How To Import From China

If properly managed, sourcing from China can bring good profits, however, it’s crucial to work with good suppliers, or the whole business could be a disaster. This is a tricky process. In this article, we will advise you how to identify and communicate with potential suppliers. 1. Drawing your ideal supplier profile Ask yourself a few questions: Do you need a supplier with strong engineering capabilities (to develop new products)? Do you need them to have a wide range of designs that you can choose from? Do you want them to focus on low cost? Or on high quality? How big should they be? This is a very important criterion. If your orders are not big enough (over 20K pcs per order), you might need to work with a sourcing company that will place your orders in a medium sized factory and follow production closely. 2. Go to online B2B directories and/or trade…

As China becomes more and more as “manufacturing hub of the world”, its manufacturing costs are low in comparison to other places in the world. This has attracted a large number of business people get into the Chinese markets as they opt to import goods and reduce their productions costs, hence gain a competitive advantage over other businesses. Another advantage has been obtaining high quality products especially for businesses dealing with suppliers who are keen on quality control. While this can be a highly profitable, it may not always be rosy as your business may face a number of challenges and risks that may inversely affect your Return on Investment. As a business owner while importing goods from China, you may run into a risk of receiving poor quality goods with limited options of sending them back to the seller or improving them locally. This results in financial losses due to…

Importing from China can be an affordable way to purchase products for sale. However, importing items on your own requires establishing relationships, setting up shipping, and navigating the regulatory of customs. Get started on your way to importing from China by taking steps to set up your import process and planning ahead. Part 1 Finding a Supplier 1). Make sure you can legally import your chosen item. Most items will be allowed, but there are certain guidelines that must be followed for some types of items. The United States imposes stricter guidelines on agricultural products, for example. Additionally, Chinese laws may prohibit the export of certain items, like animal by-products or fake designer clothes and accessories. Check with the laws and regulations of both countries before making an order. 2). Make a list of Chinese exporters, or suppliers, who can provide you with your product. The easiest way is to search on B2B…

In our many years of experience of dealing with China sourcing, we’ve seen a range of outcomes where communication is concerned. The impact is quite often more substantial than you may think, I would say that good communication is the primary reason for a partnership’s success. In this article, I’d like to share 3 tips about better communication with Chinese suppliers. 1. Recognize that communication is about understanding. In order for us to understand a perspective outside of our own, we need to actively listen. We are all guilty of wanting to believe we’re right, but the mindful moment is when we realize that others think they are right as well. Recognizing that communication is about understanding means that we allow all parties to express their position without judgement, interruption or disrespect. Communication ceases to exist without this. Ask yourself, what is their purpose as compared to yours at this particular…

Many buyers are still guarded about buying from China – which is understandable, since many of the country’s business practices lag behind those in more developed nations. However, your risks can be minimized by working only with qualified, above board suppliers and by understanding all aspects of your import arrangement beforehand. If you can, visiting China is a good starting point for doing business there. If you can’t visit first, there are many online sources to help you find quality products and suppliers and minimize the risk of doing business there. Understanding the market Before deciding what to import, get as much information as possible about the demand for that product in your local market. Then learn as much as you can about the manufacturers of that product in China. Be vigilant and ask every detail you need to know. Finding a trustworthy supplier This is perhaps the most important step…

During your importing business, if you work with several Chinese suppliers, you will have to deal with production problems, especially for new suppliers. It might be a factory refusing to rework substandard goods, or an unacceptable delay, or simply a project that comes to a full stop without warning. What to do for you as an importer in such a situation? 1. Show that you are ready to walk away The favorite strategy of Chinese factories that don’t want to correct problems is… to wait. And wait. Until their customer (who needs to deliver his own customers) must let them ship. So, the first thing to do is to give them the feeling that you’d rather cancel the order (and lose your deposit, if you wired some cash before shipment) rather than receiving products that can’t be sold at all on your market. The second step is to try to understand…

After hard work for some while, you have verified a few manufacturers when sourcing from China. One of them will be your first choice, and hopefully you will have a couple of “backups”. What is the best way to handle them? And what about the unfortunate situation where your “first choice” disappoints you? 1. Cultivate your “second choice” With a bit of luck, you have found and verified a supplier that seems quite promising. If you want to reduce your risks of long delays, I strongly encourage you to keep communication open with a few more suppliers. I even believe you should spend the time and the money to verify at least one more supplier, and to start working on pre-production samples with that supplier, even though they are not your first choice. 2. Those “never again” suppliers Some suppliers will prove to be untrustworthy. The worst scenario, which happens every day,…

The rewards from doing business can be great but if things go wrong you end up at the opposite end of that great scale. This is why I always promote that buyers, especially those new to sourcing from China take time to make an informed decision before making a financial commitment. What sources can I use to find reliable Chinese suppliers? 1. B2B Websites such as the Alibaba, Global Sources & Made in China tend to dominate this side of things and the accessibility for the services here make it really appealing. Sitting anywhere in the world communicating in real time with someone at a factory in China is pretty cool. So that bit is relatively easy BUT It’s not a sure-fire way to reliability as there are lots of con artists on there too. Don’t follow generic information, only follow real information even if it’s a bit rough around the edges….