Becoming a Distributor

[XJ75]

I've recently discovered a collection of products available in the USA which I think have a lot of potential. It's quite niche, so is never going to make millions, but at the moment it's only available with shipping from the USA (international shipping costs $13, which is ~30% of what most of the products cost).

It's a one-man-band operation in the US, but I was considering offering to become sole distributor for the UK (and possibly Europe).

I have good experience with e-commerce and used to be a web developer, so I can setup a professional e-commerce site easily.

I'm just wondering if there's anything I need to consider before approaching the owner? I guess there's an argument whether or not a UK distributor is even required, $13 to have it shipped from the USA isn't a huge amount of money.

Thanks in advance.

[Ean218]

Shipping stuff from the US is expensive, particularly if it is bulky.

One man band sellers don't tend to factor in any margin for distributors and having already set a market price for their product makes it difficult to charge much more.

Add on any possible duty plus 20% VAT and you soon end up way over the sellers US price.

So, would the product still sell in the UK at a sensible price for you?

[XJ75]

It's not a particularly bulky item, in fact it's relatively small. I've ordered one for myself anyway so I'll see how small it is when all packaged up.

Pricing would probably be the sticking point. I would have to be selling at less than the USA + $13 shipping to attract any interest, but I don't think he would be able to sell at much less to make it worth his while.

[ModernAndy]

XJ75 said:

It's not a particularly bulky item, in fact it's relatively small. I've ordered one for myself anyway so I'll see how small it is when all packaged up.

Pricing would probably be the sticking point. I would have to be selling at less than the USA + $13 shipping to attract any interest, but I don't think he would be able to sell at much less to make it worth his while.

There's going to be a lead time ordering from the USA so you could take advantage of that. I would happily pay a lot more for something I don't need to wait ages for if it's something I really want.

[XJ75]

I guess the alternative is to come up with another product. There's no patent filed and it's an incredibly simple concept. One could argue that this is a little unethical however.

[Dr Interceptor]

Order one, have a look at it.
Copy the idea, and improve on it slightly.
Get the Chinese to make you 1000 of them for pennies.
Sell it on your website with a lovely margin.

[smifffymoto]

I was interested in Sleekez brushes for horses but the women in the US was worse than useless so I gave up.I think her home market had so much potential she couldn't be bothered with the rest of the world.

[sideways sid]

Is the product made in the US or China?

If China, try to find where and buy direct from the same supplier.

However, on a more cautious note, why hasn't the US company already started exploiting the UK market if there is so much potential?

[bazza white]

Worth a chat but some smaller companies get overexcited and think the uk customer base is the same size as the American customer base and expect orders as such. Be upfront and tell them straight and you could have a good relationship.


Have a chat see how many you can get on a pallet if small and price up as such and have a think.

[DSLiverpool]

XJ75 said:

I would have to be selling at less than the USA + $13 shipping to attract any interest, but I don't think he would be able to sell at much less to make it worth his while.

Why ? why do you have to undercut a hardly marketed product that you can make infinitely more "visible" to the target market.

I would set myself a goal of selling it better for more.

Shipping over from USA - loads of companies allow you to have a USA address for the supplier and collate items ready for a once a week UK shipment - could work out cheaper.