How do I import from Thailand?

Question

I have found a manufacturer of really nice items, candles, vases and so on in Thailand. But I have never imported before. How do I do that? Can I just use UPS....? I am very new to this......can I get is sent right to my business.....?

Answer 1

I am not an importer of these items, but we have imported bicycles, parts, etc from Asia.

The process is not as difficult as you would think. You do not typically use UPS because they are expensive. You want to find a shipping company that can help you from start to finish.

Take a look at http://www.3pl.com. You can find a third party logistics company here -- '3PL' -- is an obvious acronym once you look at it and easy to remember.

Also, you can post what your needs are and have vendors respond to you. However, be prepared to be inundated with responses, some good, some bad.

We found a great company to provide all of our warehousing space through this system and are very happy with the results thus far.

We are a small business and began selling 'team building' games that focus on communication, leadership, etc. after 9/11 because our main source of business -- facilitation -- crashed horribly.

In the beginning, we were very small and simply shipped out of a garage using UPS (VERY handy with their Worldship software).

However, after a time, we began selling quite a bit and it became too much. We began looking to open a warehouse, but that meant a LOT of overhead and new staff just for our side business of the products. A friend in the bicycle industry turned us on to 3PL and now we have everything shipped through a huge warehouse filled with staff around the clock in Dallas, TX. They automatically receive our orders and fulfill them without us doing anything. Also, we have a simply inventory system in our on-line shopping cart and they update it with each sale so we know when we are low.

You can see our 'store' at www.buildingteams.com and my wife's company at www.dinnerinabag.com. She also uses a 3PL provider to ship her frozen food.

We still manufacture everything in our shop, but that is nothing like having to maintain a warehouse full of stock. Or our garage!!

So if you grow, this might be a solution for you.

The company we use, and like very much, is Triangle Network. Here is their contact information:
Richard Hillebrand
Operations Manager
Triangle Network
Fort Worth
817-490-6600 x653

If they cannot help you import, they can probably help you find a reputable vendor.

By the way -- the shipping industry is VERY shady! Filled with lots of characters that will give you a good deal on shipping but not be the shipper at all. Be very careful of cheap deals.

Back to some direct answers for you about the actual shipping.

I am assuming a fairly large amount of items shipped on a pallet. The items that are imported will be shipped to warehouse and you will be responsible to pick it up there, most of the time.

If you want the items shipped directly to you door, prepare to pay quite a bit and most trucking companies will only ship on pallets, so if you don't have a loading dock, which I doubt, then you will have a few problems. I have had large items trucked to my house, but they insist you keep everything -- the pallet, shipping materials, etc. and will not take it back with them.

That being said, I rarely run into problems with the warehouse people letting you pull your boxes off the pallet to put in the back of a truck or van and leaving the pallet and garbage in their dumpster. But you never know.

I hope that helps, even if just a little bit. It can be a scary endeavor, but if you just start moving forward you will see it is fairly easy.

Best of luck!

Answer 2

If you are planning to start a business importing items into the USA, I suggest you read the following US Bureau of Custom's papers

Importing into the United States: A Practical Guide for Commercial Importers http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/toolbox/publications/trade/iius.ctt/iius.pdf -- this is a 200-page document that tells you the eligible items you can import and the invoices required, among other things
How Cargo Flows Securely into the US http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/import/cargo_summary/cargo_flow_map.ctt/cargo_flow_map.pdf
US Embassy (look at the last page as it has a good link of websites for additional info) http://canada.usembassy.gov/content/can_usa/borderissues_brochure.pdf

Other websites worth checking are:

CMTAC Trade Information Database http://latrade.cmtac.org/trade_info/index.cfm
Dont's of Importing http://www.gattiassociates.com/CM/Articles/Articles1277.asp
Flowchart of the export process http://www.export.gov/exportbasics/index.asp
Going Global http://www.going-global.com/articles/

These trade association websites also have loads of information on how to start an export import business:

Federation of International Trade Association http://fita.org/index.html
Professional Association of Exporters and Importers http://www.paei.org/
You may also want to check out the following books:

- Import/Export: How to Get Started in International Trade
- Exporting, Importing, and Beyond : How to 'Go Global' With Your Small Business
- Selling to the World: Your Fast and Easy Guide to Exporting and Importing
- Start and Run a Profitable Exporting Business
- Start Your Own Import/Export Business