Customer Reviews

The Maui CEO: Import from China, Sell on eBay, and Live Wherever You Want

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you want to learn how to import, you won't here. There is no meat on this bone! There is no advice on how to really find a supplier and qualify them, and no advice on what type of products to import. From the looks of it he imports pianos. That's fine, but a poor product to start out with!

He talks about importing a full container (20 or 40 foot). You are nuts to do that. You need to start with a LCL (Less than Container Load, something like a pallet or two) which has a significantly lower risk. Getting a warehouse right away? Use your garage or an extra bedroom until you get a good footing.

He talks a lot about the tools on his website. His website is useless! He has links to eBay research tools that do not work. Also, if you sell primarily on eBay you don't need your own website (at least not at the start).

I was amused by a few lines on how you could reduce your costs by flying to China with cash to pay for your purchase ahead of time. This would reduce your invoice amount thus reducing your import duties. Then he says this is illegal and you would likely spend more on the plane ticket than savings on the duties. Huh???? What was the purpose of that?

There is maybe three or four pages with a bit of useful information. Overall, this is a train wreck. The people that give this 5 stars and try his "methods" will likely have a problem.

My advice if you do? Start small and keep your risk down to what you can lose. Find a good customs broker in your locale and get some help from them. They are experts at this despite what this guy says.

Lastly, he should spend a few bucks on an editor!! There are many typos, grammar errors and senseless sentences in this document. It's a disgrace. Is this what U of M puts out(he has an MBA and JD from there)?

If you want to sell coffins, pianos, or pool tables on the internet, then this *might* be the book for you. The title is deceptive, as very little of the book deals with building an eBay business. The author's basic recommendations (all very superficially presented) are that you: attend trade shows in China to find products to sell, choose products that must be delivered as freight (your barrier to entry in his scenario is the fact that UPS and FedEx don't ship big things, so many sellers don't want to deal with big things -- me either!), incorporate in Nevada, and lease a warehouse in Long Beach, California. It's a 93-page book, supposedly about selling on eBay; yet hardly any of the book deals with eBay. There's a chapter on developing your corporate identity, but no mention of the logistics involved in getting containers delivered to anywhere but Long Beach. There's a chapter on getting your website up (unnecessary if you're selling on eBay), but nothing specific about an eBay storefront. In the chapter entitled "Ebay, PayPal, Escrow, and Your Security," the author writes: "Ebay is the subject of many books--4,136 on Amazon, to be exact. Why else do you think I have eBay in my book title?" Good question.

I found this book to be full of useful information and references. The author covers a lot of topics and if you don't have the imagination to look beyond coffins, then you won't make it in business anyway. I need broad information at this point, not details about one aspect of starting an eBay business. This book give you a lot to think about that you might not otherwise think of.

I was amazed at how much punch this little book packs. I have read other importing books that give you all the technical details of importing - but they don't help me make a decision. And with the huge number of decisions that are needed, I felt overwhelmed at the prospect of starting an import business after reading other books.

However, Mr Tennant cuts through all the crap and limits his scope to what a small startup should realistically aim at. In doing so, he provided answers to decisions to be made and provides "why" he chose that option over a few others by showing pros and cons - all in very few words. You can also see Mr Tennant's empirical knowledge on the business by some very insightful reasoning on his part that goes against the mainstream - all with compelling arguments for doing so.

I really learned a great deal.

Great organization and brevity. Ideal for busy people who want to get right to the point. Nice format, easy to carry around. Good content on eBay spoofing / phishing, and protecting yourself as an eBay seller. Highly recommended!! Very up to date.

First of all, it's easy to read yet packed with solid business and financial information. Second, Maui CEO is the ultimate expression of buying low and using e-commerce to leverage a small business. There are obviously different ways of going about this, and I think another reviewer misses this point. Using weight loss as an analogy, you can't be successful with Atkins if you follow only the parts that make sense to you. Likewise, if you import via LTL and store the stuff in your garage, you haven't lowered your risk: you've already lost, because you are acquiring your product from a distributor (i.e. not getting the lowest price) and you are selling a product (iPod headphones, or whatever) that does not have any competitive barriers.

I like the reviewer using specifics about what he didn't like or believe, but he misses the book's ultimate points on how to buy low. I don't even think a quality Chinese manufacturer will sell LTL quantities anyway.

To summarize the book's point in this area, 1) sell items that weigh more than 150 lbs so that UPS can't ship it (to reduce competition); 2) sell items that are more expensive which gives buyers more reason to buy online (like air conditioners or Jacuzzis)--the more money you save, the more incentive buyers have to buy online; and 3) the process of container shipping is clearly spelled out. To me, that's good advice.

Unlike today's hot book--The 4-hour Workweek--I believe Maui CEO contains nothing but meat--written in a way that makes fighting the big-guys possible and practical.

This is the best, most practical book on starting your own import business I have ever read. I think the advice on "creating barriers to entry" is brilliantly easy to understand and execute to. It is not a "how to be an eBay seller" general guide, but provides specific advice around picking products that have more limited competition given the logistics of moving that product. For instance, selling large outdoor children's playsets, which can't be shipped by UPS, naturally reduces your competition, so that you aren't among 1000 others selling the same thing on eBay. This is a guide, not encyclopedia, emphasizing quality over quantity, and is well worth the price.

This book is a quick read but successfully implementing the suggestions in the book is unlikely. The cover looks great, though, and the idea is appealing. But in the end, its like daydreaming... pleasant thoughts but not realistic for the vast majority of people. Even when it was published, which was before the drop off in eBay buyers and recent inflation in China, this book was (and is now) useless to most people.

A simple & good approach to those unfamilliar with the basics of our new commercial world: Outsoursing & trading!
a must read to starters & non internet amateurs.

This book was the perfect fit. It provided very direct, useful information without being too wordy. It was also fun to ready. It inspired me to get started with my own business!