PRACTICAL beginners' guide Importing Garments Through Hongkong comes complete with cartoons and comprehensive tables.
It peppers rules, advice and pitfalls with fictional anecdotes and attempts to specify the limits of accountability between importer and vendor.
With his book, author David Birnbaum claims a domestic manufacturer with no import experience can find a reliable agent, have duplicates produced, place orders and expect to receive quality merchandise on time at competitive prices in his very first season.
He takes readers through what a good agent should be, step-by-step pointers on how to go about finding a Hongkong agent from thousands of kilometres away and what to look out for in negotiations, production and shipment.
Pages are devoted to finding quotas. Also, what an agent can expect from you is also covered.
Under this, Mr Birnbaum discusses dealing with minimums; payment for goods; and arranging external credit lines with banks or factors.
There are also details on international terms of payment, import and tariff regulations, plus a chapter on China and comprehensive quota lists.