The good news to me is that I have finally cracked it on how to source stuff from china and import them into UK. ( lesson learnt, be patient, dont be loyal to anyone business wise and just do it!)
This is well in line with my strong desire and ambition to limit the number of hours i have to have a boss bossing me around....plus the thought of being a millionaire doesnt mix well with being someone else 'bitch'! ok, employee?
so after trying to source what i really wanted to sell, it was finally that time when you send your hard earned money or that loan which you will pay back with all the sweat, blood and tears in your body to the chinese sellers. For me the decision on what to buy was simple, i am mad about this product and buy it all the time. so i know what i look for and what other look for plus i know the pricing like the back of my hand.....literally.
I used my favourite website - www.alibaba.com to source the suppliers and the goods.
It took me a month just to narrow down to 10 potential suppliers, and clever me I asked for samples.
The samples are free but with the DHL shipping of 50 dollars a sample, well it doesnt feel free. But whatever I did I was keen to make sure to have samples because trust me a medium size shirt to a chinese is not a medium size shirt to the rest of the world. You need to be absolutely clear on what the sizing is, initially i didnt know to only use cm or inches and yards. dont use Medium, Long, small etc even shoe size 39 means different things to an American, European, Uk and Chinese person. Be in the know what it is you are buying, for there is no use having the cheapest products in the market is there is no one buying them.
After 2 months, I was ready to order, Please remember i am a small man with a small order to make. This makes more complication than i ever thought it were possible. That is a story for another day.
After narrowing down who i will use, there is still the fear that they will run away with my money. Escrow is a saviour, but it doesnt always work ......according to me anyway.
As is the case with most transactions, I was required to make a 30% down payment for the production of the goods to start, that took a month. so now we are 3 months down!!!!! still no goods.
After the month - it worked out to be 5 weeks for the chinese - the conversation that followed was something like this
Chinese man: we have now completed the production.
me : so you want the 70% sending over?
Chinese man: NO!!!
Me: ........WTF, you dont want my money??
Chinese man: we need to sort the parkaging first.
Me: Oh, LOL.
He then proceeded to send me a list of packaging options all of which were free......The options were like 22. I thought to myself that the butcher down the road doesnt give me these options how come they give me so many options? I should have expected this as he had initially sent me 10 options of colour white....WTF....i know, There are at most three whites i thought. New white, Jik it now White and you know white!!!
Me: oh you just pick one as they are all free and just let me know when completed!
Chinese Man: am afraid you have to pick the option yourself
So i choose the packiging, polythene ( am thinking it is lighter than cardboard so cheaper for shipping)
A week later ( well 10 days from the end of production) he informs me that the packing is complete.
At this point am thinking, you A...hole you know it takes 3 working days to send money from wherever to China, why didnt you tell me this a couple days ago?
After sending the money then there was shipping, my goods were less than a container (LCL) so they are shipped together with load others shipments. This is not the cheapest way to ship goods but we all got to start somewhere dont we?
long story short, it took another 2 weeks before the good were loaded to the contairner and another 4 weeks before the goods got to my country port. Clearing goods is straight forward in UK, you apply for a license, you give the number to the agent and the whole process takes a max of 3 working day ( that includes the waiting time and you never have to leave your computer). The import VAT and Duty are 20% and 5% respectively if applicable and are charged on the invoice issued by the seller.....pretty simple process Except for the custom agent......... shop around.
Voila, that is where my process of shipping goods from China to UK is at......it is much simpler if doing it to Kenya ( if you know your way around the corridals) or very complex if no one is holding your hand.
For me, i never thought I had the balls to import anything commercial size on myself.....but i have almost done it, and next time i will even be smarter. For me, having almost done it has somewhat given me the licence to do whatever that i know i am capable of...
Please note i have made a mistake that is costing me around £300, but there is no way out. So, just bite the bullet and run with it. I am smarter of the process now
Moral of the lesson, it is so possible...... i almost did it! ( got to get the goods from the port to the house havent i?)
what would it take to send a small order from china, like 3 pieces of electonics to the country through alibaba??
ReplyDeletefrom china to kenya??
ReplyDeleteSmall transactions would be too expensive. For sea shipping minimum is 1 cbm which is around 29k. Air freight using Somalis is 8 dollars. Chances are no one will be willing to sell only 3 items to u as china is mostly wholesale market. But good luck
ReplyDelete