Buying from China

[DannyLewis]

Found a website earlier that is based in China, selling the sort of clothes I want to sell for decent prices. Just wondering if someone could check it out for me and tell me is it legit? I don't want to be forking out money and not seeing my items. I can't post links yet but the site is bulkstrade(dot)net

Do the prices on that website include VAT, and if not will they be paid when I order from that site or when the goods arrive in the UK? What other charges might I incur? Really have no idea about purchasing from abroad so could do with a little help, thankyou!

 

[Kelly Yang]

Maybe I can do some help for you. I works for a freight forwarding company in Guangzhou, China. What kind of products you wanna buy? I can check this website for you.

 

[DannyLewis]

That would be most appreciated! I'm looking to buy designer clothes (Adidas, G-Star Raw, Gucci, Armani, Ed Hardy, Nike, Dolce&Gabbana etc.) I'm really struggling to find a site where my profit margin is decent enough.

 

[keytop]

Found a website earlier that is based in China, selling the sort of clothes I want to sell for decent prices. Just wondering if someone could check it out for me and tell me is it legit? I don't want to be forking out money and not seeing my items. I can't post links yet but the site is bulkstrade(dot)net

Do the prices on that website include VAT, and if not will they be paid when I order from that site or when the goods arrive in the UK? What other charges might I incur? Really have no idea about purchasing from abroad so could do with a little help, thankyou!

Mostly the price include the VAT,Only fee you need to pay is the freight charge,If the price is high,Maybe you also need to pay the tax when you receive the goods

Here is Soros Chen from guangzhou,China. Who work for several importers from Euro as their buying agent, Just like their “eyes” and “ears” in China.
Any related business problem, Will try to give you some advice.

 

[Deleted member 138423]

That would be most appreciated! I'm looking to buy designer clothes (Adidas, G-Star Raw, Gucci, Armani, Ed Hardy, Nike, Dolce&Gabbana etc.) I'm really struggling to find a site where my profit margin is decent enough.

Are you looking to buy original or fake brands?

 

[DannyLewis]

Real mate, I don't wanna be selling knock offs, whilst it would be more profitable I wanna do it all legit.

 

[Deleted member 138423]

Well then be warned that many of the products out of China listed as original are in fact fakes!

There are a number of blogs on here re buying from China, it's a minefield in fact, so I would suggest that you research very carfeully indeed and get your mindset out of the 'I can order something online from China and make some money' becuase it simply is not true!

Tread carefully and think about visiting to see for yourself or obtain a trustworthy gobetween in country and pay for their experience!

 

[DannyLewis]

Oh right, I see.. Do you happen to know any good Chinese sites? This one I'm looking at is;

For 5 pairs of True Religion Jeans + Shipping = £120 (minus a few pence) that seems very very very cheap and I find it hard to believe that that's all I would be paying? Would I be paying more once it reaches the UK? Any way of telling if this site is selling original clothes or not?

 

[Podge]

Would the brands themselves not tell you who their licensed sellers in China are ?

 

[DannyLewis]

Would the brands themselves not tell you who their licensed sellers in China are ?

Didn't think of that! Thankyou very much, think this will save me a lot of hassle just need to find the phone number for the UK offices of True Religion & G-Star. Also surely I can buy directly from a manufacturer, as I'm sure a lot of the companies are based in Asia as far as production is concerned, and I'm guessing this will be possibly the cheapest option if buying large quantities later on?

 

[Banner Stands]

China is full of fake goods so be careful. I was in China only a few Months ago and I visited one of the big indoor markets on the underground line, known for fake goods. If the prices are cheap, goods are probably fake!

 

[DannyLewis]

Hmm, well I will try and contact the companies and find a listing of official wholesalers in China, or if they can point me to reliable UK based wholesalers. Seriously this is hard work! & google isn't helping me find phone numbers for the companies.

 

[Banner Stands]

Hi Danny,

If you are dealing with a new supplier in China, I would recommend starting off small and build volume for orders gradually.

Always best to get samples and pay the courier cost so you can check them thoroughly. Of course, there are no guarantees that the order will be as per samples!

There are companies who will go and do factory visits and QC for you at a cost too which is worthwhile if your order volumes allow.

 

[DannyLewis]

Well I think my first task is to check with the manufacturers of the goods that I wish to buy whether or not the sites I intend to buy from are actually selling real products or not.

How much roughly would I be paying to have someone go and investigate a factory for me to check everything is up to scratch? I can't afford to be going to China myself right now.. thanks for all your advice by the way, it is much appreciated

EDIT: Also what do you mean by getting samples? Just ordering a couple and checking them out or would the company send me sample products for free (other than shipping of course).

 

[Banner Stands]

Hi,

When dealing with a new supplier or product, we always order samples.

Normally the supplier will charge for the product(s) and the shipping with courier and you can receive the samples in a week or two to check them.

With regards to getting products QC checked, we recently organised for a factory we trade with to be visited and a container order randomly checked. I think it cost around 500 dollars.

 

[DannyLewis]

That's not so bad, although I am just starting out at the moment, have my first batch coming in from a UK wholesaler this week, have 5 of the 11 items already sold which is nice. I won't be ordering anything over about £300 for a while yet, my current orders are less than £100, so you have an idea the sort of scale I'm working on at the moment. As I have money coming in from work and no overheads at the moment, I will be reinvesting every penny into more stock until I have a wider range, then I will be setting up a website and seeing where I can go from there. Its early days yet, which is why I don't want to be spending money and being scammed.

 

[Banner Stands]

Understand completely.

Wish you all the best with the new business venture!

Mark

 

[DannyLewis]

Thankyou mate ok so the shipping is £15 per order, this seems quite cheap. As your company orders from China a lot, you may be able to tell me if there are any additional fees to pay once the goods reach the UK?

 

[Banner Stands]

We buy shipping containers full of goods so we pay customs clearance, import duty and then road haulage of the container on HGV from the docks to our warehouse.

If you are shipping goods with courier then you might get charged import duty and the rate varies depending on the product (different goods are subject to different rates).

Best regards
Mark

 

[Mister B]

It sounds very much like the goods that you're looking at are counterfeit.

At best, you may take delivery but you run the risk of selling sub standard products and also the fact that the brand owners will stop you selling these products leaving you seriously out of pocket.

At worse, the goods will be stopped at customs and confiscated as they're counterfeit.

If all is hunky dory though, in addition to courier charges you will be liable for import duty, (at around 13%) VAT and other smaller administrative charges.

If it was that easy, eveybody would be at it so my advice to you would be to tread very carefully.

Mister B

 

[DannyLewis]

Been reading some reviews on the site and it has a very low trust rating, so will not be using them. Guess I will just order from UK wholesalers and settle for a small profit margin. Until I can find a reliable source elsewhere. Thanks for all your help guys

 

[Kelly Yang]

Hope to be helpful.

Importing brands from China is rather expensive for customs clearance. If you wanna buy from China, maybe I can give some suggestions.

 

[Kelly Yang]

It sounds very much like the goods that you're looking at are counterfeit.

At best, you may take delivery but you run the risk of selling sub standard products and also the fact that the brand owners will stop you selling these products leaving you seriously out of pocket.

At worse, the goods will be stopped at customs and confiscated as they're counterfeit.

If all is hunky dory though, in addition to courier charges you will be liable for import duty, (at around 13%) VAT and other smaller administrative charges.

If it was that easy, eveybody would be at it so my advice to you would be to tread very carefully.

Mister B

It seems that you are doing great in international trading. I think you are very experienced in this. I recently wanna do something in this regard, but I don't know what to do. Have no plan yet.

 

[Kelly Yang]

It sounds very much like the goods that you're looking at are counterfeit.

At best, you may take delivery but you run the risk of selling sub standard products and also the fact that the brand owners will stop you selling these products leaving you seriously out of pocket.

At worse, the goods will be stopped at customs and confiscated as they're counterfeit.

If all is hunky dory though, in addition to courier charges you will be liable for import duty, (at around 13%) VAT and other smaller administrative charges.

If it was that easy, eveybody would be at it so my advice to you would be to tread very carefully.

Mister B

It seems that you are doing great in international trading. I think you are very experienced in this. I work for a shipping company now. I recently wanna do something in international trading, but I don't know what to do. Have no plan yet.