Steps needed to take in order to buy/sell from China

First, you need to incorporate to protect your personal assets from the liabilities of the company. You will also need to do some substantial market research to determine if this is going to be worth your investment. www.sba.gov is a great place to begin. It has a wealth of general information on how to start your business and how to grow the business.

Import/Export trading can be complicated and you are responsible for ensuring that your business complies with all the applicable regulations. There are some resources available at the Federal Trade Commission's website. There are further complications that can arise from buying and selling drugs. You will need to check with the FDA to see if the pills, or anything in the pills are regulated chemicals. You will also need to do some research to determine if there are any ingredients which may expose you to product liability claims.

1. You do not need a license to buy/sell from China, but if you are going to have your own people on the ground in China you will need to fulfill all sorts of legal requirements there, ranging from company registration to labor law to taxation, etc.

2. You need a kick-ass OEM manufacturing agreement with your supplier in China. Odds are good you will want this agreement to be in Chinese.

3. You will need to analyze what intellectual property protections you are going to need both here in the US and in China. The last thing you want to do is to start importing these herbs, turn them into a big success, and then have one or more other companies steal your idea and run with it. You will likely need trademarks both here and in China to protect yourself.

4. You are selling pills/herbs. You need to make sure they are legal in the US and also you need to make sure their ingredients do not require you to have a license to sell.

5. Let's face it, Chinese manufacturers oftentimes have quality problems. How are you going to deal with this? One way is through the OEM contract discussed above. But you also should look into protecting yourself from liability both here and in China through corporate formations and insurance.

The above is just the basics.

Practically speaking, I would first try to procure a contact/broker that knows how to deal with China. There is an immense amount of fraud in China as well as qualitative product issues, so you want to make sure your broker knows where to find a manufacturer. Next, I would contact a customs broker (in the U.S.) and inform them that you wish to import these pills and your broker should be able to give you the requirements/permits needed to import the merchandise. I would gather that the FDA would regulate this product both at the border and within the channels of interstate commerce. You may even have to deal with other federal agencies. That is where your trade attorney will play a substantial role. Hope that helps.