importing

[Rossi fan]

Hi all,

Has anyone imported items from China, ore other countries. If so, how do I get to know who sells what etc. I am just exploring ideas and thinking of a bit of diversification.

Thanks for any help,

Paul

[Coin Operated Group]

HI Paul,

There are plenty of sites for china goods such as alibaba and its quite a straight forward process, your hardest part is finding a reputable company as they mostly all use telegraphic transfer or some line of credit. There are a lot of crooks out there and so make sure you do a few checks before you part with your cash ie ask for uk references, check how long there website domain has been registered for,.

If you can get a price CIF container in freight it is a price delivered to a uk port insured etc you then need to pay your customes & vat etc, it is possible to use a sfreight forwarding company if you are new to it, I can recommend a good one if you need one. If you get a price FOB it is a price for the goods loaded onto the ship, you need to arrange transport & insurance etc again I would recommend a freight forwarder and then you can just worry aout making sure you are buying goods that actually exist.

If you find a company its also worth doing a search for that namke and words like scam or fraud to see if anything coms up as I have picked up a couple this way. If you find a company then please feel free to pm if you wish and I can try and research for you and as said put you in touch with a freight forwarder who will work out all your costs.

Oh and it takes about a month by sea for goods to arrive.

Hope this helps a little

[PGBrew]

Spain, Portugal yes, China no. All overseas people I deal with I've met & have good references. I would'nt deal with anyone I've never met.

[david@naughtyvend]

Spain, Portugal yes, China no. All overseas people I deal with I've met & have good references. I would'nt deal with anyone I've never met.

The face to face can give you some good insight but a conman is a conman, in general I've only been bumped two or three times in almost a decade of importing from China and importantly I took the time to learn the business culture as well as little of the language. Refer to other suppliers whom you've dealt with in China, it suggests you have contacts locally and makes the seller less likely to try a fast one...

Get your costs FOB Port, that by-passes most of the corrupt parts of the transit of your goods where cash changes hands, let your supplier do the paperwork (language and contacts) but have a UK agent with an office in China just in case anything goes **** up. That's my advice.