mini importation.
Mini importation is not as difficult as people make it look. In fact what
people call mini importation, is online shopping in ordinary terms. It is
synonymous to buying from konga.com or jumia.com. The only thing that
makes us call this one importation is because in this case; the shop you are
buying from is not in this country it might even be from outside Africa. To
become a good mini importer, all you need to do is to follow these steps.
1. Know what you want: this is very important, but a lot of people fail to
recognize this fact and then they fail into problems during transactions.
Online shopping companies at all times provides us with a large pool of goods
in whatever area you are interested in. If you are not specific on what you
want from a particular shopping company, you might end up getting confused
and at the end you lose your money –because you paid for what you don’t
like.
2. Check the description: do not be in a hurry to add a particular item to
your shopping cart without first checking the description. Many online
shopping companies have short description for any item that is up for sale.
When next you are surfing for an item you need in a shopping site, please try
and check its description and be convinced that this is actually what you
want to buy.
3. Build a relationship with the seller: This is very important step in
purchasing goods online. Many a time people make the mistake of paying for a
product without making necessary inquiries from the supplier about the
product. And at the end they fall for fake goods or a fake supplier.
Whenever you want to buy a particular product, it is paramount that you
establish a strong relationship, between you and the supplier. You can
achieve this by either calling his mobile or sending him messages through the
online shopping site. Note that not all shopping site accepts a third party
payment, some of them sell goods directly to the buyer. Whenever you are in
a site that sells directly to its customer, try and read its agreement before
sale. In this agreement, there is a provision that gives you a specific amount
of time to access the goods before accepting it. For those other sites that
allows third party payment, please make sure you request to pay through
third party. Third party payment allows you to inspect the item on sale
before finalizing the deal. So be wise!
4. Bargaining: as a business man or woman you are most interested in
maximizing profits, so you should be looking for a place where you can get
items at the most reduced cost. It is not bad to bargain. When you see the
price for a particular product, don’t just rush to place an order without
bargaining with the seller. Make sure the price you are getting such product
is the cheapest you can find. Other business men or women likes those who
bargain, it shows that the person understand what business is. So, don’t be
afraid. Bargain!
5. Shipping: this is the last and most vital step. No matter how smart you
have been in the market, if you goods do not get to you, then you have not
made any reasonable transaction. Yes, you can meet your supplier for the
shipping details available. I will still try to throw more light on the
shipping requirements. UPS covers so many places, but it is very expensive to
ship with, so be careful. DHL does not cover many areas, but in case you
location is included in places it can ship to; DHL is cheaper and also fast.
Both UPS and DHL do not take more than three days before one receive his
parcel. China post is the cheapest to ship with, but it takes up to 30 days
for one to receive his parcel. If you are buying from china you can consider
using shipping companies like CHRISVICMALL INTERNATIONAL, you can pay in
naira, it is cheap to ship through them and you parcel would take just about
7 days to get to you. If you are buying from the U.S you can buy from
CIRCUIT ATLANTIC, they buy goods for you from whichever online shopping
company, then they add the cost of shipping to the cost of goods and they
deliver goods in 7 days also; moreover you can pay in naira.
Online shopping companies you can import from.
www.aliexpress.com : they act as a third party agent between the buyer
and the supplier. This is where you get Chinese product at its cheapest rate.
You can also get products from other countries, but it might not be as cheap
as Chinese product.
www.amazon.com : they sell all variety of goods from electronics to books
both old and new. But they are cheaper for American products.
www.ebay.com : eBay is an online auction site, they specialize in auctioning,
and so to make purchase from them you would have to carefully study its
auction market.
www.dhgate.com : this site is very similar to the aliexpress.com; it
operates like aliexpress and has all the features of aliexpress.
www.ipmart.com this site mainly sell phone, it is easy to use and offers
very cheap products.
They are numerous online shopping sites, available in every part of the
world, though I always advise people to stick with the one that works for
them. Thanks
If you have any question or you want clarification about anything, go to:
www.emmjoach..com and fill the contact form. Please remember to
state your problem in the form.

For you to be successful in importation business and to avoid being duped by any foreign seller, you must have an adequate knowledge of:
Import operations.
Import management.
Import documentations.
Methods of payment in import business e.g Letter of Credit (L/C)
For more information, check out these links:
http://tectono..com/2014/09/nigeria-business-review-in-conjunction_6.html
http://tectono..com/2014/09/nigeria-business-review-in-conjunction.html