Starting up an import-export business in UK

[Davide78]

Hi everyone,

My name is Davide and I'd like to start an import-export business in UK. My idea is to start as a sole trader and then maybe in future setting up a company. I am new to all this, I haven't studied economy or finance, I don't know much about the technical side of it all. I am Italian so I was thinking that I should probably start from my country (in terms of products to be exported to UK) as I know the language and I think there is a large choice of products, I'd like to trade food related products. I was wondering if anybody could give me suggestions, I would like to get a book or a course on starting this business in UK (as I found out that most books you can get online are mainly for US citizens), and what should I do for starting the business? Should I contact an advisor or I can do it by myself? Is there any license I should get? Please feel free to write me your suggestions and thanks in advance.

Davide

 

[chinaexport]

Hi Davide,
from your question above, are you in the UK now or Italy? If you want to sell your country's food products, that would be helpful to set up a business in your country. If you are in the UK now, you could go to the Business Chamber and they might help you.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Be careful.

you are starting up in a business you no nothing about! Scrub that, all you know is that you want to import - you do not event know what products.

Without knowing your market or you products at the beginning, sadly, your failure rates, at this stage, are quite high!

Give it some more thought.

 

[VesperLynd]

If you know nothing about that you should definitely familiarise yourself with the basics - every book is good for that. I'm afraid that a simple course or reading a book won't be enough for leading a successful business, though!

 

[Directimport]

Hi Davide,

Before you go any further you need to firm up your ideas.

Do some research on the market for your chosen products. Get to know it thoroughly. If you are to make a success of this you will need to become an expert on that product sector.

Look at the competition. Not just prices, but see if you can find out their strengths and weaknesses. Prices are important, because when you approach suppliers you need to know how much is the maximum you must pay in order to make a good profit.

The suppliers' price to you is just the start. You need to add all costs such as freight, duty, VAT, freight forwarder's charges, your packing charge and local delivery costs.

Once you have done that, you can start learning about how to import.

 

[kraldmark]

I totally agree with Directimport.
If it is possible, you may spend time on doing some research. If you’re in the UK, it will be easier to start. Once you done this, I think you will find more chance.

 

[Andaleeb]

Hi Davide

I would like to point out that forming a limited company from the outset is a far better option than starting as a sole trader. Limited companies have number of advantages including saving a lot of money on taxes.

You will also have to think about whether or not to be VAT registered. Depending on your circumstances, VAT registration can be advantageous from the beginning.

These are decisions you have to take carefully with expert advice because if you do them right, they can save you a lot of money!

But, as everyone else has mentioned earlier, knowing your products is essential!

If you tell me about your specific circumstances or have specific questions about business structures, finance, etc I will be happy to help.

Cheers
Andaleeb

 

[Jacek]

Hi David

You shall define what you want & how to offer. Then decide where to start-up (with VAT or not). Drop more info then advice maybe more fruitful.

Jacek

 

[Jennie Rich]

Hi Davide,

Agree with VesperLyn and Andaleeb. It sounds like you need to do some research and get some advice.

The Institute of Export run courses on various aspects of Exporting.

It may also be worth looking at the Getting Started pages on Open to Export which is an online service for UK companies who are thinking about doing business overseas.

You could also have a chat with a local International Trade Advisor from UK Trade & Investment.

(Apologies, but you are going to have to Google all these organisations. Apparently, I can't post live URLS yet.)

 

[Directimport]

Hi Davide,

I would like to add that one thing you really should do is to practice.

In other words, do some small scale importing yourself. It is hard to teach someone to swim if you can't swim yourself.

 

[suji]

Hi everyone,
My name is suji and I'd like to start an import-export business in UK. My idea is tostart a ltd company and start trading from india and few other of my contacts from other countries

I was wondering if anybody could give me suggestions, Please feel free to write me your suggestions and thanks in advance.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Suji,

Welcome to UKBF.

My suggestion is stop now! If you do not know what you want to do, even though you have contacts, best you do not waste time and get on doing something that will make you money.

 

[Ian CRA]

Probably things to remember are buy low and sell high. watch for fuel costs rising. watch for damages. account for late delivery and finally don't get shanghai-ed.

 

[aManHasNoName]

I agree that you should familiarise yourself with the market and the products you are looking to import before investing your money into this venture.

 

[Maple Sourcing]

You need to find your niche products first. Per my experiences, I'd suggest you start with products which are suitable for air shipment first, those products have to be compact/light-weight and relatively high value, so air shipment cost does not eat your margin too much.

This kind of products usually only need small MOQ (100~500 pcs, even less), short turnaround time, and suitable for online selling. For example, flashlight, headset, electronics gadgets, and so on.

Do not try the products with VERY HIGH margins, like furniture, tyre. Careful! The reason those products have very high margins, is it's very difficult to control the quality and arrange shipment/warehouse/delivery, lots of hassles. The water is too deep, one of my clients suffered a lot at beginning of his business.

Try some simple products first. It does not mean simple products cannot make money, as long as you can customize it in some way (different colors, appearances, packages, functions, special promotion ways, etc.)

Focus on high quality products only, there must be some reasons why cheap products are cheap.