Thursday, December 8, 2005

Finding a manufacturer of an existing product

I have a few possible import ideas that involve electronic components
and products that are already being manufactured in China. At least
they were stamped "Made in China" when I saw them in a store. The
ideas will be improvements to existing products, new designs but
essentially the same components. I have a few questions...

1) Instead of doing the research outlined in Chapter 4 of John's book,
why not contact the manufacturer directly?

2) How can you find the manufacturer of a product if all what the
product says is "Made in China" or "Made in Japan"?

3) What is stopping the manufacturer from giving the idea to the
customer whos product they are already producing and getting paid for
vs. me, an unknown potential customer?

Thanks,
Anthony


Wednesday, December 7, 2005

FEDEX or Broker?

Here the short answer is find out what your competitors do, and do that.

If not, then it is a matter of adding up all the costs, comparing the two, and
much depends
on just what you are dealing in, weights and measures, and cost of goods. The
idea is the
broker is in the biz of lower cost higher volume goods, generally, and UPS in
more higher
cost, lower volume, generally. Somewhere on a continuum of broker costs to UPS
costs is
your switch-point. but then you are not done.

Once you have hard facts, you can go to either the broker or UPS and request
price breaks
given the facts you have in hand, which then changes all your calculations.

If someone wants to create a formula for this, I'd be glad to post it on the
website, and offer
it for sale as a download to the general public. I'd pay $5 for such a tool.
Perhaps others
would to.

John
On Wed, 7 Dec 2005 08:54:37 -0800, "Shel Weinberg"
wrote :

>
> So here's my question: Can anyone suggest the dollar value range
> cut-off where using customs broker becomes more cost effective than
> using UPS etc for air shipments?


Company in China

Re: [spiers] How to find Ind Rep ?

Simon,

the quick answer is www.thomasregister.com, which should give you plenty of
leads... the
longer answer is get into the culture of the usa organic fine chemicals market
and find out
what they want that they cannot get now. There is the start.

If you hope to sell what people presently buy, I think that won't work as a
strategy, because
you can only offer lower price, and that is never enough.

On the other hand, if you can get what people now cannot get, then you can start
on a solid
basis of providing a unique value.

John
On Tue, 6 Dec 2005 16:18:28 -0800 (PST), simon zhang wrote
:

> Hi John:
>
> I am representing the manufacture in China and trying
> to sell organic fine chemicals into USA wholesalers or
> factories. Where can I find Ind Rep to sell these
> products?
>
> Thanks
> Simon Zhang
>


Bags From China

RE: [spiers] Bags From China

Dear John et al,

I like your lead on the Directory of US Importers. Here is another
angle to shed light on Claire's question, that leads to another
question.

Based on my experience and observations, UPS, Fedex, DHL etc are more
cost effective for air shipments of relatively low dollar value. They
are also fast and reliable. Since customs brokerage is included in the
price, there are no extras (except duty of course).

Customs brokers charge freight plus their fees on top. Sometimes there
are other extras such as additional freight from the airport to your
door. International freight portion will likely be less, but total may
be more for the lower dollar end of import shipments.

So here's my question: Can anyone suggest the dollar value range
cut-off where using customs broker becomes more cost effective than
using UPS etc for air shipments?

Thanks and fun reading the entries to this forum.

Best

Shel Weinberg

phone: 360 299 3579
mobile: 360 941 5443
shel@sheldonweinberg.com

-----Original Message-----
From: spiers@yahoogroups.com [mailto:spiers@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of John Spiers
Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2005 6:03 PM
To: spiers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [spiers] Bags From China

What is nice about DHL and Fedex is they are all-in-one customsbroker
and transportation,
making it so much easier. Of course, they are normally much more
expensive, but that may not
matter.

I recommend you get your HTS number, call around to local libraries and
see who carries the
DIRECTORY OF US IMPORTERS and find out your competitors in this market.
Then find out how
they bring them in. The very list of competitors in the directory of US
IMporters may tip you off.

You see, some importers hide their name from the Directory Of US
Importers by having their
customsbrokers name end up in the directory. If you see a
customsbrokers name under your HTS
# in the directory of US Importers, then that customsbroker has an
expertise in moving your
products. Contact that particular customsbroker for details.

John
On Tue, 06 Dec 2005 23:22:47 +0000, cufizz@comcast.net wrote :

> Hi John,
>
> I am about to import shopping bags from China and would like to find
out if it is a good idea to
use Fedex or DHL as shipping agents rather than using Customs Broker.
>
> Thanks,
> Claire


Tuesday, December 6, 2005

Bags From China

What is nice about DHL and Fedex is they are all-in-one customsbroker and
transportation,
making it so much easier. Of course, they are normally much more expensive,
but that may not
matter.

I recommend you get your HTS number, call around to local libraries and see who
carries the
DIRECTORY OF US IMPORTERS and find out your competitors in this market. Then
find out how
they bring them in. The very list of competitors in the directory of US
IMporters may tip you off.

You see, some importers hide their name from the Directory Of US Importers by
having their
customsbrokers name end up in the directory. If you see a customsbrokers name
under your HTS
# in the directory of US Importers, then that customsbroker has an expertise in
moving your
products. Contact that particular customsbroker for details.

John
On Tue, 06 Dec 2005 23:22:47 +0000, cufizz@comcast.net wrote :

> Hi John,
>
> I am about to import shopping bags from China and would like to find out if it
is a good idea to
use Fedex or DHL as shipping agents rather than using Customs Broker.
>
> Thanks,
> Claire


Company in China

How to find Ind Rep ?

Hi John:

I am representing the manufacture in China and trying
to sell organic fine chemicals into USA wholesalers or
factories. Where can I find Ind Rep to sell these
products?

Thanks
Simon Zhang


Company in China

Re: [spiers] Company in China

Hi John,

I am about to import shopping bags from China and would like to find out if it
is a good idea to use Fedex or DHL as shipping agents rather than using Customs
Broker.

Thanks,
Claire


> JOON,
>
> The short answer is, I have no idea what it takes to buy or form a company in
> China, so i
> cannot help you on this point. yes there are many arguments to simply working
> ith the
> suppliers iin china, instead of making your own company there, and i think
those
> arguments are persuasive. Just as a side note, NIKE failed twice trying to
> build a company in
> China.
>
> John
>
> On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 17:12:15 -0800, "Joon Ho" wrote :
>
> > John;
> >
> > The business has reach a point where the staffs believed that it is time to
> > open a factory (company) in China. Instead of having contracting factories
> > supplying material to us, we believe there are more profits to be made if we
> > own the factory outright. Yes, there are many arguements that would indicate
> > that it's better to have contracting suppliers in China to supply the
> > material (textile). Anyhow, do you know the process incorporate a company in
> > China? What documents, forms, or agencies, do we need to go through for
> > this? Approximately, how much of a fee would this required? We were thinking
> > of Shanghai in particular.
> >
> > Thanks, much appreciated.
> > Joon