This post was written by Josh Nacol, a student in my Create A Profitable Online Store Course. Recently Josh started importing goods from Asia for the very first time and wanted to share his experiences with my readers.

Now in my class , I have an entire module dedicated specifically towards helping students import goods from overseas. Josh had never done this before prior to joining my class and he was a bit intimidated early on by the process. As Steve mentioned above, I recently completed the sample sourcing process and wanted to share some tips and mistakes I made along the way. Enjoy and please let me know if you have any questions or comments. When it comes to communicating with your vendors, you should never make any assumptions about product availability.

On multiple occasions I had vendors try to sell me products that were not displayed on their website. In contrast, I also requested samples of products that were displayed online but no longer available from the vendor. I even had one instance where after paying for samples the vendor came back and informed me that 6 of the 9 samples ordered had been discontinued. Make sure to ask and confirm prior to ordering and especially paying for any samples. Most vendors that I dealt with responded in a quick and friendly manner, which reinforced the importance of relationship building.

While in a few instances vendors seemed a little cold, most vendors were very eager to engage in conversation, answer questions and discuss samples. For the most part, their written English skills were pretty darn good. Their ability to both send and receive emails exceeded my expectations.

Also, make sure to be complimentary without overdoing it. Moral of the story — Vendors are real people just like you and me. All the talk these days is about Alibaba , but I actually had better luck with Global Sources.

Make sure to give both websites a shot. Some vendors are almost too friendly. I never use my main email address for Alibaba correspondence to avoid getting spammed by vendors.

Moral of the story — Trust your instincts. Give people the benefit of the doubt but go with your gut. Tailor your vendor inquiries for specific product categories. As an example, I was searching for a variety of bags including leather bags. When I sent an initial email to one vendor who specialized in leather, I accidentally included photos of non-leather bags which caused some confusion.

If you want something made of polyester, specifically state in your email that you are looking for a polyester widget. Otherwise, like me you might receive a different and most likely cheaper product or material than you intended. Be very specific and ask the vendor to confirm product specifications before both production and shipping. Despite doing everything suggested above, there were a couple occasions where the samples I received were not the samples I ordered.

When I confronted the vendor as to why the products were different than what I ordered, the typical response was something along the lines of: Moral of the story — You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Confirm the sample order prior to shipment and request photos of the samples to ensure they are accurate. Most vendors will allow you to pay via PayPal. Some have PayPal but will not tell you unless you ask so make sure to ask. In fact, with most vendors, I used wording along the lines of: I found it to be just as easy as PayPal but with Western Union you have no recourse to get your money back.

If it makes you feel better, choose a vendor who you will be paying a smaller amount of money to for samples. Although just a suggestion, doing this will help to familiarize you with all the routing and logistics related to international wire transfers. If you decide to pay via wire transfer, make sure and confirm that you have the exact wire information including beneficiary information, address, swift code and account number.

If one character is incorrect, then the Bank of China might relegate your funds to the Chinese banking void for an unspecified period of time. Samples are an investment. Most drugs will not make it through clinical trials and some will not receive FDA approval, but the few that do make it past all the hurdles will make the investment worth it. While purchasing samples can seem daunting, make sure to keep things in perspective.

Ask vendors what their top 5 products are in terms of sales. Pick the very best ones based on the photos, product descriptions and vendor recommendations. Steve emphasizes this several times in his course. Not only does this make your company seem larger than it is but it also displays a sense of teamwork and unity. Here is an actual email I sent to a vendor after receiving samples. We wanted to confirm that we received the samples today.

Over the next couple of months we are going to be meeting with many of our customers to discuss your products and potential plans to move forward with larger purchases. We will certainly keep you updated on our plans.

For example if we wanted to purchase 5 different products, each with 3 colors and 2 sizes. For product YD, the zippers were very difficult to fasten and ended up breaking in one instance. For most products, we prefer one piece like YD instead of two pieces to make the assembly process as easy as possible for our customers. I did however notice some very distinct trends between the manufacturers and trading companies. Along with the obvious things such as price and MOQ differences, trading companies definitely had more of a pushy sales approach while the manufacturers seemed more eager to build a relationship.

In the beginning however, it might behoove you to buy from the trading companies because they will offer lower minimum order quantities MOQ. In some cases I politely asked certain vendors what percentage of their business was manufacturing vs.

Most reps were more than happy to share that information. Oh the joys of international air freight! Most vendors will setup the shipping for you and all you have to do is provide your shipping address and phone number for confirmation. Some vendors will lump the two costs together while others will separate them out and surprise you at the last second. Moral of the story — Shipping samples is expensive.

If this depresses you, remember that samples including shipping are an investment! As a rule of thumb, before you contact any suppliers, have your shipping accounts setup with UPS, FedEx and possibly DHL. UPS and FedEx can be done online. DHL is a more involved process felt like I was applying for a mortgage that involves a phone call and you providing them documentation such as recent bills, invoices, etc.

Are you unsure which shipping method to use and how much it will cost? Do you want a good estimate of your real landed cost of goods? Click here to use my free import calculator. Because it was my first time importing goods from Asia, I made a few mistakes but I learned a lot in the process. In the end, your experience will be different than mine, but I hope that the tips above can help you along your journey.

If you are really considering starting your own online business, then you have to check out my free mini course on How To Create A Niche Online Store In 5 Easy Steps. In this 6 day mini course, I reveal the steps that my wife and I took to earn thousand dollars in the span of just a year.

Business Idea: Make Money Buying Wholesale from China

Best of all, it's absolutely free! Excellent set of tips Josh! They are truly useful and I will most certainly keep them in mind as I start my own Journey down this road soon importing products into the Middle East.

Thank you Steve for sharing! Hi Josh These are excellent tips. Any wordpress theme could do what I see on your landing page. You could find manufacturers in the US who would do that and ship it for free straight to AMZ. Viv — I imagine you could definitely use WordPress for a landing page, especially if you already had a blog or ecommerce site already setup. As to your second question, this is something I have thought about a lot recently.

I think it depends on your industry and what products you sell. To my surprise, I discovered that the vast majority of companies including fortune retailers and wholesalers in the U. So I suppose one would need to weigh the incremental cost of importing vs the cost of finding a contract manufacturer and getting things setup here in the US. I did not fully understand the top If the supplier will setup the shipping costs for the samples, then what is the need of me having an shipping account?

We can always track the shipments on their websites for free. Novneet — thanks for your comment. I live in the United States. In essence, you will pay the vendor directly for the samples using PayPal or wire transfer but not the cost of shipping.

How to Buy Wholesale from China: 2 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow

In my experience this is the exception and not the rule. Hope this answers your question. I sold all of my samples on Amazon within 40 days which was good.

I am in the beginning phase of setting up my Amazon Business. The product niche research and the finding the suppliers. It is really a scary thing for me, as I have never has done any sort of importing previously. Will it be possible for you to provide your email, if it is not much trouble, so that I can ask any import related questions directly? Novneet — feel free to contact me at sunrisepetcarriers gmail.

Its a fact that every year the wholesale products are imported to various regions or countries. This particular post emphasize on the relative Tips On Importing Wholesale Products From China Using Alibaba Or Global Sources.

I think this is way beneficial post than that of it appear. One must go through the same. Hello, Thank you for this amazing post!

I am wondering about the taxes once the products get to my country!? How should I deal with that?

How to make a million dollars on Etsy — buy from Alibaba and run your store like eBay - The Verge

Would apreciate ur help! Josh — thanks for the great article. I have contacted and received samples from four different companies, for two types of items I hope to sell. Your comments about learning the difference between a manufacturer and a wholesaler is right on target. On my first try on the first product, I ended up ordering samples from a mfr.

And to top it off — they actually purchased their product from the mfr. Certainly a lesson learned. And yes, it is a shock when the air shipping cost is so high. But overall, it is a learning experience and I actually hope to go to China in the future and meet some of these folks. Thank you Josh for the great article for us all.

If you have any infomation on the taxes when the products arrived, please keep me posted. And how do you receive the products in such ways?

Since you have to pay for samples, how do you know the quality of the samples will be comparable to the items in your first order from the supplier? Do you have a way of returning the shipment at the suppliers expense if the quality is not up to your standards or do you just request a refund from Paypal?

This is why I always gradually increase my order size over time. If you want to be extra careful, you can hire a 3rd party inspection company.

Returns are highly unlikely. China market is a world number 1 largest market in the world. Many Indian visit to China for importing products from China to India. I have ordered the product from China and they had provide a good service and delivery was on time. Im really having hard time on what to import from. This is a great bit of information and very very valuable for me. I have been trawling through Alibaba and sending off various requests for costings and product availability to a number of suppliers….

I have recently had one supplier send me a quite and advised me of Paypal charges. Whilst it was good that the supplier was the first to suggest the use of Paypal for the payment as I had not asked that question yet the supplier did include Paypal charges in the quote.

I had asked for two quotes, the second of a larger quantity. The Paypal charge increased with each increased costing. My question is, is it normal to be expected to pay a Paypal change to the supplier? I was surprised as it was my understanding that only either the buyer or the seller are charged and that not both should pay a fee. Many thanks again for your words of wisdom. I played around with buying samples and was almost about to go for the plunge and by pass this by just placing a bulk order….

Im so, so glad I came across your blog…as you are right, best to get samples for a number of reasons not just to check the quality of the goods but also to trial the suppliers service, accuracy etc which will in the end be a great investment.

Cant thank you enough for sharing your experiences with us all here. Hi , I am just starting the process of ordering goods in the Philippines. Still researching on what I should do. I am new to starting a business and ordering products overseas.

Which would be more efficient and also what would save me money?? Thanks for this article. I once purchased some sample watches and walkie-talkies; in hindsight it was probably from a wholesaler rather than manufacturer.

Even then I believe some manufacturers use their own vendors to sell samples on their behalf. I had them sent to me through FedEx. On the watches, I receive only 2 out of the 3 samples I ordered. But from the FedEx tracking, I realised that the vendor used a logistics company to send their products in HK to FedEx, and this is where the theft probably occured.

There was no point pursuing any legal action over a cost so small so I just let it be. On the walkie talkies, I had to Ensure that they sent me with the correct voltage, and frequency marking on the package because otherwise it might be withheld in customs indefinitely. What I mean is that you have to watch out for any legal requirements on importing something into your country to prevent seizure or delay. On the PayPal payment, I realise that the account name actually belonged to an unknown individual.

I think probably Alibaba escrow would be good. It is also good if the vendor can give you documentation such as ISO, export license with their name on it. They should be current. I have a question. What can you do to force him to give you the price that is marked on the site?

I want start Business on amazon. I want to sell Cellphone Accessories related Products. Thanks for this idea. I want to sell beauty related Products. Thanks for your this best idea. Your email address will not be published. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. A completely FREE mini course on how to develop a niche ecommerce website in 5 easy steps!

Buying from Wholesalers in China: 5 Things Importers Must Know

Learn how to find products to sell and setup your online store. Sign up for my free newsletter and receive instant access to my mini course on How To Create A Niche Online Store In 5 Easy Steps. Home Back to start Our Story Who is Steve Chou? How to Build an Online Store , Product Sourcing.

Never Assume Anything When it comes to communicating with your vendors, you should never make any assumptions about product availability. Tips on questions to ask: Are there any new products or designs that are not currently displayed online? Are there any products displayed online that were discontinued or no longer available? Trust Your Gut Some vendors are almost too friendly. I wanted to know: Taher and Sophia — Thanks glad you enjoyed!

And Josh, which country do you belong to and how is your Amazon Business Doing? Yes Thanks for the clarification man. I would like to give a tip on a very good website on import from china , hope you like.

Hi Josh This is a great bit of information and very very valuable for me. Hi Josh, Thanks for this article. Good article and tips, thanks for sharing. Thanks for sharing this post. The tips are very good. It will help a lot. Nice article, thanks for sharing this Helpful information.

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