supply professional and honest service.
One of the biggest challenges new eCommerce sellers face is sourcing products. Luckily, technology has made it easier than ever to find overseas suppliers, negotiate a deal, and get your products shipped to you.
There are many places you can source products from (the US, India, Japan, etc.), but most sellers buy from China. In this article, we’ll explain why that is and how to do it yourself.
Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about how to import from China.
Before we begin, you’re probably wondering why you should buy your products from China. If you live in North America or Europe wouldn’t it be easier to deal with a local supplier?
Well maybe, but you’d miss out on several key benefits. Here are a few reasons to import items from China:
Prices are Low: The number one reason most sellers deal with Chinese suppliers is that it’s cheaper. Wages in China are lower and materials are more accessible. These two factors reduce costs for manufacturers, and those savings are passed on to you.
Better Production Lines: China specializes in mass-producing products. Because of this, their production lines are more sophisticated and they can produce a large number of items faster.
High Quality: There’s a common misconception that made-in-China products are low quality. Does China produce some sub-standard merchandise? Sure, in some cases. But if you do your research you can find a supplier that provides you with extremely high-quality products.
Basically, if you’re looking to get amazing products quickly for an affordable price China is the best place to source from.
Importing items from China isn’t difficult, but there are some regulations you’ll need to follow. Every country has its own rules, so make sure you’re familiar with your local import laws before getting anything shipped to you.
No matter where you live you’ll likely deal with the following regulations:
You or your supplier will have to file entry documents for the goods.
You’ll have to pay duties on your products.
Your goods will be examined upon entry to ensure they don’t pose a safety risk.
The following types of products are banned from being imported in most countries:
Agricultural commodities
Weapons
Food
Drugs
Toxic chemicals and hazardous substances
Counterfeit products
Some electronics
Here’s a quick rundown of some specific regulations for the USA, Canada, and Europe:
To import products into the US, you’ll either need an Employer’s Identification Number (EIN) or a social insurance number. If you’re importing goods under a business then you should have an EIN for tax purposes. You can apply for one here. If you’re operating as an individual and don’t have a business you can just use your social insurance number.
If you plan to import into Canada you’ll need an import/export business license. This will be used to process your customs documents. To avoid any delays in receiving your goods make sure to have this number before you import any products. You can get an import/export business number from the Canada Revenue Agency.
If you’re importing goods into Europe you need to be established in the EU and have an EORI number. One EORI number will allow you to import into any country in the EU. While you don’t need to be established in the UK to import into the country, you do need an EORI number. You can request an EORI number from your local customs website.
Now that you know why you should import from China and the rules you need to follow, it’s time to go over how to actually do it. While it may seem intimidating at first the process is surprisingly easy.
Here are the steps you need to take:
Before you find a supplier you need to decide what you’re going to sell. Make sure to take your time and choose the right product. Not every item is profitable to sell so you’ll want to do a fair bit of research before making your decision.
Below is the Amazon product criteria. If you sell on other platforms, the criteria may differ slightly, because there is usually less competition, but also less traffic.
At least 300 monthly sales. This tells you there’s demand for the product.
Less than 100 reviews. This means competition is low.
A sales price of $35 - $75. This is high enough for you to make a good profit but still low enough so people don’t have to think too much before buying it.
Small and light. Shipping and Amazon FBA costs are based on size and weight, so items that are small and light are cheaper to sell.
There are a number of product research tools that will tell you this information. For example, if you’re selling on Amazon you can use AMZScout.
If you’re selling on another platform just make sure whatever you’re using provides you with the data you need to make an informed decision.
Some examples of good products to import from China include:
Kitchen utensils
Yoga mats
Resistance bands
LED lights
Any small products that can be given as gifts
Make sure to do your own research and find a product that works for your business.
Once you’ve chosen a product it’s time to start shopping around for a supplier. There are a few different places you can look:
Trade Shows: If you want to speak to suppliers in person, trade shows are the best way to do that. However, this method is time-consuming and expensive, since you need to actually travel to the shows.
Google Search: If you’re comfortable speaking to suppliers online then you might be able to find one through a Google search. Just keep in mind that a lot of factories don’t have a large online presence and can be difficult to find through this method.
Alibaba: This is by far the easiest way to find suppliers. Alibaba features thousands of suppliers and wholesale companies in many different niches. They also have certifications and a rating system to help you identify the best ones.
If you’re selling on Amazon using AMZScout’s PRO Extension to search for products, just click the “Local and global suppliers” button within the tool. You’ll get a list of all the suppliers for that product on Alibaba and can sort them based on price and rating.
Take some time and find three or four suppliers that you think will suit your needs.
After you have a few you’re interested in you’ll need to do your due diligence to ensure you choose one that will meet your expectations.
Here are a few steps you should take:
Ask Them Questions: Because of the language barrier many suppliers prefer to communicate over email. But if possible it’s always good to get on a phone call with them. Ask them questions about their products, factory, and anything else you feel is relevant.
Get a Sample: Any good supplier will be happy to send you a sample of their items. The sample is usually free but you’ll have to pay for the shipping. This gives you the chance to inspect the quality of their products to ensure they’re up to your standards.
Do Your Homework: It’s a good idea to do some digging to make sure you’re dealing with an upstanding company. You can go to China Trial Process Information Disclosure Website or China Judgments Online to see if there are any outstanding lawsuits against them. If you’re looking on Alibaba check to see what their rating is and what certifications they have.
If you take these three steps you should stay safe and find a trustworthy supplier you can count on.
After you choose a supplier you like it’s time to get a quote. The company may be great, and their product might be top-notch, but if they can’t offer you a price that works with your budget then you’ll need to look elsewhere.
An important thing to remember is that any quote you receive is negotiable, so don’t just accept the first number you get. If a supplier wants your business bad enough they’ll usually lower their price for you.
There are two quotes you need to get:
The Cost of the Products: This is the total you’ll pay for all the goods you’re ordering from them. Keep in mind that the higher quantity you order the better price per item you get.
Shipping Costs: When you get a quote make sure to ask if it includes shipping. Most suppliers will arrange this for you but sometimes you might have to coordinate it yourself. Shipping can be expensive, so be sure you know how much it will cost before you place your order. You can either ship by air, which is faster but more expensive, or ship by sea, which is slower but more cost-effective.
If you’re happy with the quote then tell them to start production. Depending on the product and the quantity this can take a few weeks to a month.
The most common payment terms are 30% of the total cost upfront and then the other 70% once the order is completed. Don’t ever agree to pay 100% upfront, especially if you’ve never worked with a supplier before.
Verified payment methods like PayPal or credit card are ideal. However, for orders larger than $5,000 you’ll almost always have to pay by wire transfer. Most suppliers will only accept USD, so if you’re outside of the US you’ll need to factor in currency exchange charges as well.
As we mentioned earlier, in most cases your supplier will take care of shipping for you. If you’re fulfilling orders yourself then simply have your inventory shipped to your home and that’s the end of the process.
However, if you’re fulfilling your orders through a fulfillment service (like Amazon FBA) you’ll need to take some extra steps to ensure your inventory gets there.
If it’s your first time dealing with a supplier it’s a good idea to get the shipment sent to you first. That way you can inspect your items to ensure everything is in order. Once you trust your supplier you can have them direct your products straight to the distribution center.
Before sending anything to a fulfillment service make sure you read the instructions they provide. You often need to include special labels in order for your shipment to be accepted.
If you want to simplify things you can hire a logistics provider. They’ll manage your shipping from China all the way to its final destination. They can also help you deal with customs, duties, and other steps that come with importing goods.
Before you start searching for suppliers here are a few more tips to consider:
If you’ve never ordered a certain product before you might not have a good idea how much it should cost. That’s why it’s always a good idea to get more than one quote. Ideally three or four. This allows you to identify products that are overpriced or suspiciously underpriced.
Just because something is the cheapest doesn’t mean it’s the best. Remember, you usually get what you pay for. It’s better to sell a product that costs a little but is good quality, rather than one that’s super cheap but disappoints your customers.
Orders with a value of under $800 aren’t subject to duties. Depending on your product and quantity size it might not be possible to get the cost this low. But if you can it’s a great way to save some extra money.
Finding suppliers and sourcing products are two of the biggest steps involved in running a successful eCommerce business. If you can master this process you’ll be making sales in no time.
TRY FOR FREEGet AMZScout NowAlibaba is the place to go when looking for suppliers of private label products in China. On the surface, using Alibaba seems relatively straightforward. But how do you find reliable suppliers, negotiate with them, and get your products shipped? In this article, we’ll cover all of these things.
Alibaba is the largest ecommerce company in the world – yes, even bigger than Amazon. This is mostly because of an ecommerce site in China that Alibaba owns called Taobao. However, Alibaba also owns Alibaba.com which is a supplier directory of factories, mostly located in China. Alibaba is the number one website that most importers use to start looking for products (including myself!)
This table above shows the advantages that being a Gold Supplier on Alibaba has for the suppliers.
On Alibaba, there are two types of suppliers: Gold Suppliers and non-Gold suppliers.
There are a few product categories you want to avoid, specifically as a new importer. These are baby products, consumable products, electronics, and electrical items. All of these have a lot of import restrictions and/or dangers associated with them.
As a general rule, the simpler the product the less quality issues you're going to run into. For instance, a table is very simple. A hoverboard is very complicated. If you can't understand exactly how a product works, you increase the probability that you'll run into problems.
I personally focus on large and heavy items and often with fairly low demand. I call this method the Cockroach Method (full blog article) . It's not the only way to source products but it works for me.
There are factories in China selling nearly every product imaginable and you'll find them all on Alibaba. This doesn't mean that you should import every single type of product.
You're probably looking to source on Alibaba because you want to find products to sell via Amazon or your own website.
Now, the caveat I mentioned regarding quality. Receiving inferior quality products in China is a very big concern when ordering on Alibaba . Stereotypes are sometimes true, and the crappy “Made In China” products stereotype will be true for you if you do not follow some fairly easy best practices. When you're reading to order products, review our article below on ensuring quality products.
If you order from Alibaba, as long as you follow some normal precautions, you will almost certainly always receive your products. In nearly ten years of using Alibaba, I have ordered millions of dollars worth of products from dozens of suppliers, and I've never been scammed.
You want to make sure the company you're sending to matches their Alibaba trade name and Jungle Scout supplier database name – if a Chinese supplier all of a sudden asks you to send payment to an individual in Nigeria, this should be a red flag!
Before I send any money to a supplier in China, I always verify that supplier's export history using Jungle Scout's Supplier Database . This is an affiliate link but Jungle Scout is by far the cheapest and most complete option for viewing supplier import records. You can see all of shipments that supplier has exported to America. You can even see what factories your competitors are buying from. If you can see that a supplier is making continuous exports to other companies, the chances are fairly certain they are a legitimate supplier.
These are some of the basic precautions to follow when buying on Alibaba:
The question I probably hear the most about Alibaba is, “Is it safe to use?” Alibaba is incredibly safe if you follow some basic precautions (see below). The biggest issue you will run into is poor quality products, which I'll address below.
You can also check out our article on how we use AliExpress to validate products before launching them on Amazon .
If you want to drop ship, it's better to use Alibaba's sister site, AliExpress .
Most suppliers on Alibaba want you to purchase a Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) of at least $500 or more. Therefore, Alibaba is not very good for drop shippers.
Alibaba also owns Aliexpress.com which allows foreigners to buy cheap individual products from China. That's the key difference between Alibaba and Aliexpress – Alibaba is for buying many products for your business, Aliexpress is for buying one or two products for your personal use.
A Gold supplier pays a premium for increased ranking, marketing services, etc., and Alibaba does some limited identity verification of these suppliers. However, take note that just because a supplier is a Gold Supplier on Alibaba does not mean that this supplier has good quality products. It does, however, give some indication that this supplier is a legitimate and invested one.
I personally try to work only with Gold Suppliers simply as a filter mechanism, but again, remember that a Gold Supplier does not mean they are an excellent supplier.
If you find a supplier on Alibaba that is not Gold but has the exact product you want and otherwise looks good, you shouldn't dismiss them entirely. Instead, just scrutinize them a little bit more i.e. review their import records, make sure their company name matches the payment name, etc..
Suppliers on Alibaba also come in the form of trading companies and factories.
A trading company does not manufacture the products they produce and generally have slightly higher prices but also slightly more consistent quality and a larger product selection. Factories have slightly lower prices and more limited selection and more unpredictable quality.
Neither is good nor bad inherently, but know the differences between these types of suppliers.
How to Find Great Suppliers on AlibabaBefore even worrying about MOQ and freight costs, you need to find the right supplier first. In order to look for suppliers on Alibaba, you first need to create an account. If you don’t have a registered company, don’t worry. You can put in whatever you want as the company name.
With your account set up, the next thing to figure out is what product you want to search for. Once you know what it is, go ahead and search for it on Alibaba. Your ultimate goal when looking for suppliers should be to find 3 to 5 potential suppliers, contact them, and get price quotes for your product.
The first thing I do when starting a search is to have my results sorted by supplier, not by product (which Alibaba will do by default). Otherwise, the top search results will be dominated by just one or two suppliers. See the image below.
You want to look for suppliers who have products similar to what you're looking for. Keep in mind that many suppliers simply steal photos of Western brand's products. I like to look for signs that the photographs are authentic, such as
You can also check out Supplier Blacklist to make sure the company you’re dealing with is not among the recognized bad suppliers.
Finding the right supplier involves both skill and luck. Make sure to do a quick Google search about the company. Look for red flags by adding the words scam, warning, or beware in the search bar.
Aside from this, suppliers on Alibaba can be very picky with what buyers they choose to work with.
You will see on the search results page the Supplier Response Rate. You will almost always see that this Response Rate is far lower than 100%. Alibaba suppliers will often simply ignore many buyer requests.
There are several ways to increase the likelihood that a supplier responds to you. Consider asking the following questions:
The most important thing that you can do to improve your communication with suppliers is to ask for your supplier's WeChat ID. The Chinese do most work through WeChat and not through email. You'll improve your success rate if you can get their WeChat ID and talk to them over WeChat.
Keep in mind that most people who you are going to communicate with at a company are younger university graduates with reasonable English but little technical knowledge of your products and often very little authority. You're not dealing with the factory owner or manager most of the time.
If you're serious about importing from China you need to get WeChat. WeChat is most popularly used for messaging (most Chinese use it exclusively for messaging, even more than texting) but it also has a Moments feature which is similar to Facebook's timeline.
Yes, there are some privacy and censorship concerns with using a China based app like WeChat but this affects China based users mostly.
To download WeChat, download it from wherever you download apps (it's basically exclusively a mobile app only). You'll need to get someone else with WeChat to give you an invite – ask a friend or get your supplier to give you the invite.
My goal is just to get a response. I avoid mentioning MOQs, which may scare off a supplier. It's easy for a supplier to simply ignore an initial email. But once a supplier has actually responded to you, it's difficult to ignore future emails. If they add you to WeChat, it's almost impossible for them to ignore you.
Chinese censorship is prevalent and can affect your emails from getting through.
The Great Firewall blocks access to common services like Google (including Gmail), Whatsapp, Facebook, and Dropbox. Avoid using any links to these services.
Also, the internet in China is very slow, and large attachments can take a very long time to download.
Given the unpredictability of email, it's best to use WeChat whenever possible.
How to Negotiate with Alibaba SuppliersThe key to negotiating with suppliers is to determine the market price of your desired product.
Unless you know your product extremely well and the cost to manufacture it (VERY few people do) your absolute only way to know the fair price of your product is to receive competing offers which is why you need to contact several suppliers.
You should at this point start to receive prices from your suppliers. If they ask you how much you will be importing, let them know your ideal annual order amount (be an optimist but don't promise the moon) rather than the individual order amount.
Beware of suppliers that have very low prices relative to others. Normally, there is a catch to this. Typical catches include:
Once you are comparing apples to apples, i.e., you know each supplier is quoting a product constructed of similar materials and with similar shipment terms, then ask the other suppliers if they can match the lowest offer. There's a temptation to lie and say “Your competitor Ningbo Saddles offered me these saddles for $24” when in fact they offered them to you for $34. Your supplier will smell you out, and you'll lose credibility. There is not as much room for price negotiation in China as there was previously. A 10% price discount is often huge.
At this point, you will likely have two or three suppliers with comparable prices and comparable products. You want to find a supplier that can accommodate your smaller order size.
As you're getting quotes, pay careful attention to the shipment terms. These are especially important if you're shipping your items via sea freight.
There are three common shipment terms that essentially determine who pays for shipping:
Read more on our article All About Shipment Terms.
How to Negotiate Low Minimum Order Quantities (MOQ)When I'm first launching a product, I try to get as low of Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) as possible. Every supplier will have an MOQ which is really a Minimum Order Amount. Normally it's around $2500 to $5000. On a first order, the MOQ is quite flexible if you negotiate though.
For me, on my first order I like to order $500 to $1000 of an item and try it on Amazon and then proceed to a larger order. Again, for your first order most suppliers will be willing to ship such a small amount. I describe these to my suppliers as a “few samples”.
Very few suppliers can say no to having money paid to them in full.
One of the best things an importer can do is to use import records to help them find products to import and vet suppliers.
As mentioned, in America, import and export records are public information, however, the government does not catalog or give easy access to this information. However, there are tools that do allow you to easily search this information, the most popular and cheapest being Jungle Scout (others include Import Genius and Panjiva).
These tools allow you to:
See our article A Secret Weapon for Doing Supplier Research
How to Order and Pay on AlibabaOnce you've picked a supplier and they've agreed to send your desired quantity, you're ready to pay for and ship your order.
Most suppliers will send you something called a proforma invoice, which is just a fancy word for an invoice.
If your order is smaller (under $5000 or so) use Alibaba's Trade Assurance or PayPal. This will more or less guarantee that your items are shipped but will not give you quality guarantees (despite what Alibaba claims). Once your orders get larger, most suppliers will expect a 30% deposit via wire transfer and the remaining 70% payment when the goods are ready. Suppliers don't typically like PayPal unless it's for smaller orders.
Many books and websites say that you should always order a single sample from a supplier and inspect it for quality. There are some problems with doing it this way:
Therefore, I always recommend people to order at least 10 of an item if possible at first. At the very least, this gives you a chance to sell the items on eBay or Amazon. If you import one sample and sell it the very first day on Amazon, you may have simply lucked out. Selling ten is a far better sample size.
How to Ship Your Products from ChinaIf this is your first time ordering from China, it's often best just to ask your supplier to arrange for shipping and to add the charges to the invoice.
If you're shipping under 200 lbs, ship it via air with a courier such as UPS, FedEx, or DHL. Expect to pay $6 to $15 per pound with a minimum charge of $75 or so. Shipping air is easy and you basically just tell your supplier the address you want your items shipped to.
If you're shipping over 200 lbs, you will want to go via sea freight which can be quite a bit trickier to organize and you'll need a freight forwarder to help you organize. It's only tricky the first couple of times though, so don't be too intimidated. Check out our full length blog post on how to ship via sea freight.
If your goods are being shipped to the US and are valued at under $800, then there will be no duty charged because of America's very generous de minimis rules.
If you're shipping your products to Amazon FBA warehouses then check out our article How to Ship Your Goods from China to Amazon FBA.
Shipping items from China overall can be very expensive due to the distance. Overall, shipping via air from China is very expensive but quite quick. Shipping via sea is quite cheap but very slow (typically 30 to 60 days).
If an item is under 5 lbs it can actually be shipped for quite cheap from China but very slowly using something called ePacket.
If your item is heavier then normally you can expect to pay around $6-15 per pound with a minimum of $75 or so.
How to Review Your Shipment for ProblemsIf you've had your order shipped via air, then it should arrive in anywhere from 3-10 business days. If via sea, this will be more like 30 to 60 days. When your shipment arrives, here are some things to inspect, which may be talking points for future orders:
Once you've received your order, you should email your supplier to let them know that you received everything but you have not had a chance to review the products yet and let them know that you will contact them shortly to discuss things and to hopefully make another order. There's no rush to do the above. Just like in dating, playing hard to get is sometimes a good strategy.
While there are companies in Alibaba that allow buyers to purchase as few as one item, this e-commerce giant is designed mainly for wholesalers. As opposed to retailers, wholesalers purchase in bulk and generally do not sell to end-users.
Here’s a quick summary of the steps to successfully buy wholesale from Alibaba.
Determine the exact product you want to buy wholesale. Find a niche first, then pinpoint the exact products you want to buy. Be particular about the specifications, quality, and features of the product.
Search for the right suppliers and negotiate with them. The last thing you need is having to deal with a scammer. Once you find a reliable supplier, it’s time to talk about important factors such as the MOQ, product quality, and manufacturing lead time.
Ask for samples. Don’t take their word for it. Pictures are easily manipulated and you will be hard-pressed to find a supplier that will bad mouth their own products to potential customers. When asking for a sample, make sure to consider not only the product but also how it is packed.
Pay your suppliers. Fortunately for wholesalers, Alibaba doesn’t release the payment without a go signal from your end that you’ve received the products in good condition. You can always pay suppliers privately, but you will have to do this at your own risk. If you’ve already established a good relationship with them, then this wouldn’t be much of a problem.
Alternatives to AlibabaThere are several alternatives to Alibaba that exist, although none are anywhere near as exhaustive as Alibaba. We have a post that lists down 10 Alibaba alternatives for you. Some of these options include:
This covers most of the basics of using Alibaba to find suppliers and products. If you want a more in-depth guide to starting an importing and private label business, I strongly suggest you check out our mega guide on How to Import from China.
Do you think Alibaba is still a good place to find suppliers? Let me know below or share any other questions you have about buying from Alibaba.
For more information, please visit our website.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Print and Packaging Solutions.