buying from china

macfly

lovinituk wrote: »

Hardly fantasy land!! If the OP is thinking of buying from China then they should also be thinking about the repsonsibilities involved in that.
And if a kid chokes on a small part that has broken off from a badly made mobile accessory and the parents decide to sue then the buck stops at the importer!

You've heard about kids choking on sweets? Thousands per year.
Any succesful court cases?
It's hardly the first thing that springs to any seller's mind. I sell mobiles, but never think to inform the buyer not to let his kids swallow the stylus.
Every time someone asks a question about running an ebay business, loads of unasked questions are answered, the most common being "you must register with HMRC."
At least yours is more original.

lovinituk

macfly wrote: »

You've heard about kids choking on sweets? Thousands per year.
Any succesful court cases?
It's hardly the first thing that springs to any seller's mind. I sell mobiles, but never think to inform the buyer not to let his kids swallow the stylus.

Perhaps a kid choking was too specific. The point being made was that if you import something from China, you as the importer are completely responsible if anything goes wrong and an an end user needs to take it up with someone.

macfly wrote: »

Every time someone asks a question about running an ebay business, loads of unasked questions are answered, the most common being "you must register with HMRC."
At least yours is more original.

If you want to be pedantic, the OP didn't ask anything about running an ebay business, in fact they specifically said they would not be selling on ebay. And besides if people give additional helpful information whats wrong with that? Better than putting others peoples posts down all the time! If someone asks about importing goods and they clearly have no knowledge of the process then the information given here is relevant and useful.

NaughtyAngel2007

really wish i never asked now !!

lovinituk

melandtony wrote: »

really wish i never asked now !!

Its good that you did because now you have a lot of facts that you were not aware of before. Its up to you what you do with the advice given.

I probably come across as pretty harsh regarding fake/unsafe/etc goods from China because I'm really dead against them. I know a lot of people import and sell them becuase they don't know/care but its just not something I condone.

There are plenty of unbranded goods out there that can be bought for pence and sold for £'s and I say go for it. You can even do what I have done and take a generic item and brand it yourself.

There's money to made, but there are also right and wrong ways to do it - you just need to decide which route to take!

NaughtyAngel2007

i have taken it all on board and good points have been made but i feel i have been shot down for even suggesting doing this. im a mum of three trying to do something from home. i would like you to explain generic item and branding if you dont mind. of course i dont want to break the law.

lovinituk

I don't mean to shoot you down, in fact I positively encourage you to look at buying goods from China to sell at a profit - just whilst doing so, look out for all the potential pitfalls, follow all the correct procedures and do your research. Unfortunately so many people don't actaully realise what is involved to ensure everything is above board. Yes you're a mum trying to do something from home but the same rules and regulations apply to you in the same way they do businesses.

A branded item is one that has been manufactured for a branded (usually well known) company e.g. Apple, Lacoste, Kenwood, Hello Kitty, etc). If a product holds their 'branding' (name, logo, etc), then you won't be able to legally buy it from China. Brands may also have design copyright so its also illegal to import something that looks exactly like an iPhone but has a logo of a banana on it and is called an xPhone for example.

A generic item is something that doesn't carry a brand name or logo. For example you might look at importing a generic MP3 player that does not carry a protected brand name/logo. You could even look at applying your own logo to these.

NaughtyAngel2007

Thank you for your time in replying to this thread it has been very helpfull.

Percy1983

I have sold generic items before and made small profits, Good things can be things like HDMI cables can be bought by the box full for next to nothing and sold for £2 each, the problem there is many people already doing this with HDMI cables.

soolin

Globalsources- spam reported, please just hit the spam button

samanthaknd

melandtony wrote: »

is it ok to buy from china. with items being so cheap i wondered if it was more of a scam to get your details

I buy almost all of my ebay purchases from china and have never had ANY problems whatsoever, bear in mind though that some items take up to a month to arrive due to customs checks etc. I ordered a large UV nail gel set and at the same time ordered around 10 smaller items, all the smaller items came within 3 weeks, the large kit came around the 5th week, Not the sellers fault though!, Just to make you aware in case you need something quick!