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Source Smarter from China
The practical guides we wish every buyer had — how to find suppliers, import safely, control quality and ship cost-effectively. No email walls, no fluff.
China Sourcing Guide
From product idea to a signed order: the decisions that matter before you wire a deposit.
Write a brief a factory can quote from
A vague brief gets vague quotes. Before contacting anyone, put this on one page: product name and a reference link or photo, exact specifications (material, size, weight, colors), quantity per SKU, target unit price, required certifications and your deadline. If you have a golden sample or a competitor product to match, say so.
Compare quotes like-for-like
Three suppliers will return three formats. Force everything into one table before comparing:
- Unit price at your quantity — not the list price
- Price basis: EXW or FOB, and from which port
- Mold, tooling or setup fees, if any
- Packaging included or extra?
- Sample cost — and whether it's credited to the first order
- Lead time from deposit, and payment terms
The cheapest quote is rarely the cheapest order. A $0.10 saving per unit disappears fast with one rework round or a rejected batch.
Red flags in a first quote
- Price 30%+ below the market range — the quality hides somewhere
- Refuses a video call or factory photos
- No business license or "we work with many factories" vagueness
- Pushes for 100% prepayment
- Lead times that never slip, in writing
First-order strategy that keeps you safe
Start with a trial order you can afford to lose. Pay 30% deposit / 70% after inspection, keep a signed golden sample, and tie the balance payment to a passed pre-shipment inspection — not to a date. If the supplier is real, these terms are normal; if they resist all of them, that's your answer.
Import Guide
HS codes to landed cost: what to have ready before the goods leave China.
Classify your product first
Your HS code decides your duty rate, and it depends on material and function — not on what the supplier calls the product. Ask the factory for the exact composition, check it against your country's tariff schedule, and when the classification is genuinely ambiguous, spend 20 minutes with a customs broker before ordering. Wrong codes mean overpaying duty or holding shipments.
Incoterms, in plain language
| Term | Supplier handles | You handle | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| EXW | Nothing — goods at factory door | Trucking, export, freight, customs | Experienced buyers with a local agent |
| FOB | Trucking to port & export clearance | Ocean/air freight from China | The classic agent-managed setup |
| DDP | Everything to your door, duty paid | Receiving — that's it | First orders, FBA shipments |
With an agent on the ground, FOB with your agent booking the freight usually beats DDP on price — DDP's convenience carries a premium, and the quality of the forwarder matters as much as the number.
Payments that keep you safe
- T/T 30% deposit / 70% after inspection is the standard
- Never 100% upfront to a new supplier — no exceptions
- PayPal or Alipay for samples is fine; wire for production
- Letters of credit for large orders — banks charge for the safety
- If you pay through your agent, demand itemised invoices for every line
Landed cost — a worked example
Unit price $2.50 × 3,000 pcs = $7,500. Sea freight on a consolidated LCL shipment: $1,150. Duty at 6%: $519. Local delivery and handling: $150. Landed total ≈ $9,300 — so your true unit cost is $3.10, not $2.50. Margins are decided by landed cost and sell-through, never by the factory quote alone.
Quality Control Guide
Golden samples to AQL: how professional buyers keep bad batches out of their stores.
Set the standard before production starts
Most quality disputes are actually specification disputes. Before mass production: approve and physically sign a golden sample (keep it), write a spec sheet with tolerances (a 0.5 cm variance on a 30 cm item is normal; on a 3 cm item it's a defect), and define what counts as critical, major and minor for your product.
AQL, translated into English
AQL 2.5 (major) / 4.0 (minor) is the industry standard for consumer goods. The inspector pulls a random sample of cartons — the sample size scales with your lot size — and checks every unit against your criteria. If major defects exceed the AQL limit, the batch fails. You don't need to memorize the tables; you need to demand the report states which AQL level was used, and how many cartons were opened.
Three checkpoints worth paying for
- Pre-production: raw materials and components match the approved sample
- During production (DUPRO): at 20–50% completion, catch systemic problems while rework is still cheap
- Pre-shipment: final random inspection with photo and video evidence, before the balance payment moves
When an inspection fails
Stop the shipment. Your options, in order of preference: rework at the factory, a discount that compensates the defect rate, or partial replacement. Renegotiate while the goods are still in the factory's hands — once they've shipped, your leverage is gone and you're negotiating with a forwarder instead.
Shipping Guide
Express, air, sea, DDP — picking the lane that fits your order size and deadline.
| Method | Typical transit | Cost profile | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Express (DHL/FedEx-type) | 3–7 days | Highest per kg | Samples, urgent small parcels |
| Air freight | 7–12 days | High | Time-sensitive goods over ~100 kg |
| Sea LCL | 25–40 days | Low per m³ | Consolidated small-to-mid orders |
| Sea FCL | 20–35 days | Lowest per unit | Full containers, repeat programs |
Transit times are indicative. Destination, customs and carrier schedules can change the actual delivery date.
Consolidation is the small seller's superpower
Separate shipments from multiple suppliers can incur repeated freight minimums and handling charges. Consolidation can reduce those costs by receiving, checking and packing goods together before shipment. The saving depends on volume, route and destination charges, so compare actual quotes before choosing a plan.
DDP, honestly
DDP means goods arrive at your door with duties paid — genuinely useful for Amazon FBA and for first-time importers. Two warnings: always ask for the cost breakdown instead of one lump number, and ask how taxes are actually declared. Some cheap "DDP" lanes under-declare values, which shifts risk onto you as the importer of record.
Documents to expect with every shipment
- Commercial invoice & packing list
- Bill of lading (sea) or airway bill (air)
- Certificate of origin, where applicable
- CE / test reports, where your market requires them
The China Sourcing Starter Checklist
The exact checklist we run before any first order — brief, quotes, samples, supplier verification, payment terms, QC and shipping. Drop your email and we'll send it, plus an answer to one sourcing question you're stuck on.
- What belongs in a requirement brief
- How to compare quotes like-for-like
- Payment terms that keep your money safe
- The QC checks that catch problems early
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Yiwu sourcing: market vs. factory, supplier checks & consolidation →
- Minimum order quantities per category
- Product- and market-specific compliance documents and tests
- Consolidating multiple suppliers
- DDP shipping to your country
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