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    Default Online Business Advice

    Has anyone here set up a online business?
    I remember reading that a Beyonder on here knew someone that expanded and moved into a industrial site.

    Im looking at setting up a small business. Designing/bringing products from China, selling online/branding and shipping.
    I have some dumb questions on that entire process, supply chain, and shipping.

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    You would be a reseller of products already existing in the China market, or you'd be designing here and having them manufactured to your specifications in China?

    DO you need help with the logistics for the physical materials, or with the marketing, or business setup, or all of them?
    Quote Originally Posted by killramos View Post
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    You realize you are talking to the guy who made his own furniture out of salad bowls right?

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    Quote Originally Posted by ExtraSlow View Post
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    You would be a reseller of products already existing in the China market, or you'd be designing here and having them manufactured to your specifications in China?

    DO you need help with the logistics for the physical materials, or with the marketing, or business setup, or all of them?
    Good question. The products are already available for production. The design/fit/style would be amended with branding suited to the current market.

    I would need help and guidance with marketing, business setup, best practice, logistics of getting the product to the customer. I would like to have a chat with someone who has already done something similar.

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    If I understand what you're trying to do, using Amazon might be something to consider. What a lot of people do is analyze Amazon sales numbers, find a product that sells well with insane markup (I.e. an olive oil sprayer or some kitchen gadget), order a bunch of them from Alibaba, and it's either drop shipped from China or you send it to an Amazon warehouse for them to ship to the customer. Then you slowly expand as you get then hang of it by adding more products. It's probably easier said than done, but it's a common way people try to make money from Amazon and you don't need your own website or warehouse.

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    Drop ship, FBA, take a look at Shopify.

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    Quote Originally Posted by suntan View Post
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    Drop ship, FBA, take a look at Shopify.
    That’s what I was gonna say too, best way to cut your teeth, lots of education from shopify as well

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mitsu3000gt View Post
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    If I understand what you're trying to do, using Amazon might be something to consider. What a lot of people do is analyze Amazon sales numbers, find a product that sells well with insane markup (I.e. an olive oil sprayer or some kitchen gadget), order a bunch of them from Alibaba, and it's either drop shipped from China or you send it to an Amazon warehouse for them to ship to the customer. Then you slowly expand as you get then hang of it by adding more products. It's probably easier said than done, but it's a common way people try to make money from Amazon and you don't need your own website or warehouse.
    Im not looking at stats to sell general best sellers. The product(s) im looking at already exist on the market. It was more about centralising it to a target audience to solve a problem. The problem is something I had when I was trying to obtain products/research. It would be nice if there was a one stop website that addressed this problem. Then the lightbulb moment came up.

    Some of the products would have to be ordered from China. Min order is $5k USD as a example. Others are less. Others can be drop shipped. So the ordered product would be about branding/marketing. Plus webite etc.
    I have researched similar sellers of that one product. They are based in Toronto and Montreal. Calgary has a low population density. I don't see that many orders coming from here.
    Its a dumb question but when shipping product to customers, how does this work with Canada post from a commercial seller? I have zero clue on this.

    Also if I wanted to tap into the US market. How do I set this up with in the US/US warehouse to reduce shipping/import costs? Has anyone done this or set up a business like this in the US remotely? Dumb question I know.

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    Quote Originally Posted by tonytiger55 View Post
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    Im not looking at stats to sell general best sellers. The product(s) im looking at already exist on the market. It was more about centralising it to a target audience to solve a problem. The problem is something I had when I was trying to obtain products/research. It would be nice if there was a one stop website that addressed this problem. Then the lightbulb moment came up.

    Some of the products would have to be ordered from China. Min order is $5k USD as a example. Others are less. Others can be drop shipped. So the ordered product would be about branding/marketing. Plus webite etc.
    I have researched similar sellers of that one product. They are based in Toronto and Montreal. Calgary has a low population density. I don't see that many orders coming from here.
    Its a dumb question but when shipping product to customers, how does this work with Canada post from a commercial seller? I have zero clue on this.

    Also if I wanted to tap into the US market. How do I set this up with in the US/US warehouse to reduce shipping/import costs? Has anyone done this or set up a business like this in the US remotely? Dumb question I know.
    Not dumb questions at all, but you have a lot of variables that make it impossible to answer even remotely accurate without knowing specifics about what the goods are etc, and I can understand you not wanting to discuss this on an open forum, but it does matter... A lot.

    For example, shipping within Canada there are things to consider like taxes in different provinces and collecting and submitting for them. ARe the tiems oversized or tiny? Oversized items are often cubed out for weight and charged accordingly versus things that are heavier and smaller, and some items have special handling fees even over and above this (tires is one for example), and new companies are not treated like old companies so you often find you cannot even remotely compete with established competitors on freight because they have been grandfathered in to not having the same fees levied you do as a new company, and that is not even taking into consideration the rate variance from a company with established shipping volumes and discounts compared to a new company with zero proven track record.

    As for setting up in the US your considerations on how to organize will be magnified as you will not be there to oversee everything and again depending on the goods, you may or may not be able to use a forwarding warehouse, drop ship, etc etc or you may need to have an employee and rent space.

    There is a huge logistical difference between a company that ships t-shirts versus a company that ships furniture (for example).

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