jemmyell

Congratulations David! And yet another VERY detailed reference for the rest of us! -James

Congratulations! -James

Congratulations! I hope your luck rubs off onto the rest of us! -James

Thanks, all of you. I was feeling pretty lousy after just now signing off with Manyun. I always spend the last few minutes on CFL before going to bed to find the latest success story, or bit of wisdom that will help ease the stress, and yes...DIStress. I hope you all have a great evening, and thanks again for the finishing touch on mine. Mike 196567[/snapback] Hi Neil, Hi Michael, I am quoting this post because this is also my final nightly activity. If Loving Candle has been very busy at work and has not signed back on after lunch (her lunch in China), I finish up here, to see the stories and participate however I may. -James

Hello! Yes, 'niche' items do very well on ebay, especially crafts and hobbies. They look like they have a really good deal going. A friend of mine from the last dot-com I worked for makes motorcycle signs / emblems on a vinyl cutter / plotter and sells them on ebay. He was doing about $5000 / month part time the last time I checked. -James

Congratulations! Have a peaceful flight home! -James

Hello, Ok, take a look here! http://www.rainforestcafe.com/ This is a place that is great for kids but has really good food too. There is a location in downtown Disney, OR if you want to risk showing your SO's a World Class (and World Famous) shopping mall there is also one in South Coast Plaza which is not too far away. It would probably be easier to find parking in South Coast too. -James

Hi, Have you read the Interview Questions FAQ? http://candleforlove.com/FAQ/CFL_Interview_Questions_Final1.htm -James

Hi, I DID get AMEX travelers checks cashed in a 4 start hotel in Beijing. I could not get them cashed even in my hotel or the bank of China in NE china. Why don't you call or email the hotel (or AMEX) about services in the hotel you will be staying or the location of an actual AMEX office or affiliate? The closest city where I could get my travelers checks cashed was in Shenyang. -James

Hi, Yes, the parking lot at NBC is full or almost full by 10:00. I suggest arrival at 9:30 and line up at the door. I am local to Downtown Disney, I don't go there much since it is SO busy. I basically grew up in Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm since I had free access to both back in the day. I would be happy to check out a restaurant, if you all want to eat RIGHT in DownTown Disney AND there will be some kids along then the Rainforest Cafe would be nice. BUT it is very busy as ANY of those places will be on a weekend evening. Would you all like me to nominate some restaurants a little bit away from that area for Friday night? I live in Buena Park, and I have easy access to all the surrounding cities. -James

Hi again, Here is a discussion from GUZ about real estate equity and a link to a goverment website. http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=14869 -James

Good luck in your venture.... 196081[/snapback] it's just a small business with big hopes. I do make some things nobody else in the world does and every time I advertise custom shop work I get buried with too many inquiries, so I do look to the future. -James

Hi, If your income is sufficient this will not really be needed. I will give details on mine, but I will just give copies of the payment docs from my property manager. If you have a recent appraisal I suppose that would be good too, but the income is the most important. -James

Hi, Yes most of my products are under $100, many of them $25 and less. And I do agree that a regular website is better for more expensive items. I have stopped running auctions since they starting indexing the eBay stores and my products turn up in searches. I want to open a 'Pro Store' when I have some help. Still, like you said, it has helped me build credibility and a presence. MANY people in my industry know me and respect my business, small scale as it is now. -James

Hello, I could NOT get American Express travelers checks cashed at the Bank of China at all. They told me they didn't know that company. They did take my credit card and gave me cash from that. On the next trip I will take more cash and no travelers checks. The cash will be mostly DEEP in my carry on luggage and enough to get me going in my wallet. I did the exchange at Thomas Cooke before leaving but I then discovered a better rate in the airport at Beijing. On the next trip we will be connecting direct to Shenyang and not staying in Beijing at all. -James

Great director, but my homophobia is preventing me from going to see his film... 196116[/snapback] You're not going to buy Willie Nelson's latest iTunes release? http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=1620186 -James

Good comment. I agree. I feel it is not a one-way street. Exposure can be one of the greatest learning tools. Also, for Jie and I, talking on the phone has only accelerated our progress. Plus, hearing her laugh at my attempts is worth millions .A laugh is common in any language. It is very powerful. 191446[/snapback] How true. I worked out a whole sentence in Mandarin. I thought I had it nailed. I called my SO and tried it. She didn't understand a word I said. We laughed until it got silly. Oh well, back to the books. 192247[/snapback] Hi Ron, Mandarin is a tonal language (4 tones) with modifiers for rising and falling tones also! It CAN NOT be learned from books! There are websites that will give examples of spoken Mandarin, but there is also a 4 CD Intro from Pimsleur that you can put in your car and work with while you ride around. -James 195934[/snapback] Yeah, the intro Pimsleur CD is great to learn a few easy phrases and its cheap too. However, I suggest having some form of written dictionary to work through the CD with. Some things the speaker says you can't be certain about, such as: Did he just say, "mi" or "ni"? Did he say "gong" or "cong"? I had a hard time with "guan" and "quan" myself, been saying it wrong for months until I looked it up. Also, if you're serious about learning Mandarin (and swimming in money), I would suggest doing the full 3 lesson packages from Pimsleur, they're about 200 bucks a pop. Hours and hours and hours of material in there that you can handle in your car. In the end you'll know enough to carry on a semi-decent conversation in Mandarin. 195939[/snapback] Yes, Can you recommend a dictionary? The Pimsleur comprehensive is really the way to go, but the intro is good to see if you will actually be able to remember any of it ( I'm a LITTLE older than you ).. I would like to see the phrases in PinYin. -James

Ya Think? The reference to WWF is particularly good. This is all 'entertainment' at it's worst. When my daughter and I both have a holiday I see her watching these kind of shows. I ask her if she really wants to be polluted or does she want to consider buying some of the products advertised on these shows. They usually sell for $29.95 and are worth at least 45 cents. -James

Hi Mick, I think this must be done gently... Would a Chinese woman want to join a culture of 450 pound African-American Transvestites? -James

Hi Joanne, Yes, you DEFINITELY want to sell something that you personally know well. The most successful small retailers (IMHO) are people who have a hobby and they supply other hobbyists. In my case I do this and all of my power tools, computers and software are business expenses. There is much benefit in having a small business at home. As long as you are home-based you cannot go out of business. Since you are not paying rent on a brick-and-mortar store, you just do the volume you can handle in any given month. Some young mothers like yourself earn a reasonable second income on eBay simply by going to yard sales and buying things that they personally know collectors will want. Vinyl records (both albums and singles) are a good example. If you are at all artistic look at the 'Teddy Bear Artist' category on ebay. Hand made and designed teddy bears go for REALLY big bucks. -James

It seems that about every member I have meet has this same thought (including us).. and a few actual do some sort of import and/or selling of items.. 196067[/snapback] Finding something that moves quickly and sells at a profit. I've heard of a few success stories for those that are diligent. It's hard work keeping up with what's going on online, packing, sorting, and figuring legit buyers from the cheats. 196069[/snapback] Hi, Moves quickly is not a requirement if the profit is good enough and the inventory requirements are not large. I have one box of pieces of very special ebony that I bought for 3 cents each and I sell for $6.99 (for 6 pieces) plus $5.00 shipping. I use the free priority mail box and I just break even on the shipping. In most other cases I make 40% - 60% profit on very small quantities (I am in effect a retailer) and I charge $4.00 shipping making about $3.00 per envelope profit on the shipping -James

Besides picking the right products, there must be issues related to customs regulations, tariffs, and the risk of on-line trading, warranties, legal matters? 196064[/snapback] Yes, but these are not so complex. I import shell, ebony and water buffalo horn products from the Philippines currently. An import license is not expensive and the customs issues are not bad either. My warranty is 100% customer satisfaction or your money back. The risk of online trading is minimal with good research and the RIGHT payment service. I use PayPal exclusively so all of the really hairy issues like handling customer credit cards falls on them. They just put money in my PayPal account. -James

Congratulations! -James

Hi, I am developing a couple more aspects of the business to let us move more freely between the USA and China in retirement. It also seems a 'natural' thing for a Chinese/American couple to do import / export and then sell the products online so as to not incur the overhead of a brick-and-mortar enterprise. If any of you want to try this, eBay can be a good way to get your feet wet and have a potential sales base of over 16 million customers. You can do this part-time (like me) while getting ready for a full time effort in retirement. -James

Good comment. I agree. I feel it is not a one-way street. Exposure can be one of the greatest learning tools. Also, for Jie and I, talking on the phone has only accelerated our progress. Plus, hearing her laugh at my attempts is worth millions .A laugh is common in any language. It is very powerful. 191446[/snapback] How true. I worked out a whole sentence in Mandarin. I thought I had it nailed. I called my SO and tried it. She didn't understand a word I said. We laughed until it got silly. Oh well, back to the books. 192247[/snapback] Hi Ron, Mandarin is a tonal language (4 tones) with modifiers for rising and falling tones also! It CAN NOT be learned from books! There are websites that will give examples of spoken Mandarin, but there is also a 4 CD Intro from Pimsleur that you can put in your car and work with while you ride around. -James