Importing stuff from the 'far east'.

Percy1983

That is the bigger problem, back when I was doing it I was getting av cables and such like, I remember when the xbox 360 came out and I got 50 vga cables for it at approx £1.27 each shifted them all quickly at £7 each (the official one was £19.99 in shops).

As it is I already knew what would happen and it did, a week later loads of people where selling them and the prices came down to around £2.50 each, luckily my next box was full of something else.

I did well for a while spotting gaps and filling them, but each gap only lasted a for a short window of time.

Eventually everybody got in on it, if you look for any type of cable on ebay now and you can get anything cheaply. I potentially could have grown then and became a bigger business, but I decided the shift loads at small profits each approach would have been a full time job and small quantities weren't worth it so I gave it up.

Brassedoff

chalkie99 wrote: »

It appears you don't know as much as you think either!

It's well documented that Alan Sugar started out by selling car aerials and other bit and pieces from the back of an old van long before the web and drop shipping.

I agree with bris that it doesn't look as though he means drop shipping. It isn't what he says if you read his post. Maybe we will get clarification.

OP - One other thing to beware of is that if you really have found something no one else is selling is that, if it looks anything like worthwhile, a thousand other chancers will soon be doing the same.

Actually he started repairing TV's at home, expanded into a shop, then via an importer purchased Hi-FI equipment from an importer in London, then started drop shipping!

As paddyrg said, the OP's website target is part of a group of drop shippers, the company has 9 websites all doing the same.

https://www.engtaobao.com an international agent for the largest online store of China Taobao. The store features more than 700 million products manufactured in China, Korea, Japan and other countries, which can be bought in retail and wholesale. Goods are delivered worldwide, and they can pay right here online any way.With engtaobao.com you'll be able to buy clothes, shoes, accessories, electronics, sports and more from Chinese suppliers, order and pay for the parcel from China, and track package status.Benefits of using engtaobao.com: Flexible Payment Methods, Competitive Pricing, Delivery To Your Customer, Quality Assurance, Wide Product Range, World-Class Customer Service, Fast International Shipping.

Kaybenson

Their stuff appears expensive

moonquack78

Was it something quite unique you know of that you wanted to buy? I think there are several websites based in China where you can buy products from there and merchants in China, but as others said watch out for being ripped off. My only suggestion would be to consider using an escrow for payments to people in China that you do not know, because you will not be able to do much to get your money back if someone rips you off. But as for the wholesale stuff, if it is something highly desirable which you really can't get anywhere else in the UK you could make a fair bit out of it despite the high overheads.

lil.smartie

Taobao is part of Alibaba IIRC never had a problem with any seller from there!

Kate

karisle

paddyrg wrote: »

Must admit, the OP saying 'I would like to import some stuff....from China' made me think they wanted to import some stuff.

Taobao isn't specifically a dropshipper, it is more closely related to an Asian ebay, it targets the domestic market more than international drop-ship. I'd say DX, AliExpress (same parent company as Taobao), and their ilk were more suited to dropshipping, their sites are in English for starters

OP - may help - it's not designed for global trade as a site, but it is possible

I also know a parent company as Taobao--- buychina. You can search it. And i totally agree with you about the Taobao isn't specifically a dropshipper, it is more closely related to an Asian ebay, it targets the domestic market more than international drop-ship.

earthstorm

the most common wholesaler/dropshipper from China i would say is http://www.dhgate.com/ I use them quite a lot and have had no issues

googler

Ader1 wrote: »

Anyway, I would like to import some stuff....from China mainly. I have got some items in mind which don't seem to be sold in the UK; items used for cooking.

I'd check a few local chinese supermarkets before committing to the phrase 'don't seem to be sold in the UK' .... have you?

patman99

https://www.Aliexpress.com is another good site for drop-shippers. Having used it myself, I know that it is easy to get a refund for faulty goods.

betterlife

i would be careful about importing, last year i decided to buy some wholesale jewellery findings from a site which was really cheap, i purchased about £250 worth and paid an extra £180.00 for shipping, which still made the findings a great price, and a good profit could be made, however about 2wks after i received them i had an invoice from the courier for another £90 customs charges! should of done my homework 1st really.