Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 08, 2009 11:53 am Has anyone imported things such as furniture from China? I've heard that people building new houses go to China and get stuff such as tiles, baths, basins, tapware and all the furniture and put it all in a container and have it sent to Australia for small amounts of money (compared to Australian RRP). Has anyone done this and if not would you ever do it? Re: Importing goods from China 2Nov 08, 2009 12:06 pm My husband did a kitchen for someone who did this. He didnt import building materials, but did go there and choose all his furniture and have it sent back. Not sure what it cost or what he saved, but he was very pleased. He did say you need to know someone who speaks Chinese and knows where to go to buy Custom European Cabinets - Melbourne Kitchen Specialist PM for business details as website currently being updated! Our Crazy Owner Builder Journey! Re: Importing goods from China 3Nov 08, 2009 12:45 pm In our family business we import food etc wholesale from Asia. While it seems very appealing to "simply" import furniture etc "cheap" from overseas into Australia, unless you have someone trustworthy and reliable who will actually do it all for you on the ground, you may find that very quickly find the difficulties can outweigh any perceived cost savings. - Are you willing to go to China/Asia yourself? Don't believe for a second you can pic a picture off a website and get them to send exactly what you want! - Find the shops selling the furniture you like? China is a little bigger than Australia, and simply getting from A to B across town can take half a day if you don't know where you're going, and allow 3 days if you can't speak mandarin! - Negotiate prices, terms, delivery, condition, colour, quality? If you don't have any guanxi, don't expect to get a deal the locals will get. And if you're not buying wholesale, there's not much incentive for the local seller to offer much discount or to help too much with export. - Arrange for export, freight loading, clearance? I'm not saying don't do it, but if you're going to do it, you have to do it right, otherwise you'll end up with a 40ft container full of furniture the wrong size, wrong colour, 400 potplants, or someone else's goods. It's happened to us, and we've been doing this for years! I've often been asked how we can buy something in china for 50c, and sell it here for $10. If only it was that simple, everyone would be doing it! That said, I'm trying to talk my partner into coming with me overseas for a couple of weeks when the house is built so we can do exactly what was suggested in the first post, however we have the necessary connections and infrastructure overseas to make it possible. I think the realistic option, if you're looking at importing low volumes for furniture or other house things (eg only for one house, and not for 10) would be to start off checking out China exporters on eBay. You may be able to avoid the local importer markup at least. Ultimately the price you pay for goods landed in Australia is that you are able to check the quality and goods in person and you're pretty much guaranteed to get what you pay for being protected by Australian consumer law. Good luck with it all Tim Knockdown and rebuild - building Metr1con Nolan 41 (43) @ http://tim-and-tina.blogspot.com! http://www.verdantdental.com.au Re: Importing goods from China 4Nov 08, 2009 2:00 pm slknv In our family business we import food etc wholesale from Asia. While it seems very appealing to "simply" import furniture etc "cheap" from overseas into Australia, unless you have someone trustworthy and reliable who will actually do it all for you on the ground, you may find that very quickly find the difficulties can outweigh any perceived cost savings. - Are you willing to go to China/Asia yourself? Don't believe for a second you can pic a picture off a website and get them to send exactly what you want! - Find the shops selling the furniture you like? China is a little bigger than Australia, and simply getting from A to B across town can take half a day if you don't know where you're going, and allow 3 days if you can't speak mandarin! - Negotiate prices, terms, delivery, condition, colour, quality? If you don't have any guanxi, don't expect to get a deal the locals will get. And if you're not buying wholesale, there's not much incentive for the local seller to offer much discount or to help too much with export. - Arrange for export, freight loading, clearance? I'm not saying don't do it, but if you're going to do it, you have to do it right, otherwise you'll end up with a 40ft container full of furniture the wrong size, wrong colour, 400 potplants, or someone else's goods. It's happened to us, and we've been doing this for years! I've often been asked how we can buy something in china for 50c, and sell it here for $10. If only it was that simple, everyone would be doing it! That said, I'm trying to talk my partner into coming with me overseas for a couple of weeks when the house is built so we can do exactly what was suggested in the first post, however we have the necessary connections and infrastructure overseas to make it possible. I think the realistic option, if you're looking at importing low volumes for furniture or other house things (eg only for one house, and not for 10) would be to start off checking out China exporters on eBay. You may be able to avoid the local importer markup at least. Ultimately the price you pay for goods landed in Australia is that you are able to check the quality and goods in person and you're pretty much guaranteed to get what you pay for being protected by Australian consumer law. Good luck with it all Tim yes,quite agree with what Tim metioned above, it is very helpful for people who want to import from China or Asia. that comes from his precious experiences,I believe. I am also doing trade between China and Australia ,especially Perth,WA. Although I am not in furniture business ,I am happy to answer some questions and give some help if i can,as I live in Qingdao,China. Good luck ! Mike Re: Importing goods from China 5Nov 08, 2009 5:42 pm Just with regards to household goods there have been recalls of sofas in Europe and lawsuits over drywall in the US. It can be hard enough to get any consumer justice when you've gone through normal channels, I suspect you'd be completely on your own if you made your own arrangements AND with low cost being your main priority. Re: Importing goods from China 6Nov 08, 2009 8:48 pm I imported all my wardrobe fitouts from Vietnam. Our friend (vietnamese businessman) set up the deal for us and we went through his factory overseas. Some other people in our street did the same but from China.... the product was very poor quality and the kitchen literally fell to pieces. You need to see the quality of what you are buying before you go ahead...buyer beware Mrs B Re: Importing goods from China 8Feb 25, 2013 5:04 pm Sunny slknv In our family business we import food etc wholesale from Asia. While it seems very appealing to "simply" import furniture etc "cheap" from overseas into Australia, unless you have someone trustworthy and reliable who will actually do it all for you on the ground, you may find that very quickly find the difficulties can outweigh any perceived cost savings. - Are you willing to go to China/Asia yourself? Don't believe for a second you can pic a picture off a website and get them to send exactly what you want! - Find the shops selling the furniture you like? China is a little bigger than Australia, and simply getting from A to B across town can take half a day if you don't know where you're going, and allow 3 days if you can't speak mandarin! - Negotiate prices, terms, delivery, condition, colour, quality? If you don't have any guanxi, don't expect to get a deal the locals will get. And if you're not buying wholesale, there's not much incentive for the local seller to offer much discount or to help too much with export. - Arrange for export, freight loading, clearance? I'm not saying don't do it, but if you're going to do it, you have to do it right, otherwise you'll end up with a 40ft container full of furniture the wrong size, wrong colour, 400 potplants, or someone else's goods. It's happened to us, and we've been doing this for years! I've often been asked how we can buy something in china for 50c, and sell it here for $10. If only it was that simple, everyone would be doing it! That said, I'm trying to talk my partner into coming with me overseas for a couple of weeks when the house is built so we can do exactly what was suggested in the first post, however we have the necessary connections and infrastructure overseas to make it possible. I think the realistic option, if you're looking at importing low volumes for furniture or other house things (eg only for one house, and not for 10) would be to start off checking out China exporters on eBay. You may be able to avoid the local importer markup at least. Ultimately the price you pay for goods landed in Australia is that you are able to check the quality and goods in person and you're pretty much guaranteed to get what you pay for being protected by Australian consumer law. Good luck with it all Tim yes,quite agree with what Tim metioned above, it is very helpful for people who want to import from China or Asia. that comes from his precious experiences,I believe. I am also doing trade between China and Australia ,especially Perth,WA. Although I am not in furniture business ,I am happy to answer some questions and give some help if i can,as I live in Qingdao,China. Good luck ! Mike Hi Sunny i dont know what the chances of your reading this post are, but i was hoping you could PM me some deatils of reliable furniture and tiling manufacturers / suppliers as im currently doing some research to see if its valuable fro us to purchase our furniture overseas? Thanks p.s - if anyone has any good contacts please share... even if you guys know of any websites thanks heaps Location: Landsdale Builder: Celebrations House: Gibson |