Lets say I have a list of manufacturers I want to contact. What’s the “best” way to go about that? Phone call, email (in English or Chinese?), other?
Also, what exactly is it I’m asking for when I contact these places? Will they have a price sheet with prices for quantities of 1000, 10000 and 100000?
Now that I’m back here and can communicate directly with suppliers, I have people with the money to get things done asking me to do things.
I know it depends on the product, but what are the different options available to me?
I’m assuming some places with manufacture and drop ship items all nicely wrapped up in one. Or some I’ll have to get products shipped to a drop shipping type place.
Thanks for whatever you give me fellas and fellets. PM or email me if your not comfortable with open discussion (miltownkid | AT | gmail.com)
It’s not as easy as you think it is … it all depends on the product … your design, their design, textile, electronics …
Language doesn’t matter, if they don’t want you to know specifics they just switch to Taiwanese anyways
Fax them or email them, follow up phone call …
Don’t forget that some items need approvals for the US market, telecom items, some products have dumping charges or specific import duties …
I don’t think that Taiwanese do drop shipping … it’s more like container, airfreight (FOB, FOR, ex-works, C&F, CIF …) … if small amounts (samples) you can consider a courier service, you doing all the work.
Many manufacturers already have a sole import agent or representative overseas, would make it more difficult for you.
It appears that my questions may have lacked some clarity and focus. It may be because it’s 3am here and I’m still recovering from 2am yesterday, or it may be because… they lack clarity and/or focus.
Still thanks so far and I’ll be back in the morning. I’m going (back to) sleep.
Tell me Mr. Pie, how easy do I think it is? I’ve been stacking up failures (and successes) since the day I was born. If I thought it was easy, I probably wouldn’t be interested in doing it.
[quote=“miltownkid”]It appears that my questions may have lacked some clarity and focus. It may be because it’s 3am here and I’m still recovering from 2am yesterday, or it may be because… they lack clarity and/or focus.
Still thanks so far and I’ll be back in the morning. I’m going (back to) sleep.
[/quote]
Yup I am one time zone over and feel the same way but I ain’t done drinking yet its still only 2 am here
I’ve started doing sourcing very early when I came to Taiwan (mid 90’s) and learned it the hard way … it’s a bit easier when you have committed parties on the receiving end … but never forget that you’re the bitch when something goes wrong … QC, money wise …
Even so, sourcing is when you are looking for products, novelties … for yourself or someone else.
I never believe that manufacturers do drop shipping … they like to do quantity, because only few have stock of products or even raw materials … they want to do large batches … every production run has start-up costs, so it’s not interesting for them to do small runs.
Drop shipping ads another cost … better ship container wise.
Really depends on what type of products you are interested in, but it often is not that tough. Also depends if you are making the profit yourself in a mark-up or planning to get paid for your services.
Freight Forwarder
One of the first things you want to do is contact a freight forwarder, a good relationship with a forwarder is worth its weight in gold. They will be able to help you with the logistics of getting it from A to B. Usually they will be considerably cheaper than a FedEx type company (on larger shipments). A good freight forwarder will also be able to help you to consolidate a shipment from a number of different manufacturers into a single shipment. They can also do nifty things like switching paperwork (invoices, etc.) to your own to protect your source… as well as to ensure you can build in your cut off the top. In many places this is what is called “triangle trade”.
I should also note that if the goods are small/light getting the original manufacturer to use someone like EMS is fast and cost effective… only problem is the two parties have a direct link.
OBU
To keep things legit (somewhat) you can also look to open an OBU, this can then place the PO to the manufacturer, and invoice the end customer at the higher price. In this case you would want to purchase things FOB so the manufacturer delivers to the port… you then do not need to worry about export taxes/duties… and of course if paperwork is switched and your customer imports you don’t need to worry about the import taxes & duties either as that becomes their responcibility… this is of course the best way to do it if you are just trading products. It is also better when talking to a potential supplier to be a registered business rather than ‘average joe’, they will be more responsive… doing a AMT transfer from your personal account works, but well…
… gotta run, will add more thoughts. BTW these are just ramblings, don’t take it as good advice.
more ramblings… for the most part manufacturers are ‘order whores’, that may be a bit of a generalization but I’ve rarely come across a manufacturer who is not interested in an order.
As far as quantities bigger is always better, but nothing is too small, of course smaller quantities will generally mean higher prices (both unit and shipping). As an example i’ve previously bought computer parts in qty’s as small as 10pcs to as large as 1K (which is still considered tiny).
A good tip is to get a Taiwanese person to call the supplier to ask/negotiate a price, they will get a better initial price, me and my wife could call or email the same commpany and she would nearly always get a better price out of the gate… regardless the first offer price is too high, and is expected to be negotiated downwards… wife was good at that too… us foreigners just don’t know how to barter well so leave it to the experts :s
If you are looking to build a brand this can be done initially pretty cheaply, and you could grow into it slowly. For instance most OEM manufacturers will provide unbranded house product shipped in white boxes.
So for really smally quantities you can design and then have them print full color sleeves which they will put over the box… gives your product a branded feel for a nominal cost. Of course a print run of sleeves maybe as low as 1K, but you could use them over a long period.
A step up from that is to have your brand also silk screened onto the product itself… all this also goes a ways to stop your buyers from by-passing you later down the road.
Finally putting your own dress on a house model (plastics)… this involves tooling and lots of cash… and big quantities…
If you are providing a customised part then you are really better able to keep your buyer buying from you longterm. For instance a custom cable harness, custom screw, metal plate, plastic enclosure, pcb etc… becomes very hard to second source. Of course getting this set up would require a lot more management/development than simply purchasing of a house model.
To Taiwan no. America yes. Can be very profitable if you do it right but it’s fraught with problems, the biggest one being long shipping times which will frustrate your customers (if shipping to the west). Also expect ad accounts to frequently get shut down.
Yeah, the shipping times are killer. Thanks to Amazon, consumer expectations are high. Large percentages expect shipping to be free, want their shipments in 2-3 days max and are unforgiving if there are any delays.
There are still niches in drop shipping but it’s not easy money anymore. If you’re serious, you’ll have to invest in inventory and warehousing.
One thing to know is Taiwanese WILL NOT ANSWER EMAILS!!!
Even in Chinese will they not answer, and in English it will be ignored completely.
Always call. It sucks because phone charge in Taiwan is absurd (costs more to call landlines from cell phones than it is to use that cell phone to call the states). Either use skype to get a land line to call from (costs are something like 0.1nt per minute then). Failing that visit during their normal business hours.
I agree you need to buy a decent amount of inventory in bulk and get a good distributor set up in america to make decent money from it over the long term.
Oh wow, nice inputs. For now, I’m looking to try it within Asia. Mostly gadgets and probably some household items. Is it necessary to know how to read/speak Chinese? Or can it all be done online?
Would appreciate it if you can point me to some good references. This thread is quite old so I honestly didn’t bother going through the last 13 years’ worth of posts.
Oh, and also, are there any taxes to be considered?
YMMV. Obviously, if your suppliers don’t speak English, or don’t speak very good English, yes.
You can source online but if you’re serious and want to build a business that can scale, expect to visit your suppliers. It’s one of the only ways to vet your suppliers and control quality.
You absolutely need to consider taxes. There are potentially a number of them (tariffs, local sales taxes, etc.). Depending on how your business is structured and where you’re selling, some governments might consider that you’re doing business in their country and subject you to corporate or personal income taxes.