Posted January 28th, 2013 - 3:54 pm by 
from Sofia, Bulgaria (Permalink)
from Sofia, Bulgaria (Permalink)It's a great idea, and I wish you all the best with it. A few things to bear in mind though ...
You need to make enough profit each time to fund the next leg of your trip, so you need to invest enough and make a big enough margin. This means potentially carrying quite a lot of stuff from one country to the next. If you get stopped by customs officials, which will happen eventually, there is a strong possibility they will ask you to pay import duty.
You're generally only allowed to carry a small amount of stuff for personal use without paying import duty. If it's for commercial use, or over a certain value, you should pay the local taxes when you bring it in.
This is not nat on your profit, it's import duty on everything you bring in, even if you don't sell it. So you need to carry enough cash to pay this before you have sold your stuff.
Another issue is that if you take something from A to B, and something from B to C, and something from C to D, it's likely that someone else already had the same idea. Carrying something special from A directly to D is often more profitable. The key is simply to buy in poor countries and sell in rich ones. You need to do a lot of research in advance about what things cost in different places, what people actually want, and why nobody else is already doing what you plan.
And then you have to actually buy/sell stuff, and that takes a lot of time. For me, exploring out of the way places to find exceptional products might be a lot of fun. But it's not 'tourism,' and you might wish you had more time for sightseeing.
Once you have your products, and get them across the border, how are you going to sell them? Do you have a work permit and street-trader license in every country you plan to visit? Can you afford to be arrested for running an illegal business (in violation of the conditions of your visa) even just once?
Or you might try to sell directly to some local business. That's a lot less risky, but the profit margin will be a lot lower. You will need to carry more goods, which costs more money, and what will you do if nobody wants to buy them?
I think at best, you can hope to supplement your savings by selling small quantities of any unique product you discover along your way, or you can make more money if you have established suppliers and customers and can make regular trips between them.
You're in Indonesia, and many people successfully import from your country to richer places. Why not put some work into finding sources of products you think people will want to buy, then go overseas to find customers and have your supplier at home send the products directly. Visit eg small stores in western cities and persuade them they want to buy 100 of something from someone you know back home.
That way, you only have to carry a few samples and can avoid a lot of hassle.
Best of luck with it. At least you're trying to do something. Keep searching and you will find a way.
You need to make enough profit each time to fund the next leg of your trip, so you need to invest enough and make a big enough margin. This means potentially carrying quite a lot of stuff from one country to the next. If you get stopped by customs officials, which will happen eventually, there is a strong possibility they will ask you to pay import duty.
You're generally only allowed to carry a small amount of stuff for personal use without paying import duty. If it's for commercial use, or over a certain value, you should pay the local taxes when you bring it in.
This is not nat on your profit, it's import duty on everything you bring in, even if you don't sell it. So you need to carry enough cash to pay this before you have sold your stuff.
Another issue is that if you take something from A to B, and something from B to C, and something from C to D, it's likely that someone else already had the same idea. Carrying something special from A directly to D is often more profitable. The key is simply to buy in poor countries and sell in rich ones. You need to do a lot of research in advance about what things cost in different places, what people actually want, and why nobody else is already doing what you plan.
And then you have to actually buy/sell stuff, and that takes a lot of time. For me, exploring out of the way places to find exceptional products might be a lot of fun. But it's not 'tourism,' and you might wish you had more time for sightseeing.
Once you have your products, and get them across the border, how are you going to sell them? Do you have a work permit and street-trader license in every country you plan to visit? Can you afford to be arrested for running an illegal business (in violation of the conditions of your visa) even just once?
Or you might try to sell directly to some local business. That's a lot less risky, but the profit margin will be a lot lower. You will need to carry more goods, which costs more money, and what will you do if nobody wants to buy them?
I think at best, you can hope to supplement your savings by selling small quantities of any unique product you discover along your way, or you can make more money if you have established suppliers and customers and can make regular trips between them.
You're in Indonesia, and many people successfully import from your country to richer places. Why not put some work into finding sources of products you think people will want to buy, then go overseas to find customers and have your supplier at home send the products directly. Visit eg small stores in western cities and persuade them they want to buy 100 of something from someone you know back home.
That way, you only have to carry a few samples and can avoid a lot of hassle.
Best of luck with it. At least you're trying to do something. Keep searching and you will find a way.
Posted January 28th, 2013 - 3:56 pm by from Sofia, Bulgaria (Permalink)
from Sofia, Bulgaria (Permalink)Or look for cool and unusual products everywhere you go, keep a blog, and build an online store. Then you can build up a following of people who will buy stuff from your worldwide network of suppliers, and ship to wherever the customers are.
There's a book called The 4-hr Workwee which has a lot of good advice on this kind of topic. The author is a bit of an arsehole (just my opinion) but he says a lot of smart things too.
There's a book called The 4-hr Workwee which has a lot of good advice on this kind of topic. The author is a bit of an arsehole (just my opinion) but he says a lot of smart things too.
Posted January 31st, 2013 - 7:06 am by 
from Pembroke Pines, United States (Permalink)
from Pembroke Pines, United States (Permalink)Good advice .. One need to be very careful doing this kind of stuff in countries you are visiting. Times are tuff in US now too. Folks just buy from big stores in US who gets thing made in China/Philipines/thailand etc and one can not compete with them. Keep in mind grass always looks greener on the other side. Once you get on the other side then the reality sets in.
Just something to think about.
Regards
Vin
Just something to think about.
Regards
Vin
