Overseas shipping from Hong Kong

Hi

I am looking to start a ecomerce site selling jewelry worldwide (probably mostly Europe and asia) . most product is shipped from Hong Kong. How do I decide what carrier to use (dhl,ups,fedex etc)?

 

Are you carrying inventory in Hong Kong or do you plan on dropshipping?

Assuming you are shipping your own inventory, FedEx is possibly your best carrier because they have an agent in China that gives you a far cheaper rate than FedEx themselves will.

Don't go direct to the couriers' offices because you will pay a lot more. The FedEx agent has saved many of my Importing students heaps of money.

If you can't find them yourself let me know and I will give you the details. I'm new here and haven't yet worked out how to send a PM, so you will need to contact me.

Walter Hay

 

I would say that whatever is cheapest and fastest is the best. A bad thing about shipping from overseas is that it can take a really long time to get to the customer. This can cause many complaints and even people saying that you're a scammer. One lady threatened to sue me because her item wasn't there in 5 days, although I stated (in 4 different places, some that they have to read before continuing) that it would take 2-4 weeks. I don't dropship at all because of the complaints about time, and the hassle of fulfilling orders, but when I did, I always chose the fastest, as long as they did a good job. DHL was the best for me because not many of my suppliers did FedEx, and if they did, it was really expensive.

 

Dropshipping from China is not a great idea for several reasons:

• Suppliers get to know your customers and their contact details. This applies to all dropshipping, but Chinese suppliers tend to be quick to start making offers direct to your customers.
• Delivery times are not only slow, but they can be erratic. Delivery times up to 2 months are common.
• Missing parcels are also common.
• After sales service is almost non existent, so you have to handle that yourself without the supplier even answering simple questions.
• Warranty issues are a big problem. Returning parcels to China will often cost a lot more than the product is worth.
• Getting any compensation from suppliers for faulty or not as described goods is rarely possible unless you have the item returned to you, then you return them to your supplier.

It is far better to buy small amounts of inventory direct from the factory. Margins will be much higher, and you have control, with a lot more customer satisfaction with less bad reviews.

Walter Hay

 

Hello, great post ! But your conclusion is that there is no good reliable dropshipper in this world ? Thanks again.

 

The best dropshippers I know of are not in business as dropshippers. They are sometimes small manufacturing businesses with poor marketing skills, or they operate bricks and mortar stores, and have little desire to enter the online marketing world.

The way to find them is to keep your eyes and your mind open. If you see a store doing well, check and see if they have an online presence. You will be amazed at how many don't. If they haven't, you can offer to obtain orders for them and all they have to do is ship to the customers you provide, allowing you a discount, or better still maybe, a commission.

If you know of, or maybe have even bought from a small manufacturer with a great product, put a similar proposition to them.

If you follow that advice and succeed, you won't be interested in importing, which is my specialty, but I try to help anyways.

Walter Hay

 

Great idea ! thanks !