Author Topic: High Margin Products to Import from China  (Read 20164 times)

Coastal

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High Margin Products to Import from China
« on: June 20, 2014, 10:25:44 PM »
My wife is on her way to China right now sourcing materials for our business. We will be buying at least one container, but will likely have a fair amount of space left over in it.  This container will mostly be filled with product for our existing home improvement business.  (Stone)

Looking for suggestions for items to import that are preferably not too large/heavy, high profit margins and related to home furnishings to hopefully expand our business. (They are looking at faucets/bathroom vanities/sinks, etc)

So, any ideas? I'm open to any and all ideas as long as it somewhat a fits the criteria above. Appreciate any input I receive.

FYI, this is her first trip to China, but she is accompanied by a business partner who now lives in Canada, but lived in China many years.

expatartist

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2014, 10:45:45 PM »
@Coastal I'm interested to hear what you come up with! Raw materials are a good bet: finished products can be hard to achieve consistent quality control.

Lhamo might have some good ideas.

Dicey

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2014, 12:01:05 AM »
Hi Coastal,
If you will allow me, this is a cautionary tale. Make sure that if you're importing stone that it is palletized to American safety standards. Before I was FIRE, I worked in the flooring industry. One of my major accounts bought a shipment of wood flooring from China. When the shipment arrived, the company representative stopped by the store with his wife and kids. He decided to help unload the goods from the container. The load was stacked too high, without a spacer pallet for stability. The load shifted and collapsed, killing him. All for the want of a $5 spacer pallet. You can IM me for more info, but please, please, pay attention to the details. And make sure you are well insured.

As to what else to fill your container with, I'd suggest LED lightbulbs. I have them almost everywhere in my house. Two things I cannot buy here are small bulbs (about 3") that face upward, but cast light downward (Picture a light fixture over a dining room table, bulbs face up, light shines down.) Everything we've tried is too tall and sticks out above the glass lampshades. The other is chandelier lightbulbs with small bases. Can't find attractive ones anywhere.

Whatever you decide, good luck to you!

gooki

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2014, 02:25:00 AM »
Not small and not light weight, but bamboo wood panels/decking.

Cushions, curtains (you can get some great patterns/materials that you won't find stocked locally).

Blinds.

Door handles/knobs/locks.

Tiles.

Outdoor umbrellas.

BBQs.

johnintaiwan

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2014, 03:50:34 AM »
Just making a post to see what people come up with.

Coastal

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2014, 07:42:04 AM »
@Coastal I'm interested to hear what you come up with! Raw materials are a good bet: finished products can be hard to achieve consistent quality control.

Lhamo might have some good ideas.

I like the idea of raw materials (assuming you are talking lumber, etc) but it's not something that would fit for us right now.  In the future, we plan to look into more this line, but I don't think we currently have enough space.

Coastal

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2014, 07:46:23 AM »
Hi Coastal,
If you will allow me, this is a cautionary tale. Make sure that if you're importing stone that it is palletized to American safety standards. Before I was FIRE, I worked in the flooring industry. One of my major accounts bought a shipment of wood flooring from China. When the shipment arrived, the company representative stopped by the store with his wife and kids. He decided to help unload the goods from the container. The load was stacked too high, without a spacer pallet for stability. The load shifted and collapsed, killing him. All for the want of a $5 spacer pallet. You can IM me for more info, but please, please, pay attention to the details. And make sure you are well insured.

As to what else to fill your container with, I'd suggest LED lightbulbs. I have them almost everywhere in my house. Two things I cannot buy here are small bulbs (about 3") that face upward, but cast light downward (Picture a light fixture over a dining room table, bulbs face up, light shines down.) Everything we've tried is too tall and sticks out above the glass lampshades. The other is chandelier lightbulbs with small bases. Can't find attractive ones anywhere.

Whatever you decide, good luck to you!

Hi Diane,

I appreciate your story and can only imagine what a tragic accident that was.  We do have a forklift to unload, which will hopefully save us from any problems.

As far as LEDs go, my concern would be quality and bulb life.  If I could find LED fixtures at low costs, now that is something we would go for.  I guess bulbs to if they are cheap enough.

I believe all light fixtures sold in Canada need Csa approval... Any comments on how easy or difficult a process that is?


Coastal

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2014, 07:49:32 AM »
Not small and not light weight, but bamboo wood panels/decking.

Cushions, curtains (you can get some great patterns/materials that you won't find stocked locally).

Blinds.

Door handles/knobs/locks.

Tiles.

Outdoor umbrellas.

BBQs.

Gooki,

I love the idea of bamboo panels and decking.  That is definitely an idea I'm going to have my wife look into and price out.

Tiles... That is already something we deal with, granite and marble.

AssetGrinder

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #8 on: June 21, 2014, 11:19:59 AM »
My cousin imports stone as well. He also brings back outdoor furniture back in the containers. He will then advertise in local papers of a blowout liquidation sale for the furniture. He gets rid of like 80% of it that way. The rest he will craiglist it. Margins are in the 30-50% range

Dicey

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #9 on: June 22, 2014, 01:17:29 AM »
Hi Diane,

I appreciate your story and can only imagine what a tragic accident that was.  We do have a forklift to unload, which will hopefully save us from any problems.

As far as LEDs go, my concern would be quality and bulb life.  If I could find LED fixtures at low costs, now that is something we would go for.  I guess bulbs to if they are cheap enough.

I believe all light fixtures sold in Canada need Csa approval... Any comments on how easy or difficult a process that is?

Hi Coastal,
The forklift wasn't the issue, it was the way the materials were packed for shipping. The bottom pallet was overloaded because someone in China decided to save a few bucks and omitted the center pallet (think of the filling in a layer cake). Once the first stack was removed (by the warehouseman, using a forklift) the rest of the load shifted, crushing the man inside the trailer.

As to lightbulbs, someone is importing and getting the proper approvals. Sure, there may be a lot of steps to follow, but it could still be quite lucrative to do so. My understanding is that other countries have been using LED's for far longer than North America and have more variations available that we commonly see. I live in CA, so I don't know what the selection is like in Canada, but suspect the situation could be similar. A dimmable BR30 floodlight goes for about $10-15 dollars each here. There's no way they cost anything near that to produce, so I suspect the margin is quite high.

I see some other good suggestions here, so hopefully something will resonate. Please let us know what you decide to do and how it turns out.

Coastal

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #10 on: June 24, 2014, 08:57:48 AM »
If you are interested in bamboo and rattan products, and passing through Beijing, a visit with the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) might be a good idea -- they could probably help you source truly sustainable products.

I spoke with my wife and they are going to detour to Beijing later in the week.  I'm very interested in sourcing a green product, plus I love bamboo. 

The website you posted has some great pillows, but there are so many places around here that carry stuff like this already.

eil

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #11 on: June 24, 2014, 11:39:57 AM »
Consumer electronics like Android tablets. Laptops, monitors. Pair up with a retailer who sells cheap Chinese electronics in bulk on eBay, craigslist, or electronics shops in large cities like Chicago or New York.

Just no cell phones, since they are unlikely to work with US carriers.

RayS127

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #12 on: June 24, 2014, 03:28:34 PM »
My wife is on her way to China right now sourcing materials for our business. We will be buying at least one container, but will likely have a fair amount of space left over in it.  This container will mostly be filled with product for our existing home improvement business.  (Stone)

Looking for suggestions for items to import that are preferably not too large/heavy, high profit margins and related to home furnishings to hopefully expand our business. (They are looking at faucets/bathroom vanities/sinks, etc)

So, any ideas? I'm open to any and all ideas as long as it somewhat a fits the criteria above. Appreciate any input I receive.

FYI, this is her first trip to China, but she is accompanied by a business partner who now lives in Canada, but lived in China many years.

Perhaps look at hand made or unique things that aren't mass produced. That way you can source them fairly cheaply over there and then sell them at a premium when you bring them back by marketing them as just that 'handmade' and 'original', there's pretty much no limit on the price you can ask doing it that way.

BlueHouse

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #13 on: June 24, 2014, 06:29:15 PM »
Toto Washlets.  I think Toto is Japanese, but manufactured in China.  Every toilet in America should have one of these.  They're just too expensive right now.  But make sure to also get the high-end metal hose to go with it so buyers don't have to use the ugly plastic tubing.

AlanStache

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #14 on: June 24, 2014, 06:45:36 PM »
The BBC has already done the boots on the ground research for you on what you can get in China cheap and sell else where at great markup.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz1LsXwATig

Coastal

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #15 on: June 26, 2014, 10:12:57 AM »
Good point about the handmade/unique items.  I know she will be looking for items that she thinks will be profitable for us, but also useful to others.

ivyhedge

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #16 on: June 26, 2014, 11:08:45 AM »
Good point about the handmade/unique items.  I know she will be looking for items that she thinks will be profitable for us, but also useful to others.


Be highly selective. Much of what you think is authentic is produced in factories and distressed. Nearly every time I thought I found something unique it turned out to be merely a nice piece - but a common one. And even if you do find truly unique curios, be careful with painted items, or ones with small parts (potential liability of you resell).

cjottawa

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #17 on: June 26, 2014, 11:15:47 AM »

coolman

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #18 on: January 18, 2016, 11:49:13 PM »
Hi, according to my experience. It is hard to check what items you should import. But you can compare the profit of each product categories.  Because if they know what to import, that menas thousands of people know it too. then the competition maybe very big.

soccerluvof4

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #19 on: January 19, 2016, 06:54:01 AM »
I have a friend that is doing very well purchasing lighted safety items he sells to from companies or right to consumers. Lighted flashing vests for running , sticks etc.. I have seen many of the products. Lightweight and compact and very large profit margins.

Le Poisson

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #20 on: January 19, 2016, 07:14:25 AM »
What about selling the space in the container to someone who imports lighted running gear and saving yourself the risk and hassle of more products?

Matumba

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Re: High Margin Products to Import from China
« Reply #21 on: January 19, 2016, 09:02:08 AM »
Responding to follow the thread