Are you coming to Japan?
 

Hello!

I'm trying to find someone (from the U.S.) who will be coming to Japan in September. I'm ordering some custom clothing to promote my company: Humble Bunny Design. The shipping rates from the U.S. are ridiculously high and since I'll most likely get taxed on it with customs again, I can't afford it. Unfortunately, the printers in Japan aren't doing any better.

Do a search for my company and you'll see the logo on my site. That's what will be on the garments. :)

I'm basically trying to find someone who's reliable to bring the garments over for me. There aren't many pieces to bring and it won't take up very much space at all. Since you'll be helping me, I'll be able to help you by giving you some money for your help.

Here's hoping there's a helpful person out there. Thanks a lot!

Just from a business standpoint, did you not budget the incurred costs to ship the items in your original plan?

Well, in order to have an "original plan" you have to do research and find out what your options are, right?

The original thought was to have them made in Japan. So i sent quote requests off to a few companies. The problem is, the printing prices are higher here in Japan and the availability of the garment I'm printing on is limited. Just so you know, I'm printing on women's boy shorts/hot pants.

After receiving quotes from Japanese printers and foreign printers (shipping included), I realized that my only option to be able to do it here in Japan is by utilizing the price and availability of American printers with a means of getting them to Japan in a cheap way...thus this post!

Trust me, I've been seasoning all my options with this for the last 3 months but haven't been able to find a print and shipping combination for under about $15.00 (1500 yen) per pair.

That's not what I asked. Why didn't you (or now, why don't you) take the budget into consideration before trying to get the ball rolling? If you can barely pay to get them made... Does the business have to start today?

The "original plan" should have looked at how much it would cost to create and ship every garment you were going to produce, and then just acquire that money. I just don't understand how you went into this venture, that's all. I'm not trying to give you a hard time or anything.

Since you're so enthusiastic about knowing every minor detail of what's going on, I'll spell it out for you so that you understand...

To be honest, I think that you don't understand the situation fully (naturally, since you didn't create this post). I HAVE thought out the expenses of making the garment. That's why this post exists.

There's no pre-determined "budget" for what I'm doing. This is not about being able to afford the price of the garments...it's about getting them done for a reasonable price in order to make a profit on them.

Maybe Toyota has enough money to make a hybrid car for 30,000 dollars but if they can only sell it for 25,000...what's the point right? Same thing here.

Due to the nature of the garment (women's underwear), I'm not willing to charge more than 2000 yen for a pair when I sell them...I just don't think people will pay that much. Unfortunately, the event that I'll be selling them at, is costing me a large amount of money so I'd like to make at least 500 yen profit on each pair, in order to get some of that money back.

That means I have to figure out how to get them made for under 1500 yen.

There are 3 things I have to take into consideration to add up to that 1500 yen:

The cost of the garment
The cost of the print (inks, screens, setup fees, etc.)
The cost of shipping

The total costs for having them made in Japan and delivered, is about the same as the total costs for having them made in the States and delivered. However, the actual garment and printing costs are much less in the states. The main brunt of the expense comes in the shipping.

Having them made in Japan will cost me over 1700 yen, shipping doesn't affect that cost so much...since it's within Japan (sometimes it's free for a large order). Having them made in the states will cost me around $12.00. Now, if I had them shipped from the states, the rate would catch up to Japan's rates pretty quickly, which makes it meaningless. However, If I can find someone to bring them over, I can still pay a little bit of money to that person but end up saving more than if I had the printing company ship them all the way from the other side of the Pacific.

In order for this venture of mine to be worthwhile, it makes more sense for me to have them made in the states and then brought over by someone kind enough to help me out. It's because of these "budget considerations" that I've created this post.

If I can figure this method out, then I'm going to pursue it. If I can't do it for under 1500 yen per garment, I'll just have to cancel the plan until I can find a more reasonable alternative.

That's the plan.

Post Deleted.

I will be traveling to Tokyo this september but I wouldn't do such a thing for you. Only because i don't know you and wouldn't take the risk. I think there are many who would agree with me.

I think a little bit of the problem is that you want someone to deliver goods for sale (something that would need to be marked on entry papers) but want to pay less than three dollars an item. If the volume was high enough to make it worth someone's time, they are going to have to pay duty on your items before even meeting you. I think you need to take another look at how you are going to get this done, and good luck.

"Well officer, these 100 pairs of panties are for a friend, you see..."

Well, I have considered and understand all of your points but thought I'd give it a try anyway.

It would require someone who was very trusting and trustworthy to be able to do this for me. If I'd found someone I was intending to have a few phone conversations and a mini-interview of sorts to try to gauge how trustworthy they are. That way, they could possibly get an idea of what kind of person I am as well.

The thing is, me offering money to someone who brings them over is a better deal than keeping a bunch of pairs of underwear, right? Unless of course they devised their own scheme to sell them...maybe unlikely. That was something that could promote honesty on their side.

Don't worry, I'm aware that it's a bit of a shot in the dark but from my experience, a lot of the people coming to Japan and in Japan are honest and good people. Because of this, I know that the chances of this situation working out are better.

However, not everyone is honest and good so there's a risk there too. Thanks all for your honest outlooks and concern. I'm willing to take the hit if I mis-gauge a person and assume responsibility.