My £5k by Christmas challenge

kriss_boy

greeneye wrote:

How does that work with import duties then kriss? Were you just paying customs charges as a percentage of the American retail price?
Or were you getting your exporter to mark items as gifts etc.
I thought in theory you couldn't exploit price differences like that i.e IPODs etc.

Firstly you cannot avoid duty by marking the item as a gift or anything else.

You pay a percentage of the total price plus VAT plus the couriers handling fees.

On a guitar declared as $1000 you'll get a bill from Parcel force when it enters the UK for approx £125. $1500 can be around £175. $2750 if my memory serves me is up around £300 mark.

The reason I use the word 'declared' is that by having the parcel declare as less you save less. So if you buy a guitar at around $3000, you could simply have it insured and declared as $100. Thus paying approx £125 import duty rather that around £300.

Sometimes parcels slip through the net. Out probably near to 300 guitars about 5 of mine just didnt get charges at all. Dont really know why, neither did the parcelforce guys.

Although I was told items shipped by boat are rarely charged duty.

Hintza

Here is the break down:-

Import Duty:- This varies greatly and can be a nightmare to calculate you need to look at Customs and Excise website but on most things is not very much a few percent Bbut check)

VAT:- 17.5% of the declared value of the goods + the shipping charge (this is an area I have found there is a loop hole and normally they don't add the shipping charge before adding VAT). Don't get too cute here reducing the value leads to problems with insurance claims and if they inspect you will be in trouble.

Clearance Charges:- Going through the normal mail is best for small (postie sized items) around £4 for lager (parceforce items) about £12. Parcel force will hold goods until paid. Postie ones can be paid at sorting office

Couriers:- DHL and the like seem to follow the rule book to the letter and charges are invariably the maximum and can be a lot higher to items delivered via the post. I tend to opt for post over couriers but remember the risk of something going astray is higher and some exporters will not use tha method.

Where to Buy:- I approached a manufacturer in China a year or so back to enquire about dog cages and they asked how many I wanted. I replied 200 to start. They replied I don't think you have quite grasped this......How many containers do you want. Yikes says I...I will rethink this.

To get best prices you need to get over to the far east travel for 4 days to a remote corner and deal direct but you are talking containers. For smaller quantities you might have to get an agent who will arrange part load shipping (you will need an agent for containers as well). Your next step down will be wholesalers in far east.USA etc but of course by now prices are a lot higher.

I haven't brought anything in recently for a number reasons. But the main one is I find that wholsaler prices (overseas) are just too tight to make any real money. On saying that i am sure there areas that would provide a nice turn but you have to be sharp on your currency movements.

greeneye

Kriss Hintza your both gentlemen thankyou very much.

kriss_boy

In about 3 mins someones about to be ripped off to the tune of £800.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170050305942

Ive tried emailing the bidders and Ill email the winner. The guitar pictured is a copy and is not the real thingy. Finish doesnt tie in with those produced in 96. headstock silkscreen isnt correct. Everything about it. arghgh.

I feel a moral obligation to email people. I see this stuff everyday. I hinted at ebay paying me to warn people but got know where.

greeneye

Does this mean that they actually make fake top of the range guitars in sweatshops in SE Asia?
What next a snide mercedes? Drives like a Skoda but looks the business.

cazmanian_minx

greeneye wrote:

Does this mean that they actually make fake top of the range guitars in sweatshops in SE Asia?
What next a snide mercedes? Drives like a Skoda but looks the business.

A few years ago, there was great excitement when an HMV shop opened up in Guangzhou, China. It looked like any other branch of the chain, listening posts, same decor, same staff shirts, sold genuine CDs.

The first clue the local Chinese residents had that it wasn't quite what it seemed was when HMV Hong Kong's lawyers turned up and seized everything with an HMV logo on it. It was a fake CD-shop rather than a fake-CD shop!

kriss_boy

greeneye wrote:

Does this mean that they actually make fake top of the range guitars in sweatshops in SE Asia?
What next a snide mercedes? Drives like a Skoda but looks the business.

Yup.

Most are blatant fakes that would probably only fool someone new to the instruments or a friend or relative buying it for someone who knows what they are talking about. Others could be class as 'good' fakes in that they do look reasonably similar.

After looking at 10s of thousands of gibsons over the years, and owning a couple of hundred, I can just tell within a split second if its fake.

The buyer has ignored me and the sellers EXACT words were "I dont think its a fake..."

Useless trivia....

Copies have always been around, some infact sought after. Slash from Guns n Roses famously recorded and toured on a couple of Gibson Les Paul copies made by Max Derrig. Slash infact never recorded a single GnR song with a gibson, he always stuck to his copy because it sounded better.

Hintza

For any budding entrepreneurs that are looking to EBay to make a fortune, just read kriss_boy's threads.

Years of knowledge, hard work and constant research. There is no easy route to riches, find the niche that you are interested in and you can make money.

greeneye

Hintza wrote:

For any budding entrepreneurs that are looking to EBay to make a fortune, just read kriss_boy's threads.

Years of knowledge, hard work and constant research. There is no easy route to riches, find the niche that you are interested in and you can make money.

Found my main niche (quite by accident) about a year ago although can't say I'm that interested in it!
But it does make me a reasonable living for not much effort. I'm still waiting for any major competition to arrive but as yet haven't really had any.
Wont say what it is cos I'd be too easy too find.
And hence too easy to figure out how I do it by some of the clever people on here!

kriss_boy

Hintza wrote:

For any budding entrepreneurs that are looking to EBay to make a fortune, just read kriss_boy's threads.

Years of knowledge, hard work and constant research. There is no easy route to riches, find the niche that you are interested in and you can make money.

I cant take that much credit! The couple of years I traded guitars didnt really amount to a living. It bought me a couple of holidays, a new PC, big telly, couple of consoles, expensive clothes and phones, the rest went on spoiling my girlfriend and just supporting myself and my hobbies n stuff.

If I had been sensible it would have been a deposit on a house but we live and learn I guess, something I do regret and think about now n then.

My mums a trader too.. just picked up a couple of monsoon dresses in a charity shop. two for £1 each and even I knew how expensive monsoon things are. Its in the family!!

My haggling skills are what Im most proud of. I begged and begged the telewest woman to accidently press 4 instead of 9 and she did!! So I got my £25 braodband down to 19 quid.. then down to 14