A Little Advice....

[made-in-colorado!]

   We have a nice little wholesale biz here in Colorado USA.  You can see a few of our listings to see what we sell here...  We also produce many other customized souvenir type products for tourists.

   We are considering moving to Australia and would like to open a gift shop plus sell on Ebay down there.  We are curious about how popular Ebay is there. Are most sales to Australians or are most of you selling internationally?

   Thanks In Advance!!!!

[b3llag1na]

And please remember that even though Australia is almost as big as the USA  (land mass) we have around 1 / 10th of your population, so you are selling to a far  far smaller market overall....

and competing with the chinese who are very talented at copying any unique design that is selling successfully here,

[made-in-colorado!]

We have not been there...  When we saw the stat that AU has the population of half of California alone, that certainly helped us narrow down our choice!  The US has nearly 20 million illegals alone. It's a mess here sorry to say!  

    We plan on visiting this year sometime and will probably rent an RV and hit the road!

   I was wondering if everything you see there in gift shops has made in China on it.  Luckily, when people visit Colorado from all over the World, they do not want to see made in China products....

[*bad*angel*]

People here dont want to see Made in China either on our Aussie souvenirs but thats what they mostly are because of the production costs. It's very difficult buying here for overseas visitors or to send as gifts with Made in Australia on it unless you can spend big $$$.

[nonny_muss]

Yep, most gift shops are full of things made in China (or another country).  Very few are authentically Aussie made.  The biggest irony is that all the Australian souvenirs I've ever seen peddled about in the city or suburb areas are actually run by Chinese/Asian people! Not that I begrudge them making a living it's just ironic that's all! 

The further out you go into the country and you'll find it populated by smaller businesses and real Aussie characters with more authentic works.  Like the guy down my way who we call the chainsaw man because he uses his chainsaw to create wonderful sculptures and figures out of hewn logs.  . . . awesome stuff. 

[austeam]

I've heard a rumour that there is a push for items labelled "Made In Australia" to be complulsory that they are made out of Australian materials as well. 

I imagine if the manufacturers can no longer say "Made In Australia" when it is only assembled in Australia then there is no point and they might as well have it made in P.R.C. and save on labour costs.

I am torn between wanting them to tighten the "Made In Ausralia" rule and worrying that it might be overkill 😞

[2106greencat]

An awful lot of Chinese exporters used to produce and attach a label with your own brand to clothing - go figure. Made in Australia by Haute Couture - and it comes from a Chinese sweatshop. There was a huge crack down on them a few years ago, BIG fines to the Importers here in Oz, but I don't doubt it still goes on.

[kopenhagen5]

MIC - Before making any big decisions and if designs are easy to alter, try listing some items on the Aus site and test the response first. Perhaps with some of the native icons. It could get you a feel for which direction to go.

[*bad*angel*]

That would be my thought too Kopenhagen, the only thing is that the cost of postage might inhibit sales so it may not give a real indication of interest.

[kopenhagen5]

Yes, I thought of that BA. They may be quite heavy/bulky hence costly to post.

But if someone is paying $260 for a special lamp, $30-40 postage may be ok if it can be done for around that. And depending on the materials, they may need fumigation as well.

[austeam]

Yep, most gift shops are full of things made in China (or another country).  Very few are authentically Aussie made.  The biggest irony is that all the Australian souvenirs I've ever seen peddled about in the city or suburb areas are actually run by Chinese/Asian people! Not that I begrudge them making a living it's just ironic that's all! 

It was the same in Paris, especially around Notre Dame.

We tried to buy something useful that we could remember Paris by, ended up with Parisian scarves made in China :^O

Nearly bought a knitted top in Milan .... Made in Portugal  :^O

Decided there was no point shopping overseas anymore. 

Total spent on clothes and accessories for myself in Europe 108 Euro.  

Three weeks later spent $350 on clothes during a weekend visit to Brisbane ..... the clothes I bought were Made in France  :^O