I was highly interesteed in Jon & Sandy's flip experience so I started contacting 'Cosmic Inventory'. Followings are two email I got as a in-depth-information. The China trip is not cheap ($5,000)and they said we can bring client or spouse and once we book the trip it is ours. I assume that if we go together as a multiple people, we can devide the cost together. If anyone interested in, please let me know. I would love to go, just the cost itself is too much burden...
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*1st Email
Hello,

I'm glad you enjoyed the Flip That House episode, I will pass your
compliments on to Jon and Sandy. It sounds like you have a pretty
ambitious project ahead of you, so you have a great potential for
savings by purchasing in China.

1. A typical trip is 9 days including your flight travel time. With
enough advanced notice we can shorten the trip to 7 days if necessary.
2. Purchases made after the trip will be done by e-mail. Typically, you
will send the vendors pictures or descriptions of the items you are
looking for and they will find them and often reply with pictures of
their own. To remember the products we see on the trip, we take a number
of photos and notes. As part of the training on the trip we explain this
process - it's very easy.
3. To get the greatest benefit from purchasing in China, and for a
project of your size, you will most likely want to fill a container and
use ocean freight. Once you have completed your shopping and
consolidated all of your purchases onto the container it will take
roughly 4 weeks to reach your project site.
4. When placing orders from home e-mail is a more efficient means of
communication. E-mail allows you to send pictures and drawings, which
are very helpful in communicating.
5. There is no designated website from which to order. By your
introduction to these vendors you will have access to many different
factories producing a variety of products. You will not be able to
return items as is commonly done in the U.S. but I think you will find
that there is very little need to if you take the time to prepare your
order clearly and review the pictures or specs that the vendor provides
before shipping. If the vendor sends you something that is incorrect,
and it is their error, they will usually take responsibility and
negotiate a reasonable compensation. Keep in mind that you will realize
dramatic cost savings - sometimes as much as 75% off retail. Therefore,
you will be able to absorb some losses to damage in shipping. My
experience has been that damage most frequently occurs during the
unloading at the job site. W have had very little lost due to damage
during shipping. You can also purchase freight insurance if this is of
concern.

I hope this information is helpful to you; you will definitely receive
more in-depth training on the China Buying Trip. Our next available trip
is on March 3-12. If you are interested in attending but have some
concerns, Jon offers a one-hour personal phone consultation for $150. We
credit this fee to the cost of the trip. You can schedule an appointment
by calling 888-9CHINA9 (88-924-4629).

Keith Hoffmann
Cosmic Inventory

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*2nd Email

Thank you so much for your immediate response! It was very descriptive and helpful so I will even upload this information to the blog for lots of people who is interested in your company.

I almost had an debate/argument w/ my husband regarding this trip. I am from Korea and purchased a lot of product from china, I know it would be definitely a saving. My husband's concern is about product which is not from the worldwide well know brand but it is coming from the 'Wang xxx's' factory. My personal experience from Chinese product is, since they do a lot of OEM, they take out chunk of products out of the regular batch they supposed to ship, like Sony, Kohole, and sell it off the product as a half price. Would it be the case here too? Like knock off Gucci bag...

So far, I still have a hard time to convince my husband but since I am from Korea, we will combine trip for family to the trip to China sometime, hopefully soon. Thanks again.

Your husband's preference to purchase brand names is not uncommon.
Companies spend a great deal of money making their brand name desirable
to consumers and, therefore, they come with a higher price. Brand names
build a reputation for a company - whether it be style, reliability,
durability or quality - and there is value in the consumer paying a
higher price because they don't have to do any research to make sure the
product is good; they rely on the brand.

By doing some research, however, you can find just as good and even
better products without brand names at lower prices. In some cases they
are produced by quality craftsmen who do not have the money to invest in
brand marketing. For example, we buy doors from a factory that is a
major manufacturer of doors in China and around the world (the same
doors you saw on our Flip That House episode). Their quality is
exceptional and they will manufacture our custom designs for us. There
is no brand name on it but we have one-of-a-kind doors of exceptional
quality that are constantly complimented and we only paid a fraction of
the price of a standard brand name.

In others they are produced by the same manufacturer but without the
brand label. For example, we buy handmade rugs from the same
manufacturer that produces handmade rugs for companies around the world
including the Armani Casa and Stark brand names. Our rugs are the same
high quality and value but by purchasing directly from the manufacturer
without a logo on it we can pay less than half of the typical retail
price.

Brand name products really amount to only a small portion of what is
available. Consider stone, for example; blue pearl granite is a
beautiful and very highly valued stone from Norway. There is no brand
name on it, it is called blue pearl all over the world. Because we are
cutting out the 'middle-man' and taking advantage of the favorable
currency exchange rate and the low cost of labor in China, we can
purchase finished tiles, slabs and countertops made of blue pearl or any
other stone at up to 80% savings.

From reading your e-mail it sounds to me that you are concerned with
quality of the product and the trustworthiness of the suppliers. You
will find disreputable businesses in every country in the world - we
have certainly come across a few in China. The advantage of the China
Buying Trip is that you get the benefit of our years of research and
experience purchasing from China. You meet the vendors we trust and do
business with on a regular basis. You avoid the problems and pitfalls
that cost me tens of thousands of dollars.

When we go to China we visit factories and inspect products personally.
You get to see first hand what you are buying. If you would like more
in-depth answers to your questions, Jon provides telephone consultation
services. He will answer any of your questions about purchasing and
importing from China and I'm sure that he will be able to lay to rest
any further concerns you or your husband have about joining us on one of
the China Buying Trips.

You can call me directly at 702-469-6345 to schedule the consultation.

I hope this information is helpful.

Keith Hoffmann
Cosmic Inventory