How to Buy From China : A Step by Step Guide

02 Dec.,2024

 

How to Buy From China : A Step by Step Guide

How to Buy from China&#; A Step by Step Guide

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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 .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.

For more China Tools Supplierinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.

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.

The Ultimate Guide To Sourcing From China Right Now

COVID has made a huge impact on product sourcing in China. It is far more difficult to plan shipping logistics than it was before , and many inexperienced businesses are caught off-guard by freight prices and shipping delays. Here are some new challenges caused specifically by COVID disruptions:

Sea Freight Prices Have Exploded&#;

When COVID hit the U.S., the demand for products plummeted. Many businesses struggled to stay afloat, while others significantly reduced their standard orders and available inventory. Then, when the economy suddenly sprung back, demand for China product sourcing exploded, but the demand happened all at once. 

That means more businesses than ever were competing for a limited amount of shipping containers. When demand for a limited supply spikes, the price spikes with it, leading to record high sea freight prices. This is why it's more important than ever to take advantage of consolidated shipping, as it will help keep your sea freight costs under control.
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Manufacturing Delays&#;

&#;COVID hit China first, leading to the entire manufacturing industry almost coming to a complete halt. Then, when manufacturing opened again, there was very little demand for products as COVID wrecked havoc on domestic business and demand. However, in a similar story to sea freight, demand for China manufacturing flooded in all at once. 

When you combine the issues of keeping in-person labor staffed and safe from COVID, along with factories scaling down production due to low demand, and then suddenly facing an unprecedented surge of demand, manufacturing delays have become a huge issue. 

This means issues with communicating product specifications or quality control can mean months of delays for your order. Partnering with Kanary can avoid the mistakes that can cause huge delays, and we can help you find a manufacturer that will be the best fit for your timeline and product needs.
&#;

Congested Ports&#;

With product sourcing demand so high, the volume of sea freighters has also exploded. Unfortunately, there's a limited amount of docks available at any given port for ships. This has caused congestion in the ports, which has caused shipping delays for businesses. It's not uncommon to have your products waiting on the water for weeks until a dock opens up.
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High Demand for Sea Freight Containers&#;

Even before COVID, it was always best practice to book your container weeks before you anticipated your products to ship. Now that demand for sea freight containers is so high, you sometimes need to book containers months in advance or be prepared to organize temporary storage. 

Again, the increased demand for sea freight containers has caused their pricing to rise, which has made the need for consolidated shipping logistics even more important.side of a div block.

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