/biz/ - Business & Finance

pls

>>814143
Your best bet is low cost high volume items. ie memory cards, selfie sticks, usbs, sandals, phone cases, headphones.
This shit is easy man

>you don't have the Guanxi to export goods to China
>you don't know a niche that isn't saturated, dominated by a large corporation, or doesn't have high barriers to entry

Fix one of the above two things. We cannot do that for you.

>>814209
any tips to acquari guanxi? should i learn chinnese??

how do i actually get something to the states?

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/white-micro-usb-2-0-male_1674659703.html?s=p

explain like i'm braindead, how do i get those usb cables to seattle, wa (west coast USA)

>>814341
like do I also buy this?

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/air-shipping-rates-from-china-to_60196841209.html?s=p

how does this shit work?

when i buy something on amazon, i just check a box and it shows up at my door. alibaba is a bit more complicated, it seems.

>>814346
Looks like alibaba does some logistics management

http://service.alibaba.com/buyer/faq_detail/13553891.htm

but their minimum weights and freight fees are a bit steep

>>813997

Sex toys here. People always buy dildos.

>>814351
be glad you don't have to pay $20/kg like australia -> usa

>>814351
Jesus fuck that's cheap

>>814362
is it? what are you paying?

I just made an inquiry to figure it out
>>814341

189$ to ship 300 cables?
0.59/PCS means 177$ for the product.

that's 366$ spent so far for 300 cables.

what other fees are involved?

is this shipping rate reasonable?

>>814197

Competition is impossible.

Your fighting against importers that import 10k memory sticks at a time and get huge discounts.

I thought about going this route but what I wanted to order said it would take a month to get to the US from China. That's a long fucking time

>>814375
you're missing the forest for the trees.

you don't compete on price, you compete in other ways.

think about insurance -- every insurance company provides the same shit, but they have different marketing and sales strategies. there are huge multinational insurance companies, as well as small mom and pop agents that have big companies underwrite their insurance policies.

that quote seems like bullshit now
>>814372

how do you get that kind of shipping wtf?

these cables are like 5.99 (with prime) on amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Right-Angle-Micro-USB-Cable/dp/B003E3HPD0

is there actually any money to be made here? or would fees eat up all my margin from 59 cents per cable on alibaba to $5.99 on amazon?

i fucked up the DHL, i had 27 KG instead of 2.7KG

here's a fixed quote, seems reasonable

what other fees do i pay when i buy something from china? customs?

here's fedex for 3kg

is that even reasonable for 300, 6ft cables?

looks like on a 5.99 cable there are $2.45 of profit left? thats not counting how much it cost to buy the cables, ship them to the usa, and then pay customs (not sure on that last one)

>>814382

People dont care shit about anything but price and quality when it comes to goods, theres no 'options', its just physical goods.

When your getting you shit from china, quality is out the window so your competing on price.

>>814396
it's not about options, it's about abusing gray area marketing tactics

just got a quote on the 6ft cables

0.73 dollars per cable
+270 to ship to USA

does anyone know how much the customs/taxes are on importing from china?

this online calculator thing is saying there's no duty on usb cables. that seems weird.

>>814341
>>814346
>>814351

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM ALIBABA

IF YOU BUY ANYTHING FROM ALIBABA YOU WILL LOSE YOUR FUCKING MONEY AND YOU WILL DESERVE TO LOSE IT.

Seriously, do not do this. DO NOT DO THIS. I can't even tell you enough, don't fucking buy things from Alibaba, it's a lair of cheats and frauds. Their 'Gold Supplier' means shit. Their quality checks mean shit. It doesn't mean anything. I was cheated out of $40,000 from someone who was a "5 year gold supplier" with "onsite quality checks" and a large trade volume, allegedly checked by the verifying company. It means nothing.

DO NOT FUCKING BUY FROM ALIBABA. Find the manufacturers directly and contact them there, make sure you check their company registration and speak to others in the industry to see if they're a reliable supplier or not.

If you actually want to buy through that website, I'd recommend you get all your money into one big pile and set it on fire, it'll have the exact same result but it'll look pretty and you'll save yourself the headache.

Again, I have to emphasize this:

If you buy from Alibaba you are a fucking idiot and you are going to get defrauded. I trade steel for a living and thus far every single trader I've contacted via Alibaba has tried to cheat me, revealing themselves either through being unable to answer questions about their product or by providing me with a fake quality certificate. I have a fucking library filled with forgeries. Don't do it man. You'll get fucked. Go to the manufacturer and do your research.

>>814413
this is coming from someone who doesn't know jack shit about importing though (me)

like how would you figure out who manufactured this?

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/white-micro-usb-2-0-male_1674659703.html?s=p

would a manufacturer even talk to me if i'm ordering less than 1000 cables?

>>814414
The minimum order numbers aren't set in stone. You need to haggle.

>>814414

Depends, I don't know the details about cables because that's not my industry but generally large manufacturers will never sell directly to small customers, you will have to either go through someone with 关系 or you'll have to go through your agents.

What I recommend you do is you should contact some of the sales offices of other large, reputable cable manufacturers and see what they can quote you; these guys should be able to do smaller orders because it is literally their business to do smaller orders. Compare the quotes; if the quote given to you by the alibaba is far and away cheaper, they are almost guaranteed to be frauds. If they're offering below domestic market price, they are almost guaranteed to be frauds. It also might be worth it to contact their 'clients' that they have listed (I laughed when I saw Stephen Gould, they tried to get into the Chinese steel industry about 4 months ago and they tried to sell me steel that was produced below the mill price of a certain factory using a fake certificate; their inspectors don't do their jobs very well). I highly doubt that a small producer with only a few hundred people is able to claim major/global banks and corporations as their clients. That is just ridiculous to me. Start there and go forward.

Something to keep in mind: The Rheinland etcetcetc guys who did the quality check for them were the same gents who allegedly did the quality checking for the company which cheated me. The assessments mean nothing. You can have a look at these frauds and look at all their verifications and realize that they fucked me out of $40000 (sold me substandard steel that was not produced by the requested mill, swapped it out before it got to port):

http://tjdhhjgc.en.alibaba.com/

Be extremely. extremely careful.

Also, $270 for shipping sounds cheap as fuck, but I mostly rent containers, so who knows.

>>814418

"your agents" --> their agents. Most manufacturers will have sales agents/sales offices that cater to smaller buyers.

>>814418
thanks for the advice, i really appreciate it.

what do you think about aliexpress?

they seem to make it way simpler

http://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-micro-usb-cables-angled-6ft.html?initiative_id=SB_20150711013301&site=glo&groupsort=1&SortType=price_asc&shipCountry=us&SearchText=micro+usb+cables+angled+6ft

>>814422

My advice would be the same. When it comes to trade, just find out who manufactures the cables and try to go through their agents. I would never trust e-commerce for trade and under no circumstances should you pay 100% before you see the goods for yourself/inspect them.

It's a lot harder for someone to defraud you if it's something like 10% upon placing the order 20% upon completion with photographic evidence and 70% upon opening the container at its port of destination, for example.

Find a good manufacturer, find their agent, make their agent prove they're actually an agent, and never prepay 100%.

>>814428
so do i just ask the guy on alibaba who their manufacturer is or do they list that somewhere?

>>814413
Spends $40,000 on alibaba.
Doesn't use Escrow.

>>814434

I didn't spend $40,000 on Alibaba, it was only afterwards that I found out that fucker was on Alibaba when I was suing him (the deal was arranged by a former trusted colleague who insisted the guy had been recommended; I left the details to him because he hadn't fucked up like this before) and I was genuinely surprised that he had all these 'assurances' which meant nothing.

>>814367
Getting shit from China to Europe is insanely expensive, I've been looking at 200$ for a 0.5kg packet.

>>814413

Can jet fuel melt steel beams?

>>814441

No.

>>814444
quads confirm

>>814439
Was this a "first time" buying from china or had you been doing so for a while?

>>814413
Lmao get rekt son.

>>814505

First time. I only had experience in Europe/Russia prior to that, my former friend/colleague said he could handle the Chinese business side and I thought he could as well; turns out he couldn't.

Fool me once hey?

>>814413

I can't believe you'd trust someone with that amount of money, friend or family.

I'd rather pay the Paypal fee and be secured that to TT someone I've only done a couple of transactions with. Even hundreds I still wouldn't send first.

I get counterfeit magic the gathering cards and sell them as the real deal on ebay. So far haven't had someone complain/notice they're fake. I've made 300 bucks so far and only spent 100 on the cards

>>814690
>being a fatty in real life
found your problem

>>814731
I thought about that but doing counterfeit goods can be risky especially when you start selling bigger quantities. You might have the guys that made Magic: The Gathering suing your ass to oblivion.

>>814386
Holy fuck that's expensive, I won an eBay auction and got one for $.30

>>814903
not that guy, but couldn't you just be like "I didn't know they were fake, just thought it was the best deal ever"

>>814396
Yeah when I'm on fucking ebay I look for who whos the cheapest and who ships the fastest (which might not be that hard to beat). Ebay is econ 101 at its finest.

>>814356

you got a niche, or just- 'dildos'? how do you sell them?

>>814914

You really think eBay hasn't heard that before?

>I stabbed him but I didn't know the knife was sharp

>>814912
>>814386

Everything is based around shipping, Amazon/Ebay require tracking on all packages unless otherwise.

These cords look like they weigh under 3Oz, so your shipping would be

$2.04USD + Amazon/eBay Fees + Packaging costs + tax

You would be losing money while annoying Amazon's FBA price, which can get you acc banned if they feel they don't want to compete with you. They'll find their reasons.

eBay on the other hand is over saturated so don't even waste your time.

>>814958
What if i sold the cables like 1$ under market value and used the product to fish for reviews?

how often do buyers leave reviews?

if it takes 10 cables (10$ loss) to get a review is it worth it?

>>815128

No, feedbacks are random. Anything can happen, even no feedback at all.

I'm doing what you're saying in a similar depo. Yours is cables, anyone can buy cables, so anyone can leave any type of feedback.

I get upwards to 5 negative feedbacks/15cases a week selling the shit I sell, I get them removed/closed though since I know how to deal with it. lol I don't think you can really say much about a generic cable to get your negatives removed so I'd find something better.

>Now if it were "your sister's" used panties you were importing and wearing yourself to sell...five star feedbacks of thanks would cum pouring in on every sale. Stop thinking about it

>>815175
so basically what you're saying is I should go for products with ambiguous quality or subjective quality?

that way i can exaggerate in the product description and ride on the placebo effect?

>>815187

Those are some big words there sunny boy, lol had to Google.

If by "subjective" you mean a single item that can grab a certain demographic, then yes.

Cause if you're doing cables, it's out in the open for anyone.

"Granny did you get the new micro cable from eBay, so you can finally connect your flash drive to your Samsung Tablet?"

>Yeaaass granson, and I left that seller a negative feedback cause it wouldn't fit in the round hole like it supposed to"

>I even said a generic feedback like "Didn't work" so they couldn't have eBay remove it since it's not specific and it's "muh opinionions" and I was just feeling lazy but still had enough strenght to not CONTACT HIM FIRST

"Wow granny, you're an asshole, that's the headphone jack. I can't wait till you die so I can sell all your shit on eBay"

>>815191
i mean products where people's opinion about the effects of having the product are not always the same.

like nobody is going to have an exceptionally positive experience with a USB cable.


but if you're selling some kind of supplement, some people will turn their life around. same thing with make up, or clothing, and things like that.

>>815200

Exactly, catering to a certain type of people that are going to enjoy their product is what you need to start with.



I personally found that catering to weebs is very nice, we seem to always leave a positive feedback.

>>815205
>10/10 the seller didn't disrespect my sexuality and delivered only 1 day late (please don't hurt me). will order again so he notices me.

>>815211

I like the personal messages they send telling me how they're going to use the product.

Good stuff.

Oh my God and if there's a problem, they actually understand...unlike iWatch accessories buyers. Should be obvious though...lol

>>815214
i'm only really familiar with consumer electronics.

is there any money there?

like I just bought these the other day. can I compete with these guys?

like if i buy these on aliexpress can i make money selling them on FBA?

looks like i can get free shipping?

let's see what the FBA calculator says

>>815217

Well the first one looks to be an Amazon brand so that's a no no.

The second one looks generic but might be "branded" by the user(oops "Company") QiShare. That's what I hate about Amazon, anyone can claim they made some new generic shit and stop people from posting on their first search result ad.

Everything seems to be revolving around branding over at Amazon, so make sure you have a good username/company.

>>815218
I don't know exactly how FBA works anymore, thought I did but if someone else is selling it...I don't know if it's based on what link they bought it from, or if it rotates...Idk

>>815220
ePacket is shit (might go missing/20+ day delivery)
USPS is just EMS
FedEx is shit cause they sometimes charge customs + make you sign for International packages. I use DHL for everything so Idk, best service out there IMO. Love watching the logistics videos on utube.


>I'm guessing you're just thinking of spamming the market with shit that sells and let FBA take care of it for you while you relax in a Jacuzzi?

>>815222
>I'm guessing you're just thinking of spamming the market with shit that sells and let FBA take care of it for you while you relax in a Jacuzzi?

yeah pretty much. any flaws with this plan?

I did the FBA calculator and doesn't seem too bad, i pay $2 to FBA instead of doing it all myself

looks like if I charge a bit more i can earn 3$ per sale.... hmmm

>>815226
>>815228

Someone else will come in, Amazon mostly, faking to be a new seller that somehow knows how to FBA as well. lol best to just get rid of the item for cheap and make more with numbers than with price.


By the way, don't download the AliExpress chat desktop app thing.

It's a virus in disguise... a Trojan to be exact called Taobao something something.exe.
Had to safe mode to remove. It just collects your data/spam ad notifications in Chinese or whatever.

looks like the bag i bought is from a no-name seller too.

it just had all the pockets i needed, while still being compact.


they don't even sell that many different things. how hard could it be to compete with them. lets see if that bag is on alibaba/aliexpress,

this is the closest thing i could find (laptop bag with pockets) and it's still pretty pricey. not much room for margin on FBA.

>>814940
What does ebay have to do with it?

I saw a guy on etsy selling bamboo samsung covers he mass order from alibaba and mofided them with engravings. Bought for 1 or 3 bucks sold for 25 dollars...

>>815273
oh shit that sounds right down my alley

>>815248

I thought he was asking about how eBay would respond when he said he didn't know he was scamming the buyers.

>>815238
>>815231

lol that's because most of these sellers have connections, they don't just buy straight off of Alibaba anymore. You need to make a Skype just for biz, keep in touch with the Chinese, eat Chinese food if you must. All for the better.

>Frenchie just left a neg in French, it's being removed as I type this.
Think I'm going to pass my 5 negatives a week mark this week.

How do you sell on Amazon though? You need to pay them a fee don't you

>>815587
yeah you pay fees, just like ebay fees..

see this for FBA:

>>815228
>>815226
>>814398

>>815553
how much room is there to negotiate usually?

like do you think i could get 100 these bags for 30% less? >>815238

>>815801

lol I usually don't negotiate, don't know if it's my ego or whatever but I'll just buy it for what it is.

Probably after I see the value drop and others are selling it I'll start negotiating. But most of what I sell is doing fine.

Letting them trust you first seems better imo

>>815820
how the fuck do i compete?

I'd break even at $9.05 per bag. that ali express page doesn't sell for less than 10.44

>>814413
how about alibabaexpress? isn't that more reliable?

>>815859
i'm not sure about reliability -- the main advantage i've seen is it shows you shipping costs on the page.

So how do you find your niche? I just need tips. What do you guys sell? How did you get started? Any advice related to doing this in general will help as well.

>>816086
bump

>>814440
500 gram "packet".
What are you up to anon?

>>815553
>Don't buy this item, it doesn't work and the vender doesn't respond.

Way to be.

here is a pro tip for you fuck twits

just sell lasers

green fucking lasers

who doesn't like lasers?

as for competition on ebay

who gives a shit

you can literally have two identical listings different prices, you will still get people buy the more expensive one

so go ahead bro

go buy one of those 10 pack listings on ebay for green lasers for $30

re-sell them for $15

thank me later bros

the dark knight descends