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

Probably the best resources to lay your hands on will be a copy of the customs tarrif, and some export directories which you can obtain from the commercial attache at the embassies.
It is unlikely the customs dept. will offer much help, they will refer you to a customs agent, which is who they prefer to deal with.
Freight forwarders will vary depending on what part of the world they deal with, ie you may need a different forwarder for Germany than the US, to get the best rate.
Unless the bulk is very high, seafreight may not be an effective choice. Beware of extra fees you may not predict, feul surcharges, MAF fees for agricultural products etc. I have been hit for these on items that I never thought of: seashells and animal skin, both components of items I imported.
If you are dealing with Asia, make sure you are dealing with the actual sorce, not an intermediary. However, in some places such as Japan, you will need a local agent who knows the correct protocol. If you handle freight yourself, make sure the ex factory price is the actual price on the suppliers dock, no packing/ handling/loading etc.
Make sure you have a handle on exchange rates, and be prepared to make educated guesses on movements.
Any mistakes you make come straight off your profit. If you are wholesaling you need fast moving products at a good price, so your gross margin will be fairly low.

Theres lots more, it is a pretty tough business, with a steep learning curve.

> 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