Importing Fortunes is an educational program that teaches the basics of the import/export industry.
The program is promoted as a complete educational source for newbies who want to learn how to import or export commercial products.
As well, it’s promoted to those as an alternative way to make money online or earn a living while traveling abroad.
Is the program any good, is it worth your time?
I have gone through this program and everything I learned is revealed in this review below.
Product Name: Importing Fortunes
Product Type: Basic Importing/Exporting Educational Training
Website: thetravelwriterslife.com/importing-fortunes/
Creator: Marc Charles, marketed by International Living/The Travel Writers Life
Price: $279 Lifetime Membership, but always on sale for $100 off: So $179
Best For: Nobody. There are much better programs to learn importing and exporting.
Rating: 40/100
Summary: The Importing Fortunes program is a sub-par education at best. It lacks personal structure, a sufficient knowledge base, and next to ZERO community support.
If you enter this program and think you will receive a proper online education in order to make money in the import/export industry, you’re going to be sadly disappointed.
Recommended: No. If you need help with the importation and exportation business, check out my top recommended training to learn how to sell eCommerce online.
My Top Training for Importing & Exporting >>
What is Importing Fortunes?
Importing Fortunes is a program produced by a man named Marc Charles.
Marc Charles claims to have had success in the importation business and has created a program to help average folks like you a me break into the industry.
The program is supported and promoted by International Living, a magazine and online website that helps people with relocation information (and income strategies) when moving abroad.
And is really targeted to anyone who wants to learn to make money online – Click here to read my 5 step Guide to Make Money Online.
Importing Fortunes is part of International Living’s, My Travel Programs, and consists of 5 pages on it’s website. You can see the 5 pages below.
The whole program consist of 8 Webinars, a series of Bonus forms, stories, and information, and a forum that is pretty much unused and empty.
Importing Fortunes provides information on styles of importation, the potential of the import/export business, and mainly promotes using sites like Alibaba.com to find and import products (mostly from China) and sell them on sites like Amazon and eBay.
They stress using the Amazon Fulfillment Center as a means to sell and drop-ship imported goods, which is a pretty awesome idea I must say.
But the program lacks serious support, structured education as well as a general lack of support from the owner and community.
The community support is sup-par because there are not enough members to assist you with questions.
And when you are putting together a new business in a new field like importation, you will definitely need consistent support during the educational process.
Overall the program tries to give people an honest education to the import/export business, but lacks details and consistent training.
If importing and drop shipping is really your gig, check out our Beginners Guide to Sell on Amazon.
What I liked About Importing Fortunes
Mr Charles does a good job educating inexperienced importers on how the process works.
He explains where to get products (mostly from Alibaba.com), and gives recommendations on how to choose reliable suppliers.
However, this information is readily available online and is fairly common knowledge if you spend an hour searching – importation.
Also, the information on how to select reliable suppliers is already provided on sites like Alibaba.com.
The program does a good job explaining how to find hot products.
But that’s not a tough concept to understand if you’ve spent anytime on Amazon.com, Walmart.com, or any other major online retailer.
The one thing I like is that Marc Charles encourages people to start small, find a hot product, and find a reputable supplier using Alibaba.com.
There is value in this information even though one can find this information fairly easily online.
But at least Marc Charles is giving honest information to his audience.
And in an online world of scams, MLM’s, and pyramid schemes, this can be quite refreshing.
There is a 90 day money back guarantee if you don’t feel the program is right for you.
So that makes the program risk free to try.
The cost of the program entails a lifetime membership. So you are paying $179 for an educational program that mostly consists of a few Webinars and reading materials.
But at least you can always return to the program and use this information as a reference.
What I Didn’t Like about Importing Fortunes:
Although Marc Charles points out how importation works, he really has one solution for most people to get involved in the importation business.
He mentions brokering deals but avoids answering any direct questions in his forum, almost like he is protecting himself from future litigation issues.
Importing Fortunes predominately teaches you how to buy goods from sites like Alibaba.com and sell those products on consumer sites like Amazon and eBay.
A year ago he promoted using the site Aliexpress.com because you could buy in smaller quantities.
However, Aliexpress is no longer promoted due to the vast amount of counterfeit products and scams found on this site.
So Mr Charles promoted buying products from Alibaba and Aliexpress to ship to Amazon Fulfillment Center and then sell online to Amazon customers.
This isn’t the best advise in hindsight because many new inexperienced importers didn’t realize the products they were buying were counterfeits.
And many new importers lost their selling privileges on Amazon and eBay. This is NOT a good idea if you’re in the importation business.
Since the recent update to their website, Importing Fortunes is not promoting sites like aliexpress.com. So although this is positive, the damage has been done for many unsuspecting new importers who have lost their selling privileges.
The Community is Lacking:
I think it’s imperative to have a strong community to support new entrepreneurs, but you need one that is active. And this one is not.
Maybe this really tells us the value of the Importing Fortunes program.
See below for today’s current community support and activity.
Who Is Importing Fortunes For?
Importing Fortunes is for people who want to make money online, or create an online business. It’s marketed to travelers, retirees, and entrepreneurs. You need to have some start up capital and be willing to risk it.
Importing Fortunes Tools & Training:
This is where I really think the Importing Fortunes program has dropped the ball.
They have a program that basically consists of watching online Webinars and reading assignments.
There are a total of 5 Webinars that range from 8 to 62 minutes long.
Other than that, basically the program consists of PDF files that are termed Bonus materials. See the Bonus topics below.
The reason this is so important to me is that when you enter into a program to learn a new career, you need proper step-by-step training.
And Importing Fortunes does not provide this.
Webinars and reading materials are great to have, but a new student needs a structured form of learning in order to be successful in a new career.
A proper online education provides daily tasks that need to be accomplished.
Completing those tasks on a daily basis are going to be what brings you closer to creating a successful business.
Importing Fortunes Support:
As expressed earlier, Marc Charles has tried to but together a good program, but it just doesn’t have the support or structured learning that it needs.
When I was an active member, I would go to the forum looking for answers. I saw all kinds of direct relevant questions from students who needed real answers.
I would see responses from Marc Charles that were vague and honestly not that helpful. I even asked him a question myself and got a very generic answer that was no help at all.
The community was somewhat supportive, but the lack of members doesn’t add any value to the Importing Fortune’s Forum. Look below, I’ve highlighted the numbers from the screenshot I took from today’s forum.
- 57 total members
- 1 active member
- 13 topics
- 26 posts
- And the most users on the forum at one time was 5 users and 2 guests.
To me, that’s not good support whatsoever. Especially when you belong to (and I do) an active community that teaches online business with over 200,000+’s active members.
Now that’s the kind of support I want from an online educational program.
But hey, at least Importing Fortunes has a Contact Page.
Affiliate Marketing: 100% Free Training >>
Final Opinion on Importing Fortunes:
Importing Fortunes is a real program that teaches basic importation skills. It comes with some good references that are put together as a package.
But as far as the educational value, I just don’t find it meets my standards when attempting to learn a new career.
Especially something as challenging as the importation business.
The program lacks true guidance, support, and community and although it’s a legit program, the value just isn’t worth it to me.
Importation can be extremely lucrative, but also very risky. I still have 185 cell phone cases that I can’t sell for what I originally paid (a little over $8/case).
BTW – Do you need a super durable iPhone 5 Case? 😉
I was lucky enough to have sold other products as well, so I made back my money and a pretty sweet monthly profit.
But in general, it can be a risky process to buy products in bulk that may or may not sell.
For those that want to make a fortune in importing/exporting, you need to realize a few things.
- You need a large amount of capital if you’re really going to make any money.
- There is an extensive amount of time to get samples from various suppliers.
- There is even more time to coordinate clearing customs and getting your products set up in a place like Amazon Fulfillment Center.
- It takes an extensive amount of time to build a brand name, unless you plan to sell generic products.
- And the risks associated with importing products that may not sell – is a reality.
I think the importation business has great potential, but great risk as well.
I have friends that have struggled and given up on the business and a few that have made great profits in the industry.
If You Need More Help on Importing/Exporting? This Review linked below might interest you.
My Friend Took This Course in 3 Months While Working Full Time:
He was able to import and brand his own product while working a full time job. After a year he quit his job and moved his family to Hawaii to live the real Importing Lifestyle. To check out his story, hit the button below…
The Results Were Stunning: $17,000 Per Month, Click Here to Learn More.
Hey Todd:
I must admit. Excellent review of my program.
However, its a little biased, which is common. You go on to promote your own programs, information and insight. That’s not super honest.
But I get it and when serious entrepreneurs suggest improvements to Importing Fortunes – I usually try to comply.
You also failed to mention my personal, 100% money back guarantee – no questions asked. Also, please Google my name and reputation.
Thanks.
Marc Charles
Hi Marc Charles,
Thanks for coming by and leaving your personal feedback on my review of Importing Fortunes. One thing that’s been really nice over the last couple of years has been for me to personally get really positive feedback about my reviews and I really pride myself on only recommending programs that I know have value and work.
I’ve been through your program and once you go through importing fortunes and then go to a really well designed, top notch program like Wealthy Affiliate, you probably wouldn’t have given your own program a review score of 40/100.
And when you’ve seen as many online scams as I’ve reviewed, I gave you that score because I know you are trying to help people and your not trying to rip anyone off. You program just doesn’t hold a ton of value for me or my audience. People want real results when it comes to making money online.
The structured programs themselves (from Wealthy Affiliate) can take a couple of months to 9 months to complete and the value of the knowledge is awesome. You might have wondered how I was able to rank your name and program in first spot in Google pretty much since I posted this review. Well it’s all because of the training and education I received at Wealthy Affiliate.
For those that want to learn how to build an importing business via Amazon/eBay, I recommend Skip McGrath, a Power Seller for both platforms and I think he really provides a comprehensive training program.
For those that want to learn how to put up online businesses, there’s just no way you can compete with a company like Wealthy Affiliate.
Why is that the case: well, 1,000’s of more hours of educational training’s, newly Webinars added weekly, personal 1-1 help, 1,000’s of training’s on keyword research, marketing, website development, and creating relevant PPC campaigns, producing video and written content, and the list goes on and on.
So I’m sure when even you take a look at the WA program and compare it to your Importing Fortunes program, I’m sure you realize that what you’re selling isn’t really offering that much to students. That’s probably why your community is so small, versus WA, over 200K members and growing daily.
Honesty is telling people the truth, and that’s what I do here. Dishonesty is telling people that by using your program, they’re going to create an importing fortune, which we both know that isn’t the case.
And a 100% money back guarantee on a shoddy product doesn’t really do anything for me but waste my time by going into the program, wasting the couple of weeks it takes to go through your program, just to be disappointed and now I have to track you down to get my money back.
Thanks again for your kind remarks on my review of your program,
Todd
Thanks Todd you saved me wasting my money on Importing Fortunes. I live in Vietnam and want to make some money outside of teaching English and one day stick it to the man. Will have a look at this wealth affiliate. I have been searching for ages to find out how to make money online but always come to dead ends.
Kurt
Hi Kurt,
Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, I’m getting rid of my FB commenting due to not receiving messages when people comment on my site. But I just wanted to respond to your comment.
Thanks for your feedback on my Importing Fortunes article. I felt exactly the same as you about trying to find ways to make money online. It can be a bit of a struggle when you don’t have any help, but I’m convinced now about how to do it. It starts with a website. Learning how to build websites isn’t that tough these days. Then learning how to write content that gets ranked, invest in PPC campaigns, and marketing products that you truly believe in is the way to go.
When you think about the astonishing rate at which the internet is growing, you have an incredibly large market, it’s just a matter of providing a quality service and information in whatever niche you are passionate about. People like informative honest websites.
I would really encourage you to learn about internet marketing and website development. I recommend Wealthy Affiliate, because it’s who I used to learn all these tasks and I can’t say enough wonderful things about their organization.
If you have any questions, whatsoever, don’t hesitate to ask.
Best,
Todd
Great article Todd,
When I think of an import/export business, I think of the need for massive storage, transportation costs, logistics, distribution and plenty of other potential nightmares. On top of that, it must be capital and employee intensive. This is not something that would be easy to get into.
If you’re going to sell other peoples products, you’re far better off learning to be an affiliate marketer in my opinion. My affiliate marketing business provided me with 3 different sources of income this month while I slept! You really can’t beat it.
Hey Steve,
Thanks so much for your kind remarks. Agreed, the importation business is a tough one to say the least. Before I got into affiliate marketing, I had already invested a couple grand in developing a line of Yoga Pants with a business partner. The idea was awesome, develop the line of clothing in China or Colombia, put out some colorful styles, create a great brand name, website, etc. Market the product on eBay and Amazon, and see how it would go.
Then I realized, the MOQ (minimum order quantity) was 50 units per size and per design. We wanted to have at least 6 designs x 4 sizes x 50 units. That’s like $18,000 dollars just to start the first line (sorry $15 dollars per unit). Not to mention the delivery charges, clearing customs, etc.
Then, I discovered internet marketing, looked at the cost of starting an online business, and found the right place for training. It was a no brainer to say the least. Gosh, I’m so happy I chose this path instead of importation.
Thanks again for your feedback and take care.
Todd
Hello, Todd
I’ve not come across “Importing Fortunes” before, and the name doesn’t sound all that exciting either. At least with the term “Wealthy Affiliate”, it creates a nice little buzz inside 😉
After reading about Important Fortunes and the lack of community support, there’s no way that anybody can succeed online without a community. Help and support forms part of the puzzle to success and without it, we are sitting ducks in the water as online business owners.
This program may benefit some people out there, but certainly not me!
Thanks for the review though and I enjoyed reading it, Todd.
Neil 😉
Hi Neil,
Yes, Importing Fortunes has well intentions as does the owner Marc Charles. He just doesn’t have a very good program. I took his program and read through every piece of information in about a week. I realized how difficult it was to import large quantities of product without the right kind of support. And that along with technical details of how to complete importing projects is why I don’t recommend this program.
I did learn how to drop ship from Aliexpress, and learned how to find hot products. But that’s really not that difficult to figure out in this day and age.
There is just too much risk, too little education, and very little support with the Importing Fortunes program. I feel that affiliate marketing offers much lower risk and greater potential than importing.
Even though I have friends that have done the importing business with success. It takes a ton of discipline to figure out how to complete all the tasks that go into the importing business. You really need a company or mentor that can guide you along the way.
And you are right. Wealthy Affiliate offers everything for anyone interested in starting an online business. They offer education, free websites, free hosting, and step by step instructions to guide you along the way. My hat goes off to Kyle and Carson who developed and run Wealthy Affiliate.
They really have created a truly remarkable program.
Thanks for your feedback on my Importing Fortunes Review. Appreciated.
Todd
Hi Todd,
I don’t know much about importation but when you mentioned Alibaba, I thought about drop shipping. Are they the same thing?
The thing I don’t like about physical products is stocking up. It takes up space and there’s always the pressure to sell them off before you can bring in the new stock. And when you can’t sell them (like in your case), you can’t see your profit.
At some point I might get involve in e-commerce (in fact, I just had a great idea yesterday) but until then, I am staying with affiliate marketing which is lower in risk.
Thanks for sharing this article Todd 🙂
Hi Cathy,
With importing, you normally buy a set quantity and then ship it to yourself or a warehouse. From the warehouse, you could then drop-ship it to your customer once they buy it from your website. In general, drop-shipping is a great concept if you can have your supplier ship items one at a time directly to your customer. This saves time and money. But most suppliers from places like Alibaba don’t want to do this.
They want to sell as much product as they can, and one piece at a time isn’t in their best interest. That was what was so cool about Aliexpress.com, but unfortunately all their products are counterfeits. But they would ship them to wherever in the world that you wanted.
But you are right about importing in general. Unless you have a built up brand that sells, there is a lot of risk with buying in bulk. I used to feel that importing was the way of the future. But now I feel it’s internet marketing and eCommerce businesses. There is just such a large market that the internet provides.
Thanks again for your feedback and have a great week.
Todd
I totally agree how important it is to get good training online. People just don’t enter into a training program just to play, they want to build a business. I feel a lot of companies out there put stuff out there just to make a buck. Thanks for the info, I surely will stay away from this product.
Hi Evelyn,
Thanks for your feedback on my review of Importing Fortunes. You know, I think Marc Charles has good intentions with his program. It’s just an inferior program that doesn’t really help people accomplish their goals. As you said, people want real information on how to make a business and not just summaries of a few importing/exporting concepts.
But when I look at Importing Fortunes and I compare it with a true educational program like Wealthy Affiliate, there is no comparison. It’s just amazing what the developers of WA have done. A true university level education to teach you how to create your own online business, and a fraction of the cost of college courses these days.
Great to hear from you and thanks again for your feedback.
Todd