In my experience this sort of thing is rarely a bad thing (okay it doesn't look like it now) but at the end of the day you will learn far more from your failures and mistakes than you ever will from your successes. I'm sure Fudjj will back this up.
None of us got where we are today plane sailing - In most cases. Of course there are exceptions out there but the majority do make mistakes and a lot of us are bought into deals in China through naivety. Common sense often goes out the window.
When I first started out I used DHgate a fair bit and yes I did buy counterfeit clothing, you will now see posts around the forum of me hypocritically saying that is illegal and shouldn't be condoned. Truth is yes there is money to be made from it but only for a couple of weeks before you go through hell.
eBay will pull your listings, freeze your funds and threaten legal action. Not to mention the amount of phone calls you get with customers asking for refunds, a few negative feedbacks and pretty much an all round nightmare.
However authentic stock is a different story altogether. Used and New designer goods are simply brilliant. They are to a certain extent recession proof, the people that wear Armani and Dolce and Gabbana and the like are always going to have money to spend on clothes. We did our final bit of retail trade over Christmas selling T-shirts in Winter and they were flying out the door. In my opinion a good eBay market to get into. Others may disagree but far better than electronics and video games.
Which reminds me actually - I think you are the first person in a year or so to come and the forum and ask for something that wasn't electronically related - Congratulations!
Anyway, $300 is a painful but fairly small amount to get hit with. When we were wholesaling the iPhone a few months ago I had buyers enquire all the time and 90% would say 'Your prices are way to high, I can get them a lot cheaper in China' Of course I did advise that this is not a good idea but in there eyes you are the scammer selling at double the price of the Chinese!' One guy got taken for £20,000 around $30,000. That basically made a little Chinese man a millionaire over night. The average yearly wage there is $1800, think what they will do for 15 times that!
Just think about a few things before your next purchase, heres a couple that I used to use myself - back in the good old days!
1. Do you think a prestige brand like Gucci will sell their stock to a small factory on the China coastline?
2. Is the price realistic for the volume you are buying?
3. Type the company name in google and add 'scam' or 'fraud' to your search.
Just a few tips...
If you need anything else then feel free to just drop me a message or leave something on the forum and one of the experienced members will get back to you.
The likes of Singapore, Fudjj, Jimmy etc are pretty much part of the furniture here and are always happy to help - as am I...
