[Saladin]

Hey guys, this is my first post here. I've been lurking the forums and reading G Manifesto's blogs for a while now. I"m a senior in high school but I'm strapped for cash because I haven't had a real job ever. I have mostly just made some cash selling homework in the past and otherwise have just wasted any allowances I've gotten.

Me and a couple of my genius Arab friends have been working on an online business idea, but its more a of a long term thing. Its something that would require 30-40K in startup funding and it would take a fairly long time to raise cash for it. If anybody here on the forums wants to critique it, I'll happily send it over to you.

I need to save up 2-3 k up for summer so I've been looking into various options. A couple of my friends in Toronto want to resell titanium bracelets. My friends school teacher sells them in class and generates a lot of sales. He sells them for 15 dollars each. People seem to believe it makes you stronger which seems to be a bunch of pseudoscience shit. He wants to sell it to us for 12 dollars each, which we know is a ripoff. Are there any suggestions on how to get to his supplier? These bracelets sell for 40 dollars online so we think we could sell it for 25 or 30 dollars in the right crowd(rich girls?).

We're buying 3 bracelets tommorow to try selling them, and see if they sell. If they do we'll buy a larger amount next time and see how that goes. We're thinking of trying to negotiate a bulk price of 10 dollars for 10 of them. It would best if we could get a supplier, as I know he's getting them for cheaper. This guy would never sell it to us unless he's making a decent profit. Its also possible that we could threaten to reveal his hustling to some news agencies. After all, its not everyday that you see a teacher making thousands selling his products in the classroom. What course of action should we take in this case?

[HD668B]

http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?Sear...t_en&fsb=y

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incoterm#Summary_of_terms

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_credit

Voilà.

[Saladin]

(11-21-2010 10:58 PM)LÉtranger Wrote:  

http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?Sear...t_en&fsb=y

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incoterm#Summary_of_terms

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_credit

Voilà.

Hmmmm, buying from China would require I get a business license and I would have to buy in bulk. Right now, I just want to sell them in schools. The fact is that I'd rather try buying from a local supplier and selling it with no overhead costs out of my bag. The costs of getting a license and hiring a lawyer is rather significant for something that is so risky.

Regardless, thank you for posting those links. That was some good intel that may help me in the future.

[HD668B]

Jeez and I thought America was all about freedom. In Canada one can import up to 30k$ on its own behalf. For the custom brokerage a private company asked me 200$ to open an account and deal with all the paperwork (PM for the company). Think big or go home.

[Vacancier Permanent]

Torontokid,
first of all welcome on board. It's great that you have en entrepreneurial desire at such a young age. You're on the right track bro to make it big. Start first with your school then go big. No need to blackmail your teacher, you have a good idea with those bracelets. You can easily have them done or imported from China for cheap. Go for it man.
L'etranger, I'd be interested in that company's name as I'm looking into possibly setting up as well an import company from Asia to Canada/US. So shoot me a pm with that company's info.

Merci.

[hydrogonian]

(11-21-2010 04:55 PM)torontokid Wrote:  

Hey guys, this is my first post here. I've been lurking the forums and reading G Manifesto's blogs for a while now. I"m a senior in high school but I'm strapped for cash because I haven't had a real job ever. I have mostly just made some cash selling homework in the past and otherwise have just wasted any allowances I've gotten.

Me and a couple of my genius Arab friends have been working on an online business idea, but its more a of a long term thing. Its something that would require 30-40K in startup funding and it would take a fairly long time to raise cash for it. If anybody here on the forums wants to critique it, I'll happily send it over to you.

I need to save up 2-3 k up for summer so I've been looking into various options. A couple of my friends in Toronto want to resell titanium bracelets. My friends school teacher sells them in class and generates a lot of sales. He sells them for 15 dollars each. People seem to believe it makes you stronger which seems to be a bunch of pseudoscience shit. He wants to sell it to us for 12 dollars each, which we know is a ripoff. Are there any suggestions on how to get to his supplier? These bracelets sell for 40 dollars online so we think we could sell it for 25 or 30 dollars in the right crowd(rich girls?).

We're buying 3 bracelets tommorow to try selling them, and see if they sell. If they do we'll buy a larger amount next time and see how that goes. We're thinking of trying to negotiate a bulk price of 10 dollars for 10 of them. It would best if we could get a supplier, as I know he's getting them for cheaper. This guy would never sell it to us unless he's making a decent profit. Its also possible that we could threaten to reveal his hustling to some news agencies. After all, its not everyday that you see a teacher making thousands selling his products in the classroom. What course of action should we take in this case?

Blackmailing your teacher is a bad, bad road to go down. First, I HIGHLY doubt that he's making thousands. Second, as a general rule of life, its extremely bad practice to try to hold leverage over others, especially when you weren't involved in the business to begin with. Both as a matter of ethics and as a matter of principle as a man. Its called character. Unless someone is hurting you, or others, you should never, ever dime anyone out. Their business is their own. Third, it's likely that it's illegal to blackmail him in such a way, and your penalty for doing so would likely exceed his penalty for selling bracelets.

Next, if the current market price for the bracelets is $15, the $10 per bracelet is entirely too high of a wholesale cost to make a profit with low enough risk. You should be looking for between 4-8x minimum markup for any product. Especially if you have to stock the product.

If your running a business, you technically need a license. But you can probably get away with not having one for this limited venture (but not if your importing). I highly doubt that you would need attorney services, either way. Research how to set up a business yourself, in your country, online. You probably just need to register with the tax authority.

There are likely multitudes of suppliers for these bracelets. You may have to import thousands of bracelets to make it cost efficient from China. You want to test your business model first. Get a hold of a small amount of bracelets, from a middle man, even if you don't make much of a profit or even take a loss. You have to see if you have the ability to sell them at the required price point first. Then see what the best wholesale deal that you can get is. If the markup is in the required range, then you will know that its a viable idea.

[Saladin]

Hmm, yeah I see your point about not blackmailing the teacher. He's just trying to make money for himself and could be a useful person to help us in the future. While what he may be doing is unethical(using his classroom as a place to sell) I don't think it warrants us trying to do something like that.

L'Étranger,

I didn't know that you could import 30K on your own. Thanks for that piece of amazing information.

hydrogonian,

Thanks for your advise. I agree with you, the blackmail idea is an awful idea. I will test the business idea and then see how much I can import it for. If the markup is high enough, then I'll consider getting the business license.

Vacancier Permanent,

Thanks for the encouragement. This forum has a great deal of amazing information that is useful, and the people here are true g's.

[rudebwoy]

Hey Torontokid how do you like Toronto? I am in the west end (suburbs).

[kimleebj]

(11-22-2010 09:19 PM)torontokid Wrote:  

buying from China would require I get a business license

No, just contact suppliers on Alibaba or Ebay. If you don't want to buy in bulk, then offer them a better price for 10 or 20. When you buy them for just a couple dollars apiece, it's not a huge risk. You could also just buy leather cord or chains from a hobby shop and make them yourself. Sell them at flea markets.

You don't need paperwork for a sole proprietorship. Your teacher doesn't have (or need) a business license! Seriously, if this stops you then you don't have any initiative.

[Saladin]

(11-24-2010 07:56 AM)kimleebj Wrote:  

(11-22-2010 09:19 PM)torontokid Wrote:  

buying from China would require I get a business license

No, just contact suppliers on Alibaba or Ebay. If you don't want to buy in bulk, then offer them a better price for 10 or 20. When you buy them for just a couple dollars apiece, it's not a huge risk. You could also just buy leather cord or chains from a hobby shop and make them yourself. Sell them at flea markets.

You don't need paperwork for a sole proprietorship. Your teacher doesn't have (or need) a business license! Seriously, if this stops you then you don't have any initiative.

Yep, I've realized that. I'll test the business model by selling it for a small profit. If I come to the conclusion that it works I'll import from Alibaba or ebay.

[Saladin]

(11-23-2010 11:50 PM)rudebwoy Wrote:  

Hey Torontokid how do you like Toronto? I am in the west end (suburbs).

I like Toronto especially because of the number of people here. It allows me to practice my game in malls comfortably knowing i'll never see these girls again if I fail.