Hello Will, Excellent information. Your article has made me realised i went on the path of branding (bought a whole lot of products and opened a store) instead of product focus to build my base (im totally new to this). I did tried to search for specific products to sell but it seem alibaba has zillions of items therefore it was really difficult to shortlist a couple to try out. Your points are so true and I will follow your advice to try out the points to shortlist items.

Hello, i was wondering what year this post was made? im just wondering because im afraid some rules have changed with shipping products and tariffs and such. Further, when the supplier says FOB can i still get them to ship it via the carrier services you mentioned?

Hey Mike, here's a link to a video explaining that and a lot more. I would type it out, but it's pretty complex... www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/index.jsp

Branding isn't necessarily a bad idea, you need something to differentiate yourself and compete with. Make sure you check out this article, it goes into detail on that - https://startupbros.com/import-why-you-cant-find-a-product/ And congrats on taking massive action - good luck on the new business!

This post is from this year Kevin, still very recent! I would put the dates on here, but my Wordpress shows the wrong dates :( FOB refers to liability transfer. Once the supplier gives the order to the shipping company, it's no longer their liability. If they give it to UPS or whatever, it just means somebody else is liable for it getting to you safely from there. Hope that helps!

Hi Will, Very simple question.. How can you buy "top rated seller" account on ebay? Is it possible? Reading this and previous article about importing I saw that you mentioned that option. Thanks alot! Darko

Hi Will Thank you so much for such useful and valuable info. I have found a diaper company in China and I am interested in getting them and selling them in South Africa. The customer care of the company is excellent and they are very efficient. The only problem so far is that they don't use Paypal. They use Western Union and their bank account only. Now what do I do since they don't do paypal?

Yea im keen toknow if it is fine to use western union too. For sure i wouldnt buy it if it is directly into their bank accout

Reaaally greaaaat post! Thumbss upp!

It's probably possible to do that Darko, but I wouldn't recommend it. You open yourself to a lot of risk not only from eBay, but also from the FTC and others. I think it would be much better to go around your house and sell some old things, or sell some things from local garage sales. You'll get enough positive feedback to get the ball rolling that way.

Awesome to hear you're taking action Nyameko! I wouldn't recommend using Western Union or a direct wire transfer on the first engagement with a supplier, but you certainly can. You just won't have any financial protection - so if they never speak to you again, don't expect to see your money again.

Maybe I should write a post on the billing side of importing soon :-D Check out the comment above, and note that Western Union is actually a bit less safe than wire transfers :-\

Thanks Andres :)

Awesome post! Very informative. Though I think lots of products become profitable when they are also backed up by effective marketing, don't you think?

Hey, this is a very good and in-depth article :) About airsoft guns, so they are banned in China now? The thing is, I cannot find them anywhere (Alibaba, Aliexpress, DHGate etc.) but on the other side, I see people from US and UK still selling Chinese airsoft guns. So where do they get them from? Also when checking ebay.com I see that there are only certain models that sell well, e.g. some sellers did auctions that ended with $2-3 only ...... So is there any special model you would recommend for selling? The thing is, I do not have any good knowledge about airsoft guns *lol* Thank you!

I want say that your website and your wonderful advice are very well pleasing, and wish to say thank you for all these free kind advice that some other people will only give for a fee. I hope you continue to propser in all you find your hand into as you willingly and freely give unto others to succeed........you are very kind person, hard to find!

Awesome Blog Post!! I just wanted to know I live in the UK, and every item that I think is a little niche turns out to be already on eBay. and in abundant numbers and also being sold by established eBay sellers. I just wanted to know in your experience do customers tend to side with the more established sellers, or is it more open to everyone and will I actually have a chance at selling some items. Also are there any current niches that you could reccomend haha. Cheers, Reece.

Hi there, wow I have read books and searched a great deal of websites about ebay and importing, never found so valuable information so easily explained. Thank you!!! Here is my little ebay story, I started selling on ebay about a year ago although I have my account since 2007. I have 100% feedback and never had any problems until last year when started selling "otterboxe cases" from China. After making about $1000 in profit in about 4 days I thought I found the gold mine, but deep inside I knew that the knockoff business was not for me. Well after selling a bunch "otterbox" cases I got a letter in the mail. Otterbox was threatening to sue me because of the knockoffs I sold, I called them the same day and I told them I was never going to do it again and I didn't do it anymore. I kept looking for other items to buy because I was very committed to quit my 9 to 5 job and work on importing stuff to sell on ebay. I tried a couple products and didn't work and I started to slow down until I completely stopped selling on ebay. About a month ago that same entrepreneurship feeling inside me started bugging me again about importing from China and I started looking at stuff again and doing research and that's how I found this article. I am very comfortable at my job and I make ok money. I live in New jersey , I have two beautiful children and a lovely wife but I have no time for them because although I work from 9 to 5 in he office as a manager for ExxonMobil I have to go to meeting after work and also always on my phone. After i read this article i said THATS IT!!!!I want to be a millionaire and it is very possible for me because I loved when I was doing it not just because of the money but also the excitement of people wanting to buy your stuff and bidding on it and fighting for it. If you could help me on this new path on finding the first products and helping me I will give you everything I make in profit. I would appreciate if you could help me on my baby steps and I will help others as I learn and I will always make sure people know it was because of your help that they are being helped. Thank you and join me in This marathon if you could please. Take care Henderson

Hi will thanks for your explanation that's more then enough lol

Hi, Im from Spain, and soon im gonna start drop-shipping in US from places like Wallmart and etc...as you know when doing freight delivery's like furniture's and stuff, i have to coordinate with the local shipping service to schedule delivery time with the buyer and i can't give my shipping guy my customers number because they'll call my customer and then my customer will find out where i got the item from, plus it's gonna be difficult for me to do so because im outside US and the shipping guy has to call me and i have to call my customer back for coordination each time i make a sale. My question is, is there a company/group/people who would do this for me for a monthly fee? like when ever someone buys something from me , I send my customer's number to that company/group/person and i put that company/group/person's number on the order form instead of mine so the shipping guy will call them/him and ask them/him when to deliver and then they/him call my customer and ask when would be a right time for delivery and then call back the shipping guy with the deliver time. So in the end my customer wouldn't know where i got the item from. Hope you understood what im trying to say. Please HELP!!!!

First of all thank you for sharing such a wealth of information. After all knowledge is the key to success and that's what all Importers including myself need. My question is how do I compete with China based eBay sellers offering what I am attempting to sell myself.Their price Points,free shipping,warranties and guaranties seem to be tough obstacles,but the toughest fact is that some could actually be my suppliers Your reply is greatly appreciated. Thank you

I just started importing and doing eBay and Amazon, I got busted selling counterfeit headphone and got suspended on Amazon and $4000 on hold for 3 months on my money account. And now I getting lots of returns for reasons like " I used them and they work great but I do not like them, I want a full refund?" And I have been giving it to them. So, Amazon never told me if I am suspended for life or till the 90 days are up. What is the story, I have a 100% satisfaction rating still? Will they ever let me sell on that site again? I learned my lesson on that experience. Sad thing is I thought they were real, never did find out how they found out they were counterfeit ? Also when listing a product they ask for a product code, do most of your Alibaba suppliers have a product codes for the products, the headphones did not.

Hi, great blog covering all the basics to starting up! I have been researching a range of different products and I am particularly interested in famous and celebrity party paper face masks, I have looked and found a supplier yet will I be able to re-sell them on ebay as this could be an infringement of copyright or trademark? I am from the UK and unsure on the laws on this as I have seen others selling them stating they are official and licensed? My other product is a non-branded accessory to a branded product, if the quality of the samples are similar and satisfactory to the official branded accessory would I have no issues selling this as long as I advertise the product correctly as un-official? Finally any advice on tax laws and VAT from importing and re-selling as I am from the UK, I have struggled to find accurate and reliable information? I look forward to your reply :)

Hi Will, I am a college student who wants to start a side business of importing from China and selling on Amazon and Ebay. I have read your informative article very carefully, but after 2 weeks of research I have yet to find a product that meets your criteria of a good product. Maybe I am missing something, but do you have anymore suggestions of how I can find random profitable products ? Can you please help ? Thanks!

Hello Will, Happy New Year! Just read through your post and sort of confused on the topic of trademarks and reselling goods. So if I want to buy a Barcelona soccer ball from Alibaba and resell it on eBay, I obviously can't do that legally. I would probably get away with it at first, but then If I start scaling up I will into problems. After looking at Alibaba, many of the products are branded or have the ability to be rebranded with your own logo. Many of the unbranded items already sell on eBay for pennies. Generally my question is about your airsoft guns. Were you rebranding them or reselling as a certain packaged brand.

Hi Will, I just read this article. Do you think that boutique-goods are a scam? Their prices are so damn unbelievable

Hi What you think about 5% escrow service charges?

I have read both your articles and I feel like I understand everything thankyou for the help, but I still can't find a profitable product, any ideas?

What does FOB price mean? For example, how do I interpret this: FOB price: $8-$16/piece Port: Shenzen

Hi Will, I found a household electrical product that I might be interested in selling. However, the company is a OEM company. Now, doesn't that mean that the product that they are selling could belong to another company which has asked this OEM company to manufacture for them? If I sell this product, can I be sued? Can I even put my own brand on it? Thanks.

Hi Will, I love both these articles you've written, they've been incredibly informative and have inspired me to take the next step which I'm right in the middle of now thanks to your awesome advice. I have one question regarding markup, we're looking for products that will sell for double what we bought them. When you're trying to determine your markup do you include all of the fees associated with buying your product into your initial price? For instance shipping can cost a good portion of the purchase price so should I add up all those fees and THEN double my price to see if I'm getting the kind of markup I'm looking for? Thanks, J.R.

This is a fantastic article. I have sold quite a bit of stuff from China on Ebay. you describe the process here perfectly except I had to find out the hard way. seriously anyone interested does not need to buy courses just read this blog. I also produced an audio recording of how I managed to find hot items if anyone wants a copy let me know. I don't ask for money etc for them. Seriously this blog teaches you what most expensive courses cover without the useless filler.

Hey Will, I just read both your articles and I'm trying to interpet it. I'm 17 and I starting selling in school around 16 first soda then expended into candy and chocolate. I made some mistake like buy in bulk and buying to much products but that because I had to go buy my own products and can't buy products that often.There are a lot of other sellers selling a little of about everything or something different and I try to get to most common candies. Any advice about managing products and money because I'm wasting money instead of benefiting from it, not wasting but I'm not wreaking any benefits.

Hey superb blog! Does running a blog like this take a large amount of work? I have very little understanding of coding however I was hoping to start my own blog soon. Anyways, if you have any ideas or tips for new blog owners please share. I know this is off topic however I just had to ask. Cheers!

Great blog Will. Thank you.

What's Going down i'm new to this, I stumbled upon this I have discovered It absolutely useful and it has helped me out loads. I'm hoping to contribute & aid different users like its helped me. Good job.

Hi Will, Firstly, I am a big fan of your work here! Thank you for your detailed information! A friend and I have decided to team up on an importing business, because we both have full-time jobs and neither of us could ship orders alone. Some things are throwing us off a bit, and we were hoping to get your insight as we are only in the planning stages: 1) Alibaba requires you to list your business' name when signing up with a buyer account. We have a name picked out and used it, but we are not recognized by any government (local or whatever) as a real business. Will listing a not-yet-established business name in any way interfere with the receipt of shipments? Do we need to hire a lawyer to tell us if we're breaking any laws? We're US citizens, hoping to sell only in US. 2) Do we need to get any licenses for this kind of work, or for specific types of items? I imagine it is state-by-state, but what's your take on it? Thanks again! I look forward to hearing more from you!

G'day Will, I discovered this site lastnight and have already found a product and ordered samples from a couple of suppliers, so far so good thanks to your write ups. I'm just wondering how I will be able to be competitive on ebay against established sellers with massive amounts of sales and great feedback, when iv got a fresh account with no sales or feedback (good or bad) The only way I could think of would be to sell cheaper then the competition, but even then Im not sure if buyers would choose saving a couple of dollars over paying a little extra knowing the seller has great feedback? Not sure if you still reply on here but any ideas would be appreciated. Sam

Hi will. Great article. I have decided to sell ladies bags by $10 margin on each bag. when I did research i found out that same bags people are selling on ebay and amazon for less than what they bought from aliexpress or alibaba. how is it possible? How are they making money then? even if they pass customers address to drop merchandise in their location but still they are loosing money. Whats the technique they are using here to make money? thanks Sama

Will im wondering why someone experienced such as yourself tells people to go after cheap items, items that can be shipped in small boxes as well. I understand a lot of guys here may not have much startup capital... but maybe they should just wait then or try this in a different way. There are literally almost no barriers to entry to get started in some of these things you went over.. how long can they really last? I have a friend who imports used oil drill bits and the margins are excellent, and its pretty niche the way he does it.... but they fly out of his hands as soon as they get to him. He also started with one used bit for about $300 i believe. We both approached our first product the same way as listed below. One strategy i think you should talk more about it breaking even to test potential buyers. So for instance i once got a price for a product at $1 per linear ft. I asked if i purchased approx $10,000 of product what would my cost be then. It was around 65.c I said ok, spent $500 worth @ $1 per linear foot.... got it to the states, sold it for $1 per linear foot, all of it and fast. Sounds stupid to everyone right, i made $0? But i then went and purchased $10,000 worth and then a) knew i had a market for it b) even had the old buyer waiting for more So with the $10,000 invested i made the spread between 65.c and $1 which is 35c profit per linear foot. So $3,500 was made very quickly, im in a much higher barriers to entry type of businesses now as well because of this strategy. Most people say.... ok but i cant get money. I can guarantee you that if you show a relative or someone you know well with money... hey i just sold (X) amount of this product for $1 per linear foot.... but i payed $1 per linear foot.... with $10,000 i can get it down to 65c...... many people will be willing to fund you and split the profit. I think this is a form of leverage at its finest and surprised more people dont do this. Everyone wants to drop ship something... well what are you doing to differentiate? I understand there are ways but seems it would be a constant fight. With more barriers to entry, things seem more consistent and life a little bit easier.

Great blog!! If anyone is looking for products cheaper than wholesale, please feel free to hit me up! I have lots!

Great information, I can relate to negotiating with the chinese. I am an american currently living in Southern China. I can assist anyone on this side of the world who is interested. I will act as your middle person here in China when it comes to negotiating and get you the best price possible. I have 8 years experience in International Trade as a Compliance Broker in the States. I am aware of some but not all custom regulations. If you are interested you may email me Sincerely, Anthony

Hi! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers? I'm kinda paranoid about losing everything I've worked hard on. Any tips?

Firstly, thanks so much for this. So many things I know now than before I started my business venture. Please help me with the following... What is the legal procedure for buying a product in bulk from ex. a supplier on alibaba and then selling them in an area where the product is not yet available? Do I have to keep the original suppliers name and logo? May I sell it as my own product? Does there have to be a legal agreement of some sorts? small example: Importing wholesale teacups made in china and selling them here as a product of my own store/brand? thanks in advance!

Hi Will, I have read both your articles and am impressed with the way you have structured the information. It is really informative and along with the your responses to queries covers almost all aspects. Just a few quick queries though: Can I buy from China and sell in UK/Europe sitting in India? What additional challenges do you foresee from commercial viability and logistics perspective? Can you also recommend any ecommerce sites more popular than ebay.co.uk or amoazon.co.uk or are these the standard ones in UK as well? Regards Vivek

Hi Will: You have some great knowledge and info about importing products from China. I have done some of this myself in the past and have shared some of your experiences. I was importing erosion control steel T-posts and Dog Wire up to 2009 when the market went bad with the RMB changing from 8 to 1 to 6 to 1 to the US Dollar. I was fortunate that besides importing the products I also ended up importing a Chinese lady who I married in 2006 bring her to Atlanta, GA where I live. She was able to make good contacts and suppliers in China which made that part of the process easier. At this point we have some very good friends in North China (Liaoning Province) and can make easy arrangement with honest people who are our partners to locate good products and get them shipped to the USA. We would like to get back into this business but at this point are not sure what products will sell from China in the USA. The previous business with the erosion products was okay but the margins were relatively low. We have some very good access to steel products as my wife's hometown is Anshan (Liaoning) and we also have good access to jade products. Any suggestions you might have or if we can be of assistance to you would be appreciated. I am currently working on project management projects for AT&T to bring in income but would like to begin importing again as the economy seems to be improving. Please comment as necessary. Best regards, Scott & Wenran Massie (770) 578-6583

I have started to buy and sell items made in China and received a sample wallet that I tested out and am wanting to re-sell. The only concern I have is that there was a trade mark on the wallet. I found the wallets on alibaba.com and when I asked for the sample they wondered if I wanted to customize it with my own logo. I've read your articles about selling trademarked items and don't want to do anything illegal. Is it safe to assume that if it is listed on alibaba.com and they are a gold member that it is safe to purchase and sell these items?

Hey Will, this is some really good stuff and has been really helpful as well as intriguing! Much Love for that I was wondering how can I assess whether I should sell the product to its brand name or trademark etc. I.e. I found a product but alibaba says It is likely a brand name, and that I may need proper proof of authorization, I'm in a pit with this, any help?

Hi Will, This blog really has been invaluable for me thanks a lot. I am based in the UK but really want to start importing to generate an extra bit of cash. I have a few questions and wanted to run some product ideas by you. Could I grab your email to have a chat with you about them if thats at all possible? Thank you in advance Daneil

Hi Will It is fascinating to find your information.I currently own 2 businesses that are labor intense.I am 46 yrs old and need to look at restoring my body and use my mind instead. I found a product with a great margin but it contains liquid and supplier says they can't ship by air because of that.I am not buying a container only 500 pieces. What suggestions do you have for me?

I wanted to start an import-export business a few years ago and wanted to either export American products to Eastern Europe (which is my background) or import stuff from Eastern Europe to the US but found that the US mainly makes high tech stuff and Eastern Europe mainly has stuff like coal, steel, grain, and oil. I didn't know how to deal with any of that and didn't have that much money at the time. Now, I have more money to build a business and after seeing your amazing blog want to have another go at it. I do have a few questions though, what do you think of my product being kids guitars? Is that enough to qualify to be a niche market? Or do I need to get even more specific? Also, did you ever drop ship when you were importing? Or did everything always get sent to you first and then you would go and send the imported items out once customer orders came in?

Hello Will, I am having a real hard time locating a reputable company abroad to manufacturer plain 100% cotton t-shirts. I want to make a good profit and a US manufacturer is pricey. Do you have any recommendations.I would really appreciate any suggestions . Thank You, Joli Alfani

Hi D, Definitely not. As a manufacturer I have to spend about an hour a day scouring the net for counterfeiters and many of them are on Alibaba. Even if they have a gold listing they can still be counterfeit. See if you can track down the original manufacturer or inventor if it's a new product. You can find out quickly and order straight from them. Julie

AWESOME INFORMATION I HAD. THANK YOU. I WAS JUST THINKING TO INVOLVE IN SUCH BUSINESS FIRST TIME AND I FIND YOUR ARTICLE ENCOURAGING AND INTERESTING. I WILL COME TO YOU FOR SOME CLARIFICATION LATTER. ONCE AGAIN THANKS FOR VERY VERY USEFUL INFORMATION. REGARDS VINAY KUMAR

Great info! What about shipping to customers. Craigslist. Do I have to price shipping to each customer? Yes, small and light items. Easier way?

How did your friend make his own brand name? Were his items from places like alibaba still?

Hi Will, I have been a regular visitor to your blog for the past few days. What an amazing stuff! Following your procedure, I looked for products on Ebay. However when I copied the title of a product on ebay and searched for a manufacturer on Alibaba, I'm told to input a search term less than 50 characters. If I discard some of the words, I get "0 matches found" Using your example "500 FPS NEW WG AIRSOFT FULL METAL 1911 GAS CO2 GUN PISTOL Sniper Rifle w/ BB", which words would you put in Alibaba search box and what makes you choose those words?

i'm an older person who has done physical labor my whole life and need to stop. iv'e read and started your program.please help me to get going and learning! on alibaba i found 3 things i thought were unique,a primative bottle opener,collapsable bucket and a salt water powered car toy,then i went to ebay and amazon and found lots of all 3 and at the bottom of the page was a co. called zps that was selling all 3 for less than i can get them at alibaba??? can you tell me what you think of that?and when i tried to open business acct. with paypal they wanted email address,if a new email gets shut down how will this effect paypal acct. and/or payments?

Hello Sir, For the first time am reading your blog.Can you tell me from where to get the products to place on sites like ebay, amazon etc for sale. Whats the procedure. Also how the products are delivered to clients means by site or thru us. Am a third year student and dont want to be fooled by wrong people so asking your help. Please reply. Regards

Podcast? Podcast? I see no podcast?! How do I listen to the podcasts? Excellent articles, thank you so much, inspiring and helpful, much continued success to you and your readers *Marina

Hi Will, Did you setup a business for the importing with company bank accounts, etc such as a Inc, llc, etc? I own a consulting company that is setup as a corporation (.Inc) in Canada and wondering if I go down this route if I should setup a new company or run any truncations through my existing corp. As well, any specific comment on how this may change in the Canadian market? Thanks, Tony

I believe you'll see this happen when eBay has a free listing promotion - sellers will put auctions up to fail on purpose during this period and be able to relist it for free later at their leisure. That is my understanding, at least.

I think AliExpress is more expensive. It is more of B to C rather than B to B.

First off I wanted to say thank you for the awesome advice! Not many people want to share their success for free! I'm hoping I can be successful with it as well! I do not have an eBay account and I was wondering how much harder it would be to sell my product being a new user. Should I wait until I build up some feedback before I start trying to sell things?

Hi, thanks for being such an inspiration. i wanted to know if you have to have proffesional pictures taken of the items you want to sell before you post them?Thanks again.

Hey Will, I absolutely LOVED your article. I am in the process of starting my own business online and this has truly inspired me. I am still looking for products that I could import/sell, but am having no luck. Do you have any suggestion as to what to do or even product suggestions? Thanks Arashk

Hi Will, How did you get a UPC code for your Chinese imported products? I have a whole batch of products that don't have UPC so I can't sell them on Amazon. I can buy one for $100 per product but it's not worth that for a test run. I don't know if they will sell. What did you do? Ebs, THanks!

This is brilliant! I've read a bunch of books on start ups with products but this was way more informative than any of them! Great job.

Hi Will ! I loved your articles! very helpful , very detailed, informative and absolutely everything that i am looking for! Im glad i met your articles! I wanted to ask you whether this site called salehoo.com are reliable and worth it if you happen to join before? :)

Hi Will, Thank you for sharing your experience and a great posting. I am inspired right away to take my first plunge in to importing business and follow the steps described above. Please excuse my ignorance in my below questions as I have no experience in entrepreneurship and am typing this message right after reading your blog. To follow the same thread on Teddi's question.. my interpretation of what you said is don't start w/ bureaucratic stuff until there is light at the end of the tunnel. However : 1- Is it possible to clear imports at the customs without tax ID? No questions asked? 2- Can seller accounts be opened on the websites you mentioned (i.e. eBay, Amazon etc.) without a tax ID? 3- Does PayPal not require taxID to open an account? How do they report earnings of members to IRS, based on SSN? Thank you so much, Al

Sup! This post is probably years old. Idk because there is no timestamp around here. Anyways I was just reading your articles and had to respond to this post. I'm an american currently living in China and my ayi (maid) used to work in a factory just north of Shanghai that produces digital baby thermometers. She has told me in conversation before that they're very unreliable and overall a total crap product. Just an FYI for you. ;-) Oh! 4/4/2014

Hi Will thank you for your advice. When it comes to listing products do you take your own photos of your products or can your supplier provide these? Are there legal issues with using pictures from another persons listings? thank you

I skimmed through and found this article very helpful and informative. I am currently in China doing business and from my own experience with Alibaba and dealing with factories and with what I read here, the information is very spot on. Good article and thanks

Great info Will I been looking for ways to sell on Amazon this one is a winner for me,I'll bookmark this page and read it a few more times Thanks!