What country is best for buying merchandises?

Question

Hi all,
Well I have several thousends to invest and I consider to travel to some country and buy merchandise..and then resell it.
However I still hesitate what to be the merchandise...give some ideas please? Like gold from Dubai? Cars from Germany? I am from Europe so I need place around europe....because the travel might be too expensive for commercial purposes.

Thanks alot! ;)

Answer 1

First, and most important, what could you best sell once you got it? Second, and real close in importance, is what legal (even moral or ethical) considerations are there?

So there are piles of things out there that people want, but do you have contacts with companies that want the things you've found? Even in your own store, do you know what your customers are, or could be, interested in? Can you get it at reasonable prices, especially after transportation, tarriffs, and other regulations are considered?

Which comes to the next matter, can you legally import (or export) that item? Should you? There are some cars that the US government won't let in. There have been times and places where other governments wouldn't let American cars in, or at least directly. As difficult as the US is for business, I hear that the EU can be much worse. There are gems that will cost extra in taxes (tarriffs and excises). There are gems, such as the blood diamonds from various African countries, where gangs steal them from villagers, chopping off hands of uncooperative people, or of unfortunates that are simply used as an example to cow the rest of the people, so they can sell those stones abroad. Of course, there are places ranging from Afghanistan to Columbia where the principle export is drugs, and we aren't talking sophisticated pharmaceuticals. Even for the pharmaceuticals, not every medicine is approved in the US and not every US medicine is approved in every other nation. And, of course, the US has a constant problem with foreign plants and animals that got away and did damage (from starlings and russian thisle to snakehead fish, zebra snails, and kudzu). The EU isn't much different.

Pick your target customer. Check the deliverability and price. Check the rules. Check for reasonability. Beyond that, the global community is open for you. Check out Ghana for sub-Saharan Africa. Check out Morocco for arab Africa. Look at Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan for Asian business contacts. For Latin America, try Panama, Argentina, Chile, the Dominican Republic, and even Puerto Rico. Panama and Guyana have some excellent tropical hardwoods but the better carvers might be in Costa Rica or Peru.

Of course some places are worthless to look at. Haiti needs the business, but has nothing to offer. Bulgaria has capable people and fairly steady economy but bad crime and an industrial infrastructure that was gutted by party bosses when communism fell. Romania, on the other hand, was intentially impoverished during communism to cow the people, so like Haiti they need the business but have little to offer (and little to help them deliver if they did). Check out Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania (and maybe Moldova or Monte *****) if you are interested in things closer to home.