becoming a importer?i have a list of indonesian contacts&amp

[eddie]

can someone please educate me on becoming a importer ?
i have a list of indonesian contacts & #'s ill be contacting some tommarro to begin my education
but would love all the help i can get
either via email or the board
my goal is to become a wholesaler - retailer that makes only enough to level my costs to start for awhile and get my future farm stocked
then id like to become the cheapest retailer around in the future to help fellow hobbiests and feed my passion for these invertabrates

 

[Anonymous]

my goal is to become a wholesaler - retailer that makes only enough to level my costs to start for awhile and get my future farm stocked
then id like to become the cheapest retailer around

Gee, is that all.

Do you have any experience is this buisness, or are you just a gung-ho hobbiest ready to take the ultimate plunge?

Good luck!

Louey

 

[eddie]

thanks for the tips(lol)
i have alot of family in naples miami and fortmeyers fwiw
i guess you dont think my goal is very obtainable btw
i mean what do i need to know ?
im sure i may need permits ?
how much capital is needed per order from exporters?
i feel if im honest about it i should get enough hobbiests backing me to make orders after my inital one
all the money ill try to make will be to keep operating for the first few years and try to stay the lowest priced after that
im not trying to make a living at it

 

[eddie]

not gung ho
emotionaly driven
no experiance
but i gotta start somewhere
im only 27 now so ive got time(i hope)

 

[Anonymous]

heh heh heh.......

 

[danmhippo]

Awww, Glen, that's not niceeee.........

Eddie, my suggestion, Open a small retail front so you can open an account with a couple of wholesellers in your area, and go take a look. Look at their setup and do your own calculation, & you will also be surprised with how much mortality you should expect when shipments arrives. That along is one of the reason why we pay so much for our prized collection. Many pure hobbyist don't realize how much costs is involved with a wholesale/importer operation.

 

[eddie]

i plan on online retail and open my greenhouse to locals by apiontment
buy no experiance i ment in importing ,retailing & wholesaling
ive been in the hobby since i was 12 when i lived in Naples
thats 15 years
this is just somthing im exploring
i want to bypass wholsalers thats my whole point in contacting indonesian exporters

 

[eddie]

i guess thats why i have over 1000 posts at RC
& only 62 here
i can take it though start slinging

 

[eddie]

damn hippo that wasnt directed at you

 

[Anonymous]

All right, I'll sling this...Do you ever read what you write. You know, spell check, punctuation, all caps, etc. Your post are hard to read. To say the least.

If you act like a business man, one might help you.

Louey

 

[eddie]

damn hippo thanks for the advice i have a few wholsalers close by that ive been to already and have freinds of family with a retail front
(guess i better get back over to RC now)

 

[eddie]

i do that on pupose to only get responce from those who really care
they help even if they think your dump you shoul read some of my treads at rc
most who know anything about what im talking about can easily understand without spell checking

 

[eddie]

It's a skill I've aquired to filter out some people!
BTW I never claimed to be a business man only a hobbiest.
FWIW I scored in the 95% range in the nation in reading comprehension
I'm sure you dont believe that though.

 

[eddie]

Sorry if I offended you .........

 

[Anonymous]

Ahh, your last post was well done. Thank you.

Danmhippo's suggestion is probably a good one. But if your really serious about this.... have you seen scubadudes' greenhouse coral farm? I have visited it, and it looks like it is coming along nicely.

See: http://www.reefland.com/cgi-bin/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6763&perpage=20&pagenumber=1

I see you have family in SW florida. Contact Rocky (aka scubadude), he is a hobbiest like you, and will likely share a ton of info with you.

BTW. I hope I didn't bust your stones to hard.

One again, good luck!

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

I didn't mean anything, I was honestly going to try to answer the question and got overwhelmed as to where to start.

Are thinking of importing fish or corals or both?? The minimum orders alone I think will be a bit overwhelming. Are you anywhere near an international airport? It's going to take a serious amount of equipment just to transport that much stuff and it only gets more expensive the further you get from the aiport. Virtually all of the fish and corals you'll be "exporting" will come from LAX anyway, so you'll have to tack on the extra freight cost which pretty much puts you right in line with other local wholesalers. The only way you'll be able to be the cheapest then is through volume and then we're talking some serious holding tanks, filtration equipment and so on. Every one wants to be the "cheapest". I'd focus on having the best quality stuff. That's the best way to compete.


Glenn

 

[eddie]

Yes.
Im building one thats 16x24 off the back of my house now.
We just brought home our newborn sat. so things have been slow(but good)
My underground chiller will consist of 15 1 - 1/2 inch pipes capped at the bottom 50 foot deep with 3/4 inch pipe run down in it and connected by a manifold at the top.
It will only use a maxi jet 1200 to feed it mabey a little bigger pump if i add more pipe per vat.
I worked on it a little today.
Its kinda hard with only my hose so Im gonna get a irrigation pump from a freind to wash them down sometime this week.
The frame is gonna be treated lumber.(landscape posts from walmart &16ft treated 2x4's.
This will all be connected to my 135 & 180 inside that are lit all night.

 

[eddie]

thanks
rover
thats what i was looking for
like i said i didnt have any experiance with this yet
i contacted dr mac about wholsale prices and walt smith
then i started wondering abought importing

 

[eddie]

btw
i should add
i ment cheapest
captive raised dealer
but was gonna start with wild stock and some captive frags
wholesaling at first to lfs's

 

[SPC]

Posted by Eddie:

The frame is gonna be treated lumber

.

-Any chance of water getting into your system that has come in contact with this treated lumber?
Steve