More and more people are buying from China. Companies of large and small sizes are seeking to expand their supply chain in China. Chinese highly flexible and intensive industry resources enable the business to be high output, low cost, and scale quickly. In the new era, buying from China will remain the theme.
However, people will face challenges when buying from China. In particular, problems such as language barriers, payment systems, quality control may bring you great loss. EJET, as the leading sourcing agent in China, is committed to help foreign buyers to avoid minefield. We offer two pieces of advice for anyone who is buying or plans to buy from China.
1. Choose the right person
The wisdom ‘Do business with the right person’ never goes wrong. So, how do we define a right person? Someone who values contracts and commitments, someone who is ready to shoulder full responsibilities, and someone who has talent and drive you to work towards the end goal. That’s also the principle EJET put into practices. Picking a good partner from the thousand and establish a long-term relationship lays solid foundation for your success in business.
2. Be ready to tackle the unexpected
In an totally new environment, you will meet unexpected situations. The trading business is as complicated as the changing cloud, especially when conducted in different culture and different procedures. For example, buyers will experience delay of delivery, products quality defect, and goods detained by customs, etc. Take precatutions and make Plan B beforehand saves you from hassle. Well, if you fail to, work with people who helps to overcome situations.
EJET is a China-based sourcing agent with 13 years of experience. We will be your right partner and guide your successful buying in China.
The Main China Buying Cities Guide
Below we introduce top business cities, markets, and fairs( Yiwu, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen) in China, which may help you to save your time and expenses when sourcing suppliers, sourcing products, and manufacturers to buy from China.
Yiwu Guide
Buy in small or large quantities from Yiwu Wholesale Market and choose from a variety of items and products offered by its markets.
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Guangzhou Guide
Check out the Guangzhou wholesale market to buy and find all products that match your needs with a quality-price approach.
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Shenzhen Guide
Buying from Shenzhen Electronics Market is the best place to get great deals on electronic accessories and computer hardware.
Learn More >
Buying Wholesale From China
We offer a list of the most important wholesale markets in the most famous cities for buying in bulk from China without any hassle.
Learn More >
Buying From China Fairs
China fairs are major trade events and exhibitions held in different cities to buy from, such as the Canton Fair and Yiwu fair.
Learn More >
EJET Monthly Trending Product Report
Our sourcing experts analyze the top trending products and create this monthly report to help our customers to learn more about the market and get the next hit! Subscribe to us now and download the report for free!
FAQs About Buying from China
Before you come to China to buy, you must first plan your business trip and know where you want to go and which cities you want to buy, don’t forget to check the validity of your passport (at least more than six months remaining), and apply for a business visa to enter China (single, double or multiple entries), apply for insurance to make your business trip safer, you can withdraw money in China but have some cash will be better, don’t forget to install VPN on your cellphone as many apps need it to work and don’t forget to register at the nearest police station within 24 hours if you are not living in the hotel, otherwise the hotel will take care of this on your behalf.
EJET sourcing will help you to buy goods from China and choose the best from the wide variety of items that available in the market after telling us your request sit back and relax, EJET will do the rest, we will care about everything from sourcing, quality control warehousing and shipping to your exact address.
When we talk about the best cities to buy from, it’s easy to outdo the number of important variables to consider, depending on your products, over the past two decades, Yiwu and Guangzhou are the best places to buy from because it biggest markets and manufacturers of the world, Besides Shenzhen, with its famous and largest electronic markets.
Many Chinese websites provide bulk purchases like Alibaba, as long as you have the right products and the right suppliers, on the other hand, sourcing agents can be your best choice and be your representative in China. So that they will do all the services for you, which can reduce your expenses and gain time.
A lot of buyers buy online, but most of them have bad experiences with suppliers or shipping methods, so many buyers have arrived at products that do not match what was agreed upon or that the delivery period took a long time, so it is good for you buyer to stand or charge an agent in China that can take all steps with guarantee from sourcing, inspection to the shipping step.
Many buyers get cheated on the internet if you don’t know what to do, and to reduce the chance of being cheated you should research the extent of your supplier’s credibility by researching their transaction history and the extent of its long history as a reliable supplier to deal with, the majority of buyers prefer to come to china and deal directly with suppliers, but if you haven’t a chance. Instead, you can trust us. We will be your eyes and representative in China.
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How to Buy from China– A Step by Step Guide
Chinese product covers every possible industry. Buyers around the world gather in China for opportunities. While buying overseas is a complicated thing.
It varies from choosing a reliable supplier to create international shipping and customs clearance, etc. Some buyers, especially business starters, do not know the steps to buy from China.
As an experienced sourcing agent, we provide the following tips to guide you to buy from China in 6 steps.
Step 1: Decide the proper things to buy from China
Before starting your buying journey to China, be clear about your buying plan. Decide first what your business scope is. What happens to buyers without a clear mind is that they find everything lucrative in China, and waste days hesitating which one to buy in China.
Some people are here for cheaper substitute. Some are here to import products not available in their local market. You might have a brandnew reason. Make sure your purchasing fit in with your overall business plan.
When you have a general plan for products, check the importing regulations to make sure that the products are in accordance with the import rights. Otherwise you are wasting your efforts.
Step 2: Search for a reliable supplier before buying from china
Finding a reliable supplier is so crucial that will require hard work. There are several ways to buy from China. You can buy from chinese wholesale market, or attend the fairs annually held. If you don’t plan to travel long distance, you can source product online.
a. Buy from the Wholesale Market
Usually buyers to china will visit city of Guangzhou and Yiwu as the first stop. Guangzhou and Yiwu are located in the most develped zone in China.
As the two biggest wholesale centers in China, Guangzhou and Yiwu have a lot of wholesale markets and provide almost any product you could imagine.
Surely, there are some other industry clusters in China. When you decide the product to buy in China, do some research about the best wholesale market of the product.
For example, if you want to buy lighting and furniture, Guangzhou Markets is your first choice. If you want to buy small commodities and leather product, you should not miss Yiwu market. But for eye glasses, the city of danyang will provide you much more competent price than Guangzhou and Yiwu.
In Chinese wholesale market, suppliers of the similar products are well arranged into one area so that the customer could easily find them and make comparison. For example, in yiwu international trade city, the market is divided into 5 districts and hundreds of products divisions.
If you want to buy jewellries, just go to the second floor of district 1. Suppliers of the same products are lined on each sides of the isles. You don’t have to travel far to get the best one.
But if you have plenty of items to buy, and have difficulties communicating with chinese boss, then you can find a local agent to help arrange the schedule and assist your buying.
b. Buy from Chinese Fairs
Go to the Fairs is a main way for buyers to meet different products and reliable suppliers nowadays. Fairs is playing an important role to connect buyers and sellers tightly for their trading business.
Among all the fairs in China, the Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, is the most famous.
The international trade event, with a total export volume of 1412.6 billion dollars, is the fair of the largest scale and the most complete variety of commodities. This Fair held in Guangzhou twice a year has 3 phases each time.
Besides the Canton Fair, many other Fairs in China are worth to know. For example: China International Import Expo (CIIE), Yiwu International Commodities Fair, China International Industry Fair (CIIF), etc.
It is better to do some pre-work before attending the right fair: Learn the Fair information carefully, Documents preparation in advance, Flight and Hotel reservation, etc.
c. Source Online
Online marketplaces such as AliBaba and Amazon have brought the world to your fingertips.
You can research your heart out over these online platforms to find the most up to date information about your product and you may also stumble upon some excellent opportunities which you didn’t even know existed.
You shall find at least two suppliers at the same time to ensure stability for your company. In case one supplier cannot provide goods in time, the alternative source could be a substitute so that your business will not be interrupted.
Learn More about Finding Reliable Chinese Suppliers
Step 3: Make payments to supplier
After you have chosen a supplier, there is the most important question buyers will face. How to secure the payments?
It is common that if you buy from China, you shall pay at least 20% advance payment to the Chinese supplier and pay the balance before delivery. In this case, you need to learn the most secure payment. Below are some tips you can use, to secure your payments.
For small orders, you can pay the advance payment via Paypal or via Aliexpress. This allows you to ask for your money back if the supplier fails to provide the goods or the goods are not the same quality as you expected.
You can see a screenshot about how the Aliexpress payment insurance works and its main purpose.
When importing from China, Alibaba trade assurance is a really helpful tool.
Always sign the sales-purchase contract before any payments. The contract shall include the stamps by Chinese supplier and shall be signed on each page by the sellers’ authorized representative ( CEO or owner). Additionally, we advise to to add passport or ID card copy of the sellers’ signee in the contract
If the advance payment is in bigger amount ( over 10 000 USD), It is suggested to consider the LC payment, which releases the money to the Chinese supplier only when the progress is finished.
For balance payment, LC payment is a good choice since the supplier will get the money when the crucial documents had been provided to your bank:
Documents like Final inspection report which confirms the goods meet the contract requirements, packing list, bill of landing original.
Before making the final payments, we suggest to personally go and visit the supplier and check if the goods meet the demand.
Step 4: Prepare documents required to buy from China
If you buy goods in bulk from China, certain documents are required to clear the custom in your country. Preparing necessary documents before hand would save you from a lot of trouble in customs clearance. Documents needed for custom clearance include:
- Purchase contract (provided by importer mostly)
- Invoice (prepared by the seller)
- Packing list of the goods (provided by the seller)
- Shipping cost invoice ( issued by the shipping company)
- Bill of lading(issued by the shipping company)
- Coupon, if any ( by the seller)
- Notice of arrival ( by shipping company)
- Certificate of origin (provided by the seller)
- Other relevant documents (if any) ( seller, buyer or other parties involved)
Step 5: Search for shipping methods when buying from China
Sea freight and air frieght are the two most commonly used shipping method when people are buying from China, but which is the cheaper way and more cost effective to ship from China?
a. Shipping by containers via Sea
This is one of the most popular freight from China. The advantage of sea freight is the flexibility, low costs, convenience, transport of large and bulky goods. The only disadvantage of sea transport is the long delivery time. It usually takes you two months to ship goods from China to the Europe or the USA.
b. Shipping by air cargo
Shipping by air has many advantages. It is the most secure and the fastest way to ship things internationally. It is more cost effective to ship high-end items such as perfume, cosmetics, smart electronic devices or products that cannot be kept as long as fruits and fresh food.
The disavantages are that the cost is much higher than shipping by sea and there are limitations on the types of products.
Learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of air freight and sea freight.
Step 6: Customs declaration when buying from China
After your goods have landed in your country or the end destination. This is one of the last steps of importing from China. Soon, you are free to resell your products!
Here is the brief guide on how to deal with the custom:
- Prepare the relevant document to the custom or custom agent
- Prepare digital signature, and register with General Department of CustomsRegistration for specialized inspection (if any)
- Fill the declaration and transmission of customs.
- Pay the required import duties and taxes
- Get the goods back from the customs warehouse in your country
to learn more about buying from china please check our blog list.
