How to Sell Baby Formula Online?

tik tok on 20/10/2017 - 10:36
Last edited 22/10/2017 - 15:52 by 1 other user

Hopefully, its the right forum.

Was on ACA again yesterday - people buying baby formula in groups and selling it online. I know this has been going on for a while, including sales of vitamins.

My question is, if I have to sell baby formula online, how exactly does this work ?
Buy formula from Coles (4, of course), list it on ebay, and pray for a sale ?

Where/how are these guys selling baby formula. I would have thought one sale a day would be good for starters and on TV I see individuals buying at least 20 of them a day. That's quite a sale figure for a specific online business tbh. At a net profit of $2 a formula - sell 20 of them and make 40 bucks a day. Around $800 a month. Thats a few bills taken care of.

Cheers,

Food & Grocery

Comments

  • meumax on 23/10/2017 - 13:38

    To answer OPs original question.

    In the past, they used Wechat to establish personal networks of buyers in China who place orders directly with the daigou. They buy the products and then ship them using "souvenir" stores that are plentiful in Asian areas of the city. You can tell these stores as they have boxes and boxes of baby powder and other goods piled haphazardly on the floor. You will see lots of customers inside busily taping and sealing boxes for export.

    These stores have bulk shipping contracts with Chinese courier companies and allow daigou to use them to ship their wares to their customers China.

    The most successful daigou scaled up and set up presences on t-mall or other Chinese shopping portals, or combine with others to form companies dedicated to doing this.

    No way you can break into the market now.

  • agam2104 on 23/10/2017 - 13:59

    My Chinese friend doing this for awhile.They buy for $25 and sell it around 50$.WHen I am saying selling they shipping the whole pallet.

  • outlander on 23/10/2017 - 14:45
    +9

    Chinese markets hard to break into, australian parents are struggling to find formula..Seems like the answer is staring you in the face. Buy formula, and sell it to desperate Australian parents. That way your not robbing from Australian babies, and your still making a buck. You could do it on gumtree or in the forums here

    If anyone has a problem with this, but 'invests' in property, you are a hypocrite, because its the same strategy. Taking something now that people are almost guaranteed to need in the future, and then inflating the price to make a quick buck.

    • jacross on 23/10/2017 - 15:39

      This absolutely WOULD be the answer, except the problem doesn't exist anymore anyway (production caught up) and most of the stories are 'this one time I almost couldn't buy a tin but then I bought a tin and then stock existed every other time'.

    • dufflover on 23/10/2017 - 22:31

      Hate the idea but love the frankness of the comparison (no, I do not gamble in that joke of a ponzi scheme)

    • Some Human on 25/10/2017 - 13:28

      That's the most intelligent thing I've ever read on ozb. Property investors are the Brodens of the real estate world.

  • ostsee on 23/10/2017 - 16:25

    desperate Aussie mum…

  • ego22 on 23/10/2017 - 16:32

    i dont know how this is even a problem.. every geocery store and every chemist i have been to in years is packed FULL of baby formula… is this just happening in th poor suburbs of sydney or something?

    • MessyG on 23/10/2017 - 20:37

      I would suggest reading the other comments, not all formulas are the same.

    • CalmLemons on 23/10/2017 - 21:27

      They actually do come in and out of stock. Problem is News companies need to pickup issues that will drive people to watch their shows/papers to pay for advertising.

      So when Mum A can't find formula because she has been at 2 stores, Mum B then says she has been to 10 stores and can't find any.

      But then Mr Chen works out he can just pickup his smart phone and call the stores before going and get's the goods.

    • alz on 24/10/2017 - 13:31

      Not Aptamil Gold Stage 2

  • [Deactivated] on 23/10/2017 - 18:01

    I thought Chinese buyers are only after A2 and Aptamil.
    As long as parents staying away from A2, I don’t think normal Australian will face a formula shortage.
    FYI U can place order online for aptamil for personal usage.

    • MessyG on 23/10/2017 - 20:38
      +1

      They go after Allerpro too which is the only one babies with milk allergy can take before they have to go on the super expensive prescription stuff.

      • [Deactivated] on 23/10/2017 - 22:21

        I just googled it up for what is Allerpro.
        Obviously that’s an aptamil product, you can definitely order it from their website.
        As I mentioned above, the only problem is A2.
        Unless you really believe that scam, otherwise normal Australians will not have any issues with formula.

        • MessyG on 24/10/2017 - 18:47

          That has not been my experience, nor has it been many Ozbargainers here. That said it's about a year now since I needed it so hopefully things have changed - but when I was buying it, the website was perpetually out of stock, as were most places.

  • CalmLemons on 23/10/2017 - 21:36
    +3

    Anyway FYI I was an actual community chemist (no longer, retail kills me). The biggest issue is the marketing amongst all else and the fact that every single mum want's YOU to make a decision for THEM as to what is the best formula - despite being told the correct answer already - they want to hear an answer that doesn't put any duty/blame/responsibility on them.

    Doctors, nurses and chemists are all trained to say (unless there is a specific medical condition) that there is no preference and just to try different ones. Up to 16 weeks the childs digestive system is in constant change, especially after the first four weeks. If formula is required, you would not know the countless times after 4 weeks that a parent comes in and says my child is constipated/has diarrhoea. Unfortunately, there is never really a right answer apart from trial and error. I see a lot of parents wait 6-12 months to see a 'specialist' who may do nothing or put them on an even more synthetic protein. Unfortunately a lot goes back to our current crappy lifestyle and environment factors - we didn't have issues like this back in the days when formula usage was nearly non-existent.

    Issue is, well biggest issue is they should be on breast milk. Without going into that can of worms, mums without going into the personal opinions of the health professional, then rely heavily on whatever is marketed or whatever they can force out of the nurse or the chemist on the spot. Imagine working 8 hours, at the end of your shift someone comes in and says give me the best formula - what do you do? A2 does have a bit of evidence - credible or not - but they also now come with the strongest marketing campaign. Go capitalism lol.

  • kokita on 23/10/2017 - 21:47

    I blame the government for giving all access to overseas investors.

    Coles CEO has tried to stop this non sense but the government does not care. So, the supermarkets have to sell the formula to anyone within their weak limit control (max 4 per person).

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-12/coles-says-it-is-not-t…

    • [Deactivated] on 23/10/2017 - 22:15

      FYI, most of the formulas are made in New Zealand. Which means Australian government can’t ban the export.
      Our current law can only apply to Australian made dairy export by individuals.

    • [Deactivated] on 23/10/2017 - 22:49
      +1

      So gold, grain, wool, iron, copper, alcoholic beverages should not be sold overseas.

      Got it.

      From this thread I'm pretty sure we have more than enough self-righteousness to pay for social services, healthcare and education.

      Not sure what else would keep our median income in purchasing power the top 5 in the world.

      • ganymede on 23/10/2017 - 23:34

        Not according to some of the posters here for sure! They wanted something badly (A2 milk) but won't pay over RRP, whereas the Chinese are willing to pay way more than RRP but selling to them is a crime and should be condemned. What happened to supply and demand? Free economy?

        • [Deactivated] on 24/10/2017 - 01:22
          +3

          Because Australia is the greatest country with the greatest people and it is ridiculous that other foreigners from backwards countries can afford to price us out of goods!

          This is so unfair!! We're Australian and we have a morally upright, ethical, freedom loving, self-actualized culture unlike those evil foreigners!

          Foreigners cannot be allowed to use the free economy even though they can afford to because their culture is inferior to ours so their money must be dirty and part of their ill gotten gains (how else could they have managed it)!

          It looks like only people of that culture are doing such things and they don't look Australian! We don't like this so it confirms that their culture is bad! and is inferior to ours!

          The free economy is only for good cultures, like ours!

          Pretty much this thread.

        • mini2 on 24/10/2017 - 08:32

          @lolbbq:

          Unfortunately they don't like the free economy/capitalism when it doesn't suit them.

        • Kironium on 24/10/2017 - 16:03
          +1

          @lolbbq: that’s typical Queenslandic philosophy

        • CalmLemons on 25/10/2017 - 00:02

          @lolbbq: lol

  • Freshie on 24/10/2017 - 02:39

    Please don't

  • Onysius on 24/10/2017 - 07:54
    1. They sell it via the WeChat app (Chinese version)
    2. You need contacts within China, who can direct their friends/family etc. to "your" WeChat.
      • My ex & I were selling vitamins to China this way
    3. You need a method to get the money out of China
      • Chinese government have cracked down on out-going money transfers; we were using bitcoin, but that is now also illegal in China.
    4. You need to be able to get the products to China at a reasonable price - forget Australia Post.
    5. There are only certain brands that the Chinese will buy - they won't touch brands that they haven't heard of, even if they are well known brands here.

    So basically if you don't have any Chinese connections, it is more trouble than it is worth.

    • 11112007 on 24/10/2017 - 12:21

      Spot on.

      Unfortunately I know alot of people that are doing this with friends and family back in China.

  • Ravensbane on 24/10/2017 - 08:35

    Yes please become part of the bloody problem. You do realise how much these sellers are pissing off parents who struggle to find the formula for their kids right? In an ideal world the people doing this would be banned from buying and reselling it at all. But good luck with that…

  • PictureMeBroken on 24/10/2017 - 18:04

    Wow, can´t recall the last time I have seen so much hate (and personal attacks) on Ozbargain. Well, first I honor the idea of this person, trying to get an extra income. Instead of sitting on his or her bump sucking all the money out of CenterLink. But a little advice buddy, this is a highly critical topic as you might have seen.

    I am sure there are better ways of getting an extra income at the moment. But please guys, be friendly to each other and keep the personal attacks for yourself.

    • dufflover on 24/10/2017 - 20:18
      +3

      OP is willing to do this idea; it kind of is personal cos it's straight from the horses mouth. Unlike Aussie Chinese who now cop it because people assume they are dodgy mainlanders and I don't blame 'em for making that initial assumption either! Ironically enough here you are thinking people who want extra money who don't do it are sitting around on CentreLink money or something either.

      Go broden something else that isn't food or housing.

  • Matslurpee on 24/10/2017 - 22:40

    If only it were that easy, I would have bought all the blackmores baby formula that is on clearance for $5 at my local coles.

    • CalmLemons on 25/10/2017 - 00:00

      Well when this falls through - when demand falls 20%, when the share price of A2 and blackmores plummet - all the negatives in this post will be crying, sue them for not buying our products, why don't I have a job at blackmores anymore blah blah blah

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