Post: #1

Marginal Revolution has a thread about transporting goods for resale. Here are some of their suggestions.

Cheap services abroad: dining, haircuts, dentistry, language classes.
Cheap goods abroad: alcohol, cigarettes, medication.

Brazil: Sell PlayStation 4's, phones, and Ipads.
Germany: Sell guitars.
Egypt: Buy saffron.
Asia: Sell sunscreen.
India: Sell laptops, buy cheap engineering textbooks and racist trolls.

Too bad you lack a Venezuelan credit card

Post: #2

I've been thinking long and hard about brazil and PS4's.

Post: #3

This is something I've wanted to do but how do you bring more than 1 without getting taxed to death?

Post: #4

The Saffron thing doesn't work so well anymore.

At least for a time, Trader Joe's and Walmart sold it at such a low cost as to make it not worth it.

Post: #5

if you have a buyer, you can make a diference with small electronic devices like ipods, ipads, liberated iphones, nintendo DS, etc, in Argentina.

Post: #6

I bought some engineering and trade related books in the Philippines, they are American books (written by American uni profs) but say "only for sale in the Philippines", basically $100+ books for $15-25.

A guy could make a few bucks by flying to Bangkok with no luggage, buying cheap luggage there and filling two suitcases with jeans (Diesel, G-Star) that cost $25-40 and resell them on Craigslist back home for probably triple.

Post: #7

Nice thread. It would be cool if people could clarify whether they have actually pulled off the arbitrage themselves or not when they post.

A few years back when the PS3 came out I knew a guy in Japan who bought PS3s by the bucket load and resold them before Xmas on Ebay in the UK. He apparently made a killing on them as they were sold out everywhere but I'd be worried about how to explain 10 PS3s to Customs in Heathrow.

Post: #8

I did wine (and some liquor) from Italy and Germany into Sweden and once into Norway.

Post: #9

(10-30-2013 08:22 PM)scotian Wrote:  A guy could make a few bucks by flying to Bangkok with no luggage, buying cheap luggage there and filling two suitcases with jeans (Diesel, G-Star) that cost $25-40 and resell them on Craigslist back home for probably triple.

That MBK crap is all fake, and most people who spend $100 on jeans would spot that as soon as they tried them on.

Post: #10

How much can I make on a PS4 and an iPhone brought to Brazil?

I brought a bunch of stuff for my friend in Brazil and sold it to him at cost, but then I stayed at his place most of the time.

Post: #11

Be careful about bringing in sealed electronics or multiple pieces of the same item into Brazil. You are searched through customs frequently and the tariff bill you could be left with is murderous.

Post: #12

Reasonable profits to be made in numismatics or simple precious metals in coin and bar form. Have done this myself enough times. Coins raise zero interest at borders in small amounts. Have had to show larger numbers of coins before - arrange showing of items in a private room.

Met a few people who have made numismatic arbitrage their primary business. But they needn't travel with the goods ...they simply send items worth 5 figures (!) in normal mail, unmarked.

Post: #13

Coach purses are huge in Thailand.

Go to the Coach outlet and buy a few purses for 100-150.

They sell for 300-450 in Thailand.

I've seen Asian dudes at Coach buying 5-10 bags.

It ain't for their relatives

Keyword is a few. Too many and Coach will flag you not to mention you might get caught in the airport.

Post: #14

Might struggle to bring the saffron into a lot of countries. If you have large quantities of it at your disposal, you probably wouldn't care too much anyway, I guess...

Post: #15

What about buying Levi's or other jeans in the US and selling them in France, Sweden, Japan, or anywhere else for profit?

Post: #16

During my Rio trip in January, we sold five Iphones. Made about 250 a pop. Its easy to find buyers. We sold them to some Balcony girls. My boys has three already order for his December trip. I am giving him two to sell.

We were on the streets in Ipanema trying to sell to sell our last one to the rich people out there. Nobody was interested. They probably thought they were stolen haha. Two American black dudes trying to cold sell an Iphone5. Haha.

I didnt have any issues at the airport in Rio. Iphones go for 2200 rais at that time. We were selling them for 1850 I believe. As soon as we departed country, three more girls wanted one.

Any Rio players want to buy an unlocked Iphone let me know. Hopefully those gold backorders start opening up in November.

Post: #17

How much are you selling the unlock iphones for?

Post: #18

250 a pop?

That ain't nothing. Even if you're getting them for next to nothing.

I could sell them on eBay for at least 300.

Post: #19

(10-31-2013 07:43 AM)CThunder86 Wrote:  Coach purses are huge in Thailand.

Go to the Coach outlet and buy a few purses for 100-150.

They sell for 300-450 in Thailand.

I've seen Asian dudes at Coach buying 5-10 bags.

It ain't for their relatives

Keyword is a few. Too many and Coach will flag you not to mention you might get caught in the airport.

What is there to keep one from selling them, or the Levi's mentioned below, online from the US in foreign countries?

Obviously having product in hand is preferable, but could be a decent side biz.

Post: #20

(10-31-2013 07:26 PM)patron Wrote:  How much are you selling the unlock iphones for?

Honestly right now I dont know. Seems to be hard to get the new phone. I know somebody who just got on the list. #500. Just found out right now on the poker table. It might be hard to get two for the Christmas trip. Plus I think the is kicking our ass. Cant think right now but I think that is bad right?

It was almost 3 to 1. Just checked and its about 2 to 1. Ill PM you a price. You are a Roosh brother so Ill hook you up. Maybe you can put me on to some more people and I may make that December trip too haha. Flight prices are crazy right now. It wss 1250 two weeks ago now its 2700. I may try my luck with standby.

Post: #21

(10-31-2013 08:13 PM)CThunder86 Wrote:  250 a pop?

That ain't nothing. Even if you're getting them for next to nothing.

I could sell them on eBay for at least 300.

Spending money. Wanted to sell them fast. 600 dollars is better than 500 dollars but in the end we got rid of them. If I was trying to make it a side hustle then I would have put in work. It was what it was.

I need a plug for them gold ones.

Post: #22

(10-31-2013 08:41 PM)Hotwheels Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 07:43 AM)CThunder86 Wrote:  Coach purses are huge in Thailand.

Go to the Coach outlet and buy a few purses for 100-150.

They sell for 300-450 in Thailand.

I've seen Asian dudes at Coach buying 5-10 bags.

It ain't for their relatives

Keyword is a few. Too many and Coach will flag you not to mention you might get caught in the airport.

What is there to keep one from selling them, or the Levi's mentioned below, online from the US in foreign countries?

Obviously having product in hand is preferable, but could be a decent side biz.

I ship a lot of stuff with UPS. The rates I have are at cost aka 50% off.

A 8x8 box weighing 4lbs would cost me 60 bucks to ship. For everyone else you can double that. It gets there in a few days.

It's way cheaper through USPS but it's not as reliable and takes a lot longer.

Even if you ship 10 at a time you might make some profit but likely break even.

I haven't even mentioned tariffs
Or even getting them through customs

I know a dude who shipped 8 iPhones to Russia. Box never got there. It actually got back to him empty. He investigated it and everyone acted like they didn't know what happened to them.

Unless you have someone high up in the world of customs, a bulk buyer, and a hookup with your shipping services it ain't worth it.

Post: #23

I've done it. Brazil is easy if you got the buyer but many Brazilians are doing it themselves now. I met several in Miami hostel. There was one dude from Colombia bringing 3 laptops each trip, the guy was buying them at Best Buy.
If you really want to make profit, try Cuba! They don't ask you questions the first 2-3 times you go there. Any kind of snorkeling equipment or fishing stuff, electronics you can cell 3-5 times more. Bring back Cuban cigars if you are American for even more profit!

Post: #24

(10-30-2013 09:05 PM)Bolthouse Wrote:  

(10-30-2013 08:22 PM)scotian Wrote:  A guy could make a few bucks by flying to Bangkok with no luggage, buying cheap luggage there and filling two suitcases with jeans (Diesel, G-Star) that cost $25-40 and resell them on Craigslist back home for probably triple.

That MBK crap is all fake, and most people who spend $100 on jeans would spot that as soon as they tried them on.

Depends on where you're selling it, in the industrial shit hole towns I frequent in Canada the red necks up there probably wouldn't care if they're fake or not, as long as they look real, Ed Hardy shirts and True Religion jeans are still in style in northern Alberta.

My fake Diesel jeans I bought at MBK have held up quite well, the knock off watches, not so much.

Post: #25

I'd like to open this thread back up. I think there is a lot of potential here, especially with the local market information available from guys who have been on the ground long enough in their respective countries.

Before I went to Peru I was contacted by several people off of Couchsurfing to bring down various goods from the USA. I ended up selling people some smaller goods such as toys and nutritional supplements and it earned me a good profit.

Anyone else have some recent successes?

Maybe we could move this thread into a certain hidden forum and get a running database going with a list of goods that have high margins in certain countries.