"no names" brands from China

[BKimport]

Hi, I have only managed to source unknown or no brand products from China. If I was to import cameras for example from china and sell them online in Australia would i then have to create a brand? Or am I just looking in the wrong place? My ideal sceenario would be to buy branded products from either china, singapore, malasia, taiwan etcand have them drop shipped - maybe i am dreaming

Cheers
Belinda

[trymyluck]

Hi, it sounds like you are at the start of your importing journey.Like me . I cant offer any suggestions on your current questions but I would be interested to hear how you go and what direction you would take.

I have similiar thinking and am now ready to go and check out some trade fairs. Have you tried this method?
Anyway happy to be your ears if your looking for advice or just someone to throw ideas at. Cheers Tony

[Seru]

Hi guys,

The little "knowledge" I have regarding branding and especially chinese brands is that, you can sell them as is....no need to register a brand of your choice and design. But when you distribute any product(s), my understanding is that you, as a distributor/drop-shipper, would be in a much viable position to actually take the distribution right of that product in your location or better still that country you're looking to distribute into. Especially if its a big, well known brand.

This way, you know that you are the only one selling that particular brand in Australia. But once you look into distributing a well known brand, you have to be careful at those distributors who have got the actual rights to distribute like you would. Even though, it wont bite you now, it would be worse when you've grown big and the "rightful" distributor lodge a lawsuit on the money you've made in distributing that product.

On the other side of the coin, if you're dropshipping without holding any stock, you're basically a virtual "sales" office based in Australia without the actual product in stock in your garage. So the onus is on the supplier in China.

Once again guys, this is just the little knowledge I have in brand distribution. I could be wrong so do your due diligence on distributing branded products.

Cheers,

Seru.

[Rowan @ GardenLarder]

Just to start - I have had a number of chinese made no-name cameras, video recorders and phones and they have all been fantastic quality.

If you are able to order a large amount, many suppliers in China can sort out branding the products to your specs from the factory. You would be surprised at what they can supply - branding on the products as well as packaging but the instructions should be done by a native speaker to avaid mistakes that make them look cheap. I have been offered this service on a number of products that I have sourced from China.

Warranties are something that you would have to look into yourself I think. Others would know more about this area than me.

[Divert To Mobile]

Hi Belinda,

Welcome to the forum.
As Seru said, if your manufacturer (if indeed you have actually contacted the manufacturer) will agree to sole distribution for AU+NZ stitch that up and use their brand. The difficulty you will find is that the Chinese manufacturers cant fathom the size of our marketplace. They will talk to you in units of 100's and even 1,000's when you want to talk in 10's.
If you cant convince the supplier to go that way make up a snazzy name and start selling.

Steve

[Seru]

Oh Belinda,

By the way, your last sentence, when you say you could be dreaming......reminded me of a great saying that I basically keep with me all the time. It goes like this...."The difference between a dream and a goal are the written words...."

You've started writing about it, its not a dream anymore....put it in a plan and set goals....you'll be surprise on what you could achieve....

Good luck in your business goals,

Seru.

[Johny]

There are 3 different things when you talk about branded/branding products like this.

1. This is the products of well known brands such as Canon, Nikon, Sony etc.

DO NOT buy these items from China for resale (and I would advise against Malaysia etc as well) as you will not get wholesale branded products like this from China. Any branded product like this from China will be fake. These branded products may be made in China, but the brand owners will not allow them to be resold from there.

For this discussion though, you can treat Hong Kong differently. There are definately companies here who will dropship these big name branded products to anywhere. I am sure they could also sell larger quantities to you directly, but you would need to sell these in Australia as grey market/parallel imports, and I have no idea about the requirements or restrictions for that.

One of the reasons Hong Kong offers some attractive options is because it is a tax free port so costs are often lower.

2. These are unknown or lesser known brands that may be owned by a factory.

Obviously these are still subject to the terms that may be applied by the brand owner. But I wouldn't expect there is too many problem in buying these items and reselling them in most cases.

As someone else mentioned, a supplier may have territories in place, but generally this shouldn't be a problem. Although normally the expecation would be to sell a specific quantity over a specific period of time.

3. No brand items

There should not be any restrictions on these at all. Normally there won't be any problem with selling them as no name, or with your own brand.

Someone else mentioned quantities. Here you need to know the difference. Normally a manufacturer will require certain minimum quantities (MOQ) to make it worthwhile for them to start a production run. In this case, this is where you could probably be looking to have them under your own brand because they would need to make it worthwhile to include your branding on the item.

Whereas a manufacturer may require you to buy a few hundred pieces, a wholesaler may allow you to buy a few. But with the wholesaler they are normally selling existing stock so you don't get all the advantages of making any amendments to the existing product, such as having your own brand included.

The other point is that with importing stock to Australia for resale, you have the issue of import taxes etc, as well as making sure the producst meet the various safety standards, but with drop shipping that is not such an issue. (Not suggesting you shouldn't confirm the quality.)

I can't comment for others, but the other thing to consider is what the market is like for buying products with a Chinese brand name. Woudl that be better or worse than having no brand or your own brand. Given the perception of Chinese products.

And finally, just in response to this comment:-

The difficulty you will find is that the Chinese manufacturers cant fathom the size of our marketplace. They will talk to you in units of 100's and even 1,000's when you want to talk in 10's.

This is not about understanding the size of the market place. This is about the manufacturer making the product in quantities that are worthwile and adequate to make enough margin for them.

It is up to the buyer to understand their market. They either buy big enough to deal with a manufacturer, or they buy smaller and deal with a wholesaler. The second option may cost more for the buyer, but thats the way business works whether in China or elsewhere.

[Divert To Mobile]

Originally Posted by Johny

And finally, just in response to this comment:-



This is not about understanding the size of the market place. This is about the manufacturer making the product in quantities that are worthwile and adequate to make enough margin for them.

It is up to the buyer to understand their market. They either buy big enough to deal with a manufacturer, or they buy smaller and deal with a wholesaler. The second option may cost more for the buyer, but thats the way business works whether in China or elsewhere.

Hi Johny, what you say is right, it is up to the buyer to understand the retail market. In turn it is up to the manufacturer to understand their market, which is the Australian importer.

I disagree with the first paragraph, by selling more the manufacturer decreases the unit cost. The priniple you discuss is on a custom made to order basis. In the majority of cases same product being sold in the USA and European markets is also sold in Australia and NZ.

Steve

[Johny]

Hi Johny, what you say is right, it is up to the buyer to understand the retail market. In turn it is up to the manufacturer to understand their market, which is the Australian importer.

Hi, I am sorry to the original poster for derailing their thread, but Steve I am sorry to say what you are saying is just incorrect.

Firstly, the manufacturer's market isn't the Australian importer at all. The manufacturer's market is the market that offers him the biggest return.

Whether you accept it or not there are two issues that affect the Australian market.

Firstly, sorry but the size of the Aussie market dicates that it is well down the list of importance in the eyes of manufacturers. I don't mean that in a derogatory way, its just the way business works. There are manufacturers who specifically make for the US market, specifically make for the European market, but I don't know any that specifically make for the Aussie market.

Secondly, traditionally Australia is a market where wholesalers dictate the show. Independent buyers buy in such small quantities that it has never been possible to buy direct from a factory. It was only the big players who could do that. And that is part of the reason why some goods in Australia are so expensive, because there is that extra set of hands from the wholesaler.

It is only relatively recently, maybe with the advent of places like eBay, that a lot of buyers in Australia are now looking to buy their products more directly. But the end result is the same, a factory isn't going to make just 5 cameras for these buyers. They will only get them from a source with existing stock or as part of some larger order if the timing is correct.

I disagree with the first paragraph, by selling more the manufacturer decreases the unit cost. The priniple you discuss is on a custom made to order basis. In the majority of cases same product being sold in the USA and European markets is also sold in Australia and NZ.

Just about every factory (with the exception of factories that make some items such as garments) works on a custom order basis. They don't hold stock because holding stock is having their money tied up.

And this is why a factory works with an MOQ. This is the amount they calculate their cost structure on, when determining the cost of doing business.

Have a look here about MOQ:-

http://www.asiasupplierreview.com/fo...php?f=11&t=240

This is what I have written to try and explain why factories have an MOQ and why it costs more for buying smaller quantities.

Essentially, cost savings come from economies of scale. It is cheaper in terms of real cost and time efficiency to make one order for 10,000 pieces than it is to make 10 orders of 1,000 products.

So no, they do not hold large amounts of stock so that someone from the US orders some pieces they will send them, some one from Australia buys a few so they send them too. Where that happens you are dealing with wholesalers, not manufacturers.

And finally, in many cases it is not the same product being sold in the different markets.

Take a toaster as an example. In the US it is required to meet FDA standards, Europw, CE, RoHS, Weee, in Australia AS/NZ.

So one factory may have paid what can be tens of thousands of dollars to secure CE certification for Europe, but they have never had their product tested for the Australian market. Quite often this will be because they have decided it is not worth their while because they may consider the amount of sales from Australia is not enough to have the testing done.

Plus different products may have some different components. For example, a power plug for the US is different from the BS plug used in the UK which is also different form the SAA plug used in Australia.