Newbie with questions about importing internationally

bkholdem · #1 07-30-2007, 06:27 PM

Just a regular guy, social worker and poker player. No business experience.

Have a contact overseas willing to sell me a product undercutting wholesalers. Shipping costs are very significant in relation to the product. Right now he thinks I have a business up and running and we are discussing details of a free test product shipment, etc. I don't want him to know how green I am. He says he will forward a sample if I supply a courier number (which I don't have).

What do I need to do? Set up an account at DHL? Are there different types of accounts? Can I set up a personal account with them and not a business account?

I"m not worried about reshipping within the USA at this point but need to set up so I can get this guy to ship to me. The payment to him is going to be minimal but the shipping is much more, how do I handle this? What do I do?

I am actually planning on getting a larger order from him due to economies of scale savings in shipping cost per unit but don't want to foraward payment to him for the items AND the shipping cost as the shipping cost is extremely larger than the cost of the product.

I would like to avoid setting up a business at this point as I don't know if I will stick with this or just turn around some product a few times.

My main issue right now is in arranging shipping and not having the guy figure out I am just some dude and not a business.

Help please [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Seriously, any help or poiting me in the right direction would be very appreciated. I am under some time pressure and don't want to put my foot in my mouth in dealing with him or DHL and wind up complicating my situation in a way that is not necessary.

Thanks so much in advance for any help anyone can offer. I am planning on having a baby and would like to get off the hourly grind, or at least try to.

JimGil · #2 07-31-2007, 09:46 AM

I did this about 4-5 years ago with those 11.5 dice poker chips from China.

I basically had 4-5 suppliers send me a free sample (at about $90 shipping each - on my UPS account that I set up the day before).

Then, I contacted an importer in Queens who probably fleeced me by charging about $800 to get 2000 500 chips sets to my garage. But I knew nothing about getting it through customs, and at the time, the markup made this very worthwile.

Then, I just ebayed em all.

Sotiria · #3 07-31-2007, 10:16 AM

This page http://resources.alibaba.com/ on alibaba has been helpful for me...I've been researching the same kind of stuff.

ifckladyluck · #4 07-31-2007, 10:20 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I did this about 4-5 years ago with those 11.5 dice poker chips from China.

I basically had 4-5 suppliers send me a free sample (at about $90 shipping each - on my UPS account that I set up the day before).

Then, I contacted an importer in Queens who probably fleeced me by charging about $800 to get 2000 500 chips sets to my garage. But I knew nothing about getting it through customs, and at the time, the markup made this very worthwile.

Then, I just ebayed em all.

[/ QUOTE ]

how much money did you make off of this? im curious.

JimGil · #5 07-31-2007, 12:22 PM

I got the sets for about $25 each. When I started selling them, I used the auction format - they'd sell from anywhere from 80-100 dollars +20 Shipping. Then the market started to saturate - at the end my supply of 2000 sets (took about 5 months to sell, they were going for about $15+shipping (just over break even - shipping charges mysteriously when up to $30).
So to answer your question, I averaged about 20/set.
Had I been in 6 months earlier, I could have done $100k.

bkholdem · #6 08-05-2007, 11:12 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I did this about 4-5 years ago with those 11.5 dice poker chips from China.

I basically had 4-5 suppliers send me a free sample (at about $90 shipping each - on my UPS account that I set up the day before).

Then, I contacted an importer in Queens who probably fleeced me by charging about $800 to get 2000 500 chips sets to my garage. But I knew nothing about getting it through customs, and at the time, the markup made this very worthwile.

Then, I just ebayed em all.

[/ QUOTE ]

So UPS just shipped them to a port in the USA and then you needed to deal with some other company from that point to get the products to you?

I''m not fully understanding this.

bkholdem · #7 08-05-2007, 11:15 PM

[ QUOTE ]
This page http://resources.alibaba.com/ on alibaba has been helpful for me...I've been researching the same kind of stuff.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the link. Do you have an import account with DHL or USP or somehting? What is the deal with customs, does DHL deal with everything and just get the products to you or what? I have so much going on right now, so pressed for time, and don't want to put off this supplier but I have zero experience.

What do I need?

Import account?
What else?
What about customs?
Will DHL walk me throug this a bit or should I tool around on your link when I get a chance?