Importing and Sourcing

18.05.2017 |

Episode #4 of the course Amazon FBA fundamentals: From no-experience to selling your product by Erik Rogne

 

Now this is the fun part! After doing hard work researching, you finally get to import your product.

So you may have decided that you want to import some specialized magnets, but where can you go to actually talk to suppliers or manufacturers? Luckily, with the internet, many barriers have been removed and you can communicate with people all across the world.

 

Where Can You Find Suppliers?

There are three places I recommend for everyone who is just starting to import:

1. Alibaba. This is my personal favorite and primary recommendation. Think of it like eBay for bulk items. Rather than just buying one of something, you may be buying thousands!

2. GlobalSources. Very similar to Alibaba; you may find different suppliers here.

3. Aliexpress. Alibaba also owns Aliexpress, so they are similar; however, Aliexpress is for smaller quantities. So if you want to start smaller (think 25 of an item rather than 1000), I would recommend using this. You may not be turning a profit, but you can prove that there is a market for your product. Think of it as an MVP (minimum viable product).

 

United States vs. China

Okay, now you may be thinking: where should I get my product made? I recommend China to start out. It is going to be cheaper, and you have a lot of options. China is an amazing place to source from because there is so much competition in their markets, so they have to be incredibly niche and specialize in certain products. When they specialize in certain products, they can get you quality.

Also, if you live in the United States, for example, the US dollar is stronger than the Chinese yuan, and your dollar will go further. This means that you can afford more in China than if you were to buy in the US.

 

What Types of Products Can You Source?

You can source virtually any product you can think of. I’ve come up with some ridiculous product ideas and was surprised to see that it already did exist on Alibaba—and I had lots of manufacturers to choose from. Even if your product does not exist, there are many manufacturers who would be willing to make it for you, so be sure to keep your mind open!

In this lesson, we talked about importing and sourcing. In the next lesson, we will talk about listing on Amazon.

 

Recommended book

Product Research 101: Find Winning Products to Sell on Amazon and Beyond by Renae Clark

 

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