Visiting Hong Kong/Shenzhen

[HowardCoombs]

I REPEAT, buying goods in a foreign country and figuring out to export them legally isn't not a skill.

This, coming from someone who has never done it, is laughable.

"Doing both with real $$$, 25K worth of $$$, is plain old stupid."
You're hell bent on bringing up the dollar amount every chance you get rant you? I only gave the dollar amount because I needed to know if there was a limit for entering China on a tourist visa, I regret it now because how obnoxious you are being.

1) You could have looked it up on Google - what happened, fingers failed you?
2) I bring it up only because you did and you also mentioned you were poor - which leads me to believe this is a huge sum for you to lose. If its a tiny amount of your fortune, then go and experiment all you like. If its a substantial amount of your wealth, its silly for you to gamble with it.
3) Regret and obnoxious : the feeling is mutual.

[INXS]

@GlobalExport

First of all, I can see you're hungry and I respect that. When I first came to Hong Kong I actually did what you're hoping to do. Me and a pal went to Guangzhou (like Shenzhen but bigger and cheaper) and we bought tablets and bluetooth headsets, what else...SD cards...he also bought clothes for his wife's clothes shop...over the years we have done business in Shenzhen with paper, printing, books, some other electronic items and some other textiles...anyway, I'm not an expert, but I do have experience with these guys. Further, I live in Hong Kong and my wife is Chinese, can speak Putonghua.

I'm going to tell you what it is like in China...

1.) They are all going to scam you. You can speak to a guy a T-shirt shop and he will tell you he has a factory that makes phones...everyone will tell you they have a factory. If you look on Alibaba for long enough, you'll be surprised at how many of these traders 'own' the same silver and glass clad factories and they are always managed by pretty 20 something year old girls, according to the pictures. Alibaba is a club, you pay for higher levels of membership...Finding the 'source' is a freaking magic trick mate, I'm telling you, you will not be doing that on your first trip to S.E.G. Please fucking forget about that right away.

2.) Even if you find the source my friend. Can you imagine the M.O.Q.s these factories deal in? They are not going to deal with you. I once hit the holy grail and found myself in a real genuine factory in Shenzhen...after months of false leads!! Well, yes, they want to do business with me okay...M.O.Q. 3000, that on a n item I only wanted 50 of!! They said they were offering that to me as a one off, normal M.O.Q. is 15000 pieces. These companies supply the world, not individuals.

3.) There are sourcing/trading companies all over HK who make their business sourcing for overseas companies, you're not smarter than Walmart.

4.) People do come to HK and do what you want to do...my understanding is that they tend to buy the phones at Chungking Mansions...that's in Hong Kong...because it's cheaper here!

5.) What can go wrong? Mate, you can't even imagine how amazing these guys are...you'll start selling your Chinese sourced phones and, oh oh, it said 32gig....hey, it's only 8??? You said 8mp camera, this is only 1.3, etc, etc, etc....yeah, we had it, 8gig SD cards, beautifully packaged, hey presto, only 2 gig inside...these guys work on such wafer thin margins that they will destroy you to squeeze such small amounts of RMB from you that it will make your eyes water.

Anyway, good luck.

[INXS]

....duplicate post...

[GlobalExport]

@GlobalExport

First of all, I can see you're hungry and I respect that. When I first came to Hong Kong I actually did what you're hoping to do. Me and a pal went to Guangzhou (like Shenzhen but bigger and cheaper) and we bought tablets and bluetooth headsets, what else...SD cards...he also bought clothes for his wife's clothes shop...over the years we have done business in Shenzhen with paper, printing, books, some other electronic items and some other textiles...anyway, I'm not an expert, but I do have experience with these guys. Further, I live in Hong Kong and my wife is Chinese, can speak Putonghua.

I'm going to tell you what it is like in China...

1.) They are all going to scam you. You can speak to a guy a T-shirt shop and he will tell you he has a factory that makes phones...everyone will tell you they have a factory. If you look on Alibaba for long enough, you'll be surprised at how many of these traders 'own' the same silver and glass clad factories and they are always managed by pretty 20 something year old girls, according to the pictures. Alibaba is a club, you pay for higher levels of membership...Finding the 'source' is a freaking magic trick mate, I'm telling you, you will not be doing that on your first trip to S.E.G. Please fucking forget about that right away.

2.) Even if you find the source my friend. Can you imagine the M.O.Q.s these factories deal in? They are not going to deal with you. I once hit the holy grail and found myself in a real genuine factory in Shenzhen...after months of false leads!! Well, yes, they want to do business with me okay...M.O.Q. 3000, that on a n item I only wanted 50 of!! They said they were offering that to me as a one off, normal M.O.Q. is 15000 pieces. These companies supply the world, not individuals.

3.) There are sourcing/trading companies all over HK who make their business sourcing for overseas companies, you're not smarter than Walmart.

4.) People do come to HK and do what you want to do...my understanding is that they tend to buy the phones at Chungking Mansions...that's in Hong Kong...because it's cheaper here!

5.) What can go wrong? Mate, you can't even imagine how amazing these guys are...you'll start selling your Chinese sourced phones and, oh oh, it said 32gig....hey, it's only 8??? You said 8mp camera, this is only 1.3, etc, etc, etc....yeah, we had it, 8gig SD cards, beautifully packaged, hey presto, only 2 gig inside...these guys work on such wafer thin margins that they will destroy you to squeeze such small amounts of RMB from you that it will make your eyes water.

Anyway, good luck.

Haha I don't imagine that I'd have to be smarter than walmart because there is no walmart or anything like walmart where I plan to sell these phones.

You made a lot of valid points, you know what you're talking about and you've done this before, where should I look for Chinese branded phones like Oppo, Zoppo, THL, Xaomi, Huweai, etc?

[jaykay]

I just ended another Skype video chat with a Shenzhen based seller who has THL phones, she said her boss will be willing to bring them to me HK. Why/how/where is the angle for the scam? If they don't show, they don't show. This isn't a rhetorical question, I would like your opinion on this.

Usually if you call their bluff it's a no show. Occasionally a vendor will appear with legitimate samples to convince you that's what they have. There may also be some nice brochures, even some nice factory photos. Customer orders and receives pieces of wood, lovingly boxed. Occasionally a customer will get taken to a factory by a vendor. The factory may have nothing to do with the vendor (apart from occasional agent) but completes the ruse. For COD scams they can be anything from upfront shipping costs to urgent customs documentation or declarations. Something that will push a few $ their way.

It's naive to think that there's no skill involved. If you're successful that thought will change pretty sharpish.

Anyway branded China brands. Cheaper in HK, there's no tax to contend with here. Look at Xiaomi. A shortage of these even in China and Hong Kong. If they could get legitimate models in SEG there'd be queues for the place. The reality is SEG and Huaqianbei is the quietest it's been for a long time.

[flameproof]

Consider to come to HK when the Electronics Spring Fair is on some time in April. The pad/phone market is full of scams, but they don't have booths at fairs. The top brand China maker will not be there, but many smaller makers.

[hullexile]

I work for a large organisation though in a totally unrelated field. We operate successfully in many countries making nice profits. Except China where we have been operating since 2003 and only just started to make a significant return. My point, it is very easy to see the opportunities in China but much harder to reap the benefits. Even the experienced struggle to start with and most of us get burned early on, you must expect this. Hong Kong is much easier, we made millions. Posters on here are not being argumentative or unnecessarily negative. They are trying to help based on their experience. If you choose to arrogantly ignore that then that is your choice.

[Drunken Master]

OP: mobile phones are cheaper in HK. even Mainlanders come to HK to buy.

[jimbo]

OP: mobile phones are cheaper in HK. even Mainlanders come to HK to buy.

Yup and there's less likely to be fakes here too.

[GlobalExport]

Usually if you call their bluff it's a no show. Occasionally a vendor will appear with legitimate samples to convince you that's what they have. There may also be some nice brochures, even some nice factory photos. Customer orders and receives pieces of wood, lovingly boxed. Occasionally a customer will get taken to a factory by a vendor. The factory may have nothing to do with the vendor (apart from occasional agent) but completes the ruse. For COD scams they can be anything from upfront shipping costs to urgent customs documentation or declarations. Something that will push a few $ their way.

It's naive to think that there's no skill involved. If you're successful that thought will change pretty sharpish.

Anyway branded China brands. Cheaper in HK, there's no tax to contend with here. Look at Xiaomi. A shortage of these even in China and Hong Kong. If they could get legitimate models in SEG there'd be queues for the place. The reality is SEG and Huaqianbei is the quietest it's been for a long time.

Ok, Point received

Are the phones being sold at Chungking Mansions or other HK electronics markets generally sourced from a better place than the phones sold at the SEG markets?