[Beancat]

Hi, I am thinking about starting an online business. I don't want to specify the idea but it is related to parents' and baby goods in a particular segment of the market.

My question is, how do you find suppliers and what is the process for importing goods? Do you actually travel to China etc or can you order samples from exporters? How do you find reputable exporters and is their a reputable website to help navigate the regulatory side of importing (DFAT maybe?).

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
KH

[blackcat20]

A lot of Tafes offer short courses, I'm sure I've seen some regarding importation. You might find that many manufacturers/wholesalers only sell to one local distributor and you'll have to buy through them.

[CallMeProtart]

Alibaba is good for finding people, they will usually send samples - you would have to pay for them, but not exorbitantly.

Sorry, don't know about the rest!

[Allie_D]

how do you find suppliers and what is the process for importing goods?

We use alibaba mostly. We never pick a business that has been on there for less than 3 years though. They are the most trustworthy.

Do you actually travel to China etc or can you order samples from exporters?

We have not traveled over there yet, although there are plans to later this year as we've found a few of our current suppliers have said they would like to meet us in person and talk better deals. As for samples, we tend to get them sent over in one of our containers as you have to pay for them (generally more than you'd pay for them if you were buying a lot of them) and pay the shipping. Depending on what you're thinking about this can get very costly if you have to use LCL all the time to get samples over, and air freight can be a killer.

Is their a reputable website to help navigate the regulatory side of importing (DFAT maybe?).

We pay a company that specialises in overseas freight to handle all of our importing. They take care of organising the shipments, customs charges and take care of all the fees etc involved with importing. We pay them directly for everything.

Hope that helps

[Unatheowl]

We have done basically the same as Allie. We have actually gone over to see the factories though. If you deal with china for a while you get a sense of who is going to be dodgy and who isn't. There is always a certain element if risk and if we have a series of bad events we drop the supplier.

[Beancat]

Thanks everyone! this is most helpful

[BJBubbles]

We actually went and met the suppliers before we purchased from them, but we import wine so we really wanted to taste it first! Also helped us set up a good relationship with them etc and allow us to see their facilities, meet the wine makers and feel confident with working with them.

We use a customs and shipping company that arrange everything - the even deal directly with our suppliers and arrange delivery to port in the home country, all the paperwork in that end, shipping to Aus, customs and taxes here and deliver to my warehouse in Melbourne. Means I only have to pay my suppliers and then the shipping company. Breaks up costs too - suppliers are paid before goods are shipped and the shipping company is paid once goods have landed in Aus.

Good Luck! It's exciting starting a new business :-)

[AfroCircus]

Can I ask those who do importing for business - what insurance and other similar requirements are there, to cover you for items you import? At what point do you need an importing license?

[BJBubbles]

Afrocircus - I "buy" insurance with my shipping company to cover the goods while in transit. I then have insurance on my warehouse to cover the goods when in storage - this is through the company I rent the storage space from.

From a license perspective, I don't think you need a license unless you are importing restricted goods, but I'm not positive on that. I know I don't need a license to import wine, and as long as I pay all the taxes customs are happy with me :-) Selling the goods is another issue as obviously for some things (such as alcohol) you do need a license!

[Allie_D]

Can I ask those who do importing for business - what insurance and other similar requirements are there, to cover you for items you import? At what point do you need an importing license?

We pay transit insurance with our complete business insurance through Elders. This covers the goods whilst they are on the water and even right up to when the container lands at our doorstep (so if the goods made it all the way from China but were then damaged 5 minutes down the road from us they're still covered). You also need manufacturers insurance (depending on what you're importing) as you are classed as the manufacturer when you import something. This is also through Elders for us.

We don't need to worry about importing licenses etc as we use a freight company to handle all our imports. They take care of everything for us and we pay them directly. This covers all the customs charges, import taxes, wharf fees etc