Importing from Bali by Suitcase

Jan 4, 2010 by Sean

Balinese Products for the Suitcase Importer

The following should be mostly common-sense — hope you don’t feel patronised, drop me a comment at the end if you do — doesn’t mean I’ll change anything but I’ll certainly read the comment.

You are limited in space and weight. Typically, for checking in, most airlines limit you to one large suitcase with a 15 kilo load limit. However, you need to check that before you fly and you also see if their is anything you can do to increase the number of bags you can bring and the total weight — some airlines offer deals that allow you to apply airmiles towards luggage allowances and upgrades… certainly worth checking out. Also, beware of always taking the cheapest flight — sometimes it’s a false economy insofar as the luggage allowance is significantly less than a flight that only costs another fifty dollars and that’s along with the additional eight hours of red-eyed boredom hanging around a Middle Eastern airport.

One of the great things about being a suitcase importer is that you don’t need me or anyone else to guide you on logistics. There are no wood crates to build or fumigation papers to organise or certificates of origin to issue… you’re just packing your suitcase. I would advise you bring a little luggage scale, however… very handy. I would also suggest you use a small, wheeled suitcase for your carry-on baggage (can easily fit another five to ten kilos of good stuff in there and it’s a good idea to do that with the more valuable items like silver jewelry). Bring your camera. Leave your laptop at home (complete pain when you’re moving around a lot).

I will suggest, however, that you do as much research on products before you leave and make absolutely sure that you’re not going to get into trouble walking through customs at home. Let me make this clear: just because you’re bringing a product home in your suitcase does not mean you’re immune to certain international laws. If you like shell items, for example, make sure you know the difference between the legal and illegal varieties. If you like drums (I don’t think you’ll be able to fit many of these in your suitcase but, hey, whatever floats your boat), make sure your home port doesn’t have any restrictions on leather because all of those drums have leather hide or skin stretched across the top. Now, I’m not going to kill us both by going through every possible variation and permutation of product and corresponding regulation… the point is that you need to be prepared and you need to organise yourself. Be the expert because, throughout most of the West, ignorance of a law or a regulation, is not a defense or mitigating factor. Wow, that came out more complicated than I thought it would… I mean that just because you don’t know a law or regulation exists doesn’t help you… customs will still confiscate, impound or prosecute.

Selecting your products should be fairly easy.

The best items will either be small or pack well (or both) and relatively light.

Silver jewelry is a good bet. Bali is famous for its silverwork. Prices are good. Some people talk about the silver itself being low quality but that’s not strictly true because, as you should already know, you can be cheated everywhere. Things to bear in mind. A lot of places sell jewelry but they don’t actually make it themselves or they only make part of what they sell. It’s pretty easy to work this out as some items will seem very well priced while others will be disproportionately expensive. An example will be a solid silver pendant will only cost five bucks while the matching earrings will be seven bucks… easy.

You can visit Beads Bali (my wife’s catalogue) to see a massive range of what’s available.

Also, be careful of pricing on filgree silver products in Bali because little, possibly none of it is made on the island; it will have been brought in from Yogyakarta. That doesn’t mean you won’t get a good price but it does mean you’re getting a resell price — worth thinking about. Balinese silver jewelry tends to be chunky and arty and very cool. Not quite as shiny as the highly polished, lightweight Chinese stuff but more attractive I think. Make sure you have a .925 stamp and that it looks shiny with a good white tone. If the vendor’s place is dark, it’s worth bringing the piece you like into the doorway so you’ve got a clear idea of the color and that will give you an opportunity for a thorough inspection of the clasps, connectors and all the other little parts.

Along with silver jewelry, you’ll also find some excellent bead items and wood, stone, glass, shell and resin jewelry. Check the clasps and connections. Make sure you’re actually buying jewelry rather than just strings of beads (I stayed confused about that for a long time).

Stones and gems can be good but do your research before you fly in: some stones and gems are native, others are imported from China, Thailand and other areas.

Sarongs used to be very popular but now, I would say, you either have to be buying for the right season or the right location… they’re never out of fashion in Florida.

Paintings can be a good purchase. My preference would be to see them first box framed and that the motif or color goes all the way around to the very edge of the canvas. Then you want to have them unmounted by the store keeper and rolled. You can fit at least five canvasses into a standard carton (sometimes you’ll find the nice cardboard cartons but more often you’ll have a length of grey, pvc pipe.

You may be able to increase your space on the cartons by packing jewelry and paintings into one roll. As long as you don’t destroy the painting, why not?

Ikat wall hangers, table runners, dresses, tops and other textile and clothing products. Easy to find, affordable, easy to fold and lightweight.

Along with textile table runners and placemats, there are also woven coasters and table mats — they’re pretty cool.

That’s enough on the products, I think. You can research the rest or just wait until you get here.

Some last-minute thoughts about your trip to Bali:

Feel free to completely ignore this.

Be cool. Don’t walk around acting like you’re a major buyer and start talking about what you’re going to import next year… doesn’t work on a number of levels… the bigger you are, the more money you’ve got and thus the bigger mark you are; works against you. It’s also been done before. Bali’s been trading back and forth for a thousand years… believe me when I tell you that all the big shots — both real and imagined — have been through here one time or another. You’ll make better contact with people by avoiding the bullshit.

Don’t look for sympathy or talk about how hard the economy is. You’re in Bali so you’re rich. End of story. What you consider to be a sob story comes over as the life of Reilly. Leave that frame of mind in the airport before you fly out and deal with the fact that in this country, on this island, at this time, you’re a wealthy, privileged foreigner.

Don’t lose your temper. You’re here to make contact and to network and build up resources and find products. It takes patience. No-one’s going to respect you when you get angry or start raising your voice. If you find that happening, just leave and come back later when you’re in a more positive frame of mind.

Keep your stuff safe. Stuff goes missing in Bali just like it does everywhere else. Keep your valuables close to hand or safely stowed away. If you have a nice camera or phone or whatever, keep an eye on it and don’t leave it behind.

Keep yourself safe. Bali’s a pretty cool place in terms of personal safety (except when people are bombing it, of course). I’ve never felt physically threatened or in danger but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. The biggest danger is probably from traffic. If you’re going to rent a motorbike, make sure you know what you’re doing. I know from very personal experience that this can be a quick and easy way to get seriously hurt or killed. And make sure you have medical insurance.

Don’t mistake a smile for friendship. In business and casual meetings in Bali, people often smile. As the song goes, “it don’t mean a thing”. That’s not to say it’s fake; it’s just a smile. Try to find that balance between guarding your own best interests and being open minded. A tough one, I know.

Look out for “ya”. In the dictionary and every day use, it seems to be the equivalent of “yes” in English. In reality, it’s not. It can mean, “um”, “ok”, “sure”, “ah”, “er”, “I hear you” and a million other things that don’t quite mean, “yes”. So, don’t take that for granted… if there’s any possibility whatsoever that someone might have mistaken your meaning, double and triple check and make sure they validate back to ensure you’re all on the same page.

If you’d like to see a huge range of great Balinese products from a fantastic export company (how’s that for a shameless plug?), you can go to our catalogue at: http://www.indonesiaexport.com. Enjoy.

If you’re interested in more information about importing from Bali, you can take a look at our import page: http://www.indonesiaexport.com/import.php

If you’re interested in jewelry, you can check out Athina’s website: http://www.beads-bali.com

Feel free to ask me anything (or shout at me if you disagree with any of the above) by commenting below or sending me an email.

Ok, I’ve said enough (perhaps too much). Goodnight.

Sean

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