Importing from china & selling to Uk through Ebay

wicklow_hunter

Hi All


Its my first post in the Entrepreneurial forums so try not go to hard on me ...

Ok so i have identified a UK seller on ebay who is doing really well - he / she is turning over 20k a Month from four lines of bedroom furniture

a bit of research later and I have found the supplier in China through Allibaba and made in China.com


As i am relatively new to the whole china / ebay scene do i stand a chance of grabbing some market share with similar products?

I haven’t approached the supplier yet or any other suppliers for that matter...

Before i can run i need to walk so i wont be bringing in any 40ft containers any time soon


I was thinking of trying a pallet?

When they quote minium quantities of say 200 -300 Units
Would they take an order of say 20 Units or would i just get laughed at


How or who do i get to move my first pallet to my door step?
Are pallets standardised i know the euro pallets are but they are not very big

My ebay competitor’s best selling product measures 800m x 700mm x 200mm and weighs 40Kg and costs quoted on the manufacturer’s website is 30USD

Can some one estimate me how much the landed cost will be including

Customs
Taxes
Charges etc etc ........................................


My ebay seller is selling it for 100Gbp Delivered to anywhere in the Uk

so my margins are going to be very tight i would imagine....

Bearing in mind that most of my market is in the Uk

Any advice or comments are welcome

BarryM3

Shipping to UK from Ireland is going to be at least €20 per item. At 50kgs it is over weight for most couriers so could be more

kmick

Are you selling into UK or Ireland?

wicklow_hunter

Im not sure Ireland is big enough for me to make it worh while

There is over 60million in the UK Vrs 4-5 Million in republic

For that reason i reckon most of my biz will come from the Uk

If courier is going to cost 20 Euro i will nedd some sort of service in the Uk similar to that of what Barry M3's is offering

MrMatisse

hey wicklow_hunter

Importing something so heavy from China will be very expensive, so you need to check out how much this will add to your costs. Rudolf289 on boards will be able to help you to do so and give you an estimate including taxes, duties etc and get it to your door.

Many of the sellers on alibaba will not give you a quote for only 20, and alibaba is full of scammers.Be very careful. There are a number of companies online that for about $200 will inspect your shipment before it leaves the factory to make sure its ok, maybe consider this before you ship.

Also ask for shipping on an FOB basis (free on board) it will cut your costs.

Best of Luck with it.

Southsider1

Hi, I've answered the bits I know about below. Mostly as devils advocate....!

wicklow_hunter wrote: »

Hi All


Its my first post in the Entrepreneurial forums so try not go to hard on me ...

Ok so i have identified a UK seller on ebay who is doing really well - he / she is turning over 20k a Month from four lines of bedroom furniture
If you don't know if it's a he or a she, how do you know they're doing 20k a month?

a bit of research later and I have found the supplier in China through Allibaba and made in China.com
Be VERY wary of Alibaba....It's a very apt name! Dodgy reputation.

As i am relatively new to the whole china / ebay scene do i stand a chance of grabbing some market share with similar products?
Possibly...Or you could source something different but equally as desirable and grab ALL the market?

I haven’t approached the supplier yet or any other suppliers for that matter...

Before i can run i need to walk so i wont be bringing in any 40ft containers any time soon


I was thinking of trying a pallet?

When they quote minium quantities of say 200 -300 Units
Would they take an order of say 20 Units or would i just get laughed at
Your best bet is to e-mail them and try and negotiate. They'll try and hit you for a min quantity of 200 but will mist likely come down from that. It will have to be worth their while though.

How or who do i get to move my first pallet to my door step?
Are pallets standardised i know the euro pallets are but they are not very big

Someone else has answered this above.

My ebay competitor’s best selling product measures 800m x 700mm x 200mm and weighs 40Kg and costs quoted on the manufacturer’s website is 30USD

Can some one estimate me how much the landed cost will be including

Customs
Taxes
Charges etc etc ........................................


My ebay seller is selling it for 100Gbp Delivered to anywhere in the Uk

so my margins are going to be very tight i would imagine....

Bearing in mind that most of my market is in the Uk

Any advice or comments are welcome

RUDOLF289

Hello Wicklow_hunter,

Just to re-cap the questions you are asking that I can give you assistance with ;

1) Shipping of 20 units. Based on dims indicated including 2 pallets, cubic measurement is estimated as 2.5 cbm. Weight 800 kgs.

- Oceanfreight ex Shanghai / Ningbo / Shenzhen = Us$ 337.50
- Handling Dublin Euro 55.00
- Agency fee Euro 60
- Customs Clearance Euro 60
- ISPS Euro 4.00
- Delivery depends on final destination

2) Most furniture is 0% customs duty, however, in order to be sure, PM me a full description of the goods so I can double check and confirm.

3) Duty and VAT calculation is as follows
FOB Value plus shipping cost plus Marine/Cargo insurance = Value for
duty purposes @ % rate of duty
VAT is calculated over Value for duty plus duty. Obviously VAT is a deductible input, reclaimable through your VAT return.

4) Delivery to the UK. There are a number of options. I would be reluctant to argue with BarryM3, however, there may be cheaper options available, especially if some volume can be indicated. In addition there are quite a number of fullfilment houses in the UK that can provide storage and distribution. This may become an option once you have some volumes going through. Aswell, it may then be feasible to ship direct to the UK.

Bear in mind that when selling to the UK, you are likely to have to consider registering for VAT in the UK as you will be involved in what is called "distance selling". I am attaching a document that will give information on the import/export process.

Feel free to contact me for any further assistance or information

Cheers,
Rudolf289

rainbowdash

wicklow_hunter wrote: »

Hi All


Its my first post in the Entrepreneurial forums so try not go to hard on me ...

Ok so i have identified a UK seller on ebay who is doing really well - he / she is turning over 20k a Month from four lines of bedroom furniture

a bit of research later and I have found the supplier in China through Allibaba and made in China.com


As i am relatively new to the whole china / ebay scene do i stand a chance of grabbing some market share with similar products?

I haven’t approached the supplier yet or any other suppliers for that matter...

Before i can run i need to walk so i wont be bringing in any 40ft containers any time soon


I was thinking of trying a pallet?

When they quote minium quantities of say 200 -300 Units
Would they take an order of say 20 Units or would i just get laughed at


How or who do i get to move my first pallet to my door step?
Are pallets standardised i know the euro pallets are but they are not very big

My ebay competitor’s best selling product measures 800m x 700mm x 200mm and weighs 40Kg and costs quoted on the manufacturer’s website is 30USD

Can some one estimate me how much the landed cost will be including

Customs
Taxes
Charges etc etc ........................................


My ebay seller is selling it for 100Gbp Delivered to anywhere in the Uk

so my margins are going to be very tight i would imagine....

Bearing in mind that most of my market is in the Uk

Any advice or comments are welcome

As a rule of thumb if something is on Alibaba for $30 then your fully cleared cost including freight, duty, charges, VAT and ebay fees is £30.

If the item needs to be shipped to the punters on a pallet then add about £40 all in for the cost of the pallet and courier (about £27+ VAT to most central UK areas)

No point bringing the stuff into Ireland. You need to source a warehouse in the UK, get it dropped in there and let them stick it on pallets and ship it out to the punters for you.

If they are selling for £100 and costing $30 Ex. works thats very good.

Ebay is tougher than you would think though and the new requirements are pretty tough, if you fall foul of their ratings (1%) you could be kicked off by Ebay.

Also its not as easy as cherrypicking the product with the margin, you need to sell a load of crap stuff as well to attract more people to your auctions / sales to tempt them to buy the one where the profit is.

If you sell from an Irish address then add ~0.5% for paypal international transactions.

If you need to withdraw to an Irish account then there is 2.5% commission approx.

If you bring a pallet and it comes groupage its likely to have some damage.

Buy 10 of this item in you local shop, stick them on Ebay and see what happens, thats the best way to research it.

Good Luck.