Should I sell things to TTD that are niche to get

[Tony's Table Tennis]

So, I am between South Africa and Taiwan.
I have a table tennis shop (official distributor/agency for most of the brands I carry) in SA and cater to south African countries.
It is too expensive for me to ship out of SA for the rest of the world.

However, I can ship from Taiwan to the rest of the world. (PS, I am not a table tennis shop in Taiwan)

I'm not sure if this is cheaper for the world market, but for some niche products that you can't get, maybe I can get and send to you.
alternatively is for you to buy online from China, and I know some people might not go that route.
My presence dates back to 2012 (online store in SA, and long term forum member)

This isn't a get rich project for me, but I found that I have a "payment" platform covered (so I can receive in money), and I pretty much know many of the TT distributors in the country and thought, well, I can do that to meet new people, to share a bit of Taiwanese table tennis to you and help you get things that you might struggle to get.

Taiwan is also home to some special products, like Jpen blades etc

So, this is just a thought for now, anybody interested - please message me.

An example - new Xuperman rubber is now available and i'm looking to get the special Xu Xin edition to play around soon.

 

[ben1229]

Obviously from Taiwan is cheaper than SA.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

cough, Kiso Hinoki, cough cough...

 

[Attitude]

Is it even cheaper to provide stuff from taiwan than from sa to europe?

I ask because imo europe and especially germany lack international supplier for stuff from sword, Loki, Yinhe and probably several other eastern companies.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

So let me explain a bit.
South Africa's postal service (SA Post office) is dead in the water. If you had to send a mail from one city to another city, it will be faster to walk the 1600 km journey and hand delivery it, than to give it to the post office to deliver.....

so, for me to send goods out of SA to the world, the only reliable way is expensive shipping methods that has proper tracking facilities. And that is the same issue I have when I send boxes of donated goods into South Africa... My latest bill using UPS cost near USD200.

I have professional teams in Taiwan that want to donate everything (clothing, shoes, bags etc), and I had to say, just provide blade and rubbers as the other items are too bulky to send (and fabrics have more import duties etc). So yeah, logistics is a huge problem for South Africa, coming in and going out.

Back to Taiwan, I can use cheaper shipping methods - ie Taiwan post office. So once things are affordable to ship, I think there is a better opportunity.
But my biggest issue is, does Taiwan have everything you are looking for.
So this is also a learning curve for me.

I once thought I can do drop shipping, ie, getting my suppliers to send out from China to you, and I handle the ordering, but I'm not sure if TT companies are able to do that. And for starters, I rather have the physical stock pass through my own eyes/hands in the initial stage.
As I said, I'm learning too, so will see what is the best option for all.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

cough, Kiso Hinoki, cough cough...

I knew you would comment.
Taiwan does have some of the best in the world.
I don't know those blade makers yet, but I could get introduced pretty easily.

 

[Attitude]

So let me explain a bit.
South Africa's postal service (SA Post office) is dead in the water. If you had to send a mail from one city to another city, it will be faster to walk the 1600 km journey and hand delivery it, than to give it to the post office to deliver.....

so, for me to send goods out of SA to the world, the only reliable way is expensive shipping methods that has proper tracking facilities. And that is the same issue I have when I send boxes of donated goods into South Africa... My latest bill using UPS cost near USD200.

I have professional teams in Taiwan that want to donate everything (clothing, shoes, bags etc), and I had to say, just provide blade and rubbers as the other items are too bulky to send (and fabrics have more import duties etc). So yeah, logistics is a huge problem for South Africa, coming in and going out.

Back to Taiwan, I can use cheaper shipping methods - ie Taiwan post office. So once things are affordable to ship, I think there is a better opportunity.
But my biggest issue is, does Taiwan have everything you are looking for.
So this is also a learning curve for me.

I once thought I can do drop shipping, ie, getting my suppliers to send out from China to you, and I handle the ordering, but I'm not sure if TT companies are able to do that. And for starters, I rather have the physical stock pass through my own eyes/hands in the initial stage.
As I said, I'm learning too, so will see what is the best option for all.

Dont want to get too political but i detest the development in south africa in many ways. on the one hand, it allows itself to be heavily exploited by various powers and does not get a grip on its own issues as infrastructure, corruption, security and education. It is sad to see, especially because i would love to visit and travel this country for many years, but the issues above keep me from doing it.

Besides that more personal conflict^^:
Several chinese are doing exactly that, but are not that easy to get in contact to (for example gan works with wechat which is a pain in the ass to use from europe and as a nonchinese), if you would improve in that department i could see you getting customers quite easily provided you can secure "competetive" prices.

 

[Bruschk0v]

@Tony's Table Tennis Could you give some examples of what you have in mind?

From the top of my head I can't think of anything rare I would want / need directly out of Taiwan. But for me (and other readers) that might change when we read what could be available

 

[backspacer]

I might be interested in Butterfly apparel that's not available in Europe depending on the price.

 

[Trayanee]

I saw tmount blades like kts core alc for good money on china/tw/sea shopping platforms like tmall,shopee. Those are much more expensive or not available at all in Europe. Do you have access to tmount stuff in tw?

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Dont want to get too political but i detest the development in south africa in many ways. on the one hand, it allows itself to be heavily exploited by various powers and does not get a grip on its own issues as infrastructure, corruption, security and education. It is sad to see, especially because i would love to visit and travel this country for many years, but the issues above keep me from doing it.

Besides that more personal conflict^^:
Several chinese are doing exactly that, but are not that easy to get in contact to (for example gan works with wechat which is a pain in the ass to use from europe and as a nonchinese), if you would improve in that department i could see you getting customers quite easily provided you can secure "competetive" prices.

South Africa does have a lot of challenges and will need to take a long time to get right, sadly.

from my side, I will be in a disadvantage with Chinese guys, since China is the biggest market and everyone (brand) is there.

and yeah, I have heard of wechat, and then also language barriers and what not.
So most importantly, as you said, can I secure competitive pricing and does Taiwan have everything.

 

[PaddyPolar]

I might be interested in Butterfly apparel that's not available in Europe depending on the price.

Dignics is 2500NT around £60,
Tenergy is 2000NT around £50.

Tony, will you be a sort of reseller or just a seller of whatever comes up?

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I might be interested in Butterfly apparel that's not available in Europe depending on the price.

I think apparels will be a bit more difficult to source for expensive brands like Butterfly.
how thing work is that the importer will receive shipments in and let it sell out.
so early on, there will have all the sizes, but as time goes on, the sizes will run out, until the next shipment.

for other brands, it would be easier as the local agents would top up more often.

On a fun side, I haven't seen any "pro team" wearing butterfly, since it is so expensive.
Maybe its only Chuang Chih Yuan's own club that wears it.
It is around 2 to 3 times more expensive than other brands (I think it is because Taiwan imports Japanese clothing)

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Dignics is 2500NT around £60,
Tenergy is 2000NT around £50.

Tony, will you be a sort of reseller or just a seller of whatever comes up?

i still need to investigate it,

some brands, like Butterfly and especially rubbers won't want to "export"

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I saw tmount blades like kts core alc for good money on china/tw/sea shopping platforms like tmall,shopee. Those are much more expensive or not available at all in Europe. Do you have access to tmount stuff in tw?

i'm not familiar with Tmount, but I do remember someone on my line (whatsapp) that is the tmount importer....now i just need to see who it is (Tmount isn't that popular, and they actually approached me for South Africa before)

I will PM you some photos, so I can know I have the right product

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

@Tony's Table Tennis Could you give some examples of what you have in mind?

From the top of my head I can't think of anything rare I would want / need directly out of Taiwan. But for me (and other readers) that might change when we read what could be available

haha,
can I answer you in a weeks time?
I'm learning with every post coming in.

 

[backspacer]

I think apparels will be a bit more difficult to source for expensive brands like Butterfly.
how thing work is that the importer will receive shipments in and let it sell out.
so early on, there will have all the sizes, but as time goes on, the sizes will run out, until the next shipment.

for other brands, it would be easier as the local agents would top up more often.

On a fun side, I haven't seen any "pro team" wearing butterfly, since it is so expensive.
Maybe its only Chuang Chih Yuan's own club that wears it.
It is around 2 to 3 times more expensive than other brands (I think it is because Taiwan imports Japanese clothing)

I was afraid of that. I have checked the prices in Japan and they are honestly outrageous (90€ MSRP for a shirt). Could you name a few brands where it's easier? Will look at their stuff and get back to you.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

I knew you would comment.
Taiwan does have some of the best in the world.
I don't know those blade makers yet, but I could get introduced pretty easily.

Best in the world is correct. I have ditched my Darker for Ariex, a made in Taiwan brand. Havin' a smashin'gud time since 2022.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Xuperman secured

I'm waiting for my Xu Xin Special Edition rubber to come

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Xuperman, Tmount, Stiga, Yinhe, Loki, DHS, Yasaka, Nittaku, Xiom, Darker, Victas, Avx, Sunflex, 729 secured directly with Taiwanese distributor

Good inroads for 1.5 working days (it was new year holiday previous few days)

I know I can get Donic, Gewo, Andro with no problem.

One thing about Taiwan, Taiwan gets Chinese clothing too, which isn't available in other parts of the world.
ie, Gewo clothing is one of my favorites.
So I think beyond blade and rubbers, Taiwan would also cater for some nice shirts, so I do consider the shirts niche

these shirts are so light, soft and smooth. I have the purple (1st pic on right) and left blue on the second.