How do I go about buying directly from the importer who supplies the state distributors? Call them?
Replying To [jadedev]:If you know who they are are, call them.
The big thing is what premium the brand puts on the control of their supply chain.
Ranger
Me Tech Supply
ME Tech Supply a D. B. A provides sourcing solutions for both small and medium sized businesses. We are members of the GSAA whose Agents have verified more than 2. 5 million companies World WideWe offer low cos...
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Wow... that is something new. So do you mean only the company that is the authorised importer can import that brand. Anyone else trying to import the same brand will have their goods seized by customs?
How else do you think the brand name company that invests in developing that brand and product can make money????
If everyone could just go direct to their supplier and buy the product that they spent money developing and then on-sell that with no money going back to the brand name company that established that product then there would be no brand name product.
Think of it this way. Imagine that you invested ten's of thousands or even hundred's of thousands of dollars in developing a product and marketing that product in your market in Australia. Only to find out that you competitor went to your factory and bought your product without wearing any of those costs and then sold it for much cheaper in your market than you possibly could after wearing all of those costs!!!
Distributors licences work two-fold for brand name companies:
1. they bring in a lot of money which is what business is all about and why brand names spend so much time and money developing their names;
2. they enable local enforcement of trademark infringement down to the very small retailer in any given market that the brand name company could not possibly manage themselves. Their licenced distributors are the brand name companies eyes and ears. If the licenced distributor of a certain product visits a retailer in their area and finds that the retailer has a supply of the product that the licenced distributor never supplied then the brand name company knows that someone is doing the dirty.
It is really just common sense. If the brand name that you are considering has a good enough name for you to want to sell it then it should be worth the investment of getting the legal right to a licence to sell it.
Say a Swatch watch Australia is $45. ABC Pty Ltd is the importer for Australia. ABC appoint dealers in each states to sell these watches.
Say in a neighbouring country, XYZ Pty Ltd is the importer of the same watch. This guy is greedy and charges $200.
My question are:
a. can I go ABC Pty Ltd and buy from them, by passing the state dealers?
b. Once I buy the watches, can I then export to the neighbouring country and sell for less than 200?
I realise there are govt tax, etc etc involved but really, XYZ is really greedy and charges a lot.
So if I understand range correctly, the goods will be impounded by customs at the destination country because I am not the authorised importer for this particular brand, right?
If it is a SOLE distibutorship that the dude paid for then no I don;t think you can export into that market legally... But like I said I am not sure and Ranger or grigo might be slapping me upside the head on this answer.......
![[em3]](http://img.alibaba.com/images/eng/style/icon/emoticons_grin.gif){kind=icon}
Looks like I miht have to go to the dealer ship and pay "retail price" and ship over.
Technically, once you paid money at the shop, the product is yours and you can send it where ever you like. They can't stop you from doing that.
Replying to [jadedev]:
You can try and export it however that doesn't mean the buyer can import it.
First, let me say your talking about a brand name ie Swatch Watch. What you are calling an importer most likely is the brands licensed distributor in Australia. Which means they have an agreement with Swatch to be the sole marketer and distributor of their products in Australia or even the Oceania region.
This area is then protected from other distributors infringing on their region, as any other distributors of Swatch products would not have a licensed agreement to market distribute or sell in that area. Due to this agreement if customs raises the question of import and distribution rights you would then need to provide them with a document from Swatch that allows your distribution or resale of Swatch Brand name products. Take a look at the agreement at this site:
http://www.allbusiness.com/government/business-regulations-intellectual-property/152-1.html
While this a simple agreement it is similar in nature to a distribution agreement that the importer could be called upon to provide before goods from that brand name are allowed entrance.
Therefore if you want to sell the name brand product in another country it is best to broker the deal between the distributor in that country and the buyer from that country or set up a business in that country to resell products from that distributor. Where people get confused is importing generic items and brand names. To put it another way If you buy from a distributor, unless you have a contract with that distributor as a VAR you would not be considered a licensed re-seller of those products. Hence the importer would be unable to provide the document neccessary for import.
This is why cohesive supply chain logistics & mangement is so important to brand names.
For another typical re-seller agreement take a look at the webpage below, and pay cl;ose attention to article 6. Branding.
http://www.resellerspanel.com/terms/reseller_agreement.html
This should answer all of your questions.
Ranger
Me Tech Supply
ME Tech Supply a D. B. A provides sourcing solutions for both small and medium sized businesses. We are members of the GSAA whose Agents have verified more than 2. 5 million companies World WideWe offer low cos...
More
I guess what I need to do is to find out what sort of licensing requirements etc etc are required in the destination country.
Some countries are pretty relax and some grease money goes a long way, he he he. AWB and Iraq ring any bell, anyone?
Another option would be to approach a few distributors and see if you can get a decent deal there. It is important that you only deal with businesses who will supply genuine goods. If you buy from one of the many manufacturers of fake products, you could end up spending a lot of money on something that is worthless.