Anyone have any experience/comments re import/export business?

...which have been most helpful.

regards,
Adam

> Can the info. be tailored to the Aussie
> market?

> Yes.

> Go over to the link Jim posted and have a
> read. That's it in a nutshell in Australia
> too. Oh sure the departments might go by a
> different name, but it's pretty much the
> same.

> You can find Freight Forwarders online and
> in the Yellow pages. They can handle a lot
> of the stuff for you. Think of them like the
> post office. What would you do to send a
> parcel from your place to mine? That's what
> the frieght forwarders to. Bless their
> hearts.

> I imported some stuff from India. The
> documents that came with it were quite
> similar to what Jim has in his export course
> (I was importing they were exporting). So it
> is even applicable in India... and they
> don't speak English like we do.

> Specifics? Like, for this product go here,
> for that product go there, kinda specifics?

> That's unrealistic. For instance, when I
> last chatted with the British Embassey's
> trade dept, they gave me the website which
> lists all the British companies who desire
> exporting because they have something like
> 100,000 of them on their list. And they
> aren't going to do my research work for me.
> And even if they did, can I honestly expect
> them to maybe fax or email me info. on say
> 100 companies?

> Such a book would be forever long. And that
> would be for each country.

> If you're going to only import after you
> have someone who has paid cash upfront, you
> will be a long time before importing
> anything.

> Think about what you would be asking them to
> do... pay you money NOW and then wait three
> months plus product manufacturing time
> before they get what they paid for.

> Get a filled out order with a small
> downpayment, sure. But total upfront payment
> isn't going to happen.

> In this regard, take a lesson from the
> builders of the new apartment building. The
> ones who pre-sell off the plan. Often, the
> pre-selling is a condition of the financing
> - we will only lend you the money to build
> after you have pre-sold X% of the units. It
> might not be what the builder wants... but
> the availability of the money is the
> important thing. SO he builds, pays
> interest, and then settles nearly all the
> units on the same day - or within a short
> period of time depending on how many he
> pre-sold.

> A variety of products. All related to
> electronic stores - the kinds of stuff you
> might find in a Jaycar store.

> You might ask.... why don't these people
> import the stuff themselves? Because they
> are retailers. They don't have time to
> source a product and muck around with
> importing.

> Personally, though. I would opt for
> exporting. Less headache. Less running
> around finding out the legalities of the
> product - such as CAS Numbers, and other
> maybe prohibited items - and so on. Not to
> mention the cash you will be outlaying. Yes
> you will get it back if you follow the
> advice Jim gave in the report he linked to.
> But you still need it to do a deal. And our
> weak dollar should make our products more
> attractive to overseas buyers.

> And along the lines of what Jim wrote... a
> company I helped create operations manuals
> for used knives in their warehouse imported
> from England!

> Also, speak with the customs department too.
> They do have a wealth of knowledge and can
> pretty well tell you what kinds of duty and
> tax you will pay on certain items.

> With regards to Jim's course... if money is
> an issue... and lets face it, our dollar is
> pretty well down the crapper when compared
> to the rest of the world and US and UK stuff
> is like twice as much, and Jim's course
> could cost one third of the average Aussie
> weekly pay packet... then put away $50 a
> month until you have $150A. Then get it. You
> would have to wait three months for any
> shipment to arrive anyway.

> Yes we want to jump in and do a big deal
> yesterday. It's exciting thinking about the
> possibilities. But it is also fantasy land.

> What if I approach 100 stores and they all
> buy so much stuff I make $10k from each?
> I'll make $1,000,000 (one million dollars)
> and be set for life. What if they buy that
> much stuff every month? I'll make a million
> bucks a month! Woo Hoo! What if they do
> better than that? Oh my... my calculator
> doesn't go that high.

> A dose of reality is... what if no one buys
> or all the people who said they would buy
> change their mind - even forgoing their
> goodwill deposit of a few hundred bucks? How
> will I get rid of the product I have just
> brought into the country. How will I
> survive? Even for the three or four months
> it will take to arrive by ship (because ship
> is cheaper than air by a mile), while my
> money is tied up?

> There is lots to consider and go through.
> And fantasy in your head is not one of them.

> There's a related story on this board - a
> search should find it - of Cossman selling
> (exporting) railyway bits to South America.
> Yet, the company he worked for did not make
> any railway bits at all - they just knew a
> good source.

> Hope this helps as well.

> Michael Ross