My main question on this site is always the precarious, "how do I know it's gonna be a good replica?". And that's not just referring to my site. People write to me to ask about other sites.
Folks, I have been importing items from Asia for a long time. And of course I pick up tricks of the trade along the way, but at the end of the day, I still have to use the same tactics that you would have to use. That is, I still have to ask questions!
When I meet a new factory owner or a new wholesaler, I have to barrage the poor person with tons and tons of questions. You're lucky, when you ask me a question, I speak your language and can answer you clearly (well, at least I think I can).
Sometimes when I'm buying stuff for the first time from Asia, all I have is Google Translate to make things work. My advantage is that having done this for awhile I know what I'm looking for and I know how to pinpoint to the pertinent questions. I'm not in learning phase anymore with that stuff but like anything in life, you're always learning something new. Not a day goes by where even doing this as long as I have, I have not learned something new. Something with production, quality, location, cost, and even custom.
You wanna know how to buy a good replica?
I buy many (and I mean MANY) in a year and so I'm thinking I can shed some light on how to buy a good one.
1. If you see a site that sells replicas that claim to be "AAA", "top quality" or "7 star grade replication", YOU HAVE TO EXPECT that that kind of replica won't be cheap (like less than $190.00 - if it is, something is fishy and you should be suspicious).
Here's the inside scoop that very few people will tell you. It costs the factory in Asia to make an AAA replica about $15.00USD (all funds will be USD from herein). Yes, $15.00. Don't laugh. That winter coat you're wearing cost about $9.00 to make. Those pants you're wearing cost about $2.80 to make. You didn't buy them for that much but that's how much it costs to make them.
Now does that mean you can buy an AAA replica for $15.00? Keep dreaming, my friend. Time for a lesson in simple economics and business! Of course you cannot. That is the factory's cost to produce from start to finish - $15.00. Now the factory (or factories, there are thousands of them) needs distributors. So if a distributor buys, let's say, 10,000 bags, then the factory will sell those bags to the distributor for about $25-30.00/bag. One distributor is giving the factory $150,000 - $150,000 to pay for the bags and $150,000 as profit. You can see where factories need A LOT of distributors to sustain themselves. In today's market, $150,000 is not a lot of money.
So you with me? now the cost of the bag is $30. Now the first "middle man" (there can be up to 5 or 6 middle men in any wholesale situation. In fact I guarantee anything you are wearing right now went through AT LEAST 4 middle men and I don't care what brand it is and where you bought it!). The first middle man is a big guy (male or female). A person with a lot of buying power and HUGE storage/warehouse space. He/she buys in bulk from the factory. This person has the most costs (storage is a HUGE cost - as is any transcation involving real estate). He/she therefore marks up the bag the most too. He sells to the next tier for at least $60.00-$70.00. Sometimes more. Let's use $70.00 as a simple example.
The bag is now $70.00. The next tier who buy the bags only buy what they can sell and they then distribute to the either the retail public (YOU) directly or they too wholesale to a next tier of resellers (let's say Macy's - but of course we know that they don't buy replica bags. I'm just using them because it's a store we all know!). The third tier will now sell that $70.00 bag for about $100 PLUS the cost of shipping from Asia which is about $50 for only one item. Both costs comedown if you buy more items. This third tier is...well, for lack of a better word, the shadiest. This is where you need to be on your toes and make sure it's a valid wholesaler with a good reputation. Since this group of folks is only interested in selling the items, getting rid of stock and inventory, and make money to buy the next items to offer the market, they have been known to do the shadiest things. This is where 85% of wholesale deals fall apart or have a flaw in the system.
And so you (the retail public) can try to deal with this third tier on your own, and potentially lose your money, or you can opt to pay a little more (like when you go to Macy's) and make sure you get the goods. That is where department stores, retail locations and YOURS TRULY come into the picture.
Are you still with me? The price of the bag now is $150.00.
Now it's ready to sell to you guys. And it has to be sold at a mark up because, well this is business, and we're all here to make some money. A business is gonna go under pretty darn quick if the costs are not recouped and a profit is not made. That's pretty simple mathematics, business and economics all rolled into one.
This $150 bag is now in the hands of the person that can sell it to you or sell it to Macy's. Does not matter. You buying ONE bag will get the shaft. One bag at a time for anybody is not a good business. It's a lot of work and no wholesaler wants to do it. Hence wholesalers want the big accounts to sell more product. Macy's will get a better deal than you because Macy's will buy hundreds of bags.
So Macy's will get the bag for about $170, while you're get the bag for about $205. Both costs will incur at least the $50/bag for shipping. Macy's will obviously pay less in shipping because I'm sure they have a nice little business deal with UPS or Fedex. You, my friend, will pay full price and that's around $50, if not more.
There you have it. Your bag is now $255.
Please note: This is a very quick breakdown. Life is never this simple and straightforward. I'm taking the simplest of examples to show you how a bag is produced, it's costs and it's eventual price.
Now if you write to me and say, can I buy from the factory, I'm gonna think you didn't get any of what I just wrote. Sure you can if you want 10,000 bags. Factories don't make money on one bag. They make money on a collective HUGE quantity of sales.
Okay, here's my point in all of this. If you're perusing sites and the bags look FANTASTIC and you see prices around $150-$200, please come back to this blog and read what I wrote above. So something has to go off in your head and you have to wonder.
So if you see a bag on my site (and I'm using that as an example because it's the site I know best) for $255, you can see from my breakdown above that it makes sense. Right?
Now if you go to another site and see the same bag for $190 and you think, "that wench, she's trying to rip me off!" You really need to ask yourself what the difference would be. And I mean ask yourself in a smart way.
So what is the discrepancy? How are other sites selling for less? If you said Quality, you're pretty good at this.
You got it my friend, QUALITY. It has to be. There is nothing else to skimp on. No, the site you perused with the lower prices does not have an "in" with the factory, the first middle man, the next one, etc. No, they are not so HUGE that they are selling directly from the factory (remember if they were THAT huge, they'd be selling to another level of wholesalers - not the public!). No, they are not better business people and hence can cut costs better than others. No, they are not less greedy and just want you to really enjoy a handbag at no cost to them (LOL). No, no, no!
Here's a clue: AAA quality versus AA or A quality. You can really tell AAA from "A". AAA is real leather bags with very close matching hardware. "A" bags are always PU (polyurethane) leather. They are garbage. Canal Street material. Yuck.
You might, however, have a harder time telling a bag from AAA to AA quality. And if a site is using all AAA pictures, how will you know?
You will know because the site's prices are considerably different from another site selling the same bag and telling you it's AAA quality.
I have learned a couple of really important things in this business. There are no real huge differences in price when you buy something at any tier. Sure $10-30 price differences may exist due to sales, profit margins, etc. But when you start to get into $80-$100 price differences, some light bulb should be going off in your head about something not being right.
Now, I get asked this ALL THE TIME, but a good replica boasting AAA quality or good imitation should run you somewhere between $190.00-290.00, DEPENDING ON THE BAG.
I have seen a LV Mahina for $140.00 and I have seen othes for $630.00! Seriously. A good one should cost about $270.00-300.00. There is NO WAY on God's green earth in the year 2009 that you're gonna get a 100% leather bag with gold toned hardware with a designer's name on it and matching the original bag at about 98-99% for less than $200.00. If you believe that, I have this wonderful piece of land in Canada's great north. Sure it's solid ice TODAY but with global warming it should be good farmland in about 200 years!
Does this make sense? It's not the easiest thing to put on paper, thus making it difficult to explain in totality. I'm always here if you have questions.
Happy Shopping...with lessons in importing and business!
