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Inventors can run into problems getting their inventionsmanufactured overseas. These problems can be severe becauseentrepreneurs have to pay for their products before they get achance to inspect them. Therefore, they can easily end up with acontainer full of the wrong product with no option of returning it.One way to avoid this problem is to work with an import reseller, acompany that arranges for production and quality and then bringsthe product into the United States under its ownership. Buying froman import reseller ends up being no riskier than buying from anAmerican manufacturer. Import resellers often advertise in the backof trade magazines.
John Stodolka, president of PCI Inc. in Little Canada,Minnesota, imports products from Taiwan. His explanation of hiscompany's advantages: "We have an engineering office inTaiwan. They help inventors locate the best manufacturer for theirproduct. They also interface with the manufacturer to getpreproduction units built for inventors' approval, and they doquality control inspections during production. We bring the productinto the U.S. under our ownership so our customers don't haveto worry about any import paperwork."
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