importing from China, any advice ?

[Nomadalek]

Hi there, i have been thinking last few weeks on importing goods from china to the uk for some extra profit. I have been in touch with a chinese factory , and got a quote from them as following :

1-unit price $8.65
2-shipping cost: $625.93 by UPS
3-MOQ: 100 pcs
4-Total amount : $1490.93 including goods and shipping cost to the UK

i just want to know, what will be the charges in the uk to clear goods, is there anything i can do to minimize the charges to get my goods? just note that with this total amount of $1490 which is an equivalent of roughly: £965, and im expecting to me a profit of minimum £600 with a pretty quick sale, but as i said i am aware i will have to pay some vat and things like that.... any advice or clarification you could give me? just bear in mind that i dont want to invest more money in case it wont work i wouldnt lose loads of money, so basically this will be a trial if you can say.
I do hope i will get some quick responses and please be gentle with me a newbie into this lol

 

[PowerForwarding]

How large is the shipment? Can it be sent by sea to save costs? Get in touch with a freight forwarder and see if they can save you any money on the shipping costs.

If it is over 100kg you might be able to save money by sea if you can get FOB rates from their nearest port. Then a freight forwarder here in the UK will be able to get you a rate through to door.

 

[Nomadalek]

How large is the shipment? Can it be sent by sea to save costs? Get in touch with a freight forwarder and see if they can save you any money on the shipping costs.

If it is over 100kg you might be able to save money by sea if you can get FOB rates from their nearest port. Then a freight forwarder here in the UK will be able to get you a rate through to door.

im not too sure to be honest, but i would say every little box will be in a size of a normal book!! or just exeeding it a bit, then its time 100.
As i said im really newbie to this, and dont know from where to start. how would i get in touch with a freight forwarder? and i think yes it can be sent by sea, i can ask the factory about this....
i will come back to them and ask how much is the total weight

 

[LED Lightworld]

www.dutycalculator have a facilty to calculate import duty and VAT based on import code (product type).
I would question your figures though! By the time you have paid duty and costs out of your £600 profit, allowance for wastage/ damage? You wont be left with a lot. Are you paying for goods in transit insurance as well?

Most people I know bringing goods in look for 2x or 3x mark up on cost.

 

[Nomadalek]

have a facilty to calculate import duty and VAT based on import code (product type).
I would question your figures though! By the time you have paid duty and costs out of your £600 profit, allowance for wastage/ damage? You wont be left with a lot. Are you paying for goods in transit insurance as well?

Most people I know bringing goods in look for 2x or 3x mark up on cost.

no im not paying any insurance so far, is it compulsory? thats the reason im here, just to learn from you guys therefore i didnt do anything yet, till i know what im actually doing and what will be the outcome.
any suggestion or advice?

 

[PowerForwarding]

No insurance is not a requirement but definitely recommended.

You can find freight forwarders easily enough, you are talking to one right now. If you can contact one for rates, especially if you can get FOB rates you'll get a rate on the spot right through to door.

 

[ArchM]

I have done a very small amount of business with a Chinese company, which I found using Alibaba.

I can recommend asking for a sample (paying for it if necessary) and checking the documentation that comes with it. This way you may discover you are dealing with a slow manufacturer, middle-man or con artist, and you havn't gone in too deep.

Best of Luck

 

[Frankngai]

Hi there, i have been thinking last few weeks on importing goods from china to the uk for some extra profit. I have been in touch with a chinese factory , and got a quote from them as following :

1-unit price $8.65
2-shipping cost: $625.93 by UPS
3-MOQ: 100 pcs
4-Total amount : $1490.93 including goods and shipping cost to the UK

i just want to know, what will be the charges in the uk to clear goods, is there anything i can do to minimize the charges to get my goods? just note that with this total amount of $1490 which is an equivalent of roughly: £965, and im expecting to me a profit of minimum £600 with a pretty quick sale, but as i said i am aware i will have to pay some vat and things like that.... any advice or clarification you could give me? just bear in mind that i dont want to invest more money in case it wont work i wouldnt lose loads of money, so basically this will be a trial if you can say.
I do hope i will get some quick responses and please be gentle with me a newbie into this lol

Obviously, the shipping cost is too high. You can ship by sea. We can help you to solve the problem.

Pls let me know what kind of product you're importing. Maybe there is chance to reduce the cost.

Finally, good luck to you. If you have any other inquiry, you can drop me a PM or send me an e-mail.

B. rgds,
Frank

 

[mrsmcy]

Ask the supplier for a company in the UK that uses them. We found several companies on Alibaba and when I asked this only 2 provided contacts. When we called the contacts were so helpful and honest about the supplier giving realistic delivery times and import taxes. They also told us how you need to allow for 10% of the products to be unsellable with minor imperfections from one of the suppliers.

 

[AJCant]

Be careful for importing goods from China. When I started trading online I was importing goods from China to try and gain a higher profit margin. They said all the products where authentic, and legal. However after selling some of the products it was found that infact these products where a good replica. Meaning the only reason they where cheap was because they were not real.

However if you have done research into the product, and use a trusted website I would not see a problem with importing.

 

[PeopleWatcher]

Too many people have lost out on dealing with Chinese firms. There attitude is your a dirty, untrustworthy Westernised foreigner, we want paid up front, so send the cash with order, so you do, and guess what afterwards the hassle just goes on and on. There should be a goods held in UK Bond and goods inspection before payment procedure, but the Chinese are too crafty too deal the Western Way'? Good Luck.

 

[LED Lightworld]

If you approach your business dealing with that attitude it is no wonder you have been had over. There is a difference between due diligence & sensible precaution and your approach.
We have built a profitable and trusting relationship with our Chinese suppliers from scratch.

 

[Stock-On-Time]

Hi,
I know you are a newbie to this sort of thing but it is quite straight forward process. The costs involved in getting your product to UK are product cost, shipping cost and Import Duty & VAT. The only way you can reduce your costs on a shipment of this size is to firstly negotiate costs with supplier - is there any room for negotiation? or are all terms already agreed? Secondly the next biggest area to save money is the shipping cost - if you can find the best deal then you can save a lot of money and time here. Thirdly - if you are going to be charged Duty by the courier company (they will automatically calculate the duty under the heading they think is right, make sure they have the right heading to put it under.

So you can get a quote from a courier company or a freight forwarder, first you need to calculate the total size and weight of your shipment. You will need to ask your supplier for the Carton dimensions, carton weight and the number of pcs/products per carton. Once you have these 3 pieces of information you can do the following:

For example, lets say the cartons are 30cm long, 20cm wide and 6cm deep and there are 6 pcs per carton, to calculate the size of the shipment (volume in cubic metres) you do - 0.30 x 0.20 x 0.06 = 0.0036 cubic metres per box.

Lets say that there are 5 products per cartonTotal order of 100 pcs divided by 5 = 20 cartons. So your total volume of shipment equals 20 cartons x 0.0036 = 0.072 CBM (cubic metres).

Lets say the weight per carton is 500g. Total weight of carton = 500g. So 20 x 500g = 10KG. 10KG is the total weight.

Now you have your total size and weight of the shipment. In this case it will probably work out cheaper to use a courier to ship the goods over. There is a really good website Transglobal (Google it, cant post the link sorry) that you can get quick quotes from multiple couriers within a few clicks.

if you would like any further help or advise on importing goods from China then give feel free to contact me, i do it day in day out

 

[Yuriy]

If you approach your business dealing with that attitude it is no wonder you have been had over. There is a difference between due diligence & sensible precaution and your approach.
We have built a profitable and trusting relationship with our Chinese suppliers from scratch.

It only means that you did a very good job. It's really tough building trust in China, especially for newbies.

 

[shellrob]

Hi
i have worked with China for many years - i would recommend you have your product inspected before shipping - a loadinginspection as well as i have experience of buying off a sample and what i recieved was very different - plus containers coming with not the right quantity or for one poor client 3 empty containers

good luck
michelle

 

[Victoria Wu]

quotation EXW+freight+clean cost=final cost if door to door.

 

[keytop]

Hi there, i have been thinking last few weeks on importing goods from china to the uk for some extra profit. I have been in touch with a chinese factory , and got a quote from them as following :

1-unit price $8.65
2-shipping cost: $625.93 by UPS
3-MOQ: 100 pcs
4-Total amount : $1490.93 including goods and shipping cost to the UK

i just want to know, what will be the charges in the uk to clear goods, is there anything i can do to minimize the charges to get my goods? just note that with this total amount of $1490 which is an equivalent of roughly: £965, and im expecting to me a profit of minimum £600 with a pretty quick sale, but as i said i am aware i will have to pay some vat and things like that.... any advice or clarification you could give me? just bear in mind that i dont want to invest more money in case it wont work i wouldnt lose loads of money, so basically this will be a trial if you can say.
I do hope i will get some quick responses and please be gentle with me a newbie into this lol

Contact the experence agent to clear the goods for you

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.

 

[fashionaline]

hi, perhaps you can try our products. I can give you from China to provide high quality products and more competitive prices, welcome to click fashionaline dot com,you may find many things you want.
Hope to help you!

I have done a very small amount of business with a Chinese company, which I found using Alibaba.

I can recommend asking for a sample (paying for it if necessary) and checking the documentation that comes with it. This way you may discover you are dealing with a slow manufacturer, middle-man or con artist, and you havn't gone in too deep.

Best of Luck

 

[Maple Sourcing]

I used to use an economic air shipment, it's much cheaper than UPS and only 1 week slower than UPS. Contact me than I can share you more details.

 

[TeeTick]

If the cost of the products you buy is flexible. For example: clothing. You can ask the seller to declare a smaller value of the products. For example: $4 per unit instead of $8.65. If you only by a few items, just declare them as samples and no commercial use and you have to pay nothing for that. Also be careful when working with a manufacturer in China. you need to order a sample to check for quality, asking for references and check if they take secure payment methods...

 

[fenger]

Better you do not buy online directly, it might be little cheap, but it is very difficult to ensure the quality, you need to look for a chinese sorcing agent with UK branches, they will take responsibility for their clients in the UK. Acually, the price might be cheaper and safer.