Tried many articles and failed on all products that are not every day consum aticles.
As the other poster already mentioned, go to Sto. Domingo in the quarter Ave. Duarte / Josi Martin and walk up from the 27 de febrero. There you encounter many importers. The local bus terminals are near by and small business owners come with the busses and buy in this quarter. This is the center of chinese import business.
If you are serious about importing from china, a wholesale shop in this quarter is the best place.
Forget about people telling you that they will sell your container before it arrives.
At the end they will buy for a few hundred dollars, ask for samples or selling "in commission".
Check the prices and you will see how hard it is to make a dime.
Only way is to buy a full container load of a product directly from manufacturer.
You can sell to the big players like "Las Sirenas", but must wait about 3 month for your money. At least they pay.
Goold luck with your 25% marging, especially when counting the share your "professional" "dominican friends".
Be prepared to be ripped of at customs, especially if you have a "dominican friend" who is a "professional" or knows the "right customs agents" to "help" you.
If you only loss 25% that would be not bad for the start.
Go with a well known customs agent like Heinsen or do everything yourself or you will have lost money even before you have your container.
Also be prepared to theft on all steps. It starts with the truck drivers.
I never experienced a dominican having paid something they got in credit or commision in full, maybe 50% to the max.
Finally developed a sales system that actually worked:
I wanted 250 pesos for a perfum. People wanted to buy, but did not because of no money.
So we sell now the same perfum for 500 pesos with a first payment of 250 and the rest 1 month later or when the product is sold. This way the same people that refused the first offer of 250 pesos suddenly buy. Of course they never pay the rest, but does not really matter. Only thing is it is hard to built a customer base this way.
All products you mentioned are hard to sell these day.
Do not underestimate the power of brands.
I had very good AA and AAA batteries which had more capacity than Rayovac, but had to liquidate cheop because of unknown brand.
Same happend to quality condoms. Had "condomi" which is at the same quality level as Durex, but totally unknown in the market, so had to give away very cheap.
What works are quality sanitary napkins of good quality, milk powders, swaddels.
Also new car tires from korea (good brand) in full container loads of only hot selling sizes.
And of course alcoholics like whiskey, but never tried this.
My advice: Dominican Republic is best for living with money in the bank, doing business there only complicates your life and money is better made elsewhere.
Good luck
