Many sellers know Japanese markets are famous for its particular and high quality demand.

So they said, when they deal with Japanese buyers, they quote higher price, it seems they would earn big profits on that order, but finally, they found it left little profits. Because Japanese buyers are very particular about the quality and every detail, including all kinds of safety certificate requirements. They inspect the goods very strict, and the goods have to be remade or improved again and again before delivery.

 

I knew this fact many years ago. But I didn’t have so many chances to deal with Japanese buyers.So I don’t exclude Japanese buyers, because I feel they are serious and cautious. But this is good business attitude.

 

One month ago, I got to know a Japan buyer.

At the beginning, he asked me to source some electronic products.

 

He also sincere said,
“Do not worry, we will place order. And we have no intention to use you as an info desk (we do not know anybody in China). We want to work with you with many projects and hope that you can be a good sourcing agent for us. We would like to have mutual and 'long term' business relationship.”

 

 

Because one of the main products we handl are electronic products. So it is easy for me to source these items. I provided him with all the information he needed immediately, he agreed the prices, confirm the order quantity and other details. But we had the problem with the payment way. He wanted to pay by paypal, but we didn’t have paypal account, so I suggested him to pay to my Australia associate’s paypal account.

When we solve the paypal problem, he cancelled the order due to some reasons.

He said as follows:

“This has nothing to do with payment, or your reputation/references. As i said, the pen are of good quality, but trouble with FM. May be the wire system, or the many mountainous parts of cities in Japan is causing trouble regarding FM reception signals. But in the end, customers were not happy, even tough the mp3 was working very well. So please, your reputation is not at stake here. Just trying to look for something else, that we could do in the next step to break the ice.”

 

He asked me to recommend him other products we sell, he will check the possibilities of the cooperation. I provided him with some more products. And he chose one model- aluminum laptop tables. He is very glad to see such a useful product. So when we went further some details, he found he has the problem with the Japan customs about this product. Japan customs ask 22% tax when buyers import home furniture. He found little profits to import them.

He felt awkard, as he didn’t want to waste my time again. And he really wanted to start the cooperation with me on some projects. He felt I am a reliable person to deal with and I think I gave him the good impression.

 

I continued to offer him some more nice items including the fashion laptop bags. He and his partner are quite interested in them and also worked on this product hard.

 

I reminded him about any safety certificate of the bags required.

At that time, he didn’t realize it would be a big hamper due to the certificate. We went further and further. he finally chose the designs after he visited some customers. When we finally settle the sampling order, he said to me as follows:

“A medium size wholesaler and few shops told my wife that they would not be interested in no certification products. According to them, non certified goods have "no commercial value" and no market potential here in Japan, and no responsible shop or wholesaler would even try to handle non certified goods. The same is for toys, consumers electronics, shoes..... except few areas.”

 

 

And my business partner told me to give up Japan markets. He said, although the buyer may be willing to pay to get the safety certificate. But they are quite particular about every detail. It will give you a lot of troubles, it will spend you many times and efforts, even you will lose money at last.

 

I just felt depressed. This is not about I work in vain after so many efforts and times, but the problem is that I found it is so hard to sell to Japan markets, even I tried my best to cooperate. Even I sell to USA, UK, France, it is still much easier than sell to Japan.

 

Maybe someday I will sell to Japan markets successfully and smoothly when I am ready!

 It is too long,  most of readers will give up after opening this article. Maybe your business email is same. I don't think it is a good way.

From your words, I think the main problem is your Japanese client. It seems they don't know what products they are professional to, they don't have a focus. And they don't know about the products well before your searching. It isn't your fault, don't be so depressed.

My advice is you should make some investigations and then recommend proper and popular  products in Japan to him. Good luck.

Good attitude of below seller to japan...

never give up fully ....

rest,

re think new strategies,

see how others might be doing it,

and

see how you fit in.


it will take some time, yes.


but dont give up.


it can be good to know

that you can do, what others cant, or wont.


k

Quoting from [hellojasmine]:

Many sellers know Japanese markets are famous for its particular and high quality demand.

So they said, when they deal with Japanese buyers, they quote higher price, it seems they would earn big profits on that order, but finally, they found it left little profits. Because Japanese buyers are very particular about the quality and every detail, including all kinds of safety certificate requirements. They inspect the goods very strict, and the goods have to be remade or improved again and again before delivery.

I knew this fact many years ago. But I didn’t have so many chances to deal with Japanese buyers.So I don’t exclude Japanese buyers, because I feel they are serious and cautious. But this is good business attitude.

ossibilities of the cooperation. I provided him with some more products. And he chose one model- 

I just felt depressed. This is not about I work in vain after so many efforts and times, but the problem is that I found it is so hard to sell to Japan markets, even I tried my best to cooperate. Even I sell to USA, UK, France, it is still much easier than sell to Japan.

Maybe someday I will sell to Japan markets successfully and smoothly when I am ready!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah , Japanese customer are often hard to cooperate . Believe yourself , never give up . nothing is impossilble .

It is not very hard to sell to Japan if you have the products they want at a good price. It is true that the Japanese is very strict on the quality of the products, but they don't always cancel the order when the product didn't meet the exact quality.

Japan customs is more restrict than many countries. You really have to do lots research on your products on what are the conditions to exported to Japan . Otherwise you will waste lots time. 

Is there a particular product you want to sell to Japan? Maybe our company can help you find a buyer.

You are right. A lot of  research are required before start to do something, or it waste time and efforts only! 

But I think my situation is a little different. If I work as a trading company, I should have known which countries I can sell my goods properly. But I work as a sourcing agency, when the buyers come to me, they inform what they looked for, and we help to source or to handle.

The main problem of this story is my Japan buyer didn't know his market well, he never import from China, but I was happy to help him to start the import when he told me this.

In fact, the profit is not bad if we can work with any Japan buyers. But they require really good quality and many kinds of certificates required. So many factories don't past the inspection and need to reproduces or improved. Thus the factories complaint that no profits leave.

I don't have any special products to sell to Japan, because I work as a sourcing agency, we contact many kinds of products almost everyday.

I am also interested to export the goods to CA if the products we are handling fit for you.

If you are interested in, pls contact me. My website is there.

Quoting from [deepblue]:

 It is too long,  most of readers will give up after opening this article. Maybe your business email is same. I don't think it is a good way.

From your words, I think the main problem is your Japanese client. It seems they don't know what products they are professional to, they don't have a focus. And they don't know about the products well before your searching. It isn't your fault, don't be so depressed.

My advice is you should make some investigations and then recommend proper and popular  products in Japan to him. Good luck.

Hi,Deepblue.

I realised finally that I wrote the long story everytime.

Because I tried to state clearly about the whole story.

Thanks for your advise.

I don't get used to write the email long, normally, the writing way I make  is: 1), 2), 3),4)..

They are business emails, no body want to read the long emails and but don't know what the brief the writer want to tell.

Anyway, thanks.

P.S.:  I was too busy to read the feedbacks after i post the topic. Sorry for the late reply

 

Quoting from [hellojasmine]:

You are right. A lot of  research are required before start to do something, or it waste time and efforts only! 

But I think my situation is a little different. If I work as a trading company, I should have known which countries I can sell my goods properly. But I work as a sourcing agency, when the buyers come to me, they inform what they looked for, and we help to source or to handle.

The main problem of this story is my Japan buyer didn't know his market well, he never import from China, but I was happy to help him to start the import when he told me this.

In fact, the profit is not bad if we can work with any Japan buyers. But they require really good quality and many kinds of certificates required. So many factories don't past the inspection and need to reproduces or improved. Thus the factories complaint that no profits leave.

I don't have any special products to sell to Japan, because I work as a sourcing agency, we contact many kinds of products almost everyday.

I am also interested to export the goods to CA if the products we are handling fit for you.

If you are interested in, pls contact me. My website is there.

We are kind of a source agent too. We help our Japanese customers find manufacturers in Canada and then make some samples to see which one they like and choose the supplier to deal with.

I found that many Japanese business man are stubborn, don't listen and they expect a lot  from agents.  If there are problems with anything. They expect us to solve it even if the problem is cause by their mistake.

We did import some candles from China for our client before.  But, the company we dealt with didn't told us that they used an agent in HK and that person used an agent in China.... therefore, our price end up too high to sell in Canada and we lost our big order in Canada and the potential big order in Japan too. Then, we had to discontinue the candle business.

For our Garment export, we are starting to use more and more fabric made in China.

But, currently we just ask our manufacturer here to order it for us.  Probably in the future our customer will ask us to order from China directly to cut cost.

I'll keep your contact info in case we needed in the future.



 

What a long article...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A long but thought-provoking letter . we spend lots of time and efforts  to meeting every potential customer ,but sometimes only a point has not  reach a agreement ,the order will be nothing and disappeared soon .

At this time . i believe all of us will be depressed .sometimes ,i always have a impulse to give up my job .but when i keep calm ,i think it just a simple  process to change me to  be maturity .

Never say give up .smile to every day ,every person ,every setback !best wishes for you and me .

Quoting from [lesley li]:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A long but thought-provoking letter . we spend lots of time and efforts  to meeting every potential customer ,but sometimes only a point has not  reach a agreement ,the order will be nothing and disappeared soon .

At this time . i believe all of us will be depressed .sometimes ,i always have a impulse to give up my job .but when i keep calm ,i think it just a simple  process to change me to  be maturity .

Never say give up .smile to every day ,every person ,every setback !best wishes for you and me .