Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 01:27:16 EST
Reply-To: ThingGuy@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Steve Lashley <ThingGuy@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: UPDATE on SOUTH AFRICA PARTS...PLEASE READ...
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
If you can bring in parts and offer them at a good price then don't let
anyone try and stop you. This is a free country and there are no
restrictions on this list as to who can be a vendor and who can't.
Now on the other hand, if you have never imported items before and are not
familiar with US Customs, Brokers, shippers, marking and Country of Origin
requirements, then you best leave it to professionals, or those of us who
took the time and risked our money to learn.
You will also never get rich off selling on this list. Yes there are many
vendors on this list, but the list alone isn't enough to support a full time
business. The market is much larger than just this list, and much larger
than the internet. You need to market your items to a much broader range of
customers. A good example of this is The Bus Depot who started on this list
and has grown their business.
I applaud those that developed the products and took the risks. The SA
Vanagons are a slightly different breed and it took some brave folks to buy
the parts and figure out how to make them work.
I think most of the Vanagon SA products you find here for sale are readily
available from distributors here in the US. I can tell you from experience,
that it is always much easier in the long run to source your products through
distributors than to import them yourself.
Who is responsible for product liability from any item you import is a gray
area. Normally you are not responsible for items you sell as long as you are
not aware that they are defective. However when you import items from firms
in other countries that have no legal representation here, you may end up
with the liability if someone was injured due to a product you sold. The
injured party will go for the easy money, and product liability insurance is
near impossible if not extremely expensive for items you do not manufacturer
and import from other countries. Your only option to protect yourself is to
incorporate.
As a listmember, and a vendor, I can offer this advice. Never invest or
spend more money that you are willing to loose. If you import a container
full of SA Vanagon brake pedals and lug nuts only to find that they don't fit
on US models, then you are stuck with useless parts and are out the money.
And if you send money to a listmember who wants to be a vendor and sends you
a pile of parts to retrofit your US Vanagon with SA Vanagon parts and can't
guarantee that they will fit, or doesn't provide you with the instructions,
then you get what you deserve. You may want to consider paying a little more
for piece of mind.
Just giving you a few things to think about.
Steve Lashley
'66 Westy
'74 Campmobile
'93 EV MV
http://EuroCampers.com
314-614-0750
Importing German Side Tents, Fiamma and Paulchen bike racks and other
accessories for
Bus, Vanagon and EuroVan
