I am now officially a registered seller here
Out of curiosity what do you guys prefer when
buying stock from Forum Registered Sellers where the items
originate from overseas?
1) Have the products delivered to you directly by air/courier such as DHL/TNT/UPS etc and you handle/pay the associated fees such as duty/vat etc?
2) Deal with a seller who brings the items into the UK, pays the associated fees and sells to you at an all inclusive domestic price (albeit higher to reflect the costs) ?
The method to my madness is I am using my knowledge and direct business relationships in China/Hong Kong for
low cost electronic related items that I think will be popular here on the forum (sorry
not branded stuff/consoles/phones etc!). These items are not along the lines of my day-to-day core business.
I will sell each item by the carton. So a carton could contain 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 or any combination of the same item. The quantity will vary depending on the product/size/weight of the contents.
An example would be a MP4 Player which may come in a carton of 48pcs. 48pcs would be the MOQ and that can be bought individually by one person or a group buy with one contact/delivery point.
I plan to put a very modest margin on the stock to cover my time, but more so help some of the guys on here (and experienced businessmen/women) to get started buying and selling.
If I ship directly from my office in China
I can sell at rock bottom prices. However if buyers don't want the hassle the domestic price has to unfortunately reflect these costs such as warehousing, staff etc. This option is obviously more expensive.
Also and most importantly,
my company will fund all purchases so there is no risk whatsoever to the buyer. What does this mean? Well unlike a broker, I will
not be using your hard earned cash to initially purchase the stock so if in the highly unlikely event something goes wrong,
my money is on the line and not yours!
I know what option I prefer (number 1) but not everyone is happy dealing with the import fees and like the security of stock located domestically.