Hey Amy,
Good to hear from you. Answers below...
On Apr 22, 2012, at 8:17 PM, Amy wrote:
Hi John,
Hope you are well!
I stumbled on this website, Import Genius: http://www.importgenius.com/ and would love to hear your thoughts on this.
***I reviewed it a while back,
http://hbhblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/alwin-asks-about-trade-data.html
http://hbhblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/importgenius-update.html
but I will add some comments now...***
Two questions though:
1.Will this cut down time on searching for reputable suppliers if you can see where importers are importing from?
***No because ImportGenius source data is limited to people who are self-reporting, and importgenius gleans their info off of Bills of Lading. Too many good suppliers cannot be gleaned off of Bills of Lading. There is a better way to find the best source. I am happy to send a .pdf to anyone who wants the info on the process of how to do it.***
2. And is there a government website where information about bill of ladings are made open and available?
***As I understand it, the Journal of Commerce merely files a freedom of information act request with USCustoms for the info. Now, above I mention the Journal of Commerce, which has elected, in the last two years, to stop publishing the directory of US Importers and Directory of US Exporters. Too bad.
They say it has been replaced by PIERS, but after an exchange of 16 emails over 3 weeks, I never could get anything satisfactory from PIERS in spite of the fact that I was given rather open access to it. Too bad. I am not complaining, they were terribly generous and helpful, especially the person at the end of the line. I am just not one of their customers.
You can get the info the way they get it.
What this means is since Journal of Commerce has quit the field, there is a hole for someone to compile a quick and dirty list of importers and exporters in USA by HTS number. The report would be simple: HTS number, importer or exporter, dollar and then link or address. From there you could get all you need.
Again, the key is not to know what anyone else is importing, or who is supplying competitors, or who is buying from competitors, which is totally useless information to anyone who desires to start a business, but simply to
1. Make sure you are not selling anything anyone else is already selling.
2. Make sure your terms and condtions of sale are exactly the sme as everyone else in your industry. That is it. There is nothing else you could possibly want or use from a competitor if you seriously want to thrive in business.
There is no reason that you, in your country, could not run the whole thing for the benefit of USA small businesses, and simply use the traffic to your site as a platform for ad revenue. Customs brokers alone would probably make the site worthwhile.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
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