any regulations on reselling items purchase from wholesalers?

[CIulian]

I wish to open an online clothing store where I will be selling clothing purchased from wholesalers in China. Not sure this fits under imported goods, as I'm buying them online, anyone know what I should be aware of before selling them further in UK and Europe? My intention is to sell them under my own brand, pretty sure they come untagged, so I will be relabelling them and sell them under my name. I'm only starting with about 500 pieces, so will start small, no major tax worries at first I guess. It all seems pretty straightforward, but maybe from experience someone can tell me what to keep an eye out for.
thanks

 

[StevensOnln1]

If you're buying things from another country and having them brought back to the UK it's classed as importing, no matter how small the amount of goods. Don't forget you'll be charged import duty and VAT when the goods enter the UK and probably an admin fee from the delivery company for paying the duty + VAT on your behalf and recharging it to you.

 

[beasty]

DEAD STOCK LOTS OF IT


OK starting small


500 mens shirts


s, m, l, xl, xxl 5 sizes

Red, blue, green, yellow, black 5 colours

Collar, no collar, two styles

You now have 50 combinations of shirt, but what will happen is you will sell a lot of blue no collar larges and run out of stock, and be left with 8 xxl no collar reds..

I am of course making it up, but clothing companies have a tonne of dead stock and you need to know where it is going, as discounting it massively to try and get your next order together looks horrible.

Do this 3 or 4 times, it starts to look like a tonne of work to manage all this stuff..



If it were me

I would have something like hats one size fits all, shirts, black or white or two colours max... and only popular sizes.... midgets and giants can go to a midget and giant store

 

[CIulian]

I didn't realize I'll have to pay VAT, I'm not a tax expert, I actually thought that becomes an issue once you started trading and your takings have gone over a certain threshold. I don't intend to start a primark, a gap, or a next, I have my own niche and I don't need a lot of stock. I already have a clothing line here in UK, and I only sell one size. and it sells. I don't understand businesses who pay ridiculous money for the SAME item in 5 different sizes, it's a waste of money. it's all about knowing your niche very well. I have never bought anything from another country though. So it's the delivery company who pays import duties and VAT and the get reimbursed by myself once goods arrived? can anyone give me an idea as to how I could work out these duties beforehand? I assume that the company I buy the goods from will inform me of all I owe before I actually go ahead and make the purchase, right? thanks for your responses.

 

[StevensOnln1]

Don't confuse import VAT with being VAT registered. Import VAT is charged by customs on any goods arriving from outside the EU worth over £15 (someone else may correct me on the exact amount). If you were VAT registered, you would reclaim this on your VAT return, the same as you would with VAT charged by UK suppliers.

You only need to register for VAT (and charge VAT to your customers) if your turnover exceeds £77,000 in any 12 month period. You can register voluntarily below that figure, but it's usually only beneficial if you're selling mainly to other VAT registered businesses.

If the delivery company pays the import duty and VAT for you, you'll probably find they expect you to repay them before they will deliver your goods to you.

 

[Socio South West]

Other than the actual volume charges, most of the shipping costs are per consignment, so the unit costs of small consignments are naturally higher: Balance what you can sell against increasing the margin by shipping more - Small unit costs gives you more leeway to discount if necessary.

If your policy is to stock one size only, that's fine for a proportion of the population, but you are ignoring a large potential market by not offering a mix of sizes, as well as helping to reduce the unit shipping cost as above - Obviously you carry fewer of the less popular sizes, and its getting that mix of sizes right that boosts your profits, and being able to move what doesn't sell that keeps your cash flow moving and stock turning over.

You have a simple business model in mind... but with a little dash of enterprise risk it could be much bigger and more profitable.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Dont forget that many far east manufacturers make for the smaller frams far east customers , so you will need to give exact sizes you need the items to be made to.

The far east is a minefield for new people and lots of people who work between you and the maker who may well be ripping you off

500 is a very small number for custom made items and dont forget your only time to inspect for quality control is when they arrive in the UK and the customer already has your money, what happens to any faulty goods and how do you get satisfaction if anything goes wrong

Have you considered making in the UK, you may find the made in England will sell at a slightly higer value if marketed well

 

[beasty]

By the way due to rising labour costs in China some factories now sub contract to Bangladesh

So why not go there?

Labour costs are about 20 to 25% of China!

Or are you happy to pay those massive chinese wages?