Categories
Importing

3 Most Common Pitfalls of Importing

There are some common things that I’ve seen happen over and over in the importing business over the last 10 years, and they all have to do with these three pitfalls.  The first is details.  Importing is all about managing the details.  There is a reason that low wage countries are low wage countries.  It is because they don’t have the infrastructure and expertise that comes with doing business in a developed country.  So, if you want to import product out of one of these countries, then you had better have all of your details lined out.  What do I mean by details?  There’s a major difference between the mindset of a factory in Asia and an importer in the US, and that is what is valued in the product being produced.  The importer values the features and quality of the product being produced.  The factory values getting the product packaged and passed the inspector at the cheapest possible cost to them because generally they are getting paid the same whether they cut corners or not as long as the inspector doesn’t reject the item.  So, when I say have your details lined out, I mean that all features and product attributes need to be in a document somewhere that the factory has seen and signed.

Categories
Miscellaneous

Welcome

Welcome to BrianScyphers.com.  This is my personal blog, where I’ll be blogging about my experiences as a business owner and entrepreneur, my past experiences as an employee of  a Fortune 50 corporation and a medium sized importer.  My views on business and career have changed dramatically over the last five years because of these experiences and I’ll be sharing the background behind a lot of these new ideas.  Especially the pitfalls that I found in Asia as both an importer and an outsourcer in India.