Business Information needed

ramesheuk

Hi Gurus,

I need some help from all of you. My wife wants to start a business. She wants to sell gadgets in online and wants to import from China. Please could any one help me how to start this business and what are the basic things to do for starting this type of business. And Please let me know if you have any idea about import duties and taxes for china products.

Thanks in Advance.

richt71

Hi,
No guru but I've gone into this in depth myself. I'd say you've got 2 problems - first finding a good supplier and the quantites they require you to purchase.
Global source is a good place to find well known manufacturers in China and Taiwan. You can purchase a sample and go and see many. The only problem you'll find buying direct from the 'source' if you like is the minimum purchase amounts are usually high - usually a grate. I looked at Plasma tv's a couple of years ago and was in contact with a factory that makes many of the well known brands. They shipped in 40 unit and 80 unit quantities. By time I looked at shipping, import duties and storage the outlay was nearly £50,000!! Which was far too much for me to be honest!
It might be worth looking for a UK distributor to begin with via globalsource or one of the trades shows first. Your margins will be small but it gives you a chance to dip your toe in the water and if profitable then you can expand to importing your own goods from China.

scorpio_princess

Setting up on-line is the easy part. You can get a website/hosting reasonablly priced, although I would recommend you pay a bit more, the quality usually shows!
You will need a merchant account if you are to take on-line payments. The big banks may be tough if you have no experience but many use paypal or worldpay.
You will need to have legal terms & conditions set up, what will your returns policy be? The general public can be akward at the best of times & you will always get some that will demand a refund!
You need to think ahead for all of these things as nothing works very quickly in these areas.

Importing is a minefield. The best way is to ring a freightfowarder & ask for imports, they will give a rough idea of costs.

I sell crystals on-line now the best crystals are from brazil or india. If I want to import Amethyst from Brazil it is priced per tonne. You will need serious money if you want to cut out the middle man.
You will find lots of wholesalers in the UK you can buy from. Some will have minimum order value. Don't forget most will be +VAT + delivery charges.

Before you do anything do your homework. Lots of people set up on-line everyday. Is there enough room in the market place?
Type the keywords of the products you intend to sell into Google & see who else sells.
Don't forget you will have to tell the taxman , he likes to have a snoop on line to see whos new!!

If you want to do it properly then you will need time, commitment & money. Although the biggest asset is the energy & eagerness!

Feel free to pm me if I can help with anything else. Sorry if I may it sound all bad, just being realistic.

ramesheuk

Hi,

Thanks Richt71 and Scorpio Princess. Really, both of your suggestions are valuable. Even I am also thinking to start with UK based wholesalers. But I am unable to find much wholesalers. Please if you don't mind, could you send me those list to me, if you have?

Thanks.

jellyang

I just realised that I replied to you using my daughters sign-in (scorpio Princess) always forget to log in & out!!

If you type in Wholesaler/ wholesale supplies into google you will find a lot to read.

The only site I can think of that might suit your needs is somethingdifferentwholesale.co.uk, they are very helpful & have a small minimum spend.
Have fun!

Jellyang (mum to scorpio Princess)

ramesheuk

Thanks Jellyang, I will search in Google and I will come back to you if need any help.

Thanks again.

martindow

A good way of contacting wholesalers and importers is to go to trade fairs. Look at the NEC to see what shows they have for instance. The Spring Fair is a big show with lots of categories of product
http://www.springfair.com/
All industries have their own trade fairs and a lot of them happen in the UK. You need to register for these shows but they are usually free. As they are wholesale you cannot just walk in on the day.

inmypocketnottheirs

also try https://www.thewholesaler.co.uk

chingyeeexpress

hi ramesheuk, i can offer help for purchasing, i am chinese and will be able to help, (i am currently learning spanish and wish to make more friends) i also believe there are lots of purchasing company out there which is usefull for u..

i agree with scorpio princess about "Lots of people set up on-line everyday. Is there enough room in the market place?" i believe my 3 years purchasing experience with e-commerce company might be usefull for new friends, my connection with my X purchasing team might be usefull for everyone here..

i am newbie in UK, landed 4 months ago, still blur with importing "anythings" from china to UK, i try to make it happen, and i need friends..

because i believe rich people build networks!

pm me for purchasing tips..