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grynge

A small update

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grynge
, February 12th, 2012 at 06:49 PM (191 Views)
We spoke with Austrade this morning and they really didn't want to know about us. They only deal with exporters was their line, and basically told us we should do it in Australia and export it to the world lol. The Chamber of commerce wasn't much better though they did give us a contact with a company that sources this kind of information. We contacted that company only to be told that it would cost between $5,000 and $10,000 AUD to be put in touch with 3 companies that may or may not be able to help. Getting any other specifics like will those companies have an interpreter, will they actually be able to do what we want, and any other question we asked was answered with a vague "well maybe but it is up to the company"

So I figure for that kind of money I can just land in china and knock on doors lol probably get the same responses.

We still have a couple of other chamber of commerce appointments for later in the week but it doesn't look too good at the moment. I also have an appointment with the Chinese Embassy as per a suggestion by Clinton. I did apply for trade entry into the Canton Trade Fair which will also give me something to place on my visa request and that has all been approved. Now I just have to apply for the visa itself.

Looking through Alibaba last night I found they had what they call "Post a Buying Request" which we are going to take advantage of later this week. What it does is basically we put up a couple of images, specifications, quantity, descriptions and other information of the parts we want manufactured, they then post that to all their manufacturing companies on the books. The companies then get back to us with a quote and other information. Not sure how that will go but it is definitely worth trying. We will open 3 separate accounts and see if we can get the parts manufactured separatley.

So all in all nothing much has gone forward, but at least a couple of steps closer to having some kind of information.

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  1. Clinton's Avatar
    As an aside, I'll relate a story.

    A long time ago I had a temporary job at the Indian High Commission in London. How it came about is a longer story for another time, but there I was in the Indian High Comm on my first day and an elderly gentleman took me under his wing. He showed me where to sign in and out, what the security procedures were, how to order my tea and where to go for lunch. Very nice chap. After that tour, which took the whole morning (!), he took me back to the office of the commerce department where I was supposed to be working. This is the department that puts exporters and importers in touch with each other, the type of department you'll be contacting at the Chinese embassy, grynge.

    We sat around in an open plan office and there were phones ringing all over the place. But something was not right. It took me a while to figure what it was - nobody was actually answering any of those phones. Anyway, being the new kid, I didn't say anything. The next day the same thing happened. Curiosity got the better of me and I asked my mentor guy what the deal was with nobody answering the phones.

    His eyes lit up at the opportunity to teach me something. "My boy," he said (or the Indian equivalent of "my boy"), "you must learn to never, ever pick up a ringing phone. That's very dangerous. When you pick up the phone there'll be someone at the other end ...." He shuddered.

    "Yes?"

    "And they'll ask questions that you can only answer by going and digging into files and things. They'll give you work to do!"

    grynge, my friend, I hope your Chinese embassy is a bit different.
  2. grynge's Avatar
    Luckily the Chinese Consulate actually answered the phone and took the time to arrange an appointment with someone local that deals with this kind of stuff. Once we have that out of the way I will report back on how it all goes, tomorrow I will put the images up on alibaba to see how that goes. Time marches on so it is something we have to push, I am not going to delay my holiday (again) so if it isn't worked out I may have to take another holiday in a couple of months lol so either way it might work out well for me.
  3. Chabrenas's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Clinton
    As an aside, I'll relate a story.

    A long time ago I had a temporary job at the Indian High Commission in London. How it came about is a longer story for another time, but there I was in the Indian High Comm on my first day and an elderly gentleman took me under his wing. He showed me where to sign in and out, what the security procedures were, how to order my tea and where to go for lunch. Very nice chap. After that tour, which took the whole morning (!), he took me back to the office of the commerce department where I was supposed to be working. This is the department that puts exporters and importers in touch with each other, the type of department you'll be contacting at the Chinese embassy, grynge.

    We sat around in an open plan office and there were phones ringing all over the place. But something was not right. It took me a while to figure what it was - nobody was actually answering any of those phones. Anyway, being the new kid, I didn't say anything. The next day the same thing happened. Curiosity got the better of me and I asked my mentor guy what the deal was with nobody answering the phones.

    His eyes lit up at the opportunity to teach me something. "My boy," he said (or the Indian equivalent of "my boy"), "you must learn to never, ever pick up a ringing phone. That's very dangerous. When you pick up the phone there'll be someone at the other end ...." He shuddered.

    "Yes?"

    "And they'll ask questions that you can only answer by going and digging into files and things. They'll give you work to do!"

    grynge, my friend, I hope your Chinese embassy is a bit different.
    I believe every word of that story, and I know a couple of other people here who will also believe it.
  4. Chabrenas's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by grynge
    Luckily the Chinese Consulate actually answered the phone and took the time to arrange an appointment with someone local that deals with this kind of stuff. Once we have that out of the way I will report back on how it all goes, tomorrow I will put the images up on alibaba to see how that goes. Time marches on so it is something we have to push, I am not going to delay my holiday (again) so if it isn't worked out I may have to take another holiday in a couple of months lol so either way it might work out well for me.
    Except that your mate doesn't have the funds to make it an expenses-paid trip. Good luck with alibaba, anyway. There are enough people on that site - you should get some responses.