Thursday

Posted on 2013/02/10 21:48:00 (February 2013).

[Thursday 7th February 2013]
Had a call from the estate agent at lunchtime - our third offer on the flat we'd been to look at last Thursday had been turned down. We were still under the asking price, but only ever so slightly. Interestingly it didn't sound like anyone else had put in an offer anywhere near yet either (normally estate agents are pretty good at letting you know about that). So I was left a bit unsure what to do next.

Although it probably sounds like an obvious thing to say, the frustrating part about being a first time buyer is that you're buying with cash which you've actually worked for, rather than simply the value of your existing house, which may well have gone up without you doing anything whatsoever. It's pretty much always the case that any property you buy in London will be on the market for more than whatever the seller originally bought it for, and in the case of the flat we're bidding on I found the last sale value on the web, and it has gone up about 40% in value since the current owner bought it in 2006. That's pretty much the average sort of rise in London in that period of time. However I can't help but be quite reticent in every increment in the offer price - however "small" that may be in property price terms - it's money I've worked for, whereas the seller has just sat on something which has appreciated without them doing anything.

To start an online shop in China, you rlaely need to make it available to search engines such as Baidu. Baidu is having 90% market segment share, so you need to find way to advertise or show on the natural search results in order to make your website available to your potential customers.There are ways to register your websites upto 1000 to 2000 related websites in China, so that you website can be easily searched on Baidu and other search engines at a cost about $6000 per year.The other key consideration is online payment, you need a RMB payment gateway that can accept 90% of the debit cards in China. So Paypal is not the ideal option. Typical setup fee and annual fee are HK$6000 + HK$6000.In terms of logistics, you need to make sure you have a reliable vendor to do it for you. If you are shipping from HK, then China Post can be an option but it all depends on your order quantity and types.

Posted by Wellington at 2013/03/14 21:50:33.

Post a comment