Import Export Business Questions-Answers-Warning
1) Use the search box in the upper left side of this blog to help you in search through this blog and the many years worth of valuable posts.
2) There are nearly 6 years of posts in this blog, you are encouraged to use the archive date links located on the lower right side of the navigation bar --> --> --> - they are listed by Month/Year.
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QUESTION Part 1: I have no experience and/or knowledge of import/export business.
Answer: I had no experience when I got started - that is why we offer a self study course, the best one that "I" believe is available and I could offer you any number of courses that would earn us a lot more money than the one we offer does, however, I like to sleep at night and know that I have provided you with the BEST course I feel is available.
QUESTION Part 2: I was born in the Philippines.
Answer: Great! You have an advantage over other Americans in having connections there or the ability to speak the native language - think of this fact as an asset instead of a liability.
QUESTION Part 3: What is my chance to be become successful in this business?
Answer: Subjective question that I cannot answer - I would be lying to you if I told you everyone becomes successful who purchases the course we offer - as I told you above, I like to sleep at night - I simply cannot answer this question because it is up to you. I strongly suggest you take advantage of all the free materials we offer on our website and blog and after you have digested that information, then consider purchasing the course we offer ONLY if you feel the business is something you REALLY wish to pursue.
This isn't buying a lottery ticket, it is a training course and how you apply what you learn and how persistent and patient you are in doing so has more to do with your success than anything else, but MOST of all you have to WANT to succeed in this business. It is NOT an opportunity, it is a BUSINESS.
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QUESTION: I am entering an agreement with a company in Belize, CA and will be shipping Solar Products to them. The bank is asking of an Export Contract. Is there a form for this contract? I looked in Forms.gov but could not find an official form.
Answer: There are various places on the web that you should be able to find an example or an explanation of what goes into an export contract.
But, first and foremost, ask your bank what they expect to see in the form of an agreement and ask if they have any examples - no use going thru the motions if what you present them with does not meet their requirements.
Pro-forma invoices often spell out the payment, products, quantities, delivery etc. and may suffice, however, in today's strict financial lending rules, your bank may need more. Pro formas are the easiest form of contracts to work with, but again, your bank may not deem that sufficient.
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Import Export Business Job Market Fraud Warning!!!
I receive an email every day with links to the latest new information available on the Internet relating to import, export, international trade, international business, etc..
On an increasing level I am seeing ads being posted to many of the free classifed ad sites online, especially Craigslist for entry level Import Export agents, clerks, whatever. Most cite legitimate daily activities that an agent or clerk might perform but they never give ANY type of direct contact information for the prospective employer.
They will generally ask you to either contact them for an interview which is through Craiglist's email system which protects their identity and many will be brazen enough to ask you for your resume because they know many people are simply so trusting of their fellow human beings that they will send it.
If your resume has your social security number and other personal identity details, you have just handed an identity theif what they need to steal your identity. If it doesn't contain this information and they will generally evolve the conversation by email, phone or skype as a means of getting it.
In some instances they may forgo stealing your identity to steal from you via your bank account, even if you do not have much or any money in your account.
I have explained the fake cashier's check or money order scam elsewhere in this blog so rather than repeating what is stated elsewhere, understand that jobs like they are offering, simply do not exist. They are going to potentially make you financially liable for thousands of dollars that you "will" have to pay so be smart, use the search engine box in the upper left of this blog and search for either the word(s) scam, fraud, fraudulent and read how the real world works and remember I am simply the messenger.
The International Business Times is the leading provider of international business news online.
Showing posts with label international trade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label international trade. Show all posts
Is US Exporting Climate Worse/Better Or About The Same
This blog has been in existence since February 2006 and contains important posts you do not want to miss - be sure you check out the archived posts listed by Month/Year on the lower right side navigation area and bookmark so you may reference later.
OK, to the Question for this post:
Do you think the climate for US exporting is worse/better / substantively any different than when you wrote that blog answer Jan 2009? - Here is a link to that post: Import Export Business And The Economy
The question was sent as a follow up to an email that asked: "Your best guess on how this could affect / not Exports from the US?" - Specter of trade war looms as G-20 nations gather
My Answer To The Follow Up Question that is the subject of this post:
Every exporting business is different. Each deals with different products, each exports to different parts of the world. Each exporting situation has been affected differently.
1. I believe it is easier today to establish yourself as an export agent or broker or to get manufacturers to deal with you than it was two years ago because US manufacturing, what's left of it, is desperate, whereas before they were fat, dumb and happy and now they are competing with India, China, Brazil, Vietnam, you name it.
2. There is a car exporter who has advertised on our site for about 3 years now. I do not recall the exact numbers but when he first started advertising the Euro was about 1.60 to the dollar and he was exporting 20-40 vehicles a month (i believe that was the number) at a markup of $1000 per vehicle or a pro-rated basis if they purchased 5 or more down to $500 a vehicle.
In February of 2009 he called me to renew his ad and asked me if I had any idea how many cars he exported the previous month - I said 5 or 10 thinking it would not be that bad and he responded ZERO/NADA/ZIP.
The market in Europe had dried up not only because of the dollar improving somewhat but the fact Europe's economy was (and is) in a shambles.
In the interim, he began getting inquiries from China. Guess what? His business with China is booming. They want both new and used "luxury" cars and because he has been an established exporter, with exposure in the marketplace, they came to him. I have not really asked him about his Europe business but I know if it has come back at all it is a fraction of what it was.
Adapting. Exposure. Doing something and not allowing the government to freeze you in place waiting for them to save you. They won't, they screwed it up and business is what will bring it back.
3. In all the years I have worked with various vitamin manufacturers (about 12-13 now) the very best "long-term" customer for any of them came from a lead I generated from our website about 15 months ago during one of the worst parts of the past 24 months in the current economy. I mention in my blog post about adapting in dealing with 'how to pay' - this customer is in Thailand and they use 5 different credit cards to pay the manufacturer - whatever works.
4. I just received an email today from another company we work with for sourcing manufacturing in China. One of the leads we sent them, I cannot disclose their name but you would definitely know it as they are a old, long time brand name in a particular industry, has sent a sample to sourcing company's office in Beijing and for review of their engineers for pricing and they are very seriously working with the company on pricing the units out.
TRADE moves on and will find a way to adapt and there is always indirect exporting, meaning you do not need to export from the USA, you can export for a manufacturer in another country.
I think there was another post I did but I cannot remember the date in which I cited the number of LARGE brand name businesses that were started during the depth of the 1930's depression which are still in business today. International trade is either in your blood or it isn't and all I can say is move forward, adjust and continue to move forward, that is all there is to it.
Have a good evening.
Ron
Do you think the climate for US exporting is worse/better / substantively any different than when you wrote that blog answer Jan 2009? - Here is a link to that post: Import Export Business And The Economy
The question was sent as a follow up to an email that asked: "Your best guess on how this could affect / not Exports from the US?" - Specter of trade war looms as G-20 nations gather
My Answer To The Follow Up Question that is the subject of this post:
Every exporting business is different. Each deals with different products, each exports to different parts of the world. Each exporting situation has been affected differently.
1. I believe it is easier today to establish yourself as an export agent or broker or to get manufacturers to deal with you than it was two years ago because US manufacturing, what's left of it, is desperate, whereas before they were fat, dumb and happy and now they are competing with India, China, Brazil, Vietnam, you name it.
2. There is a car exporter who has advertised on our site for about 3 years now. I do not recall the exact numbers but when he first started advertising the Euro was about 1.60 to the dollar and he was exporting 20-40 vehicles a month (i believe that was the number) at a markup of $1000 per vehicle or a pro-rated basis if they purchased 5 or more down to $500 a vehicle.
In February of 2009 he called me to renew his ad and asked me if I had any idea how many cars he exported the previous month - I said 5 or 10 thinking it would not be that bad and he responded ZERO/NADA/ZIP.
The market in Europe had dried up not only because of the dollar improving somewhat but the fact Europe's economy was (and is) in a shambles.
In the interim, he began getting inquiries from China. Guess what? His business with China is booming. They want both new and used "luxury" cars and because he has been an established exporter, with exposure in the marketplace, they came to him. I have not really asked him about his Europe business but I know if it has come back at all it is a fraction of what it was.
Adapting. Exposure. Doing something and not allowing the government to freeze you in place waiting for them to save you. They won't, they screwed it up and business is what will bring it back.
3. In all the years I have worked with various vitamin manufacturers (about 12-13 now) the very best "long-term" customer for any of them came from a lead I generated from our website about 15 months ago during one of the worst parts of the past 24 months in the current economy. I mention in my blog post about adapting in dealing with 'how to pay' - this customer is in Thailand and they use 5 different credit cards to pay the manufacturer - whatever works.
4. I just received an email today from another company we work with for sourcing manufacturing in China. One of the leads we sent them, I cannot disclose their name but you would definitely know it as they are a old, long time brand name in a particular industry, has sent a sample to sourcing company's office in Beijing and for review of their engineers for pricing and they are very seriously working with the company on pricing the units out.
TRADE moves on and will find a way to adapt and there is always indirect exporting, meaning you do not need to export from the USA, you can export for a manufacturer in another country.
I think there was another post I did but I cannot remember the date in which I cited the number of LARGE brand name businesses that were started during the depth of the 1930's depression which are still in business today. International trade is either in your blood or it isn't and all I can say is move forward, adjust and continue to move forward, that is all there is to it.
Have a good evening.
Ron
Get Real About Your Import Export Business
Getting real about your Import Export business in todays Internet
age involves some expenses, any real business does, fortunately,
with all the competition out there, the expenses are very small in
comparison to starting most other types of businesses.
Getting Real about your business means first and foremost, taking
action once you have made the decision to get off of your ass and
get started. YES, it takes your action, not some "mentor" or
high-priced personal guide - YOU are the key to YOUR success and
YOUR action is necessary to succeed once you have studied and
understand the processes.
But you have heard or read that before if you have been on this
blog for any length of time.
So let's talk about a super, small, baby step action you can take,
if you are serious about GETTING REAL about your business.
In the past 10 years, we have received well over ONE MILLION
dollars in fraudulent orders. Some were easy to spot, others have
become more difficult, but in that time we have not lost one
cent to fraudsters and have learned some very valuable lessons
on what to look for, one of which I will now pass along to you.
In almost 90% of the fraudulent orders received, the fraudster
used a free email address such as Yahoo or Hotmail.
So, literally, any order that we now receive from anyone with a
Yahoo or Hotmail account IMMEDIATELY gets the FULL scam screening
procedures, most of which are outlined on our company page at
ImportExportHelp.com under the "due diligence" resources.
In the past 10 years, I have spoken with and corresponded with
thousands of other business people around the world and Yahoo
and Hotmail email addresses have grown into an instant delete
or filtered to spam due to the high incidence of them being used
by spammers, scammers and the business wannabees who are NOT
really serious about success and are nothing but a waste of TIME
for these business people (remember TIME IS MONEY).
Email is a terrible way to try and make initial contact with
any business person to begin with...marketing organizations that
track this kind of thing state upwards of 70% or more of all
emails NEVER reach the intended party and those that do are
often deleted without viewing if they have FREE email addresses.
Yahoo and Hotmail email addresses are an immediate flag to most
businesses that the sender is not a serious contender and will
many time, if not more often than not, be ignored and deleted.
Yes, I have and still do recommend the use of Gmail.com email
addresses up to a point. I believe that they too will ultimately
reach the level of filtering that yahoo and hotmail addresses
receive in the not too distant future. Unfortunately, I am
seeing an incredible level of spam and scam emails in my
numerous gmail accounts, even those I have never made public.
Another BIG reason for recommending you get away from Yahoo and
Hotmail is the filtering issues. They control the level of what gets
through to your inbox and what gets filtered, gmail is not near as
restrictive as Yahoo and Hotmail, but again, I expect that to change
in the not to distant future.
So what are you to do?
You can either set up an entire website that normally provides you
with a huge amount of email addresses that you create or in some
cases Unlimited numbers.
The building of a website does not need to be the very first thing
you need to do but when you are ready, the service I recommend to
beginning website builders that has MORE help and assistance than
any other I have found yet may be reviewed at:
Web Hosting - DIY Step-by-Step Website Building Service
*** Be sure to download ALL of the FREE training materials the
above web hosting/building services provides, including their
great videos - they have the VERY BEST resources available
of any similar service my 17 years of Internet research has found.
Once you have invested in your future by obtaining the appropriate
training course to the type of International Trade business you are
going to "GET REAL" about, your first step to project a more
professional image should be to have a "REAL" Email address and
not be using a FREE one.
Not only does having your own domain name email project a much
BETTER Internet persona but even more importantly, YOU control the
level of filtering and YOU get to see all emails that are filtered BEFORE
they are deleted.
Additionally, many business people have their email programs set up to
filter emails coming from Yahoo and Hotmail addresses either to their
BULK or SP*.AM folder or have them automatically deleted!
You can have your own domain name email accounts up to 10
accounts for a price of less than $20 to a max of $40 per year depending
upon the number of email addresses you feel you need and you can
always upgrade to the higher level is the lower is not enough.
This is should be the FIRST and is the simplest thing you can do to
build your reputation and show you are serious about being in business
and it only takes a few minutes to do - here is the service where I have
a domain specific email address set up - go check them out:
Get A Real (LOW COST) Email Address Service
Quite frankly, if you invest in training and will not invest in
upgrading your Internet personality, you need to GET REAL about your
Import Export business or get out of the way of those who are
serious about their success.
In reality, whether you are starting an international trade
business OR any business, you need a REAL email address - STOP
jeopardizing your success by being to cheap to invest a few
dollars a year to build your online reputation.
age involves some expenses, any real business does, fortunately,
with all the competition out there, the expenses are very small in
comparison to starting most other types of businesses.
Getting Real about your business means first and foremost, taking
action once you have made the decision to get off of your ass and
get started. YES, it takes your action, not some "mentor" or
high-priced personal guide - YOU are the key to YOUR success and
YOUR action is necessary to succeed once you have studied and
understand the processes.
But you have heard or read that before if you have been on this
blog for any length of time.
So let's talk about a super, small, baby step action you can take,
if you are serious about GETTING REAL about your business.
In the past 10 years, we have received well over ONE MILLION
dollars in fraudulent orders. Some were easy to spot, others have
become more difficult, but in that time we have not lost one
cent to fraudsters and have learned some very valuable lessons
on what to look for, one of which I will now pass along to you.
In almost 90% of the fraudulent orders received, the fraudster
used a free email address such as Yahoo or Hotmail.
So, literally, any order that we now receive from anyone with a
Yahoo or Hotmail account IMMEDIATELY gets the FULL scam screening
procedures, most of which are outlined on our company page at
ImportExportHelp.com under the "due diligence" resources.
In the past 10 years, I have spoken with and corresponded with
thousands of other business people around the world and Yahoo
and Hotmail email addresses have grown into an instant delete
or filtered to spam due to the high incidence of them being used
by spammers, scammers and the business wannabees who are NOT
really serious about success and are nothing but a waste of TIME
for these business people (remember TIME IS MONEY).
Email is a terrible way to try and make initial contact with
any business person to begin with...marketing organizations that
track this kind of thing state upwards of 70% or more of all
emails NEVER reach the intended party and those that do are
often deleted without viewing if they have FREE email addresses.
Yahoo and Hotmail email addresses are an immediate flag to most
businesses that the sender is not a serious contender and will
many time, if not more often than not, be ignored and deleted.
Yes, I have and still do recommend the use of Gmail.com email
addresses up to a point. I believe that they too will ultimately
reach the level of filtering that yahoo and hotmail addresses
receive in the not too distant future. Unfortunately, I am
seeing an incredible level of spam and scam emails in my
numerous gmail accounts, even those I have never made public.
Another BIG reason for recommending you get away from Yahoo and
Hotmail is the filtering issues. They control the level of what gets
through to your inbox and what gets filtered, gmail is not near as
restrictive as Yahoo and Hotmail, but again, I expect that to change
in the not to distant future.
So what are you to do?
You can either set up an entire website that normally provides you
with a huge amount of email addresses that you create or in some
cases Unlimited numbers.
The building of a website does not need to be the very first thing
you need to do but when you are ready, the service I recommend to
beginning website builders that has MORE help and assistance than
any other I have found yet may be reviewed at:
Web Hosting - DIY Step-by-Step Website Building Service
*** Be sure to download ALL of the FREE training materials the
above web hosting/building services provides, including their
great videos - they have the VERY BEST resources available
of any similar service my 17 years of Internet research has found.
Once you have invested in your future by obtaining the appropriate
training course to the type of International Trade business you are
going to "GET REAL" about, your first step to project a more
professional image should be to have a "REAL" Email address and
not be using a FREE one.
Not only does having your own domain name email project a much
BETTER Internet persona but even more importantly, YOU control the
level of filtering and YOU get to see all emails that are filtered BEFORE
they are deleted.
Additionally, many business people have their email programs set up to
filter emails coming from Yahoo and Hotmail addresses either to their
BULK or SP*.AM folder or have them automatically deleted!
You can have your own domain name email accounts up to 10
accounts for a price of less than $20 to a max of $40 per year depending
upon the number of email addresses you feel you need and you can
always upgrade to the higher level is the lower is not enough.
This is should be the FIRST and is the simplest thing you can do to
build your reputation and show you are serious about being in business
and it only takes a few minutes to do - here is the service where I have
a domain specific email address set up - go check them out:
Get A Real (LOW COST) Email Address Service
Quite frankly, if you invest in training and will not invest in
upgrading your Internet personality, you need to GET REAL about your
Import Export business or get out of the way of those who are
serious about their success.
In reality, whether you are starting an international trade
business OR any business, you need a REAL email address - STOP
jeopardizing your success by being to cheap to invest a few
dollars a year to build your online reputation.
REMEMBER, NO ONE CARES MORE ABOUT YOU, YOUR FAMILY OR
YOUR SUCCESS THAN YOU DO (OR SHOULD)!
And if you are too lazy to take the SMALL action necessary to set up a
REAL email address, then you should forget about being in business
for yourself because you are simply TOO LAZY to GET REAL about being
in business for yourself.
Hope you find these posts helpful - your comments are always welcome.
Ron Coble
International Business Marketing Services
More Import Export Business Lessons
Another Import Export Business lesson in the form of an a Question and Answer Post:
QUESTION:
I run a small wine export company in New Zealand and I am looking into exporting wine to Mali in Africa at the moment.
Contact is made, terms agreed on and now my customer says that I would need to open an non-residential account with his bank to enable him to transfer funds into my account in New Zealand. This sounds wrong to me and I have never been asked to do such a thing in the past. According to my customer this is an anti fraud measure introduced by the Malian government.
Could you please advise me whether or not this is true. Your help would be very much appreciated.
ANSWER:
I would suggest that you do a search in google for Mali + Fraud and/or Mali + scam - Mali appears to be yet another African cesspool of fraudulent activity.
My first suggestion is - Find a buyer not in a 3rd world country
One of the key factors that fraudsters play on their marks is the desperation of or greed for the completion of a sale or to get money.
How many things could go wrong with this?? You deposit funds to open an account, your client "supposedly" puts their funds into your account. If the bank is a legit one, how do you know your buyer does not have a friend working in the bank? How do you get your funds back?? The Mali bank is under NO obligations like your NZ banks have to their customers.
How many different ways does this have to sound like a scam before you simply deem it NOT worth the trouble?
Please do yourself a favor and read some of the listings google will give you on the suggested searches above - these people have honed the art of scam.
Is the sale really worth all the hassle if it is legit? Talk to a freight forwarder in NZ that deals with Mali and see if they have heard of this 'new' requirement. But bottom line, is it all worth it?? Cant' you find a buyer
elsewhere in a non- 3rd world country.
Have you done due diligence on your buyer, or the so-called bank you would need to deal with??
See the list of resources we recommend -
http://www.importexporthelp.com/company.htm#DUE-DILIGENCE
My advice goes back to my first suggestion - WALK AWAY.
Ron Coble
QUESTION:
I run a small wine export company in New Zealand and I am looking into exporting wine to Mali in Africa at the moment.
Contact is made, terms agreed on and now my customer says that I would need to open an non-residential account with his bank to enable him to transfer funds into my account in New Zealand. This sounds wrong to me and I have never been asked to do such a thing in the past. According to my customer this is an anti fraud measure introduced by the Malian government.
Could you please advise me whether or not this is true. Your help would be very much appreciated.
ANSWER:
I would suggest that you do a search in google for Mali + Fraud and/or Mali + scam - Mali appears to be yet another African cesspool of fraudulent activity.
My first suggestion is - Find a buyer not in a 3rd world country
One of the key factors that fraudsters play on their marks is the desperation of or greed for the completion of a sale or to get money.
How many things could go wrong with this?? You deposit funds to open an account, your client "supposedly" puts their funds into your account. If the bank is a legit one, how do you know your buyer does not have a friend working in the bank? How do you get your funds back?? The Mali bank is under NO obligations like your NZ banks have to their customers.
How many different ways does this have to sound like a scam before you simply deem it NOT worth the trouble?
Please do yourself a favor and read some of the listings google will give you on the suggested searches above - these people have honed the art of scam.
Is the sale really worth all the hassle if it is legit? Talk to a freight forwarder in NZ that deals with Mali and see if they have heard of this 'new' requirement. But bottom line, is it all worth it?? Cant' you find a buyer
elsewhere in a non- 3rd world country.
Have you done due diligence on your buyer, or the so-called bank you would need to deal with??
See the list of resources we recommend -
http://www.importexporthelp.com/company.htm#DUE-DILIGENCE
My advice goes back to my first suggestion - WALK AWAY.
Ron Coble
International Trade Perils
This post is NOT meant to be critical of the importer who sent me the email and who has posted his story on various complaint boards on the Internet. The post is being offered to help other potential importers from having the same or similar situation happen to you.
I have changed the name of the company to "the fish food supplier" because this blog is meant to be educational and not a means of filing a complaint against any particular company (that can easily be found on other sites throughout the Internet).
The post is about 98% as I received it in an email, the only changes were the date formats, adding of US Dollar amount so it would be easier to see the British pound value to the dollar value and some of the British spelling to US English spelling. My comments in the body of the email have been coded in BLUE.
Additionally, I have placed some notes throughout the post and at the end of the post that will hopefully serve to help other International traders from encountering a similar fate.
Beginning of Email:
Hello and BEWARE!!,
This Fish Food Supply company has just cost me £18,000 ($27,725USD)!!
I began searching for a fish food supplier and came across the company (we will refer to them as fish food supplier), I enquired about there products and there export to the EU, they said they were experienced exporters to Europe and had done this many times before.
FIRST MISTAKE: Never take a company or their representatives word. It means nothing. DUE DILIGENCE - MAKE THEM provide you with at least 3-5 customer references in your country or region in this case for the EU. MAKE THEM DO SO OR DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM. IF they cry, complain or continue on the "trust us" we know what we are doing path, simply walk away because they do not.
After about a month of communication with this company an order was placed and paid for (** SEE BELOW REMARKS **) and was due for arrival in the UK around the 6/15/2010 this date however the date got moved forward to the 8/15/2010 by fish food supplier, I was not to pleased about this as there was also a lot of koi carp food in the shipment and the koi season would be drawing to an end by the time I received it.
SECOND MISTAKE: Paying the full amount in advance. You now have NO CONTROL over the process or making them meet YOUR deadlines. If anything, pay 50% with the other 50% due upon shipment on the date YOU SPECIFY.
There were also a number of errors in the paperwork from the fish food supplier when my customs clearance agent received it ahead of the shipment arriving, these errors absorbed most of my customs clearance agents and my time for around 10 days to rectify these errors with port health authority.
THIRD MISTAKE: This ties in with mistake two - DO NOT PROVIDE 100% payment until everything is the way YOU NEED it - request copies of the documentation prior to shipment BEFORE you pay the remaining 50% and make sure those documents will pass the customs clearance.
The food arrived in the UK on the 8/14/2010 this was cleared by customs and was just waiting for the completion of a CVED form from the port health authority, this time the errors from the fish food supplier were out of our control. The fish food supplier had not included all the food ingredients in the health certificate, when my customs man contacted the fish food supplier about this they responded with a company letter stating this was just an error from a company clerk and that the ingredients where actually correct on the health certificate and sent relevant paperwork to back this up THESE WERE FALSE DOCUMENTS supplied by the fish food supplier.
FOURTH MISTAKE: All tied back to previous mistakes - the documentation could have been verified before shipment of the goods to ensure that once it arrived in port that everything would go smoothly.
The port health authority then ordered an examination of samples of the food from their testing labs, this took 12 days for these results to come back all the time this is going on i am having to pay £40 (about $61.61USD) per day storage for the container in the port.
The port health authority then found that the fish food supplier had NOT complied with the actual health certificate conditions that all the packs of fish food should bear a label stating "not fit for human consumption" on them.
The port health authority then issued a 2nd notice of rejection into the UK order on the container,,,there were now only two options available: 1) to re-export the container outside an EU country or 2) have the food destroyed by port health authority at my expense (i don't know the cost of this as yet).
The fish food supplier was contacted yet again to see what they were going to do about this problem due to there list of errors in the export/import of these goods, their answer was it was not there fault and for me to try harder to get the container allowed into the UK.
I then spent the last few days contacting various bodies to try and find help, including lawyers, the lawyers contacted the fish food supplier to point out that this shipment was not allowed into the UK purely due to the errors made by the fish food supplier.
There reply to the lawyer was, as you are a lawyer we will not reply to any of your emails regarding this matter.
I spoke to my lawyer this morning and he said it would cost around £17,000 ($26,185USD) to fight this case in china under Chinese law and even though i would very possibly win the case it would be very unlikely i would ever get my money back from the fish food supplier and was not really worth the risk of running up a large legal bill to not get anything at the end of it all.
So I made the decision this morning to have the food destroyed by the port health authority.
End of Email -
My further comments:
I was curious after reading the above email and did a google search on the fish food supplier company. The very first google search result showed them listed as a "Gold Supplier" or Trust Pass member in Alibaba.
Now again, don't get me wrong, Alibaba's trust pass system members are the ONLY sources that are worth following up with because they have paid to have a background check done on them to become a gold supplier/trust pass member.
However, simply because it has been verified that a company is "registered" in some way with the government and and address verifies does not mean they are competent at exporting their products and most of all it does not mean they have ANY knowledge of the import requirements for your home country or region.
Literally, you should NEVER TRUST that a supplier can deliver what they claim to be able to deliver without first making them prove they are capable of doing so.
A couple of other flags flew up for me when I looked at their profile in Alibaba:
Their Total Annual Sales Volume was stated as being US$2.5 Million - US$5 Million while their Total Annual Purchase Volume was stated as being US$5 Million - US$10 Million.
This does not make sense? Or is it just my math?? They have a purchase volume twice as much as their sales volume?? That cannot be sustained but most likely it was just a figure they posted to the profile because the next bit of information shows their Registered Capital as being: RMB 1,000,000 which according to my currency calculator is about $147,000USD? Not very much for a company supposedly purchasing $5 million to $10 million a year - again, if you ask me.
Next you have the Date of Issue of their business registration: 2009-09-30 which means they were only about 6-9 months old when this importer began negotiating with them. Nothing wrong with trying to work with a new exporter, however, it would tend to negate the statement they made regarding their experience in dealing with EU countries: "they were experienced exporters to Europe and had done this many times before".
I tend to doubt they had or have done much exporting to other countries at all.
Last, the profile states: "All legal business licenses and contact persons are verified for those who have been A&V Checked. Suppliers must be A&V Checked before becoming a Gold Supplier." This is again the level of verification, not a condemnation of the trust pass system, but it simply provides you with a "somewhat" better level of company in knowing they are registered with the government and have proven it, however, as stated before, you have still got a lot to do in the arena of "DUE DILIGENCE" before committing ANY funds, even if only 1/3 of the contract upfront.
Personally, I feel the pain of the importer who sent me the above email. Losing money is never easy, whether it is a few dollars or £18,000 ($27,725USD) and in reality it will be much more because he has storage fees and the fee he has to pay the port health authority to destroy the fish food.
Whether you are importing or exporting, if all the i's are not dotted and the t's are not crossed to "YOUR" satisfaction, it is far better to quit now and find another supplier if you are an importer or potential buyer if you exporter. You CANNOT rely on TRUST in international trade, YOU MUST make the seller or buyer PROVE to you they are legitimate and are capable of doing their part of the transaction.
If you fear pissing them off, too bad, there are other suppliers and other buyers. This is business and don't let personal feelings ever make you vulnerable to letting your guard down. CONTROL the deal or the deal could end up costing you dearly.
Ron Coble
International Trade Help Center
I have changed the name of the company to "the fish food supplier" because this blog is meant to be educational and not a means of filing a complaint against any particular company (that can easily be found on other sites throughout the Internet).
The post is about 98% as I received it in an email, the only changes were the date formats, adding of US Dollar amount so it would be easier to see the British pound value to the dollar value and some of the British spelling to US English spelling. My comments in the body of the email have been coded in BLUE.
Additionally, I have placed some notes throughout the post and at the end of the post that will hopefully serve to help other International traders from encountering a similar fate.
Beginning of Email:
Hello and BEWARE!!,
This Fish Food Supply company has just cost me £18,000 ($27,725USD)!!
I began searching for a fish food supplier and came across the company (we will refer to them as fish food supplier), I enquired about there products and there export to the EU, they said they were experienced exporters to Europe and had done this many times before.
FIRST MISTAKE: Never take a company or their representatives word. It means nothing. DUE DILIGENCE - MAKE THEM provide you with at least 3-5 customer references in your country or region in this case for the EU. MAKE THEM DO SO OR DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM. IF they cry, complain or continue on the "trust us" we know what we are doing path, simply walk away because they do not.
After about a month of communication with this company an order was placed and paid for (** SEE BELOW REMARKS **) and was due for arrival in the UK around the 6/15/2010 this date however the date got moved forward to the 8/15/2010 by fish food supplier, I was not to pleased about this as there was also a lot of koi carp food in the shipment and the koi season would be drawing to an end by the time I received it.
SECOND MISTAKE: Paying the full amount in advance. You now have NO CONTROL over the process or making them meet YOUR deadlines. If anything, pay 50% with the other 50% due upon shipment on the date YOU SPECIFY.
There were also a number of errors in the paperwork from the fish food supplier when my customs clearance agent received it ahead of the shipment arriving, these errors absorbed most of my customs clearance agents and my time for around 10 days to rectify these errors with port health authority.
THIRD MISTAKE: This ties in with mistake two - DO NOT PROVIDE 100% payment until everything is the way YOU NEED it - request copies of the documentation prior to shipment BEFORE you pay the remaining 50% and make sure those documents will pass the customs clearance.
The food arrived in the UK on the 8/14/2010 this was cleared by customs and was just waiting for the completion of a CVED form from the port health authority, this time the errors from the fish food supplier were out of our control. The fish food supplier had not included all the food ingredients in the health certificate, when my customs man contacted the fish food supplier about this they responded with a company letter stating this was just an error from a company clerk and that the ingredients where actually correct on the health certificate and sent relevant paperwork to back this up THESE WERE FALSE DOCUMENTS supplied by the fish food supplier.
FOURTH MISTAKE: All tied back to previous mistakes - the documentation could have been verified before shipment of the goods to ensure that once it arrived in port that everything would go smoothly.
The port health authority then ordered an examination of samples of the food from their testing labs, this took 12 days for these results to come back all the time this is going on i am having to pay £40 (about $61.61USD) per day storage for the container in the port.
The port health authority then found that the fish food supplier had NOT complied with the actual health certificate conditions that all the packs of fish food should bear a label stating "not fit for human consumption" on them.
The port health authority then issued a 2nd notice of rejection into the UK order on the container,,,there were now only two options available: 1) to re-export the container outside an EU country or 2) have the food destroyed by port health authority at my expense (i don't know the cost of this as yet).
The fish food supplier was contacted yet again to see what they were going to do about this problem due to there list of errors in the export/import of these goods, their answer was it was not there fault and for me to try harder to get the container allowed into the UK.
I then spent the last few days contacting various bodies to try and find help, including lawyers, the lawyers contacted the fish food supplier to point out that this shipment was not allowed into the UK purely due to the errors made by the fish food supplier.
There reply to the lawyer was, as you are a lawyer we will not reply to any of your emails regarding this matter.
I spoke to my lawyer this morning and he said it would cost around £17,000 ($26,185USD) to fight this case in china under Chinese law and even though i would very possibly win the case it would be very unlikely i would ever get my money back from the fish food supplier and was not really worth the risk of running up a large legal bill to not get anything at the end of it all.
So I made the decision this morning to have the food destroyed by the port health authority.
End of Email -
My further comments:
I was curious after reading the above email and did a google search on the fish food supplier company. The very first google search result showed them listed as a "Gold Supplier" or Trust Pass member in Alibaba.
Now again, don't get me wrong, Alibaba's trust pass system members are the ONLY sources that are worth following up with because they have paid to have a background check done on them to become a gold supplier/trust pass member.
However, simply because it has been verified that a company is "registered" in some way with the government and and address verifies does not mean they are competent at exporting their products and most of all it does not mean they have ANY knowledge of the import requirements for your home country or region.
Literally, you should NEVER TRUST that a supplier can deliver what they claim to be able to deliver without first making them prove they are capable of doing so.
A couple of other flags flew up for me when I looked at their profile in Alibaba:
Their Total Annual Sales Volume was stated as being US$2.5 Million - US$5 Million while their Total Annual Purchase Volume was stated as being US$5 Million - US$10 Million.
This does not make sense? Or is it just my math?? They have a purchase volume twice as much as their sales volume?? That cannot be sustained but most likely it was just a figure they posted to the profile because the next bit of information shows their Registered Capital as being: RMB 1,000,000 which according to my currency calculator is about $147,000USD? Not very much for a company supposedly purchasing $5 million to $10 million a year - again, if you ask me.
Next you have the Date of Issue of their business registration: 2009-09-30 which means they were only about 6-9 months old when this importer began negotiating with them. Nothing wrong with trying to work with a new exporter, however, it would tend to negate the statement they made regarding their experience in dealing with EU countries: "they were experienced exporters to Europe and had done this many times before".
I tend to doubt they had or have done much exporting to other countries at all.
Last, the profile states: "All legal business licenses and contact persons are verified for those who have been A&V Checked. Suppliers must be A&V Checked before becoming a Gold Supplier." This is again the level of verification, not a condemnation of the trust pass system, but it simply provides you with a "somewhat" better level of company in knowing they are registered with the government and have proven it, however, as stated before, you have still got a lot to do in the arena of "DUE DILIGENCE" before committing ANY funds, even if only 1/3 of the contract upfront.
Personally, I feel the pain of the importer who sent me the above email. Losing money is never easy, whether it is a few dollars or £18,000 ($27,725USD) and in reality it will be much more because he has storage fees and the fee he has to pay the port health authority to destroy the fish food.
Whether you are importing or exporting, if all the i's are not dotted and the t's are not crossed to "YOUR" satisfaction, it is far better to quit now and find another supplier if you are an importer or potential buyer if you exporter. You CANNOT rely on TRUST in international trade, YOU MUST make the seller or buyer PROVE to you they are legitimate and are capable of doing their part of the transaction.
If you fear pissing them off, too bad, there are other suppliers and other buyers. This is business and don't let personal feelings ever make you vulnerable to letting your guard down. CONTROL the deal or the deal could end up costing you dearly.
Ron Coble
International Trade Help Center
Open Letter To Import Export Business Entrepreneurs
This blog contains some of the MOST VALUABLE REAL WORLD experience regarding International Trade and Ecommerce that you will find anywhere and best of all, it is FREE.
You have been directed to this post as a means of helping you make the most informed decision possible about your interest in starting an Export and/or Import business.
Quite frankly, if you will not spend hours and maybe days reading through the posts in this blog, especially ALL of the Questions and Answer posts, you really are not ready to be in business for yourself, especially international trade.
And, if bluntness offends you, you should leave now.
Over the past 4 1/2 years most or at least many of the questions I have received by email or by phone over the past 22 years in this business. My answers to those questions are posted here because it became apparent that many (or most) of these questions were the same, only from different people.
In recent months some changes have come about in our business, website and my health. Assessing these changes, I have decided to put more emphasis on the RETIRED side of the term I normally use of "SEMI-RETIRED" when describing my level of doing business.
In doing so, I also decided that if a person called or emailed questions that I would first refer them to this blog to read everything that has been posted here since most of those questions were answered in the archived posts.
Then if they are unable to find the answer to their specific question, they may come back and ask it, BUT TOO BE VERY BLUNT here, I do not intend to provide you a summary of the import or export course by phone or email when details of the course have been outlined "very" extensively on our web pages.
Also, I am NOT here to provide free coaching, mentoring or consulting - that is why we offer the course and the main courses have a ONE YEAR EMAIL consulting services for any questions that may not be answered within the course.
Before writing this post I tried to think of an analogy for the reason most people never succeed in "any" type of business and I think one came to me.
Let's say you decided to build an addition onto your house and you purchased all of the necessary plans, materials and tools to do so.
If all those plans, materials and tools are still sitting there or the addition is only 1/2 finished after one year, are the plans, tools or materials the reason it was not finished? OR, heaven forbid, would the fault be with the fact the person who had every intention of finishing this addition in 3 months, then 6 months, then 9 and 12, simply was not motivated enough to start or finish it?
If you follow my advice and read the posts within this blog, you may do so by using the links to the archives that are located on the right sidebar area linked to by Month and Year.
Ultimately, if you decide to get the international trade course offered on our website or do not, you will hopefully benefit from the REAL WORLD experience I have put into my answers to the many questions received over the past 22 years.
I will continue to post on this blog as there are still more questions and answers in my files, but again, I am entering a more RETIRED mode of my semi-retired mode of operation.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post and I hope you will find the rest of the blog helpful.
UPDATE (24 October 2010): I realized that the Month/Year Arhive links were not showing up on this page, so just go to the MAIN page of the blog either by clicking here --> http://importexportbusiness.blogspot.com or by clicking on the header title of Import Export Business at the top of the page - the Arhived Posts are then found on the right side by Month and Year.
Regards,
Ron Coble
Owner - Coble International Marketing Services
http://www.importexporthelp.com
You have been directed to this post as a means of helping you make the most informed decision possible about your interest in starting an Export and/or Import business.
Quite frankly, if you will not spend hours and maybe days reading through the posts in this blog, especially ALL of the Questions and Answer posts, you really are not ready to be in business for yourself, especially international trade.
And, if bluntness offends you, you should leave now.
Over the past 4 1/2 years most or at least many of the questions I have received by email or by phone over the past 22 years in this business. My answers to those questions are posted here because it became apparent that many (or most) of these questions were the same, only from different people.
In recent months some changes have come about in our business, website and my health. Assessing these changes, I have decided to put more emphasis on the RETIRED side of the term I normally use of "SEMI-RETIRED" when describing my level of doing business.
In doing so, I also decided that if a person called or emailed questions that I would first refer them to this blog to read everything that has been posted here since most of those questions were answered in the archived posts.
Then if they are unable to find the answer to their specific question, they may come back and ask it, BUT TOO BE VERY BLUNT here, I do not intend to provide you a summary of the import or export course by phone or email when details of the course have been outlined "very" extensively on our web pages.
Also, I am NOT here to provide free coaching, mentoring or consulting - that is why we offer the course and the main courses have a ONE YEAR EMAIL consulting services for any questions that may not be answered within the course.
Before writing this post I tried to think of an analogy for the reason most people never succeed in "any" type of business and I think one came to me.
Let's say you decided to build an addition onto your house and you purchased all of the necessary plans, materials and tools to do so.
If all those plans, materials and tools are still sitting there or the addition is only 1/2 finished after one year, are the plans, tools or materials the reason it was not finished? OR, heaven forbid, would the fault be with the fact the person who had every intention of finishing this addition in 3 months, then 6 months, then 9 and 12, simply was not motivated enough to start or finish it?
If you follow my advice and read the posts within this blog, you may do so by using the links to the archives that are located on the right sidebar area linked to by Month and Year.
Ultimately, if you decide to get the international trade course offered on our website or do not, you will hopefully benefit from the REAL WORLD experience I have put into my answers to the many questions received over the past 22 years.
I will continue to post on this blog as there are still more questions and answers in my files, but again, I am entering a more RETIRED mode of my semi-retired mode of operation.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post and I hope you will find the rest of the blog helpful.
UPDATE (24 October 2010): I realized that the Month/Year Arhive links were not showing up on this page, so just go to the MAIN page of the blog either by clicking here --> http://importexportbusiness.blogspot.com or by clicking on the header title of Import Export Business at the top of the page - the Arhived Posts are then found on the right side by Month and Year.
Regards,
Ron Coble
Owner - Coble International Marketing Services
http://www.importexporthelp.com
Another Import Export Business Question And Answer
QUESTION:
Hello Ron,
Thanks for the speedy response. I was referring to both actually.
I am seriously considering ordering the "Export Master Package". I am more interested in brokering the deal between buyer and seller. However, my major concern was would I be able to do it from Japan ( I will be leaving in a month). Are there any special obstacle I should be concerned with, like telephone bills, foreign address(Japan), bank accounts? Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Marty
ANSWER:
Marty,
I am of the belief that if you really want to do something in life, you will find a way of getting around the perceived obstacles.
There may be better answers out there than I have for your questions and I do not
know what your situation is, are you in the military, do you still have relatives here in the states.
Basically, for foreign phone you can get a vonage or skype account. In my bonus
materials I reveal a service that I use for my fax messages that only costs $24.95
a year after the first year of $34.95 (a 10 set up fee). Faxes come in, are translated to a PDF document and are emailed to me, I can view on screen, if needed, I can print out, if not, I can file or delete - no waste of paper or $450 a year phone line.
Foreign address - if you have a relative willing to handle your mail and forward
what is necessary (mail is used so little now) with the internet and email and fax.
Bank accounts, if you are a US citizen, I doubt you are giving up your citizenship??
Open of two bank accounts for your business before you leave, look for NO Fee
accounts - have one as your main business account with checking and the other
a small or no balance required checking account for receiving wire transfers.
Where there is a WILL there is a WAY.
I would suggest ordering the exporter master package asap as it will take 3-5 days
to ship to you - our publisher is shut down until Monday, 15 June, will begin shipping again on Tuesday 16 June - they only ship on Tuesdays and Fridays - if you wait until you are in Japan, there is an additional $25 fee for shipping.
Hope the above has answered your questions and dispelled some of the
perceived obstacles.
Irregardless of what you decide, I wish you the best.
Kindest regards,
Ron Coble
Coble International - International Marketing Services
http://www.ImportExportHelp.com
Phone: 717-292-5763
Hello Ron,
Thanks for the speedy response. I was referring to both actually.
I am seriously considering ordering the "Export Master Package". I am more interested in brokering the deal between buyer and seller. However, my major concern was would I be able to do it from Japan ( I will be leaving in a month). Are there any special obstacle I should be concerned with, like telephone bills, foreign address(Japan), bank accounts? Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Marty
ANSWER:
Marty,
I am of the belief that if you really want to do something in life, you will find a way of getting around the perceived obstacles.
There may be better answers out there than I have for your questions and I do not
know what your situation is, are you in the military, do you still have relatives here in the states.
Basically, for foreign phone you can get a vonage or skype account. In my bonus
materials I reveal a service that I use for my fax messages that only costs $24.95
a year after the first year of $34.95 (a 10 set up fee). Faxes come in, are translated to a PDF document and are emailed to me, I can view on screen, if needed, I can print out, if not, I can file or delete - no waste of paper or $450 a year phone line.
Foreign address - if you have a relative willing to handle your mail and forward
what is necessary (mail is used so little now) with the internet and email and fax.
Bank accounts, if you are a US citizen, I doubt you are giving up your citizenship??
Open of two bank accounts for your business before you leave, look for NO Fee
accounts - have one as your main business account with checking and the other
a small or no balance required checking account for receiving wire transfers.
Where there is a WILL there is a WAY.
I would suggest ordering the exporter master package asap as it will take 3-5 days
to ship to you - our publisher is shut down until Monday, 15 June, will begin shipping again on Tuesday 16 June - they only ship on Tuesdays and Fridays - if you wait until you are in Japan, there is an additional $25 fee for shipping.
Hope the above has answered your questions and dispelled some of the
perceived obstacles.
Irregardless of what you decide, I wish you the best.
Kindest regards,
Ron Coble
Coble International - International Marketing Services
http://www.ImportExportHelp.com
Phone: 717-292-5763
Motivation To Succeed In The Import Export Business
Most of this post is attributed to my old business friend and associate,
Jim Straw, who has over 50 years of success in various businesses and
is considered one of the top marketing gurus who continues to operate
his business while well into his 80's.
This came to me as part of an email and I thought it appropriate to
post here since motivation or "coaching" is a key factor in the decision
of which Import Export Business training course people select.
Jim's post begins here.....
Here lately, I've been reading a lot about *How to Motivate Your Sales
Team* in the multitude of ezines I receive.
As always, the ideas ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime.
To be quite frank with you, I have never tried to "motivate" any of
my sales people (dealers, associates, affiliates, whatever). I always figured
that those individuals who were "real" would take the bull by the horns
and make the sales to make the money, because ...
In the words of Andrew Carnegie:
"There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not
help themselves. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless
he be willing to climb himself."
Beyond that, as Frank Tibolt said:
"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a
thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom
generates action."
Rather than wasting my time trying to "motivate" people, I have always
spent my time supporting the efforts of those who were doing something.
So ... please don't wait for me to start
"motivating" you. -- It won't happen. -- But ...
As always, I am here to answer any questions.
Don't be bashful. -- Anytime you have any kind of question, just ASK!
I may not tell you what you want to hear ... like the b.s. artists do
... but, I will tell you the facts of the matter as I know them to be from
my over 50 years hands-on experience in the business community. -- That's
what I'm here for. -- Your success is just as important to me as it is
to you because, when YOU succeed, I succeed, too.
Feel free to pick my brain.
And, remember what Charles Steinmetz said:
"No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions."
I ain't from the government, but I am here to help you.
.....end of Jim Straw's email.
My (Ron Coble's) further comments.......
Although our Importing course and Exporting course and the combo
Import Export Toolkit course offer email consulting for ONE FULL YEAR
that allows you to ask any question you want in that time, many people
opt to pay THOUSANDS of dollars more for the promise of being able
to TALK to someone by phone.
Whether it is an inherent need to have someone "coaching" them or
"motivating" them, they are spending thousands of dollars and untold
hours of precious time on a promise that I have yet to have anyone
tell me helps them reach ANY success in this business.
As Jim mentions in his email text above, the Email consulting that is
offered with our courses will provide you with answers....although they
may not be the answers you are seeking.
For instance, if you submit a question that we know is covered in the
body of the course, then you will receive an answer referencing that
portion so "YOU" may read that section and learn and make your
own decisions accordingly.
Other answers you may not like are when you are so enthusiastic about
a deal offered to you but the answer comes back to stay away from it.
We are not deal killers but if you ask about something that we have
prior knowledge of, that is the answer you will get, we are not going to
tailor our answers to meet your hoped for expectations. Reality is
what it is and sometimes it sucks!
Additionally, you cannot expect someone else to learn ALL the aspects
of a particular deal you are trying to put together so much so that you
are really seeking a confirmation of your decision to move forward or
not. There is NO profit incentive for us to get involved in your deals and
quite frankly we have NO interest in becoming silent partners with
everyone who purchases our "HOW TO" course.
I covered this in a previous post about making "DECISIONS". Making
decisions is what separates the successes from the failures and having
some minimum wage or commission paid rep on the other end of the
phone giving their totally unqualified "OPINION" is a sure recipe for
FAILURE.
It was interesting that I received Jim Straw's email today because I had
been thinking about how MOST people are simply not cut out to get
involved in international trade. They view the business as a "get rich
quick" scheme or "how do I make money" opportunity and it simply is
not suited for that type of mentality, although most purveyors of import
export training would have you believe otherwise.
Hope this post will enlighten those who really have an interest in getting
started in the Import and/or Export business and also help save those
who are in need of constant motivation or who are looking at import
export as a "money making opportunity" from spending their hard earned
money on some useless program that promises to hold their hand while
skipping down the yellow brick road to riches.
Jim Straw, who has over 50 years of success in various businesses and
is considered one of the top marketing gurus who continues to operate
his business while well into his 80's.
This came to me as part of an email and I thought it appropriate to
post here since motivation or "coaching" is a key factor in the decision
of which Import Export Business training course people select.
Jim's post begins here.....
Here lately, I've been reading a lot about *How to Motivate Your Sales
Team* in the multitude of ezines I receive.
As always, the ideas ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime.
To be quite frank with you, I have never tried to "motivate" any of
my sales people (dealers, associates, affiliates, whatever). I always figured
that those individuals who were "real" would take the bull by the horns
and make the sales to make the money, because ...
In the words of Andrew Carnegie:
"There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not
help themselves. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless
he be willing to climb himself."
Beyond that, as Frank Tibolt said:
"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a
thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom
generates action."
Rather than wasting my time trying to "motivate" people, I have always
spent my time supporting the efforts of those who were doing something.
So ... please don't wait for me to start
"motivating" you. -- It won't happen. -- But ...
As always, I am here to answer any questions.
Don't be bashful. -- Anytime you have any kind of question, just ASK!
I may not tell you what you want to hear ... like the b.s. artists do
... but, I will tell you the facts of the matter as I know them to be from
my over 50 years hands-on experience in the business community. -- That's
what I'm here for. -- Your success is just as important to me as it is
to you because, when YOU succeed, I succeed, too.
Feel free to pick my brain.
And, remember what Charles Steinmetz said:
"No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions."
I ain't from the government, but I am here to help you.
.....end of Jim Straw's email.
My (Ron Coble's) further comments.......
Although our Importing course and Exporting course and the combo
Import Export Toolkit course offer email consulting for ONE FULL YEAR
that allows you to ask any question you want in that time, many people
opt to pay THOUSANDS of dollars more for the promise of being able
to TALK to someone by phone.
Whether it is an inherent need to have someone "coaching" them or
"motivating" them, they are spending thousands of dollars and untold
hours of precious time on a promise that I have yet to have anyone
tell me helps them reach ANY success in this business.
As Jim mentions in his email text above, the Email consulting that is
offered with our courses will provide you with answers....although they
may not be the answers you are seeking.
For instance, if you submit a question that we know is covered in the
body of the course, then you will receive an answer referencing that
portion so "YOU" may read that section and learn and make your
own decisions accordingly.
Other answers you may not like are when you are so enthusiastic about
a deal offered to you but the answer comes back to stay away from it.
We are not deal killers but if you ask about something that we have
prior knowledge of, that is the answer you will get, we are not going to
tailor our answers to meet your hoped for expectations. Reality is
what it is and sometimes it sucks!
Additionally, you cannot expect someone else to learn ALL the aspects
of a particular deal you are trying to put together so much so that you
are really seeking a confirmation of your decision to move forward or
not. There is NO profit incentive for us to get involved in your deals and
quite frankly we have NO interest in becoming silent partners with
everyone who purchases our "HOW TO" course.
I covered this in a previous post about making "DECISIONS". Making
decisions is what separates the successes from the failures and having
some minimum wage or commission paid rep on the other end of the
phone giving their totally unqualified "OPINION" is a sure recipe for
FAILURE.
It was interesting that I received Jim Straw's email today because I had
been thinking about how MOST people are simply not cut out to get
involved in international trade. They view the business as a "get rich
quick" scheme or "how do I make money" opportunity and it simply is
not suited for that type of mentality, although most purveyors of import
export training would have you believe otherwise.
Hope this post will enlighten those who really have an interest in getting
started in the Import and/or Export business and also help save those
who are in need of constant motivation or who are looking at import
export as a "money making opportunity" from spending their hard earned
money on some useless program that promises to hold their hand while
skipping down the yellow brick road to riches.
International Small Business Resources
Many people who visit our blog or website often overlook a
very valuable web page titled Small Business Resources.
I am bringing it to your attention in this post for two
reasons.
1. There are MANY No Cost and Very Valuable resources for
all size businesses available on this page and you should
really check it out and bookmark it for later reference.
2. About one year ago a long time business friend and
online publisher asked that I compile all of my suggestions
and resources together to help you from getting ripped
off either online or offline.
I compiled and he helped me publish 3 PDF reports on this
subject.
These 3 new resources were recently posted to our Small
Business Resources webpage. These 3 reports contain valuable
information to help you avoid getting ripped off whether in
an import export transaction or through your website.
The resources and experiences related in the 3 PDF reports
can be very valuable to learn, keep on hand and refer to if
you are not sure about doing business or accepting business
from anyone anywhere in the world.
The reports are FREE and that means you may download them
and keep them for future reference. Here are the titles:
International Ecommerce Do's and Don'ts
- Keeping Your International Ecommerce Wealth Safe From Fraudsters
International Product Shipping Methods And
Customs Forms
- a short companion report to International Ecommerce Do's and Don'ts
B2B or B2C? - covers some of the reasons whether B2B or
B2C may be better for your business
When you visit our Small Business Resources web page,
scroll down the page to find these resources hi-lited in
Yellow to help you locate them.
If you have never been to this web page, I encourage you to
look around as there are many more resources that are N0
C0ST which may be of interest and prove valuable to your
business.
I hope you will find value in these reports.
Your comments and feedback on the above reports is Welcome!
Ron Coble
very valuable web page titled Small Business Resources.
I am bringing it to your attention in this post for two
reasons.
1. There are MANY No Cost and Very Valuable resources for
all size businesses available on this page and you should
really check it out and bookmark it for later reference.
2. About one year ago a long time business friend and
online publisher asked that I compile all of my suggestions
and resources together to help you from getting ripped
off either online or offline.
I compiled and he helped me publish 3 PDF reports on this
subject.
These 3 new resources were recently posted to our Small
Business Resources webpage. These 3 reports contain valuable
information to help you avoid getting ripped off whether in
an import export transaction or through your website.
The resources and experiences related in the 3 PDF reports
can be very valuable to learn, keep on hand and refer to if
you are not sure about doing business or accepting business
from anyone anywhere in the world.
The reports are FREE and that means you may download them
and keep them for future reference. Here are the titles:
International Ecommerce Do's and Don'ts
- Keeping Your International Ecommerce Wealth Safe From Fraudsters
International Product Shipping Methods And
Customs Forms
- a short companion report to International Ecommerce Do's and Don'ts
B2B or B2C? - covers some of the reasons whether B2B or
B2C may be better for your business
When you visit our Small Business Resources web page,
scroll down the page to find these resources hi-lited in
Yellow to help you locate them.
If you have never been to this web page, I encourage you to
look around as there are many more resources that are N0
C0ST which may be of interest and prove valuable to your
business.
I hope you will find value in these reports.
Your comments and feedback on the above reports is Welcome!
Ron Coble
New Import Export Business Question And Answer
Question: I'm aware that no specific qualificatons are required for an importing/exporting business, but wont certain companies that i maybe want to buy products from request for some kind of reference number or regestration number?
Answer: Based on the phone number you provided, I know you are not resident to
the USA.
There are so many different governmental organizations in the world that
NO ONE source can give you an answer for all of them. YOU will have to
research this in your country to find out if it is required.
In the USA, "some" manufacturers may request your sales tax ID number,
but here again, not all 50 states have a sales tax (yet). I keep hearing from
a Canadian business we deal with about them being a "numbered" corporation.
Some day, when I have time to be curious, I will ask them about it, but
quite frankly as long as they keep sending us our commission checks, I
really do not care, except out of curiosity.
Each country, province, state, county district may have their own requirements,
you have to do that type of research yourself as that is all part of going into
this business or any business.
Kindest regards,
Ron Coble
Coble International - International Marketing Services
http://www.ImportExportHelp.com
Answer: Based on the phone number you provided, I know you are not resident to
the USA.
There are so many different governmental organizations in the world that
NO ONE source can give you an answer for all of them. YOU will have to
research this in your country to find out if it is required.
In the USA, "some" manufacturers may request your sales tax ID number,
but here again, not all 50 states have a sales tax (yet). I keep hearing from
a Canadian business we deal with about them being a "numbered" corporation.
Some day, when I have time to be curious, I will ask them about it, but
quite frankly as long as they keep sending us our commission checks, I
really do not care, except out of curiosity.
Each country, province, state, county district may have their own requirements,
you have to do that type of research yourself as that is all part of going into
this business or any business.
Kindest regards,
Ron Coble
Coble International - International Marketing Services
http://www.ImportExportHelp.com
Import Export Business Answers
Question about Exporting to Jamaica.
message: I have a family member that is living in Jamaica. We are trying to find out the laws of me buying stuff here in the US and shipping them to Jamaica where she can sell out of a store. I just need help finding out if i need a license and if so what type. Are you able to help me with this question? Please let me know.
Answer:
You are asking a question that could have many potential
answers.
Most of the time, there are no licenses required to ship
something from country to country unless it is considered
hazardous like chemicals, weapons, etc..
If you are talking about large, container size shipments, then
you should talk with a freight forwarder to assist you. If you are
talking about boxes that can be shipped via the post office, you
can talk to someone at a reasonably sized post office.
If it is small enough to ship via the post office, it will most likely
be the cheaper way to both ship and get through customs. See
many times there are no restrictions or fees other than shipping
from the country a product ships from but there are fees (customs,
duties, etc) that are due by the buyer upon receipt.
You may also find some information posted at the US Postal web site at www.USPS.com - there is usually a customs form
you have to complete at the Post office showing what is in th e
package and the estimated value (this is how the receiving
country ends up taxing or charging customs).
As an example, we used to sell an automotive product on our
web site and in Canada, they charged about $25 on a $150 valued
item which was about 16 to 17% of the items value.
Fresh food items often require special handling due to bugs,
spoilage, etc..
Hope this will help get you pointed in the right direction.
Ron Coble
International Business Services
message: I have a family member that is living in Jamaica. We are trying to find out the laws of me buying stuff here in the US and shipping them to Jamaica where she can sell out of a store. I just need help finding out if i need a license and if so what type. Are you able to help me with this question? Please let me know.
Answer:
You are asking a question that could have many potential
answers.
Most of the time, there are no licenses required to ship
something from country to country unless it is considered
hazardous like chemicals, weapons, etc..
If you are talking about large, container size shipments, then
you should talk with a freight forwarder to assist you. If you are
talking about boxes that can be shipped via the post office, you
can talk to someone at a reasonably sized post office.
If it is small enough to ship via the post office, it will most likely
be the cheaper way to both ship and get through customs. See
many times there are no restrictions or fees other than shipping
from the country a product ships from but there are fees (customs,
duties, etc) that are due by the buyer upon receipt.
You may also find some information posted at the US Postal web site at www.USPS.com - there is usually a customs form
you have to complete at the Post office showing what is in th e
package and the estimated value (this is how the receiving
country ends up taxing or charging customs).
As an example, we used to sell an automotive product on our
web site and in Canada, they charged about $25 on a $150 valued
item which was about 16 to 17% of the items value.
Fresh food items often require special handling due to bugs,
spoilage, etc..
Hope this will help get you pointed in the right direction.
Ron Coble
International Business Services
International Business Information
Import Export Business Question:
I am interested in the import/export business. I only what to be an agent, at this time. I would like to know if I locate the buyer, where do I get help to close the deal and make a fee for my efforts.
I have been to export/import site's I have a lot of this information from export.gov and us export.gov
This information is helpful but you can have all the information in the world if you don't know the steps to process.. it's no good. I have plenty of contacts; I have done my home work. I was told that the freight and banking information is important and the freight companies part, helps with the paper work.. send me information. I have a lot of the information already, that's where I started!
I am looking for your help to refine the process. as I am more detailed oriented.
What is our first step? etc... I have a list of manufactures etc... I want to do a deal. as an agent 1st then move up the latter. So what ever product I can move as an agent, without the licensing part, (at this time) I'm in. I have a list of buyers also. but we need to know the preliminaries; evaluate opportunities, product , shipping, country, pricing, etc..
Import Export Business Answer:
I understand exactly where you are at - I was there 20 years ago - I
only wish the Import Export Toolkit self study course we offer had
been available then as we make it available now - see details here:
Starting An Import Export Business
The course provides you with the step by step you are seeking - yes,
some of it may be redundant to what you already know, but if you are
seeking step by step, then the toolkit is your best resource.
This person never followed our advice in getting a comprehensive self-study course and about two weeks later emailed us again with the following request:
Follow Up Question:
i have a diamond deal i would like so help on
Our Answer:
Sorry cannot help you on this one except to say, BE VERY CAREFUL.
Most diamond sales are locked up through the big diamond buying companies and
this is very much a closed market just as Oil, Urea, Sugar, Precious Metals, etc..
These type of deals are generally foisted on those who have little or no knowledge of
the import export business but who have a lot of interest in getting rich quickly and easily - sorry, there just is no such thing in this industry or any for that fact.
FOLLOW UP COMMENTS:
The above exchanges illustrate what I call "Blinded By The Hype". This person does not view the import export business as a business, but views it as his lottery ticket where he can make a quick score and sit back drinking margaritas on a beach somewhere for the rest of his life.
Literally, he would be better off buying lottery tickets because he is not serious about going into business and at least when he buys a lottery ticket, he really does have a chance of winning something as opposed to losing everything he owns and maybe more if he follows the yellow brick hype path that he apparently is doing.
Comments, criticisms, suggestions are always welcomed!
Ron Coble
Coble International Marketing Services
http://www.importexporthelp.com/
I am interested in the import/export business. I only what to be an agent, at this time. I would like to know if I locate the buyer, where do I get help to close the deal and make a fee for my efforts.
I have been to export/import site's I have a lot of this information from export.gov and us export.gov
This information is helpful but you can have all the information in the world if you don't know the steps to process.. it's no good. I have plenty of contacts; I have done my home work. I was told that the freight and banking information is important and the freight companies part, helps with the paper work.. send me information. I have a lot of the information already, that's where I started!
I am looking for your help to refine the process. as I am more detailed oriented.
What is our first step? etc... I have a list of manufactures etc... I want to do a deal. as an agent 1st then move up the latter. So what ever product I can move as an agent, without the licensing part, (at this time) I'm in. I have a list of buyers also. but we need to know the preliminaries; evaluate opportunities, product , shipping, country, pricing, etc..
Import Export Business Answer:
I understand exactly where you are at - I was there 20 years ago - I
only wish the Import Export Toolkit self study course we offer had
been available then as we make it available now - see details here:
Starting An Import Export Business
The course provides you with the step by step you are seeking - yes,
some of it may be redundant to what you already know, but if you are
seeking step by step, then the toolkit is your best resource.
This person never followed our advice in getting a comprehensive self-study course and about two weeks later emailed us again with the following request:
Follow Up Question:
i have a diamond deal i would like so help on
Our Answer:
Sorry cannot help you on this one except to say, BE VERY CAREFUL.
Most diamond sales are locked up through the big diamond buying companies and
this is very much a closed market just as Oil, Urea, Sugar, Precious Metals, etc..
These type of deals are generally foisted on those who have little or no knowledge of
the import export business but who have a lot of interest in getting rich quickly and easily - sorry, there just is no such thing in this industry or any for that fact.
FOLLOW UP COMMENTS:
The above exchanges illustrate what I call "Blinded By The Hype". This person does not view the import export business as a business, but views it as his lottery ticket where he can make a quick score and sit back drinking margaritas on a beach somewhere for the rest of his life.
Literally, he would be better off buying lottery tickets because he is not serious about going into business and at least when he buys a lottery ticket, he really does have a chance of winning something as opposed to losing everything he owns and maybe more if he follows the yellow brick hype path that he apparently is doing.
Comments, criticisms, suggestions are always welcomed!
Ron Coble
Coble International Marketing Services
http://www.importexporthelp.com/
100th Post - Import Export Business - Is It Really For You?
Why an international trade business offers import export training courses?
This is the 100th post to this blog - I am baring my soul (so to speak) as to why an international business offers import export training courses - I hope this post will help you make the final decision as to whether import export is for you or isn't and why it is important to make INFORMED decisions, both before, during and after starting your business.
In the learning phase of my own business in the late 1980's, I did not have the HUGE advantage that the Internet offers you. I had to make innumerable visits to the library which was about a 20 mile round trip.
I spent hundreds of hours there researching, reading, copying. I spent hundreds of dollars on training materials that were extremely outdated (that was the 80's and the materials were written in the 60's and 70's). I wasted thousands of dollars on postage sending inquiries to trade leads that were so outdated it was almost enough to make you want to quit.
I visited with international bankers, department of commerce personnel, actual live importers and exporters to gather as much information as I possibly could.
Because of all the expenses of trying to learn this business piece meal, an idea came upon me one day that some people might be interested enough to pay for reports that compiled all this research into a current newsletter and thus the information part of my business was born.
The newsletter drew the attention of a publisher in Washington DC (at the time) who published a newspaper filled with trade leads each month. I agreed to sell his newspaper along with our newsletter after I tested the leads.
The first lead was for Organic Fruit Juice. Although the lead was about 2 months old I called the buyer and he advised me that only one other person had contacted him. He was definitely still interested and asked for quotes.
Off to the library, I researched and found 6 companies that produced it. I contacted 5 and was rejected - they were not interested. The sixth and last was. I had to pay a local machine shop a dollar a page to send and receive each page of a fax (this was 1988 remember).
I faxed an agreement to the producer after we agreed to terms by phone, they signed and faxed the agreement back and I then put the two parties together. Only two sales ever resulted from that deal but I was paid approximately $1,000 for about 3 hours of work/research.
This does not mean you will make that much on your first deal or that little, it is presently purely to document our first export deal.
Our business evolved and about 1993 we were contacted by a publisher of an import and export business course. After having such a bad experience with those I had purchased, I wanted to review it before agreeing to sell it (this was ll by mail order at the time).
I was thoroughly impressed with both the course and with the publisher. Since 1993 we have been offered the chance to market just about every other export/import course there is on the market and after reviewing them, nothing comes remotely close to the vast amount of information presented in such a manner that it is easily understood.
Because of our experience in the industry, our publisher has implemented many of the suggestions that we provided. Many of the questions and answers that were received during these 16 years have been included in the updates made to the course materials which averages about every 2 years.
Quite frankly, the revenue from the sale of these courses only represents about 5% of our total annual revenue and if it were to end tomorrow, it would hurt but it could easily be replaced with other revenue streams.
So why do we continue to offer the courses? Several reasons:
This is the 100th post to this blog - I am baring my soul (so to speak) as to why an international business offers import export training courses - I hope this post will help you make the final decision as to whether import export is for you or isn't and why it is important to make INFORMED decisions, both before, during and after starting your business.
In the learning phase of my own business in the late 1980's, I did not have the HUGE advantage that the Internet offers you. I had to make innumerable visits to the library which was about a 20 mile round trip.
I spent hundreds of hours there researching, reading, copying. I spent hundreds of dollars on training materials that were extremely outdated (that was the 80's and the materials were written in the 60's and 70's). I wasted thousands of dollars on postage sending inquiries to trade leads that were so outdated it was almost enough to make you want to quit.
I visited with international bankers, department of commerce personnel, actual live importers and exporters to gather as much information as I possibly could.
Because of all the expenses of trying to learn this business piece meal, an idea came upon me one day that some people might be interested enough to pay for reports that compiled all this research into a current newsletter and thus the information part of my business was born.
The newsletter drew the attention of a publisher in Washington DC (at the time) who published a newspaper filled with trade leads each month. I agreed to sell his newspaper along with our newsletter after I tested the leads.
The first lead was for Organic Fruit Juice. Although the lead was about 2 months old I called the buyer and he advised me that only one other person had contacted him. He was definitely still interested and asked for quotes.
Off to the library, I researched and found 6 companies that produced it. I contacted 5 and was rejected - they were not interested. The sixth and last was. I had to pay a local machine shop a dollar a page to send and receive each page of a fax (this was 1988 remember).
I faxed an agreement to the producer after we agreed to terms by phone, they signed and faxed the agreement back and I then put the two parties together. Only two sales ever resulted from that deal but I was paid approximately $1,000 for about 3 hours of work/research.
This does not mean you will make that much on your first deal or that little, it is presently purely to document our first export deal.
Our business evolved and about 1993 we were contacted by a publisher of an import and export business course. After having such a bad experience with those I had purchased, I wanted to review it before agreeing to sell it (this was ll by mail order at the time).
I was thoroughly impressed with both the course and with the publisher. Since 1993 we have been offered the chance to market just about every other export/import course there is on the market and after reviewing them, nothing comes remotely close to the vast amount of information presented in such a manner that it is easily understood.
Because of our experience in the industry, our publisher has implemented many of the suggestions that we provided. Many of the questions and answers that were received during these 16 years have been included in the updates made to the course materials which averages about every 2 years.
Quite frankly, the revenue from the sale of these courses only represents about 5% of our total annual revenue and if it were to end tomorrow, it would hurt but it could easily be replaced with other revenue streams.
So why do we continue to offer the courses? Several reasons:
- There are many people out there who are like I was 21 years ago - people who have a sincere interest in the international trade business but do not know how to go about getting it in a manner that is easy to understand and not go broke or spend hundreds of hours like I did.
- There has been a proliferation of offerings that are out there with the advent of the Internet - some ranging from as little as $10 to others ranging $8,000 or more and I know in my heart that the courses we offer are the BEST based on my personal review and 21 years experience.
- Many of the people described above will end up calling or emailing me and rather than taking trying to explain the same processes over and over and over, they have a comprehensive course that is not only training but a resource library for the entire term of their business.
- There has to be training available that is not too complicated like many courses are that will discourage you before you ever take the first step and a course that is not so outlandish in price that you have to take a 2nd mortgage (if you can get one) for the promises of some boiler room operator/trainer who has absolutely no real life experience in this business and in my 21+ years of experience I have yet to find any course that is better - if I did, it would be posted to our web site tomorrow.
The Import Export Business is just that - A business! It is NOT an OPPORTUNITY that will magically transform you into a super worldwide success. This is a REAL business that without the serious application of WORK by YOU will not provide you with anything by and of itself!
This business is NOT for everyone (bet the boiler room operators whose weekly commission check depend solely upon selling you their $8000 plus 'program' will never tell you that)!
Here is a list of people who will have a problem succeeding in this business:
- Those who cannot write a sentence or paragraph in basic English (sorry but English is the main language of international trade).
- Those who will not pick up the phone and call someone and be able to speak English well enough that the other party can understand them - if the truth offends you, then I have save you from a lot of wasted money and time.
- Those who need a coach or camp counselor who they can call and cry on their shoulders when they cannot get a buyer or seller to talk with them - when in reality the camp counselor/coaches by the $8000+ programs are nothing more than boiler room operators with the same printed material in front of them as you have in front of you - this is all part of business - the buyer or sellers in the world are not waiting for you with baited breath so you can tell them about the "certificate" you now possess as if that really means anything in this industry.
- Those who are unable to make a decision for themselves even after they have been provided with all the details and processes that are necessary for them to make an informed decision - they are not ready to be in business for themselves, they need a job where they have a boss who will tell them what to do for 8 hours.
- Those who think an exorbitant price somehow translates into something being better - they think well if it costs that much, it must be good, right?
- Those who are too lazy to perform due diligence (read our company page for instructions) - if you are going to invest $8,000+ in the belief a company is what they say they are, spend a couple of hundred and fly out to their location, see their "warehouses" (I find it amusing that some people expend more time checking us out for an investment in a course that is less than 5% of the $8K+ program)
- Those who, even after they perform 'in-depth' due diligence, still foolishly throw their $8K+ at a dream that is sold to them by a commissioned salesman/woman with absolutely no experience in the industry.
I wish everyone who purchases a course from us would be an incredible success, but the sad fact is probably less than 5% ever follow through and take the first step of action necessary to achieve any success.
If you think the $8K+ programs offer you a better chance, give me a call during normal business hours at 717-292-5763 - if I am in the office I will gladly tell you how to do a very simple google search to find the thousands of now inactive web sites that others who have taken the $8K+ path have followed. I just did this search today and quite frankly I was amazed at how many there are but before you call me - DO YOUR OWN DUE DILIGENCE and if you are really cut out to be in business for yourself, you will not need to bother calling me because you will have already made the right decision.
The courses we offer will provide you with everything, step-by-step instructions on how to succeed in both importing and exporting - the success factor is what looks you in the mirror each morning.
If any of the above has offended you, well let's say in this area of Pennsylvania, we have an old saying the goes "if the shoe fits, wear it!" If it took this as a slap up along the side of you head and you are offended and you forget about this business all together, then I have accomplished my goal as you simply are not ready for this business.
If however, you are the type of person who says, great, finally someone who tells it like it is, no bull shit, someone who not only talks the talk but who has walked the walk, well then you are ready for our course and for being in business for yourself (as long as you can handle the oral and written communications).
Bottom line, we offer the courses we do because our experience tells us that they are the best - we could earn 10 times what we do if we opted to sell the $8K+ program (and believe me they would love to get exposure to our 53,000 monthly visitors) but quite frankly, I would rather lose that 5% of income and not replace it with anything if their program was the only choice available. That would free up more time for me to spend with our rapidly growing grand child.
That is it for my 100th post to this blog - I hope you have found it to be both helpful and enlightening, comments, criticisms are "always" welcome (you do have to register with blogger.com to comment, however).
Thanks for visiting and taking the time to read what I hope is one of, if not the most, thought provoking post since we began this blog.
Ron Coble
International Business
International business conjours up dreams of wealth and glory for may people in every part of the world and for good reason.
International business more often involves the B2B arena rather than B2C (business to consumer) and a business to business sales often involve huge numbers of products rather than single items sales.
Many would be international business entrepreneurs read about how a company became a multi-million dollar one overnight because of one international sale or an individual who earned huge commissions by closing a global sale for their company.
International business is all of the above and more, but what most of the 'hype-masters' do not tell you is that there is a great deal of work that requires patience, persistence and decision making.
I talk with would-be international business entrepreneurs every single day and the most common trait I encounter is their inability to make a relatively easy decision, even when the facts are clearing staring at them.
There comes a time when you either realize you are a decision maker or you realize that you should just keep going to your job every day, punching your employer's time clock and have someone who gets paid more than you, make your decisions for you.
The people I believe who have the most chance for success in this business are those who make the decision to get an import or export training course, either place the order online or call to place their order.
These sort of people are "decision makers" who are able to make a decision based on their own ability to read and understand the information that has been presented to them. This is the kind of decision making ability you need to succeed in international business.
It amuses me much of the time how people will call to get my advice which they must value or they would not call, right? Then when they are given the advice they so cherish, they never act upon it??
I actually had a lady call me recently from Canada - she wanted to get into the Import Export business but she wanted someone else to set everything up for her, get the business going and allow her to step in and take it over????????
I asked her, point blank, why would someone want to start a business, get it up and running and simply turn it over to you for a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars? She was a well educated lady, a teacher I believe, but she was living in her own little dream world.
Another amusement for me is when someone is really indecisive when on the phone or continues to ask questions in repeated emails information that is covered on our web site or in this blog. Some of these people are genuinely in bad financial situations and cannot afford (or so they state) the $160, $316 or $424 price for our international business courses.
My suggestion to them? If you have NO business experience at all, then get some by starting to sell items on EBay. By selling items on EBay, they can open their auctions up to the world bidders and they will soon be experiencing every aspect of doing international business.
They will be dealing with customer service, international shipping, language barriers, fraud, profits, accounting, literally every aspect of doing business but on a smaller scale that allows them to learn.
Most never take the advice they sought and simply continue to have dreams of international business grandeur that will somehow fall into their life without the need to make any decisions, do any work or expend any funds (almost sounds like some of our political candidate promises).
We get the "don't want to spend any money" international wanna bees from other parts of the world as well. They will send an email asking (sometimes telling, believe it or not) us to give them free importer listings.
I generally send them a reply that points them to a trade directory they can purchase, never to hear from them again. I soon will be testing a new tactic, again for my amusement - I will ask them to send me the value of what they are asking for in the form of products they are selling but in equal value to the trade directory they seek.
Think that will go over well?
It is kind of funny isn't it? These folks are seeking something they believe to have value to them and their business but not enough value to pay for it, when in reality one sale to one lead in a directory would more than pay for that directory?? What is wrong with this picture???
Is this what can be defined as a "dichotomy"?
I get phone calls all the time from people who have gotten themselves into some dire straits in import export deals. When I hear what type of situation they have created for themselves, I ask if they took any type of international business course.
They generally answer NO or well I read a book or two on the subject but that is not why I am calling you. I want you to wave your magic import export wand and help me fix what I was too cheap to learn how or why it would get them into trouble.
One guy had 5 container loads of food sitting on the dock and was paying storage fees that had already equaled the cost of the goods. He "thought" he was too smart and did not need anything more than the $29.95 book he had read about international business fortunes.
He had not gotten the approval he needed to bring food into the country from the Agriculture department. He did not apply for it until the food was landed. Guess what, the normal turnaround time for the food he was bringing in was 45 days and he thought I could wave the magic wand (like politicians promise) and get them to approve it today (or tomorrow).
Guess what, no one has that power and why would they use it for this guy if they did.
How about another guy who called and was worried because he had not heard from the supposed owner of a furniture company in Indonesia he was going to buying a container load of furniture from.
First question, again, what makes you feel qualified to import goods? did you take a course, read a book? No, I just found the company on the Internet and they had incredible prices and I knew I could make a fortune. Next question, let me guess, did you already send this guy your money.
Answer: Yes
I am getting too old to remember all of these fool tails but the two above stick in the part of my brain that I will always recall.
If you are a business owner, employee of a manufacturing company or an entrepreneur considering entry into the arena of International Business - make a decision, get step by step training in the form of one of our import or export training courses and pay for a lead service to separate yourself from 99 9/10% of the others out there and begin - take action.
The government, no matter which party wins the election, is not going to solve your personal and business problems, only you can make the "changes" you want in your life and/or in your business.
If you are reading this and do not take the advice, then why are you wasting your life's precious time reading it?? You either find value in the advice dispensed here or you do not and if you do not, unsubscribe from our B2B updates list and take this blog off of your bookmarks.
Ron Coble
International business more often involves the B2B arena rather than B2C (business to consumer) and a business to business sales often involve huge numbers of products rather than single items sales.
Many would be international business entrepreneurs read about how a company became a multi-million dollar one overnight because of one international sale or an individual who earned huge commissions by closing a global sale for their company.
International business is all of the above and more, but what most of the 'hype-masters' do not tell you is that there is a great deal of work that requires patience, persistence and decision making.
I talk with would-be international business entrepreneurs every single day and the most common trait I encounter is their inability to make a relatively easy decision, even when the facts are clearing staring at them.
There comes a time when you either realize you are a decision maker or you realize that you should just keep going to your job every day, punching your employer's time clock and have someone who gets paid more than you, make your decisions for you.
The people I believe who have the most chance for success in this business are those who make the decision to get an import or export training course, either place the order online or call to place their order.
These sort of people are "decision makers" who are able to make a decision based on their own ability to read and understand the information that has been presented to them. This is the kind of decision making ability you need to succeed in international business.
It amuses me much of the time how people will call to get my advice which they must value or they would not call, right? Then when they are given the advice they so cherish, they never act upon it??
I actually had a lady call me recently from Canada - she wanted to get into the Import Export business but she wanted someone else to set everything up for her, get the business going and allow her to step in and take it over????????
I asked her, point blank, why would someone want to start a business, get it up and running and simply turn it over to you for a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars? She was a well educated lady, a teacher I believe, but she was living in her own little dream world.
Another amusement for me is when someone is really indecisive when on the phone or continues to ask questions in repeated emails information that is covered on our web site or in this blog. Some of these people are genuinely in bad financial situations and cannot afford (or so they state) the $160, $316 or $424 price for our international business courses.
My suggestion to them? If you have NO business experience at all, then get some by starting to sell items on EBay. By selling items on EBay, they can open their auctions up to the world bidders and they will soon be experiencing every aspect of doing international business.
They will be dealing with customer service, international shipping, language barriers, fraud, profits, accounting, literally every aspect of doing business but on a smaller scale that allows them to learn.
Most never take the advice they sought and simply continue to have dreams of international business grandeur that will somehow fall into their life without the need to make any decisions, do any work or expend any funds (almost sounds like some of our political candidate promises).
We get the "don't want to spend any money" international wanna bees from other parts of the world as well. They will send an email asking (sometimes telling, believe it or not) us to give them free importer listings.
I generally send them a reply that points them to a trade directory they can purchase, never to hear from them again. I soon will be testing a new tactic, again for my amusement - I will ask them to send me the value of what they are asking for in the form of products they are selling but in equal value to the trade directory they seek.
Think that will go over well?
It is kind of funny isn't it? These folks are seeking something they believe to have value to them and their business but not enough value to pay for it, when in reality one sale to one lead in a directory would more than pay for that directory?? What is wrong with this picture???
Is this what can be defined as a "dichotomy"?
I get phone calls all the time from people who have gotten themselves into some dire straits in import export deals. When I hear what type of situation they have created for themselves, I ask if they took any type of international business course.
They generally answer NO or well I read a book or two on the subject but that is not why I am calling you. I want you to wave your magic import export wand and help me fix what I was too cheap to learn how or why it would get them into trouble.
One guy had 5 container loads of food sitting on the dock and was paying storage fees that had already equaled the cost of the goods. He "thought" he was too smart and did not need anything more than the $29.95 book he had read about international business fortunes.
He had not gotten the approval he needed to bring food into the country from the Agriculture department. He did not apply for it until the food was landed. Guess what, the normal turnaround time for the food he was bringing in was 45 days and he thought I could wave the magic wand (like politicians promise) and get them to approve it today (or tomorrow).
Guess what, no one has that power and why would they use it for this guy if they did.
How about another guy who called and was worried because he had not heard from the supposed owner of a furniture company in Indonesia he was going to buying a container load of furniture from.
First question, again, what makes you feel qualified to import goods? did you take a course, read a book? No, I just found the company on the Internet and they had incredible prices and I knew I could make a fortune. Next question, let me guess, did you already send this guy your money.
Answer: Yes
I am getting too old to remember all of these fool tails but the two above stick in the part of my brain that I will always recall.
If you are a business owner, employee of a manufacturing company or an entrepreneur considering entry into the arena of International Business - make a decision, get step by step training in the form of one of our import or export training courses and pay for a lead service to separate yourself from 99 9/10% of the others out there and begin - take action.
The government, no matter which party wins the election, is not going to solve your personal and business problems, only you can make the "changes" you want in your life and/or in your business.
If you are reading this and do not take the advice, then why are you wasting your life's precious time reading it?? You either find value in the advice dispensed here or you do not and if you do not, unsubscribe from our B2B updates list and take this blog off of your bookmarks.
Ron Coble
International Trade Questions And Answers
Question:
I have read through you info on this site and found it very informative.
In regards to due diligence as well as doing the checks by cold calling and checking their website, is there a pack which I should put together to ensure the least risk possible.
Any pointers in the right direction would be much appreciated as these people can seem very trustworthy and I myself or employees of mine can have a set procedure in place to make sure we have covered ourselves as well as we possibly could.
Answer:
I am not aware of a 'package' of details that you can check, except for the resources we have compiled on our company page at: http://www.importexporthelp.com/company.htm which you and your employees are free to use any time - just scroll down the page until you see the "Due Diligence" sub-title.
These are not all that are available, I am sure, but if you follow that list you should be able to find any negative details on someone, if there are any on record.
I am not sure if you are in the USA or not, but the US has a program through their embassies that you can pay a couple of hundred dollars to have the embassy rep do a background check on the potential importer.
Another thing you can do is ask for references of other businesses they have dealt with and then actually contact those references. I know of one supplement manufacturer who would not even bother following up a lead if they would not provide them with at least one reference.
You will want to cross reference the reference also to make sure you aren't calling the guys brother or brother in law who is in on the deal with him.
Last, confirmed letters of credit (LOC) are about the safest way to go when it comes to payment, but they are often very difficult to get and much more expensive than regular LOC's.
Ultimately there are no guarantees of keeping you from getting ripped off. I have personally talked with several exporters and importers who had worked for some time with their buyers/sellersin smaller quantity orders. Then a larger order comes in and they end up never getting paid for it or if they are the importer, they send the money and never receive the merchandise.
This last type of deal is the old confidence game where they use small orders to gain your confidence, pay for them up front or shipthem right away and then hit you with a big order which is never paid for and you can never seem to find the person in their office at any time.
It is an unfortunate fact of business life (and personal) that you have to approach every transaction as if it is a fraudulent one and be very firm in your requirements of the other party.
Fraudsters are everywhere - in every country - unfortunately much of the scams come from the very countries that need legitimate trade the most and they are in Africa.
Many (not all) people have come to realize Africa is the main origin for the fraudulent activities so many of the fraudsters have now resorted to faking emails and other correspondence with actual names of legitimate companies in China or India.
The fraudsters will use the actual graphics or letterhead from a legitimate company but place their (the fraudster's) email or phone number (which is usually forwarded) in the correspondence.
Another fraudster technique is to use a color copier to duplicate an actual money order or cashiers check from a legitimate bank. Looks legit, you deposit it, have the goods shipped only to find out about 3-4 weeks later when you get a call from the bank telling you it has been returned. Guess what - it isn't the bank's responsibility and they will take you to court, if necessary, to get the funds from you.
Your qualification requirements have to be so firm that most fraudsters will consider them not worth the effort and crawl back under the rock from which they came - these strict requirements may cost you a real transaction from time to time but it is better to walk away.
Fraudsters know most companies and individuals are desperate to make a sale and they use this against you. If a deal seems too good to be real - it is. If you ever run into a deal that you just can not seem to resist but would like my input, feel free to call me and tell me the details without revealing who the party is and I will be happy to give you my opinion.
In most instances, you will probably not like my recommendation but you always have the final decision.
Hope this has helped and I wish you the best.
I have read through you info on this site and found it very informative.
In regards to due diligence as well as doing the checks by cold calling and checking their website, is there a pack which I should put together to ensure the least risk possible.
Any pointers in the right direction would be much appreciated as these people can seem very trustworthy and I myself or employees of mine can have a set procedure in place to make sure we have covered ourselves as well as we possibly could.
Answer:
I am not aware of a 'package' of details that you can check, except for the resources we have compiled on our company page at: http://www.importexporthelp.com/company.htm which you and your employees are free to use any time - just scroll down the page until you see the "Due Diligence" sub-title.
These are not all that are available, I am sure, but if you follow that list you should be able to find any negative details on someone, if there are any on record.
I am not sure if you are in the USA or not, but the US has a program through their embassies that you can pay a couple of hundred dollars to have the embassy rep do a background check on the potential importer.
Another thing you can do is ask for references of other businesses they have dealt with and then actually contact those references. I know of one supplement manufacturer who would not even bother following up a lead if they would not provide them with at least one reference.
You will want to cross reference the reference also to make sure you aren't calling the guys brother or brother in law who is in on the deal with him.
Last, confirmed letters of credit (LOC) are about the safest way to go when it comes to payment, but they are often very difficult to get and much more expensive than regular LOC's.
Ultimately there are no guarantees of keeping you from getting ripped off. I have personally talked with several exporters and importers who had worked for some time with their buyers/sellersin smaller quantity orders. Then a larger order comes in and they end up never getting paid for it or if they are the importer, they send the money and never receive the merchandise.
This last type of deal is the old confidence game where they use small orders to gain your confidence, pay for them up front or shipthem right away and then hit you with a big order which is never paid for and you can never seem to find the person in their office at any time.
It is an unfortunate fact of business life (and personal) that you have to approach every transaction as if it is a fraudulent one and be very firm in your requirements of the other party.
Fraudsters are everywhere - in every country - unfortunately much of the scams come from the very countries that need legitimate trade the most and they are in Africa.
Many (not all) people have come to realize Africa is the main origin for the fraudulent activities so many of the fraudsters have now resorted to faking emails and other correspondence with actual names of legitimate companies in China or India.
The fraudsters will use the actual graphics or letterhead from a legitimate company but place their (the fraudster's) email or phone number (which is usually forwarded) in the correspondence.
Another fraudster technique is to use a color copier to duplicate an actual money order or cashiers check from a legitimate bank. Looks legit, you deposit it, have the goods shipped only to find out about 3-4 weeks later when you get a call from the bank telling you it has been returned. Guess what - it isn't the bank's responsibility and they will take you to court, if necessary, to get the funds from you.
Your qualification requirements have to be so firm that most fraudsters will consider them not worth the effort and crawl back under the rock from which they came - these strict requirements may cost you a real transaction from time to time but it is better to walk away.
Fraudsters know most companies and individuals are desperate to make a sale and they use this against you. If a deal seems too good to be real - it is. If you ever run into a deal that you just can not seem to resist but would like my input, feel free to call me and tell me the details without revealing who the party is and I will be happy to give you my opinion.
In most instances, you will probably not like my recommendation but you always have the final decision.
Hope this has helped and I wish you the best.
International Trade Questions And Answers
Question 1:
In your import course do you offer a CD so we can modify forms like letters, invoices, etc with our own company name?
Answer 1:
The import course materials do not.
We, Coble International and ImportExportHelp.com, do provide an unadvertised Bonus that will be sent to you via email after you advise us that you have received your course - these bonus resources include Word formatted, easily modifiable agreements, letterhead and some recommendations on business resources that can save you up to $500-$600 a year (actual resources we use in our business).
Microsoft Word contains Invoice formats, it is of little use taking up valuable CD Rom data space putting something on it that your computer most likely already has available within programs like Word or other word processing program.
If you do not have Microsoft Word on your PC, I strongly urge you to get it - best word processing program around.
Question 2:
Do you offer any money back gurantee in case we are not 100% satisfied with your products?
Answer 2:
I could go into a "long" dissertation about why we do not offer refunds but I will try to keep it short.
1. We outline "exactly" what you are getting with our materials, when you make a purchase from our web site, you have already made a conscious decision that you are happy with what is listed there.
2. We have experienced well over $350,000 in fraudulent orders in the last 7 years - I got tired of keeping inventory on hand and dealing with the credit card companies and about 3-4 years ago decided to take "less" money and let our publishers deal with the credit card company issues. Our publishers do not offer refunds, therefore, we cannot, and do not offer refunds.
3. Last, I will close out my reply by providing you with the comments from one of the oldest marketing experts that I have known now for nearly 20 years and his response to the question of a money back guarantee or option - his name is Jim Straw and with over 40 years of business experience under his belt, I firmly believe and agree with his stated case against offering refunds:
Here is Jim Straw's Comments on refunds:
Since I sell "information" ... not "opportunities" ... nowhere in any of our sales material do we offer any kind of Money-Back option.
Why? ? -- Because...
(1) We are not a lending library. -- If you want to borrow a book, we recommend a visit to your local public library. We do not lend our publications.
(2) We cannot erase your memory. -- Once you have read and made mental note of the information provided in our publications, there is no way you can return it to us. Even if you return the printed material; or delete the PDF file from your hard drive, you still have the information in your memory for your ultimate use.
By not including a Money-Back option; of any kind, in our sales material, we intentionally discourage people who are seeking a ‘guaranteed’ existence from buying our publications.
Over the past 40 years, I have literally made millions, upon millions, of dollars "doing" the things I have written about - and - other people have made millions, upon millions, of dollars doing what I teach in my materials.
May I suggest that you "use" the information in the materials you purchased to achieve the success you have been seeking ... and ... I am always here to assist you in your efforts anytime you run into a situation you don't understand. -- REMEMBER, I have done it ... not just written about it ... so I can steer you in the right direction.
If I were to give you a refund, I would only allow you an excuse to quit ... delaying your success, again.
*** end of Jim Straw's comments on refunds ***
In closing, you now know why we do not offer a money back option and if that keeps you from ordering, well, so be it. Whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best.
In your import course do you offer a CD so we can modify forms like letters, invoices, etc with our own company name?
Answer 1:
The import course materials do not.
We, Coble International and ImportExportHelp.com, do provide an unadvertised Bonus that will be sent to you via email after you advise us that you have received your course - these bonus resources include Word formatted, easily modifiable agreements, letterhead and some recommendations on business resources that can save you up to $500-$600 a year (actual resources we use in our business).
Microsoft Word contains Invoice formats, it is of little use taking up valuable CD Rom data space putting something on it that your computer most likely already has available within programs like Word or other word processing program.
If you do not have Microsoft Word on your PC, I strongly urge you to get it - best word processing program around.
Question 2:
Do you offer any money back gurantee in case we are not 100% satisfied with your products?
Answer 2:
I could go into a "long" dissertation about why we do not offer refunds but I will try to keep it short.
1. We outline "exactly" what you are getting with our materials, when you make a purchase from our web site, you have already made a conscious decision that you are happy with what is listed there.
2. We have experienced well over $350,000 in fraudulent orders in the last 7 years - I got tired of keeping inventory on hand and dealing with the credit card companies and about 3-4 years ago decided to take "less" money and let our publishers deal with the credit card company issues. Our publishers do not offer refunds, therefore, we cannot, and do not offer refunds.
3. Last, I will close out my reply by providing you with the comments from one of the oldest marketing experts that I have known now for nearly 20 years and his response to the question of a money back guarantee or option - his name is Jim Straw and with over 40 years of business experience under his belt, I firmly believe and agree with his stated case against offering refunds:
Here is Jim Straw's Comments on refunds:
Since I sell "information" ... not "opportunities" ... nowhere in any of our sales material do we offer any kind of Money-Back option.
Why? ? -- Because...
(1) We are not a lending library. -- If you want to borrow a book, we recommend a visit to your local public library. We do not lend our publications.
(2) We cannot erase your memory. -- Once you have read and made mental note of the information provided in our publications, there is no way you can return it to us. Even if you return the printed material; or delete the PDF file from your hard drive, you still have the information in your memory for your ultimate use.
By not including a Money-Back option; of any kind, in our sales material, we intentionally discourage people who are seeking a ‘guaranteed’ existence from buying our publications.
Over the past 40 years, I have literally made millions, upon millions, of dollars "doing" the things I have written about - and - other people have made millions, upon millions, of dollars doing what I teach in my materials.
May I suggest that you "use" the information in the materials you purchased to achieve the success you have been seeking ... and ... I am always here to assist you in your efforts anytime you run into a situation you don't understand. -- REMEMBER, I have done it ... not just written about it ... so I can steer you in the right direction.
If I were to give you a refund, I would only allow you an excuse to quit ... delaying your success, again.
*** end of Jim Straw's comments on refunds ***
In closing, you now know why we do not offer a money back option and if that keeps you from ordering, well, so be it. Whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best.
Import And Export Business Q&A Continued
Question:
Can you guide me as to where I could find more information on regulations for export to Mexico? We are a US company that would be shipping within the U.S. The product would then be sold in Mexico by the customer.
Answer:
We do not provide consulting of the nature you have requested. My suggestion for either you and/or your customer is that they get our course on exporting - it will guide you/them through all the processes and provide details on which public/private organizations you need to contact with regards to specific products for the specific regulationsand requirements regarding those items - you may review details of the course here and feel free to forward this message to your client:
http://www.importexporthelp.com/trdspm1.htm
*****************************************************
Question:
I know you don't need a certificate to start a business but regarding the commission fees, is there a difference regarding the income of an agent compared to a broker on the same transaction(connecting seller to buyer) or is it just a title difference? Are there certain income the broker can make that the agent can't just because one has the license? I'm seriously thinking of starting the business, but I just need to do a bit of research according to your advice on the blog.
Answer:
In regards to the "title" - that is all the difference there is - whatever you choose to call yourself. I have been referred to in agreements as the International Sales Coordinator, International Marketing Consultant, Export Agent, International Business Broker - bottom line is, I don't care what they call me as long as they have my name or my business name spelled correctly on their checks.
You also refer to the term "license" - the only licensed individuals in import export are "Customs Brokers" and they are not working as agents/brokers for the manufacturer and earning a commission, they get paid to make sure all the i's are dotted, t's are crossed on any documentation and sometimes provide other shipping related assistance. Our course will teach you who you need to work with to get the deals done without trying to do it all yourself.
Follow Up Question From The Same Person:
Thank you for your clear explanations. I was probably confused between a broker and a Custom Broker.
I have one last question and I hope you don't see it as being too straight forward. Can you tell me why I should choose your product over other Starter Kits($400 range), classes plus support, books/notebooks (Entrepreneur.com), e-books, import/export coaching, CD-roms, DVDs and etc.?
Answer to Follow Up Question:
There are a lot of good materials on the market and I have probably purchased or reviewed most of them over my 20 years in this business. First off, I would be very, very wary of any "coaching" programs or those that offer what I call hand holding "support" - I have written enough about these type of programs on my import export business blog that I will defer you to go find them and read why.
In most instances, the "support"/"coaching"/"hand holding" personnel will be doing nothing more than reading from the same hand book they supply you with and in most instances these hand holding sessions can be quite expensiveright up front to the tune of thousands of dollars.
Our course provides you with all the information, much of it proprietary from our publisher, that you will need to follow in order to start and succeed in your own import or export business. Do we guarantee you will succeed - absolutely NOT!
I did not start this business to sell information products or training, I started it because in the late 80's the Internet was not readily available - yes, AOL was and I was one of their first 100,000 customers. I started it because I spent hundreds of hours visiting the library, visiting with actual importers and exporters, visiting with international bankers, department of commerce personnel, buying various materials that turned out to be such a waste of time and money it was unbelievable.
In getting started I found some very unique and incredibly helpful information and thought I wonder if others would be interested in saving all the time I spent if I would put this information together in the form of a couple of reports. Low and behold, they were.
I found this course in the early 90's (it has been updated about every 2 years since but still includes some very valuable proprietary info like the one video that was co-sponsored by the US Dept. of Commerce - it still is one of the best resources around).
I have been sent books, CD's, access to web sites and more in those subsequent 15 years and in regards to actual training programs, the "only" change I have made is the addition of the China Trading program about 18 months ago. I did so because it is not competitive with the import export training course and is a uniquely different niche within the international trade business.
I do not want to sway you from the direction you are headed to the China trading program, I am just making you aware of what and why I only offer a very narrow, targeted group of materials.
I also have become good friends with the publisher of the import export courses over these years because I know he has integrity. An example of which was with a recent customer. Their course was just shipped to them about 2 weeks ago and one of the ebooks was updated just a few days ago - he emailed them a copy of the new version since they had just purchased the course a few weeks ago.
Additionally, there are a "few" bonus items I send you when you get certain packages through our web site - the publisher has encouraged me to publish these items as an ebook and try to sell them but I decided to keep them special and only give them to people who get either our Importers Master package, Exporters Master Package or the combo of these two, the Import Export Toolkit. I feel anyone purchasing these complete packages are far more serious and I would rather have my information in their hands rather than everyone's.
So the bottom line is this, yes, there are a few good resources on the market and you don't need to 2nd mortgage your home to get started in this business and in most instances you will not be getting answers from someone who is doing what you hope to do as you are getting this correspondence from me.
One of the reasons I am working so late is because I just signed on a new manufacturer today and I am compiling some leads to send them over the weekend.
I guess a lot of what you have to base your decision on is that gut feeling of who do you trust - I have put my life out there on the web site and blog, my information is "easily" verifiable, is theirs?
*****************************************************
Ron Coble
International Trade B2B Help Center
Can you guide me as to where I could find more information on regulations for export to Mexico? We are a US company that would be shipping within the U.S. The product would then be sold in Mexico by the customer.
Answer:
We do not provide consulting of the nature you have requested. My suggestion for either you and/or your customer is that they get our course on exporting - it will guide you/them through all the processes and provide details on which public/private organizations you need to contact with regards to specific products for the specific regulationsand requirements regarding those items - you may review details of the course here and feel free to forward this message to your client:
http://www.importexporthelp.com/trdspm1.htm
*****************************************************
Question:
I know you don't need a certificate to start a business but regarding the commission fees, is there a difference regarding the income of an agent compared to a broker on the same transaction(connecting seller to buyer) or is it just a title difference? Are there certain income the broker can make that the agent can't just because one has the license? I'm seriously thinking of starting the business, but I just need to do a bit of research according to your advice on the blog.
Answer:
In regards to the "title" - that is all the difference there is - whatever you choose to call yourself. I have been referred to in agreements as the International Sales Coordinator, International Marketing Consultant, Export Agent, International Business Broker - bottom line is, I don't care what they call me as long as they have my name or my business name spelled correctly on their checks.
You also refer to the term "license" - the only licensed individuals in import export are "Customs Brokers" and they are not working as agents/brokers for the manufacturer and earning a commission, they get paid to make sure all the i's are dotted, t's are crossed on any documentation and sometimes provide other shipping related assistance. Our course will teach you who you need to work with to get the deals done without trying to do it all yourself.
Follow Up Question From The Same Person:
Thank you for your clear explanations. I was probably confused between a broker and a Custom Broker.
I have one last question and I hope you don't see it as being too straight forward. Can you tell me why I should choose your product over other Starter Kits($400 range), classes plus support, books/notebooks (Entrepreneur.com), e-books, import/export coaching, CD-roms, DVDs and etc.?
Answer to Follow Up Question:
There are a lot of good materials on the market and I have probably purchased or reviewed most of them over my 20 years in this business. First off, I would be very, very wary of any "coaching" programs or those that offer what I call hand holding "support" - I have written enough about these type of programs on my import export business blog that I will defer you to go find them and read why.
In most instances, the "support"/"coaching"/"hand holding" personnel will be doing nothing more than reading from the same hand book they supply you with and in most instances these hand holding sessions can be quite expensiveright up front to the tune of thousands of dollars.
Our course provides you with all the information, much of it proprietary from our publisher, that you will need to follow in order to start and succeed in your own import or export business. Do we guarantee you will succeed - absolutely NOT!
I did not start this business to sell information products or training, I started it because in the late 80's the Internet was not readily available - yes, AOL was and I was one of their first 100,000 customers. I started it because I spent hundreds of hours visiting the library, visiting with actual importers and exporters, visiting with international bankers, department of commerce personnel, buying various materials that turned out to be such a waste of time and money it was unbelievable.
In getting started I found some very unique and incredibly helpful information and thought I wonder if others would be interested in saving all the time I spent if I would put this information together in the form of a couple of reports. Low and behold, they were.
I found this course in the early 90's (it has been updated about every 2 years since but still includes some very valuable proprietary info like the one video that was co-sponsored by the US Dept. of Commerce - it still is one of the best resources around).
I have been sent books, CD's, access to web sites and more in those subsequent 15 years and in regards to actual training programs, the "only" change I have made is the addition of the China Trading program about 18 months ago. I did so because it is not competitive with the import export training course and is a uniquely different niche within the international trade business.
I do not want to sway you from the direction you are headed to the China trading program, I am just making you aware of what and why I only offer a very narrow, targeted group of materials.
I also have become good friends with the publisher of the import export courses over these years because I know he has integrity. An example of which was with a recent customer. Their course was just shipped to them about 2 weeks ago and one of the ebooks was updated just a few days ago - he emailed them a copy of the new version since they had just purchased the course a few weeks ago.
Additionally, there are a "few" bonus items I send you when you get certain packages through our web site - the publisher has encouraged me to publish these items as an ebook and try to sell them but I decided to keep them special and only give them to people who get either our Importers Master package, Exporters Master Package or the combo of these two, the Import Export Toolkit. I feel anyone purchasing these complete packages are far more serious and I would rather have my information in their hands rather than everyone's.
So the bottom line is this, yes, there are a few good resources on the market and you don't need to 2nd mortgage your home to get started in this business and in most instances you will not be getting answers from someone who is doing what you hope to do as you are getting this correspondence from me.
One of the reasons I am working so late is because I just signed on a new manufacturer today and I am compiling some leads to send them over the weekend.
I guess a lot of what you have to base your decision on is that gut feeling of who do you trust - I have put my life out there on the web site and blog, my information is "easily" verifiable, is theirs?
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Ron Coble
International Trade B2B Help Center
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