Question on starting a business in Turkey but based in the UK

daveb80

Hi all,

My wife and I are seriously thinking about starting up our own business and working for ourselves. It has always been a dream of mine to do this but I realise, that preperation and research is vital before I even make any steps at all towards achieving this!

That being said, we are looking to starting a business where the product will actually be sold in Turkey, not the UK. So I want to research as much as possible about if this is a.) viable to do so, and b.) if it's actually worth it.

We have a couple of ideas in mind but nothing set in stone just yet about the specific product. I just have a couple of questions if possible at first?

- The plan is to get the product produced in China and shipped to Turkey to sell. Are there any things we should know about dealing with chinese factories? and also about shipping? Would they usually be responsible to send it to their customers or is that usually up to us to get it from there to Turkey?

- Is it possible to do this whilst we are based in the UK? We ideally want to remain living in the UK (I'm British by the way and my wife is Turkish but has been living here for 12 years so has a British passport. I guess her being a Turkish national will help some aspects of things?) and wondered what sort of things we would need to do to register our business considering that the actual product will me made and sold in other countries?

- Are there any taxes about international trading? I assume there is but is it possible to point me in the right direction? I'm particularly confused because both China and Turkey are both non-EU nations and we would be based in the EU!

- How do we register our company name? Apologies if this has already been posted about many times before but is it the same when it's an International name?

Sorry for all these questions but I really don't know where to start. Like I said, I want to do as much research as possible beforehand and consider if this is actually a viable option to do. If not, it's best I forget about it now rather than later!

Thanks
Dave

pooch

daveb80 wrote: »

Hi all,

My wife and I are seriously thinking about starting up our own business and working for ourselves. It has always been a dream of mine to do this but I realise, that preperation and research is vital before I even make any steps at all towards achieving this!

That being said, we are looking to starting a business where the product will actually be sold in Turkey, not the UK. So I want to research as much as possible about if this is a.) viable to do so, and b.) if it's actually worth it.

We have a couple of ideas in mind but nothing set in stone just yet about the specific product. I just have a couple of questions if possible at first?

- The plan is to get the product produced in China and shipped to Turkey to sell. Are there any things we should know about dealing with chinese factories? and also about shipping? Would they usually be responsible to send it to their customers or is that usually up to us to get it from there to Turkey?

- Is it possible to do this whilst we are based in the UK? We ideally want to remain living in the UK (I'm British by the way and my wife is Turkish but has been living here for 12 years so has a British passport. I guess her being a Turkish national will help some aspects of things?) and wondered what sort of things we would need to do to register our business considering that the actual product will me made and sold in other countries?

- Are there any taxes about international trading? I assume there is but is it possible to point me in the right direction? I'm particularly confused because both China and Turkey are both non-EU nations and we would be based in the EU!

- How do we register our company name? Apologies if this has already been posted about many times before but is it the same when it's an International name?

Sorry for all these questions but I really don't know where to start. Like I said, I want to do as much research as possible beforehand and consider if this is actually a viable option to do. If not, it's best I forget about it now rather than later!

Thanks
Dave

Q1. Are you fluent in Mandarin?

Q2. Are you fluent in Turkish?

Q3. Why are you already wishing to restrict your potential market to just Turkey? Why not start by selling the product in Britain and see how it goes. This time next year, world domination perhaps? :cool:

lovinituk

OP - You will find this forum more specific to your questions... https://www.thewholesaleforums.co.uk

pooch wrote: »

Q1. Are you fluent in Mandarin?

Why? Most Chinese manufacturers and suppliers have access to someone who can speak English. I deal with plenty regularly and I don't speak a word of Mandarin.

pooch wrote: »

Q2. Are you fluent in Turkish?

His Turkish wife probably is.

paddyrg

I would want to be on the ground wherever I was importing to - there will always be problems and managing them remotely will be tear-shedding.

And with Turkey being non-EU but having certain trade and tax agreements with the EU, it sounds complex to deal across even more borders.

Remember you will have import duty and other taxes to pay on the way into Turkey. These could be quite considerable, depending on the item.

You do not say if you're looking to import a bulk of the item, or drib-drab dropship? I will assume a bulk as that'll be cheapest. If the item is small and light then use a courier like FedEx etc, if we're talking a container of bulky heavy stuff, you'll probably get it shipped to a port, then have to manage your own way through customs and trucking to the warehouse.

If you have identified a real market gap maybe get a ground agent - have you got a brother-in-law who could handle the business on the ground in Turkey (postage, returns, tax, etc)? I personally would simplify this as much as possible and just send seed capital from the UK. You would need someone you can really trust. Family are usually good for trust, but not necessarily business skills, fwiw.

daveb80

Thanks for all of your replies!

Lovinituk - Thanks for that site, I will take a look!

Paddyyrg - Some very good points there. Thanks for taking the time to advise these things. We're looking to import them in bulk and have a family member based in Turkey help with the import and distributation of these from there (we're hoping to try to get a shop to stock them but we'll see!).

Thanks again everyone, and Pooch - yep fingers crossed if all goes really well, we will expand to other countries

paddyrg

daveb80 wrote: »

We're looking to import them in bulk and have a family member based in Turkey help with the import and distributation of these from there (we're hoping to try to get a shop to stock them but we'll see!).

In which case, once you have worked out the landed price, customs charges, any extra port handling charges, and trucking costs to your base/warehouse you should be good to go. Could you get a 20' container - buy it outright and have the stock delivered in it if you have enough land! Lockable and convenient ;-)

No idea about Turkish consumer regulations (quite possibly less hassly than UK though) but there may be some duties of care to consider (for example safety testing is the importers job).

Don't forget you'll need insurances - product liability, public liability, ensurers liability, shipping/transit, theft, fire are examples of what you might need covering - will depend on your attitude to risk and local requirements.

Best way to get an idea of the duty rates will be to talk to Turkish customs, they may recommend someone who can advise you.

By the time you add shipping, duty, taxes, insurances, allow for returns etc the price may double or triple - then you want to double your money and for the shops to double their money - are you still competitive if that's the case? If you can buy at $20 in China, it may be $40 to get them to Turkey, you wholesale for $80, shop sells for $160, say. Retail is harsh.