Aquaponic Gardening

A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

I have been building and selling turnkey systems for most of the year now. I have been buying all the local supplies that I can, but have cleaned out all my local sources.

Most of the pumps that I use are purchased from Aquatic Ecosystems. The pumps are made in China so they pass by me in Hawaii to go to Florida only to come most of the way back to China. These pumps travel WAY more than I do!!!!! These pumps travel more than most of the food that is imported here as well.

 

I am wondering if anybody has any experience in wholesale purchasing form China or elsewhere? I have been researching and am a little overwhelmed by the number of manufacturers. I am a little scared to do business in a foreign country.

 

The main things I am looking to purchase is water and air pumps and 15 minute mechanical timers.

 

I need some pointers and good sources. Can anybody PLEASE help me out?

Views: 479

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Hum, that is a tough one.  I expect to get good deals from Asia you probably need to be getting something in the order of a container full of stuff.  Know anyone else on the islands that you could team up with to make such an order possible?  I don't have any experience with shipping from China but if you can co-ordinate a complete container load shipment with others I expect things would be far more reasonable than say trying to get just a partial pallet load delivered.  Probably need to strike up a relationship with an expediter or some one there on the islands who is already involved with importing from Asia and see if orders for you could be squeezed in and how to go about it.

 

Good Luck as it does seem really silly to have stuff go all the way to Florida only to be shipped back out to you.

I have been looking into drop shippers as well. The problem with them is they ask for a subscription before I can view products and prices. I am looking for specific items not just cheap items.

I would like to purchase by the case. A container is not realistic and would be far more money than I have. I have been buying cases from AE but the shipping gets expensive. If I could ship cases from Asia and cut out the middle man I would be very happy.

There is the problem, generally the "drop ship" suppliers are already paying the shipping to them so they can't give very good pricing since they are having to pay all the overhead anyway.  I've looked into drop shipping and I'm better off getting some of the items from Aquatic Ecosystems but then They are only about 12 miles from me.

 

So basically you are looking for a pump manufacturer/distributor in China that is willing to sell a case or few of pumps at a time and ship to HI.  Do you know the actual manufacturers you are looking to buy from?  (Assuming you want pumps that you already have good experiences with.)

 

I wonder if Carey Ma could offer any tips since I believe he is in China.

Yes, I need a pump and timer manufacturer/distributor that I can purchase directly from. I am willing to buy cases at a time.

The problem here is that most manufacturers here need an exporting company to export goods, so 20 and forty foot containers worth is worth the expense. It is simply not in their interest to ship small orders. The other alternative, even if you find a mfg. that is willing to sell small lots to you, is using companies like UPS which may end up costing more than what you pay for now. I know it doesn't make sense to you or me to ship things 3/4 of the world but that's the world we live in.

 

If you have the specific mfg.'s contact info or at least name and location I could help you contact and see what results we can get. If not in a major rush, I'd like to hold off till winter when I have more time.

Cheers

In the mean time Chris, I'm sure there are companies that get container loads of goods brought to HI from China.  I'm sure the real trick is to get in contact with one of the import/export companies that brings those containers in and see if you can get some space on one of them for a few cases of products and see if the import/export company can take care of the logistics for you.

 

When all is said and done, you might not save any money over how you are doing it now though, you might just get the piece of mind that you are not traveling your pumps half way around the world and then back.

What kinda pumps are you looking for? Specs? Brand?

What are the specs on your pumps? Are they 110v, 12v?

Heck I bought my 12v bilge pump from Walmart in the fishing section for I think $13.

I contacted the importer in FL, they were looking for orders in 1000 blocks.

But at $13 bucks for now I'm fine.

Besides I haven;t built any for sale nor is there really a big demand in the midwest here, So I try to educate or show as many people as I can, most are truly impressed, even though I built mine for around $800 the cost needs to come way down before the average Joe considers it.

Ali Baba, is like the ebay of importers from Asia where you can order or buy direct from China manufacturors, but you have to be very careful, this is where Cary Ma might be able to help maybe?

 the mad german

The best China source is alibaba.com.  You can email the suppliers and get the best quotes.  There is a lot of fraud out there, so do due diligence.  Don't send western union or with anyone trying to rush you.  Different ports are manufacturing meccas for different products.  Find out what cities near the port produces what product.  Try to find other business people that want to ship different products from that area and each can do a partial container load to complete one container.  If you need to contact me you can contact me at support@thunderbirdcages.com

I am in the process of putting together several manufacturer specifically for AP and other urban organic growing. Please let me know what products are a must have.

 

Cheers

Just an idea, I was trying to figure out how to import a container load of animal and fish feed. Feed additives. Tanks or supplies for you? Might be a way to help fill up a container for you.
I've got some items I'd be interested in too.

Reply to Discussion

RSS

© 2024   Created by Sylvia Bernstein.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service