Machine decision help

[Northmount]

@guntechholsters have you read this thread? 

It will answer many of your questions.

Tom

 

 

[dikman]

Good luck on importing a sewing machine at 25% of the dealer's price. It's one thing to buy smallish items from China but it's a whole new level when you talk about larger/heavier goods.

Guntechholsters, given that you have a heavy duty machine the logical choice would be an upholstery class machine, as Wiz mentioned. A cylinder arm would be nice, if you can find one, but a flat bed would probably be adequate. There should be plenty of old used machines around - Singer, Pfaff, Durkop-Adler, Consew, Seiko etc. - that should do what you want.

[RockyAussie]

11 hours ago, charlie2crows said:

All cost about 25% of the prices you would pay from 'dealers'

 

I have seen this statement before but nothing that comes even close to backing it up when it comes to the landed cost. Sending it back and getting any further satisfaction would also be I suspect another pie in the sky.

[dikman]

Charlie, are you saying you could order an industrial sewing machine today, from China, and have it delivered for 25% of the local dealer cost? I would love to see your figures, please, as my last effort, after contacting about 10 different companies (via Alibaba) and speaking with customs brokers would have resulted in a saving of only a few dollars (I posted the figures elsewhere), although if I bought the cheapest available I could have saved maybe a couple of hundred.

I'm sure there are quite a few on here who would like to know exactly how to go about this, and I'd love to know where I apparently went wrong.

[NCFD]

With regard to buying from China, it as with anything else if you do quality research you can do well importing pretty much anything you want. That being said where does all of the machines come from? yup you guessed right I personally don't know of a 441 class machine that isn't imported from our neighbors across the big blue pond, or most any machine for that matter. if you do your home work you can actually get them delivered to your business address (most wont delv to a residence sorry). I am posting this as just my personal experience and observations.

[dikman]

As I mentioned elsewhere, with regard to importing a 441 head unit only, I went through a long process trying to bring one in at a good price and found it couldn't be done (not as an individual). A fellow member on here, in the US, went through the same process and found likewise, it simply wasn't worth the trouble for the few dollars saved. If you were a business, buying a container load at a time, then you would doubtless get them at a better price per unit and all the other costs - shipping, customs etc - would also work out significantly less due to economies-of-scale. But for an individual it's simply not worth the effort.

Some Chinese companies I contacted were offering "warranty support" but just how effective that would be is probably open to conjecture, plus those offering support were invariably at the high end price-wise. Adjusting and timing a machine is no big deal and you would have to assume that any such machine you brought in would need that done. The problem would be if you have broken/damaged parts, so you have to be able to buy it cheap enough to offset the possibility that you may have to source such parts locally.

I have yet to see any figures that demonstrate it is viable/cost effective for an individual to bring in a sewing machine from China.

[NCFD]

dikman:

while I agree it can be somewhat daunting,  it can be done. Your mostly right, and not to be condescending to anyone if your not used to dealing with importers or buying equipment you are right. I have the ability because of my profession to be able to overcome the hurdles that beset the average person attempting it. Now having said all of that an individual can anticipating they use good sense and do the homework get some really good deals. personally I have procured several items from our folks across the big blue pond to the west  LOL. A recent example I just procured a class 441 machine with a upgraded motor, accessories stand delivered to my business for $1525.00. to your point it is not for everyone and to my point with good research and time you too can do it LOL

[dikman]

Unfortunately, I don't have the contacts to smuggle one in. (Not saying that's what you did, of course).

[advansite]

also looking at cb3200

 

for $1900 is that the best for the money. 

 

but the original post is how easy is it to change to tighter stitch / smaller thread to do wallets and then back to max for sheaths