Moderator: 3ne2nr Mods
Les Bain wrote:In my years making the traffic ridden work commmute I used to envy seeing the bike men effortlessly gliding through the gridlock. I doh have the belly to face idiotic trini driving on anything less than 4 wheels though.
88sins wrote:It's a very small market here op, mostly dominated by a few well established small scale businesses, so to set up shop you need to come good. That being said, competition is a good thing, so come thru.
I would suggest that in addition to supplying bikes, you may want to consider supplying parts and motors, not just for your own business, but for sale to the public as well.
timelapse wrote:You got road worthy quads?
timelapse wrote:You got road worthy quads?
agent007 wrote:OP, when was the last time you came to T&T? Your business sounds like a good idea here but three things (amongst others) you need to take into consideration:
1. Availability of USD.
When you ship these motorcycles and parts to T&T, obviously you need your invoices settled or to settle your suppliers. You need USD for that and we do have some issues with forex for the last 5 years.
2. TT Customs
Are you prepared for unnecessary bureaucracy and for hold-ups in clearing?
3. Do you wish to operate virtually or traditional brick and motar? I don't know how life is in Thailand but our crime has gotten worse and are you prepared to pay extra for your business and inventory to be protected or to handle the scenes accordingly when it comes to paperwork and taxes etc?
I would say, be cautious and align yourself with an already established player. You can simply be a supplier operating in the background but you will still have direct and indirect challenges as it relates to the above points. No one gets paid unless something is sold. It means if you want something sustainable out of this, you need inventory to move so that your payments will flow steady and not wired to your Thai account on an ad hoc or when it's feasible to do so basis.
Sad to say but entrepreneurial startups and investment in T&T is a bit tough but if you have the right connections, why not? Fix up and good luck.
Phone Surgeon wrote:Make a Facebook or instagram page and join all the local facebook buy and sell groups. It have about 50.
Post up some items there and give people the option to pay with PayPal. Its realistically the only way retail customers can pay you as usd is near impossible to get. With PayPal they can use their credit cards.
Find out whats the local taxes and regulations to register used bikes and work out your prices.
Shipping expensive like hell since covid start so keep that in mind when you calculating prices
Contact some logistics companies to get the prices
If your prices really bess then you would get sales.
If life is good in Thailand I wouldn't advise you coming here to physically start a business. Life in trinidad is dangerous and grimy. You could walk out the road for a doubles in the morning and collect 2 bullet because a man like your cellphone or gold chain.
Phone Surgeon wrote:Also you need to link with a broker here and find out their fees and the customs duties and the regulations etc.
If you are just basically sourcing the item and handling the shipping....the broker here will have to handle clearing and registering the bike if need be and they could tell you the costs associated with everything.
You could also use that broker company name when talking to customers to give them some sort of comfort/legitimacy when they doijg direct business with you.
Again.....I don't advise you physically come trinidad if you don't have to.
Phone Surgeon wrote:Its going to be very hard to transfer your tt to any sort of foreign currency to any foreign bank.
You have no idea how bad our forex situation is here.
You seeing the kind of random robberies going on everyday these days?VII wrote:Aye allyuh we know it bad too baaaad but not sooooooo so so so bad, and not soooooo ramdom...lol..
Cb650r wrote:agent007 wrote:OP, when was the last time you came to T&T? Your business sounds like a good idea here but three things (amongst others) you need to take into consideration:
1. Availability of USD.
When you ship these motorcycles and parts to T&T, obviously you need your invoices settled or to settle your suppliers. You need USD for that and we do have some issues with forex for the last 5 years.
2. TT Customs
Are you prepared for unnecessary bureaucracy and for hold-ups in clearing?
3. Do you wish to operate virtually or traditional brick and motar? I don't know how life is in Thailand but our crime has gotten worse and are you prepared to pay extra for your business and inventory to be protected or to handle the scenes accordingly when it comes to paperwork and taxes etc?
I would say, be cautious and align yourself with an already established player. You can simply be a supplier operating in the background but you will still have direct and indirect challenges as it relates to the above points. No one gets paid unless something is sold. It means if you want something sustainable out of this, you need inventory to move so that your payments will flow steady and not wired to your Thai account on an ad hoc or when it's feasible to do so basis.
Sad to say but entrepreneurial startups and investment in T&T is a bit tough but if you have the right connections, why not? Fix up and good luck.
Well I haven't been to Trinidad In 25 years maybe more. I was thinking it would be easier to setup a business there as I am a citizen, life is good here . Easy jobs beautiful beautiful women who don't mess around if they fancy you. However competition is very fierce between traders for bike business. Lots of money to be made as defaults on bikes are high. If you cannot make a few payments you can either loose the bike and have bad credit which will make it impossible to secure credit again , or sell it to a shop like mine at maybe 10 15% of value. Dosent matter if you already paid off 70%. If the finance takes it back they will sell it at a profit and you get nothing. So 8k pound bikes frequently sell for 2k pounds.
My thinking is in the current economic climate people are struggling. Cheap affordable reliable transport is big here because people struggle. I figured the same would apply to Trinidad. A bike is easier to repair , fuel is a fraction of the cost compared to a car, it cuts down on your commute. No more standing at the side of the road waiting. Turn your key and your off.
I am used to having endless bs to deal with here in Thailand. It's next to impossible to get stuff done unless you give what is called tea money ( bribe)
Regardless I will be coming at the end of the year to visit and I will bring one bike to see how the shipping is. Like I said bikes here are super cheap if you know where to look and how to deal.
But honestly I don't even know where to begin and who I could talk to. I guess the only option would be to bring a bike or two and stay for a few months.
Cb650r wrote:Les Bain wrote:In my years making the traffic ridden work commmute I used to envy seeing the bike men effortlessly gliding through the gridlock. I doh have the belly to face idiotic trini driving on anything less than 4 wheels though.
Well it's all about how you ride. If you ride while being alert and expecting the unexpected you are mostly fine. You know the road yo7 travel and how drivers drive. If your lane splitting ( which is the main benefit) you are fine. Higher speed riders here tend to stick to the slowest lane or the emergency shoulder( the smart riders) you know people break lights so you slow down before lights you give your self maximim reaction time, stay far from cars. You see a car approaching at speed move out of his way.
They are made in India.gundeleroy2k wrote:Are hero bikes good starter bikes
Return to “Ole talk and more Ole talk”
Users browsing this forum: Dohplaydat, Duane 3NE 2NR and 247 guests