The Problems of buying tropical hardwoods.
Buying wood from South America can be very rewarding and even more challenging. The first hurdle for a prospective buyer is the cost of buying a container of wood. Depending on the species, the cost can range from $20,000 to over $100,000. The second hurdle will be the time it takes to purchase and arrive. If you can find the right wood, ready to go, it will probably take a month to arrive. Most likely, the wood has to be prepared in some way before it can be shipped, so that will take from a few weeks to a few months. However, if the wood is of good quality and it arrives and clears Customs without any major problems or delays, then it will probably represent a successful and profitable purchase.
If you can finance the purchase and the time frame can work for you, then the more difficult part is to find the right wood, at the right price from a seller that you can trust. The most difficult and important part of that is to find a seller you can trust. That is where most buyers make their biggest mistake. Thinking that you are better off (and can do it cheaper) doing this by yourself and not hiring someone with experience and connections to help you will rarely work out. Not knowing what you don’t know is always more expensive in the end. Not understanding the local legal structure, or the regulations for importing or how to safely structure a purchase agreement will usually result in an expensive mistake. There are many horror stories from people who have tried to import a container of wood in an attempt to save money only to result in paying more than they would have if they just bought from a local distributor.
There are ways to safely import lumber and finished products and increase company profits. The first thing you should do is to find accurate information on the costs, procedure and time frames involved for the wood that you want to import. That may take you weeks of research. Or, there are people like me who have access to a lot of that information and can do a quick feasibility study for $500 to $1000 to examine costs and even to find the suppliers who have a proven track record. Maybe the research will show you it is not worth it for you. That small cost allows to not waste time and money chasing something that won’t work. Or, hopefully, the research shows you can buy the product and save 20 to 50% on your current purchasing.
Spend a little bit of money on an expert and save yourself a lot of time and money and avoid big mistakes.
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thank you.
more coming on this topic
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Hey, @Anthony_Traina @Mark_Danevicz, @Dallin_Brooks, @Dean_Miller @Kris_Long @Josh_Lucas @Brian_Gibson Do you deal in tropical hardwoods?
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thanks Andrew. Not as old as Jagger, and not as rich or well known.
Maybe Pakira can help me close the gap…
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