Sourcing from China,
Answered Straight.

It depends on whose supplier it is. If you already have your own supplier and want us to run the order, we charge a percentage of the order value, tiered by how much the goods are worth and how much coordination the order needs, with a minimum per project. If you buy through one of our suppliers, our margin is already included in the product price we quote you, and we would rather say that than call the service free. Full-Service orders under $500 carry a minimum handling fee. As a guide, $100 covers up to 5 items, with roughly $20 for each additional item, quoted per order. If you only want one factory checked before it ships, that is a flat $99 per visit. We never bill by the hour, and there is no retainer. The three structures, with the rate bands and worked examples, are laid out on our Services page.

Our fee on your own supplier's orders is 3% to 9% of the goods value in that project, not of freight, duties or taxes, with a minimum of $100. We quote the exact rate per order, and the bands sit on our Services page so you can see the range before you ask us for a number. When you buy through our own suppliers there is no percentage at all, because the price we quote already contains our margin, and we would rather say that plainly than call the service free. There is no minimum order value to work with us, the one exception being 1688 and Taobao buying, which starts at $500.

Nothing before you place an order. Sourcing, quoting and asking questions cost you nothing, and there is no consultation fee. If it is your own supplier, you pay the goods straight to them and we never touch that money; our service fee comes after the goods have shipped, not before. If it is our supplier, you pay 30% to start production and the remaining 70% after inspection is done and before the goods leave China, with our margin already inside that price. Customers we have worked with for a while can talk to us about open account terms.

If it is our supplier, yes, there is a margin inside the quoted price, and we would rather say that plainly than present the number as the factory's own. That margin pays for our work on these orders. Full-Service orders under $500 also carry a minimum handling fee, quoted per order. If it is your own supplier, there is no markup of any kind: the supplier's cost and our service fee are listed as separate lines, including the contract between us and that supplier. In practice our quoted price often still comes in below what buyers find on their own, because many of the factories we use do no online marketing at all and are only reachable through relationships.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. We would rather tell you that than promise you the lowest price on the internet, because we do not go looking for the cheapest quote in the first place. What we look for is a factory that holds quality, answers quickly, ships on time and makes batch two identical to batch one. After 15 years of exporting, our experience is blunt: the lowest price usually causes the most trouble later. Where we genuinely do come in cheaper is on the factories that never advertise online and can only be reached through relationships, which is exactly the part of China you cannot search for yourself.

The service fee we quote is the whole of our fee. We set it at the start and we never come back with additions later. Outside it sit the real costs of the order: the goods themselves, sample charges and the courier that brings samples to you, freight, duties and taxes, and tooling or pattern charges on a customised product. Certificates such as CE or FCC on an outside supplier normally start at $300 to $500 each. A standalone factory inspection is $99, which buys one person for one day and is charged per visit rather than per container, and a re-inspection after rework is charged again. PayPal and Stripe handling fees are yours. Counting and photographing goods into our warehouse is included, and the first week of storage is free. Labelling, repacking, carton reinforcement and longer storage we quote per order, because no two orders look alike.

For sourcing work, a percentage, never an hourly or daily charge. When the supplier is yours, we charge 3% to 9% of the order value with a $100 minimum, and the bands sit on our Services page. Where your own order lands in that range we quote per order. When you buy through our own suppliers there is no separate fee at all, because our margin sits inside the quoted price. When you only want one factory looked at before it ships, that is a flat $99, which is one person for one day, charged per visit. The one thing we do price by the day is coming with you in China: factory visits, the Yiwu market, interpreting at the Canton Fair. That is $199 a day in English, or $398 in Spanish, French, Arabic or German, with travel and hotels on your own account. Flights, hotels and travel costs stay yours.

No kickbacks. We do not take commission from factories, and for us that is a matter of business principle rather than a policy we flex per deal. On your own supplier's orders we earn the follow-up fee you agreed and nothing else, and the supplier's costs and our fee appear as separate lines on the quote. On our own suppliers' orders we earn a reasonable margin that is already inside the quoted price, which is precisely why there is no reason to be taking money from the factory as well. The fee we name at the start is the fee you pay.

Yes. Give us clear product information and the delivery address and we will put the landed cost together as a list, freight and taxes included, before you commit to anything. The goods, the China side costs and our own fee are the parts we can pin down. Duty depends on how your product classifies and what your country charges, and ocean and air rates move with the market, so those parts are quoted against the rate of the day rather than fixed forever. If you would rather not track any of it, we can also quote the whole thing DDP, delivered to your door with duty paid, which we do regularly.

Squeezing the factory is the weakest lever you have, and usually the one that comes back to you as a quality problem. Four things move your cost more. First, buying at a sensible price from the right factory rather than the cheapest one. Second, matching the shipping method to how fast you actually need the goods, since air, fast ocean and slow ocean are very different money, and taking the best rate on each leg all the way to your door. Third, inspecting properly, because complaints, rework and returns cost far more than the inspection ever did. Fourth, using what we already do in house, such as packaging design instead of hiring a designer, and consolidating several suppliers into one shipment through our warehouse instead of paying to coordinate and store them separately.

There is no monthly retainer. If you already have a supplier and just want the order moved and checked, it is a percentage of the order value, tiered and with a minimum per project; that suits repeat buyers who intend to keep the supplier they have. If you want us to find the supplier and carry the product, there is no separate fee at all, because our margin sits inside the quoted price; that suits buyers who would rather deal with one party than manage a factory. If you only want eyes on one shipment, a single inspection is a flat $99, and it works with any supplier in China. In all three cases sourcing and quoting cost nothing, and in all three cases goods, samples, freight, duties and tooling remain yours.

No. We take no commission from factories, over the table or under it, and we treat that as a matter of business principle rather than something we flex per deal. On your own supplier's orders you can check it instead of taking our word for it: the quote lists the supplier's cost and our fee as separate lines, we will show you the contract between us and that supplier, and since it is your factory you can ask them directly what they pay us. On our own suppliers' orders there is a margin inside the quoted price, we say so upfront, and that is exactly why there is nothing to gain from taking money from the factory as well. An agent who needs a kickback is an agent who has not told you how they get paid.

For your own supplier, yes. The quote lists the supplier's cost and our service fee as separate lines, and we will show you the contract between us and that supplier as well, because none of that money is ours. For our own suppliers we quote one price with our margin inside it and we do not split it, since those factory relationships are the thing we are actually selling. What we will not do is hand you a bundled price and let you believe it is the factory's own number.

Fair question, and the honest answer is that the percentage fee is not a negotiation service. It only applies when you have already found the supplier, and our work starts once the order is confirmed, which is after the price was settled between you and that factory. Hard negotiating is something we do on our own suppliers, where the price is ours to move. For customers we have bought for several times, we will go and negotiate with your factory too, as your agent, even though we are only on a service fee, because by then we know the product and have the standing to push. Anything we save there is yours and not ours. On a first order we usually advise against pushing on price at all until you have seen how cooperative that supplier really is.

Possibly nothing, and we are not going to quote you a saving percentage. On the goods themselves we may or may not beat what you find yourself. What we actually sell is the procurement work: chasing the factory, checking the goods, consolidating the shipment, so your hours go into marketing and selling instead. Most buyers find the real cost was never the unit price, it was the attention and the rework, and plenty of them ran a few orders themselves before deciding they did not want to spend that attention again. One customer came back from the Canton Fair and simply handed us the business cards of the suppliers he liked, because he knew exactly what managing them would take. If you want a number rather than an argument, run one SKU through us and compare it against your own quote.

It depends whose supplier it is, and we will tell you which case you are in before you have to ask. With your own supplier you see everything, because you are the one paying them: their invoice is issued to you, the money goes to them and not through us, and our fee sits on the quote as its own line. With our suppliers you get one price with our margin inside it and no factory invoice, because at the quoting stage we do not hand over who the factory is. That is the one thing we hold back, and only until production starts. Once your order is in production you are welcome to visit that factory and to talk to them directly.

Landed cost per unit is the ex factory price plus inland transport in China, export handling, the ocean or air freight itself, insurance if you want it, import duty and any import taxes, customs clearance, final delivery to your door, plus inspection and any labelling or repacking. Give us the product details and the delivery address and we will assemble that list for you per unit instead of leaving you to piece it together. The China side and our own costs we can state. Freight moves with the market so it is quoted on the day, and duty depends on how your product classifies and what your country charges. If you would rather not track any of it, we can quote the whole thing DDP to your door with duty included.

No, that is not normal, and on a price we quoted it does not happen. Once an order is confirmed our team is not permitted to raise it, and we have shipped orders at a loss when our own costing turned out to be wrong rather than go back on a number we gave you. Be clear about what an order confirmation is, though: it fixes that order, not your next one. We price one order at a time, because exchange rates and raw materials move, and for a repeat customer reordering we hold the price unless something fundamental has changed. If the supplier is your own, we have no lever. We did not negotiate that price and we do not know their cost structure, so we will push back and argue your case, but we cannot force them.

There is no hidden markup, because we tell you where the margin is. On your own supplier there is no markup of any kind: you pay the factory yourself, you already hold their original quotation, and our fee is a separate agreed line. On our own suppliers there is a margin inside the price and we say so rather than advertising the service as free; what we hold back at the quoting stage is the factory's identity and its original quotation, because that relationship is what we are selling, and we release it the moment your order goes into production. Kickbacks from factories we do not take in either case.

If the service is free, the money is coming from somewhere else, normally the freight or a kickback from the factory. We are not the cheapest agent and we will not pretend to be. We are also not fond of the word free: free is usually the most expensive arrangement there is, because you never find out where the extra money went. We would rather name our fee at the start, or tell you plainly that our margin sits inside a quoted price, and then be judged on whether the goods are right and on time. A very low fee is not automatically a problem, but it is worth putting the same question to that agent that you just put to us.

The rate and the tier are fixed before any work starts, and we do not set them after seeing your budget. The band is 3% to 9% of the goods value with a minimum service fee of $100, and it applies when we run an order without selling you the goods, which covers your own supplier and 1688 or Taobao buying. Buying through our own suppliers carries no separate percentage at all. The bands are published on our Services page and your own rate is quoted with the order. The minimum exists for the opposite reason to the one you are worried about, because a small order still costs our staff hours and $100 covers them. There is no minimum order value to clear either, except for 1688 and Taobao sourcing, where the minimum is $500. The work we take says the same thing. We ran 20 to 30 pieces per style across dozens of styles for a Moroccan retailer, and several factories we use hold no strict minimum, some down to a single piece.

Ask us and we will build the landed cost list for you, but here is how the segments split. Our quote covers the goods, the China side costs, export handling and our own fee, and it covers the freight leg when we are the ones arranging the shipping. What normally still lands on you after the goods leave China is import duty and any import taxes, customs clearance at your end and final delivery, unless you ask us to include them. On duty we see three patterns: you have your own customs broker and pay it yourself; you want a fully documented compliant import, in which case we list the tax separately for you to pay; or, most commonly, you just want the goods to arrive, and we handle it door to door with duty included. Tell us which of the three you are and we will build the quote that way from the start, so there is no second bill you did not expect.

If you source well, manage your supply chain comfortably and have the experience behind you, you do not need an agent, and we will say so. If your existing supply chain is already working, our advice is to keep it. Where an agent earns their keep is when you are not a big team, or you would rather not spend your attention on factories at all: several suppliers going into one shipment, custom products and tooling, small quantities spread across many SKUs, goods that need checking before they ship, or buying from 1688 and the Yiwu market, which is not built for foreign buyers. That is a real dividing line, not a sales pitch. The question worth asking is not whether you could do it yourself, but whether doing it is the best use of your week.

Three to four months, if it is a general consumer product. Budget about 1 month for development, meaning samples and approvals, 1 to 2 months for production, and about 1 month for shipping. The clock starts fast at our end: a quote comes back within 2 working days of your inquiry. Sampling is the part that moves most. Three rounds of changes or fewer is normal, an apparel round runs about 5 days and a plastic mould change about 15 days, so anything needing new tooling sits at the long end of development. If a factory tells us it needs longer, you hear from us the same day. Tell us the product and we will map the stages onto it.

If your sourcing is solid, your supply chain management works and you have done this often enough, you honestly do not need an agent. We tell buyers whose supply chain already runs well to leave it alone. Where we earn our place is when you are not a big team, or when you would rather not spend your week chasing factories, coordinating several suppliers and checking goods before they ship. We are not always cheaper than going direct. What we sell is that the process stops being your job.

There are two modes and the scope is different. If the supplier is yours, we take over after the order is confirmed: production follow up, factory visits, pre shipment inspection, export paperwork, consolidation and shipping, while the goods contract and the payment stay directly between you and your supplier. If you buy through our suppliers, we run it from sourcing and quoting through samples and tooling, production, inspection, consolidation in our warehouse with one week of free storage, labeling or repacking, Amazon FBA prep, and the freight itself. At the delivery end you choose: door to door with duty included, duty itemized for you to pay yourself, or documents handed to your own forwarder under your own EORI. What we are not is your customs broker, your lawyer or your tax advisor.

The minimum is a picture or a link, roughly how many you want, and where it is going. With that we can usually come back with something. What turns an indicative number into an accurate one is the detail: materials, dimensions, packaging, any logo or color change, your target price and your deadline. If all you have is a photo, send the photo. We will come back with the questions that actually matter for that particular product instead of a form to fill in.

You describe the product and the quantity, and we find or confirm the factory and quote. You approve a sample, or send it back for changes, then place the order. We follow the production at the factory, and the goods are inspected against AQL sampling standards before they ship, with the report going to you. We then consolidate, book air or ocean freight, and get the goods to your port or your door. You make three decisions in all of that: the quote, the sample and the inspection result. The work between those three decisions is what you are paying an agent for.

Most of our orders run entirely remotely, including for buyers we have never met in person. What replaces the trip is samples in your hands, photos and video from the floor, since we go to our own factories ourselves and will film whatever you ask for, a live walkthrough where the factory has no confidential process to protect, and a pre shipment inspection report. The categories where we would still say get samples in your hands before you commit, or come if you can, are the ones judged by touch and eye: fabric handle, surface finish, ceramics, anything a photograph flatters. If you do want to come, our office is open to visitors, and once your order is in production the factory is too.

A checklist, roughly in order of how much each item moves the price: product photo or link, quantity, materials and dimensions, packaging, any customization such as logo, color, shape or a new mold, destination port or address, and the date you need it on the shelf. A target price helps as well, because it tells us which tier of factory to approach at all. If half of that is blank, send what you have. We fill the gaps by asking about the things that drive cost on your specific product, and if it is a category we have no real experience in we will tell you that rather than quote blind.

The stages are sourcing and quoting, sampling, production, inspection, freight, then customs at your end. Beyond the unit price, budget for samples and the courier that brings them, and tooling if the product is customised: tens of dollars for a logo print, about $100 for an apparel pattern, $2,000 to $3,000 for a plastic or metal mould. Certificates are quoted per certificate once we know your market, and one generally costs at least $300 to $500. Our fee on your own supplier's orders is 3% to 9% of goods value with a $100 minimum, and the bands are set out on our services page. A standalone inspection is $99, one person day, charged per visit, and charged again if a rework needs inspecting. Full inspection is quoted per person day, then per unit once we have timed your product. PayPal and Stripe fees are yours.

Before you write to us you need three things: what the product is, where a photo or a link is enough, roughly how many, and where it ships to. That is genuinely it. You do not need to know Incoterms, you do not need to speak to a factory, and you do not need to have picked a freight forwarder. From there we quote, you approve a sample, we follow the production and inspect the goods before they leave, then we ship, either door to door with the duty handled or into the hands of your own broker if you want the import in your own name. That last point is the one thing we cannot do for you: if the import has to be on record in your company's name, that entity and a broker need to exist by the time the goods sail.

It depends which of two routes you take. If you want the import on record in your own name, which most established sellers want, then an entity, a tax ID, a customs bond and a licensed broker in your own country are your side of the line, because the importer of record has to be you. We support that side: we prepare and send the export and shipping documents, suggest HS classifications, and work directly with your broker and forwarder. The other route is the one most first time buyers take, where we deliver door to door with duty included and the forwarder clears under its own importer of record, in which case you need none of the above. We are not a customs broker and not your tax or legal advisor, so treat any classification we suggest as a starting point for your broker to confirm.

You send the product and the quantity, and we tell you honestly whether it is a category we know. We quote, as one packaged price if the supplier is ours, or as your supplier's cost and our service fee listed separately if the supplier is yours. You approve a sample, then the order goes in, which with our suppliers means a 30% deposit to start production, and with your own supplier means you pay the factory directly, since we are not inside that transaction. During production you get photos or video from the floor whenever you ask, and before anything ships the goods are inspected to AQL standards, with our suppliers both by our own team and by an independent third party. Once you are satisfied with the inspection, the balance is settled, the goods are consolidated and the freight is booked. Delivery is whatever you chose at the quoting stage: your port, your warehouse door with duty handled, or straight into Amazon FBA.

A photo is enough to start. A sample beats a photo and a full tech pack beats a sample, but nobody gets turned away for arriving with a screenshot of someone else's listing. The two things we do need alongside it are a rough quantity and the destination, because both change which factory we would even approach. If you have materials, dimensions, packaging and a target price as well, send them, because that is what shortens the back and forth and turns the quote into a real number instead of an estimate.

Yes, and there is no minimum order value to start. Most of the suppliers we work with carry no strict minimum either, and for some products a single piece is orderable. We once handled a shopping mall in Morocco that wanted 20 to 30 pieces each of several dozen styles of sports brand merchandise, which is about as awkward as an order gets, and it shipped. The honest caveat is our fee floor. On your own supplier's orders we charge 3% to 9% of goods value with a $100 minimum, so on a very small order that minimum will look high as a percentage. The tiers are set out on our services page. Buying for you on 1688 or Taobao has a $500 minimum order. First orders are paid in full before the goods ship, whatever the size.

Yes, and it is how most of our relationships started. There is no separate process for a trial order, it goes through the same sourcing, sampling, inspection and shipping as a large one, and if the goods come from our suppliers the terms are the same, 30% to start production and the balance after you have seen the inspection result. What changes after the first order is what we can open up to you: shopping one product across several factories and negotiating on your behalf is reserved for clients we have run at least one order with, because it is expensive in people's time and because we can only bargain credibly once we are genuinely acting as your agent. Open account terms are something we discuss with long term clients, not on a first order.

A quote comes back within 2 working days, and any message gets an answer within the same working day. The time difference is our normal working condition, not an excuse, and you keep one contact person for the whole order rather than being handed around. Quotes are fastest on a product from a supplier we already work with, because the cost base is largely known. Sourcing something new means going out to factories and waiting on them. For first delivery on a general consumer product, budget about 1 month for development, 1 to 2 months for production and about 1 month for shipping. Once goods are in production you get both a weekly report and reports at each milestone.

Both, and we tell you which one it is before you order rather than letting you assume. There is no volume threshold where an order flips from a factory to the wholesale market. When we genuinely have a choice we lean towards the factory, because a lot of market goods do not pass our own quality control, and a factory running a customised production order is far easier to hold to a standard. The market route suits many different items in small quantities where nothing needs customising. For a category that is new to you we usually lay the options out in a side by side comparison table, so you can see the trade off in price and quality yourself.

We start with factories we already work with, because a supplier we have already stood in front of is worth more than a new name. If nothing fits, we go to the manufacturing cluster for that product and look both online and in the physical markets, since many of the better factories do no online marketing at all. We do not work to a fixed number of quotes per category, so we will not invent one for you. For a category that is new to you, the shortlist comes back as a side by side comparison table. On any new factory we check that the bank account matches the business licence, then go and look at the place; the scope written on the licence matters less than whether it reads as a real operation. Going to a supplier you found yourself is $99, because it takes a person a day.

It depends on whose supplier it is. If it is a supplier you found yourself and we are following the order for you, of course you can contact them and visit them whenever you like; that relationship is yours and we do not sit in the middle of it. If it is our supplier, we do not release the factory details while we are still quoting, because our margin sits inside that quote and that is the honest reason rather than a policy we dress up as something else. Once your order goes into production, you are welcome to visit the factory and to talk to them directly. These are long term relationships on our side, so us introducing you is not a risk we are trying to avoid.

Most products, yes, but there is a short list we will not take at all: sanctioned goods, military products, dangerous goods, counterfeits or anything that plainly infringes someone's rights, and sourcing from anywhere outside China, because China is all we do. We also do not handle FDA registration; that one you arrange yourself. Beyond that, we have separate departments for machinery, chemical raw materials, apparel, household goods, toys and electronics, so you usually end up with a colleague who has handled your category. We do not have experience in every category though, and where we do not, we say so at quotation stage instead of learning on your order. Tell us the product and we will tell you plainly which of those answers applies.

All three are ordinary and none of them stops the order. On payment, many Chinese factories cannot receive foreign currency at all, so you pay us, we settle it into RMB and pay them. Which account you pay depends on size: above $1,000 it goes to our registered import and export company account, which is the side that carries the Chinese customs declaration and export rebate, and below $1,000 we normally use an offshore account, PayPal or a card, which suits a small order better. We invoice under whichever entity you actually paid, PI and invoice both. On language, English is our working language and we put you, us and the factory in one group so nothing is relayed second hand, and we normally reply within the same working day, faster than the factory will.

Sourcing starts with factories we already work with and have already been to. For anything new, we go to the manufacturing cluster for that product and search both online and in the physical markets, and we lean on local contacts, because many of the good factories do no online marketing and cannot be found any other way. We visit our own factories in person, all of them, and while we are there we can take whatever photos or video you ask for. If you want to see the standard of that before you commit, we can show you sample factory audit and inspection reports.

Yes, but only for clients who have bought through us at least once, since it takes real staff time. We do not fix how many factories go into it, and for a new category the shortlist comes back as a side by side comparison table. On a first order you have two routes: hand us your own supplier and we follow the order on the 3% to 9% service fee, minimum $100, with the tiers on our services page, or buy from our supplier and we quote one price. That follow up fee does not normally cover bargaining, since the price is usually settled before we come in. After several orders we negotiate anyway, and everything we save is yours. Reviewing your existing prices with no buying attached costs nothing, and we will not approach your supplier.

By standing in the building. We check first that the bank account you are being asked to pay matches the company name on the business licence, then we go to the address, because a working factory and a staged one are easy to tell apart once you are inside. We put less weight on paperwork than you might expect; the scope of business on a licence tells you very little. How often we go depends on whose supplier it is. We attend our own factories on every order. On a supplier you found yourself we do not go every time as standard, and a visit is $99, one person day. Where a source turns out to be a wholesale market rather than a factory we tell you, and given the choice we prefer the factory, because plenty of market goods fail our own quality control.

Yes, and you can tell us what to photograph. We are at our own factories on every order, and you can ask for specific photos or video, a particular machine, the line your goods are running on, or the goods themselves, and we can put you on a live call from the floor. The only thing we will not film is a process the factory treats as confidential. On a supplier you found yourself we do not attend every order, and a factory audit visit is $99, one person day. That visit is not the same service as inspecting the goods before shipment, which comes back as a standard international inspection form, to the same standard the big inspection companies issue: a short product description, the conclusion, and a large number of photographs with written notes, quantity counts and carton markings included.

Documents alone will not settle it. We check that the bank account matches the name on the business licence, and then we go and stand in the place, because a company that is really just a desk cannot fake a running line to someone who is there. Those two steps remove most of the risk. We would also question the assumption underneath the question: a trading company is the wrong choice for a deep customised run, and the right choice when you need forty different items at twenty or thirty pieces each, which is an order we have actually run for a mall in Morocco. We choose based on the shape of your order, not on which label sounds better on a page.

Two checks, both before money moves, and we would rather be straight about how short that list is. We confirm that the bank account you are being asked to pay matches the company on the business licence, and we go to the address in person to see whether anything is genuinely being produced. The scope of business printed on a licence is close to meaningless; what settles it is being in the room. On our own factories we go every order. On a supplier you found, we do not attend as standard, and a dedicated visit is $99, which is one person day on site. We can show you sample factory audit and inspection reports first so you know what comes back. If the factory cannot receive foreign currency, you pay us and we settle it into RMB and pay them.

Yes to all three, with one honest qualification about how often we go. We are at our own factories on every order, and there you can have photos, video of whatever you want to see, and a live call from the production floor, the only limit being a process the factory treats as confidential. On a supplier you found yourself we are not on site every time as a matter of course, because each visit is a person day, so it is $99 when you want us to go, and photos or a live call from that supplier's floor depend on that visit happening. Separately, on our own supplier orders, inspection before shipment happens twice as standard, once by our own team and once by an independent third party, both to AQL 2.5 and 4.0.

Yes, and it is the single thing we do most, from logo printing to custom colours, shapes, packaging and full tooling. Three rounds of sample changes or fewer is normal, and a round runs roughly 5 days on a garment and about 15 days on a plastic mould modification. Send a vector logo if you have one; if you do not, we will convert it and send a mockup back for approval. Give colours as Pantone references, not CMYK, RGB or hex, because those do not translate to production. Size drawings, 3D mould files and packaging dielines help, but we can work without them, and we can help get the missing ones sorted out with the factory. Plain printed cartons usually start at 1,000 pieces, and a packaging sample takes about a week. If the design is yours rather than the factory's open mould, we sign a proper exclusivity agreement, and any mould you pay for is yours.

Someone goes. We visit our own factories ourselves, and you can ask us to check a specific thing while we are there, photograph or film it, or get on a live call from the floor. A list of Alibaba links is something you could put together yourself in an afternoon, so it is not what we are for. If you want to judge the standard before committing to anything, ask us for sample factory audit and inspection reports and we will send them.

Yes, we verify the licence, and alongside it we check that the bank account you are asked to pay matches the company named on it, which together stop most of the fraud. Telling a real factory from a trading company, though, happens on site rather than on paper. The business scope printed on a licence matters less than people assume; what we are reading when we visit is whether the operation is genuinely running, and a real factory is easy to tell from a front once you are standing in it. Chinese registration is publicly searchable, ours included, and our office is open to visitors. We go to our own factories on every order. On a supplier you found yourself we do not attend every time, and a standalone factory visit is $99, which is one person for one day.

We would rather answer this plainly than leave it vague. If it is a supplier you found, everything is open: you deal with them directly, and we itemise their costs and our service fee separately, including our own contract with them. If it is our supplier, we quote you one packaged price that already contains our margin, and we say that out loud rather than pretending we work for nothing. In that case we do not release the factory's details while we are still quoting. That changes the moment your order goes into production: from then on you can visit the factory and talk to them directly.

Yes, and if it is only a price review with no sourcing attached, we do not charge for it. Send us the product and what you are paying now and we will tell you what we think it should cost. We will not contact your existing supplier, now or later; that relationship is yours and we stay out of it. The honest part: you may not be overpaying. We are not always the cheapest and we do not chase the lowest quote, so a benchmark that comes back saying your price is fine is a normal outcome and we will say so. If your supply chain is working, leave it alone. It is worth doing when you have a specific reason to think the cost is off, or when coordination rather than price has become the painful part.

Almost certainly, and we are not tied to one region. Our people work mainly around the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta, which is where most export manufacturing sits, but we cover the whole country, with travel outside those two deltas quoted per trip and the cost carried by you. What we will not do is source outside China. We are organised into departments by category, covering machinery, chemical raw materials, apparel, household goods, toys and electronics, and different colleagues carry different specialities. We do not have experience in every category, so tell us the product and we will tell you honestly at quotation stage whether it is one we know.

We inspect by sampling to the AQL 2.5 and 4.0 levels used together before the goods leave the factory, and what you get to see is the full report. It is the international inspection form: a short product description, a stated pass or fail conclusion, and a large set of inspection photos, each with a written description. It is the same deliverable the large inspection companies issue. The quantity count and the outer carton markings are always in it, not only the product checks. If the result is a fail we do not hold your cargo. On your own supplier the final call is yours; on ours we arrange rework until you are satisfied. A standalone $99 inspection is one person day, so a re-inspection after rework is charged again.

A sample, drawn to AQL 2.5 and 4.0 used together, and yes, cartons are opened and the units pulled out of them are checked one by one against a fixed accept or reject number. The product checklist depends on what it is: measurements, print, cutting and finishing on apparel, full function testing on electronics, appearance and finish on ceramics. On top of that, every report carries the checks that apply to any shipment, the quantity count and the outer carton markings among them. We suggest upgrading to 100 percent inspection when the goods are high in value or your brand sits at the premium end. Full inspection is quoted by the person day at first, because nobody can guess the time per unit, then after the first 1 to 2 days we convert it to a price per unit.

Yes. Charging and basic function testing sit inside our standard procedure for electronics, rather than a look at the outside of the box. The units tested are the ones drawn in the AQL sample, not the whole shipment, unless you buy 100 percent testing and accept the extra work that comes with it. If a sampled unit fails, the lot is judged against the fixed reject number and we do not hold your cargo on our own authority: on your own supplier the call is yours, on ours we send it back for rework until you are satisfied. Where you bought a standalone $99 inspection, the re-inspection after rework is charged again, because it is another person day. Which voltage and plug configuration we can test to depends on the product, so tell us the market you sell into and we will say what we can cover.

An inspection report on the international form, and it reaches you before the goods ship, because the decision that follows it is yours. It carries a short product description, the pass or fail conclusion, and a large set of inspection photos, each with a written description, which is the same deliverable the large inspection companies issue. The quantity count and the outer carton markings are always in it. We do not fix a photo count in advance, we shoot what the goods need. Video is not part of the standard form, but we are at the factory ourselves and will shoot photos or a live call on request, as long as it does not touch a process the factory treats as confidential. We can show you example reports before you commit.

Yes, and here is where the $99 stops. That price buys one inspector for one man day, charged per inspection rather than per container, and it covers the independent third party who belongs to neither the factory nor us. The day is spent inspecting to AQL 2.5 and 4.0. If the goods fail and the factory reworks them, the re inspection is a new job and is charged again. Where a product, or a spread of SKUs, genuinely needs more than one day, we say so and quote it on the same man day basis before anyone travels, not afterwards. On our own supplier orders you pay none of this, because two inspections, ours and the independent one, are included by default.

We stop it with a golden sample. Sealing one is ordinary practice in export trade, and on our orders it is a standard step rather than something you have to ask for. A normal order runs three samples: a development sample, a pre production sample and a bulk production sample. That last one is signed off and held in three copies, one with you, one with us and one at the factory, so there is a physical reference instead of an argument about memory. First article confirmation on that bulk sample is not optional. On some products we also ask the factory for a tolerance table, though a plush toy cannot be measured that way and appearance is the honest check there. In process checks depend on the product, and on apparel we can run initial, middle and final if you ask for them, with the extra visits priced in the quote. If bulk misses the approved sample on our own supplier's order, it goes back for rework until you are satisfied.

If we catch it, the recommendation is blunt: cancel the order, or make them remake it properly to your spec. On our own core suppliers it does not arise, because the relationship is worth more to them than one substituted component. What makes a substitution provable is the approved bulk sample and the written spec, held by you, by us and by the factory, plus in process checks where the product warrants them. It usually surfaces at inspection to AQL 2.5 and 4.0, which is included by default on our own supplier orders, where the 70% balance is still unpaid at that point. On a supplier you found yourself, that inspection is the $99 job you can add, and we report and push, but the contract is between you and them and we would rather say so than pretend we can force it.

Yes, before shipment, by sampling to AQL 2.5 and 4.0 rather than checking every unit. What is on the checklist depends on the product: apparel is measurements, print, cutting and finishing; electronics is function testing including charging; ceramics is appearance and finish. Quantity count and carton shipping marks go into every report, along with a large number of photos and written descriptions, on the same international inspection form the big importers work to. Two further points are standard rather than extra: first article confirmation on the bulk sample always happens, and in process checks depend on the product, and apparel can take initial, middle and final where you ask for them, which we quote as extra visits. We do not hold your goods when something fails. On your own supplier's order the call is yours; on ours, it goes back for rework until you are satisfied.

It is a real tension, and our answer is that we do not get the final say on our own inspection. If the supplier is your own, the report goes to you and you decide whether the goods ship. If the supplier is ours, a failed inspection means rework until you are satisfied, and we never hold the shipment hostage either way. That is also why our own supplier orders include two inspections by default, ours and an independent inspector tied to neither the factory nor us, and why the $99 standalone inspection includes that independent party. You receive a standard international inspection form with the accept or reject conclusion, the quantity count, the carton markings and extensive photographs. Appointing SGS or Bureau Veritas yourself is welcome, at your cost.

By judging the reorder against the physical samples and the written specification kept from the run that went right. Sealed samples are standard practice on our orders, normally in three versions, a development sample, a pre production sample and a shipment sample, and that last one is held in three copies, yours, ours and the factory's, so a repeat run is measured against an object rather than a memory. Confirming the first article of the new run is compulsory, and in process checks are added where the product warrants them, and on apparel we can take an initial, a middle and a final inspection if you want them, priced with the order. Every reorder is then inspected to AQL 2.5 and 4.0 exactly like the first. If a factory stops meeting the standard, or its capacity no longer fits your volume, we move you to another one.

We can arrange the testing, and on whether the paperwork is genuine we will be straight with you. A certificate the factory already holds is passed to you exactly as it reaches us, and we do not verify its authenticity, so treat it as the factory's claim rather than as something we have checked. Where that matters, have the test run fresh at a laboratory you appoint or we appoint. A new certificate generally starts around $300 to $500, depending on the product. For children's products going into the US, CPC has to go through a CPSC accepted laboratory, and we work with one in China regularly, so that route is straightforward for us. If the supplier is ours, the quote states up front whether certification is included.

Yes, before shipment, against AQL 2.5 and 4.0 used together, the sampling standard general consumer goods are normally judged by, and yes you can bring in SGS or Bureau Veritas. We welcome it, and we arrange the factory access and the timing. On our own supplier orders that cost is yours, not ours. Those orders already include two inspections by default, ours and an independent inspector attached to neither the factory nor us. Whether SGS or BV replaces that or runs alongside it is a per order conversation, so tell us what you want covered. If you have already bought the $99 standalone inspection and then decide you want SGS or BV, the $99 is credited against it: once their formal quote lands, you pay the difference.

The control is a sealed production sample held in three places, so what you approved exists as a physical object rather than a memory. A normal order runs three sample stages, the development sample, the pre production sample and the production sample, and that last one is held in three copies, one by you, one by us and one at the factory. First article approval before the line runs is not optional on our orders. You can also ask the factory for a tolerance table, although not every product needs one, since a plush toy is judged on appearance rather than measured. In process checks depend on the product, and on garment orders we can run initial, middle and final inspections when you ask, quoted as extra visits. If a substitution does turn up, our advice is to cancel or have it remade, and on our own suppliers we arrange rework until you are satisfied.

It depends on whose supplier it is, and we would rather give you the rule than a reassurance. If the supplier is yours, we cannot pay for it. What we are responsible for is the process, the factory check, the inspection and the follow up, not standing behind another company's goods, so we will push hard to get it put right but the liability sits with that supplier. If the supplier is ours, we pay. Usually that is a credit note taken straight off your next order, and if there is no next order we verify what happened and refund you in cash. One apparel batch reached the States in the wrong sizes, so we hired five or six workers locally, reworked the lot on the spot, and the customer did not lose the season.

It depends on whose supplier made it. If it is our supplier, we pay, and we do not argue the point. The usual mechanism is a credit note set against your next order; if there is no next order, we verify what happened and refund you in cash. Sometimes the faster answer is physical: when a clothing shipment reached the US with the wrong sizes, we hired five or six workers locally to rework the whole lot on site, and the customer's selling season was not affected. If the supplier is one you found yourself, we cannot pay for it. What we are responsible for is the process, the factory visit, the inspection, the follow up, not underwriting someone else's factory. We will push that supplier hard on your behalf, but the liability sits with them.

On our own supplier orders we make it good, without an argument about fault. The usual mechanism is a credit note applied against your next order, and where there is no next order we verify the problem and pay you back in cash. The leverage behind that is real: the 70% balance is not released until inspection is finished, and these are long term factory relationships with our own people in the same country. On a supplier you found yourself we cannot compensate you. We are responsible for the process, the factory visit, the inspection, the follow up, not for underwriting somebody else's supplier, so the claim sits with them while we push on your behalf. One apparel shipment reached the US with wrong sizes, so we hired five or six workers there to rework it on site and the selling season was not lost.

If the supplier is ours, we pay. If it is a supplier you found yourself, we cannot, and it is fairer to say so plainly. On our own supplier orders the usual remedy is a credit note set against your next order, and if there is no next order we verify the fault and refund you the money. Return freight we handle case by case, so send us photos and the inspection evidence and we will tell you what we can cover before anything moves. In one case a clothing shipment landed in the United States in the wrong sizes, and we hired five or six workers there to rework the lot on site, so the customer kept the selling season. Where the supplier is yours, we coordinate the claim hard, but we stand behind our process, not behind that factory, and the liability is theirs.

Yes, and the sample fee usually comes back to you. You pay the sample cost and the courier, and once you place the order and reach an agreed quantity the sample fee is credited against the goods payment. Tooling works the same way: a mould charge is refunded once the volume is there. The quantity that triggers it differs by product, so we state it when we quote rather than pretend one threshold fits everything. We assess every sample free of charge before it travels, and the clearly poor ones never get on a plane, so you are not paying air freight for something you would have thrown away. On our own supplier side a new product means a sample fee and freight, but if we already work together and the item runs on a line we already use, we usually carry the development cost ourselves.

Yes, the sample fee is refundable, and the cost depends on how much of the product changes. A logo on an existing product, with no change to shape or colour, is usually a few tens of dollars. An apparel pattern runs about $100 per pattern, and a plastic or metal mould is typically $2,000 to $3,000 each. Once you order and the quantity reaches the level we agree, the sample fee comes off the goods payment, and mould charges are refunded on the same principle. We will not publish a single threshold, because it moves with the product and with how expensive the tooling was. Tell us what you are making and we will give you the sample price and the quantity at which it comes back.

Three rounds or fewer is normal, and most projects land inside that. Time matters more than the count: an apparel revision takes about 5 days a round, while recutting a plastic mould is closer to 15 days, so two tooling rounds is a month of calendar before production even starts. If the sample came back wrong because the factory made it wrong, you do not pay for that round. On our own suppliers it is simply not charged, and on a supplier you found yourself we coordinate the rework, where the same business custom applies: a round caused by the factory's error should not be billed. A round you ask for, because you changed your mind about the design, is quoted per product, so tell us what you want changed and we will price that round before we start it.

Yes to both. The cost tracks how much work the sample is: an existing product with your logo is usually a few tens of dollars, an apparel pattern about $100, and a mould for a plastic or metal part $2,000 to $3,000. You cover the sample fee and the courier, and we assess everything free of charge before it travels, so the weak ones stop with us instead of costing you international freight. The fee is credited against the bulk order once the quantity reaches the level we agree for that product, and mould costs are refunded on the same basis. Send us the product and we will tell you the sample price and the quantity that earns it back.

By sealing a golden sample and judging everything after it against that copy. A normal project runs three samples: a development sample, a pre production sample, and a production sample pulled from the bulk run, and that last one is held in three copies, one with you, one with us and one at the factory, so nobody argues later about what was approved. Confirming that production sample is not optional, we do it on every order. We can also ask the factory for a tolerance table, though not every product needs one, since a plush toy cannot be measured that way and is judged on appearance instead. In process checks depend on the product, and apparel orders can take initial, middle and final inspections at your request, which we price with the order. If a material or spec substitution turns up, our advice is to cancel or make them remake it.

Yes, and pulling samples from several factories at once is routine work for us. You pay the sample fees and the courier cost, and we assess every sample free of charge before anything moves. We do not forward all of them: the ones that are clearly not good enough stop with us and we tell you why, so you are not paying international freight to receive rejects. The sample fee is usually not money gone. Once you place the production order and reach a certain quantity, it comes off the goods value, and mould costs work the same way and are refunded once the volume is met. The quantity that triggers it differs by product, so ask us for the threshold on yours before you pay for the first round.

Yes, custom samples are the single most common thing we do, and three rounds or fewer is normal. Cost follows how deep the change goes: logo only is usually tens of dollars, an apparel pattern about $100 per pattern, and a new mould for a plastic or metal part $2,000 to $3,000. Time per round varies by product far more than the round count does. An apparel round takes about 5 days, a plastic mould modification about 15 days, so plan your calendar around the tooling rather than the artwork. Rework caused by a factory mistake splits by supplier: on our own suppliers we do not charge you for that round. On a supplier you found yourself we coordinate and push for the same, because by normal trade practice that round should not be charged, but the call sits with that factory.

No on both counts, with one exception. We do not set a minimum quantity: the suppliers we work with most often do not enforce a strict one, and for some products a single piece is possible. There is no minimum order value either. What exists is a minimum service fee of $100 on orders where the supplier is yours, above which the fee runs 3% to 9% of the goods value, tiered on our Services page; buy through our suppliers and there is no separate fee at all, because our margin already sits inside the quoted price. The one exception is 1688 and Taobao buying, which starts at $500 per order. Any other floor comes from the factory side, such as material lot sizes, tooling or print plates, and we will tell you which one binds your product.

Yes, and it is one of the things we do most. For standard products that need no customisation we buy from the Yiwu market, where a long list of items at low quantities each is completely normal. Non standard items that need custom colours, logos or shapes are harder, but they still work: we handled a shopping mall in Morocco that ordered merchandise for a sports brand at 20 to 30 pieces per style across dozens of styles. Send us your list and we will tell you which lines are straightforward, which are slow, and which are not worth doing at that volume.

Yes. We generally do not impose a minimum, and for some products a single piece is possible with the suppliers we use regularly. Be realistic about the trade off: small runs carry a higher unit price because setup costs spread over fewer units, and our minimum service fee is a much larger share of a small order than of a big one. If you already source well and manage your own supply chain comfortably, a test order may be something you do not need us for at all.

Because the number is not set by the agent, or even by the factory's preference. It is set by what sits underneath the order: the minimum lot the mill will sell raw material in, the cost of a machine changeover or a color change, tooling that has to be amortized, and the print plate and carton minimums on the packaging side. For scale, a garment pattern runs around USD 100 per style and a plastic or metal mold is usually USD 2,000 to 3,000, so anything needing tooling has a real floor while a stock item often has none at all. We would rather tell you which of those costs is driving your quote than hand you a universal number that is wrong for your product.

Yes. We do not require a full container, and there is no minimum order value on our side, with one exception: 1688 and Taobao buying starts at $500 per order. Small shipments are routine. Goods from several suppliers come into our warehouse, get consolidated and go out as one shipment, with one week of storage free. Agree the storage period, capacity and any extended storage or extra handling in the written quote. If you buy through our suppliers, our margin is included in the product quote. Full-Service orders under $500 carry a minimum handling fee: as a guide, $100 covers up to 5 items, with roughly $20 for each additional item, quoted per order. If you bring your own supplier, the follow-up fee is 3% to 9% of the goods value, with a $100 minimum, agreed before work and paid after shipment. The goods payment stays between you and that supplier. Compare sea freight, air freight and door-to-door arrangements by shipment needs and total cost. A smaller seller does not automatically need DDP. Before booking any route, confirm the actual importer of record, accurate customs valuation and who will make the declaration, plus the entry and tax-payment records available to you. On our existing forwarder-managed DDP channels, below-value declarations are common and we do not know the exact declared value. Do not accept false declarations or a route that cannot substantiate the value and importer; choose another arrangement before shipping. FOB is for sea or inland-waterway transport and does not itself prove compliance. What we turn away has nothing to do with size: sanctioned goods, military products, dangerous goods, counterfeits or anything that plainly infringes someone else's rights, and any sourcing outside China, because China is all we do. The honest constraint on a small order is cost per unit, not whether we will take you on.

Sometimes, and it depends on whose factory it is. With factories we buy from regularly we can usually work below the published industry minimum, because the relationship carries weight; with a factory you found yourself we often cannot, since the price and terms were agreed before we came into the picture. The more reliable route is moving the order to a supplier whose production scale actually fits your volume, and expecting low volume to cost more per piece rather than the same price in a smaller run. Note that we only run multi factory comparison and negotiation for customers we have completed at least one order with, because that legwork is expensive; new customers either hand us a supplier they already found, or buy through ours.

Almost certainly not. We set no minimum order, in quantity or in dollar value, apart from 1688 and Taobao buying, which starts at $500 per order. We have run programmes of a few dozen pieces per style from start to shipment. What is worth weighing is the fee rather than our willingness. If you bring your own supplier, the service fee is 3% to 9% of the goods value with a minimum of $100, and the tiers are set out on our Services page, so on a very small order that minimum is proportionally heavy. If you buy through our suppliers there is no separate fee at all, because our margin already sits inside the quoted price. And if your own sourcing already works and you manage the supply chain comfortably, we will tell you that instead of taking the order.

It often moves, but the splitting part is what buyers usually have backwards. MOQ is normally driven by the dye lot, the machine changeover or the print plate, so each additional color or material tends to create its own minimum rather than divide the existing one; sizes inside the same fabric and color are usually free to split. The levers that do work are different: going back to a factory we already buy from, which can generally run below the published industry minimum, or moving the order to a supplier built for your volume. We will not quote you a piece count before we know which cost is setting the floor on your specific product.

The cost in packaging is rarely the box itself. It is the print plate, the cutting die, and the minimum quantity of board the paper mill will sell, which is why a custom carton quote can come back larger than the product order. The low volume route is to skip full custom printing at the start: use a stock box or poly bag and apply a printed label, which can be short run digital printing at a fraction of the commitment. We can do that labeling and repacking in our own warehouse before the goods ship, and we handle packaging design in house, which saves you hiring a designer. Whatever route you take, approve a printed proof before anything goes to press.

We will take it, and there is no order value below which we stop talking to you. It is close to the shape of a job we ran for a shopping mall in Morocco: 20 to 30 pieces per style, dozens of styles, all of it produced and shipped. On the money, if the supplier is yours the fee is 3% to 9% of the goods value with a minimum of $100, tiered on our Services page; if you buy through our suppliers there is no separate fee, because our margin sits inside the quoted price. Whether an agent is worth it at that size depends on you. People hire us when supply chain management is eating the time they would rather spend on marketing. If you are comfortable finding factories, checking them and running the shipment yourself, keep the money.

With factories we already buy from, usually yes, and the floor sits lower than most buyers expect: the suppliers we work with most often hold no strict minimum at all, and for some products a single piece can be ordered. The lowest we will put in writing is what we have actually run, a custom range for a shopping mall in Morocco at 20 to 30 pieces per style across dozens of styles. With a factory you sourced yourself we usually cannot move it, because the terms were agreed before we came into the picture. We will not quote you a percentage off a published minimum. Expect a higher unit price rather than the same price in a smaller run, and we quote that per order. Tell us the product and we will give you the real number.

Yes, and the first week of storage is included at no charge. Your suppliers deliver into our China warehouse, we count every carton against the packing list and photograph what arrives, both included as standard, and everything leaves as one consignment when you are ready. While the goods sit with us, any shortage, damage or loss is ours to make good, because the storage responsibility is ours. Reinforcing the outer cartons is charged separately, since every reinforcement job is different. We have not set a published rate for storage beyond the first week, so tell your agent the expected timeline before the first supplier ships and we will quote it for your order.

Yes, and it is one of the most routine things we do. Each factory delivers into our warehouse, we bring everything together there, and we book and load one shipment instead of you paying freight several times over. As the goods arrive we count them against the packing list and photograph them as a record, and both of those are included rather than billed as extras. Reinforcing the outer cartons is charged separately, because every reinforcement job is different and has to be priced on what the goods need. The first week of storage is free, and anything short, damaged or lost while it sits in our warehouse is on us. If your suppliers finish further apart than that, ask us and we will quote the storage for your order.

The usual choices are sea freight as a full container or as LCL, air freight, express courier, rail to Europe, door to door delivery, and direct shipment into Amazon FBA. Which one fits comes down to three things: how much space and weight your goods take, how fast you need them on the shelf, and how the freight compares to the value of the goods. We can arrange any of them, and we price each leg separately rather than taking the first quote that comes back. Give us the product details, quantities and the delivery address and we will build a landed cost sheet with freight and taxes included, so you compare options on the total rather than on the freight rate alone.

EXW means the price covers the goods sitting at the factory door. Inland trucking in China, export clearance, freight and insurance are all yours from that point. FOB means the supplier gets the goods through Chinese export customs and loaded on the vessel, and your cost and your risk both start there. CIF adds ocean freight and a basic insurance policy to your port, but it does not cover the charges waiting at that port, and the risk still transfers back in China, not on arrival. That last point catches people out: under both FOB and CIF, damage at sea is legally your loss, not the supplier's, which is why the insurance question has to be settled before the goods move rather than after.

A forwarder is not tied to one carrier. They can compare several shipping lines, change routing when a service gets congested, and get space that a single shipper's volume would not command, which matters most when rates and schedules are moving. Express courier is genuinely the right answer for small, urgent or high value shipments, and we will tell you when that is the case instead of pushing you into a container. Past a few cartons, courier pricing per kilo stops making sense, and you also lose the things that happen before the goods move: bringing several suppliers together, holding stock, relabeling and repacking. We price each leg of the journey separately and take the best quote for that leg rather than handing the whole route to one provider and passing the bill along.

There are two practical fixes and one honest answer. First, spread the freight over more goods: add SKUs or quantities so the fixed costs per shipment are shared, and use the free first week in our warehouse to let several suppliers deliver before we book. Second, change the mode: light bulky goods that lose money by air often work by sea, and small dense goods sometimes work better by courier than as a part container. The honest answer is that some products at some volumes should not be imported from China at all. If freight and duty swallow the price gap, buying locally is the better business decision, and we would rather say that than sell you a shipment you regret.

Yes, and the list runs wider than labelling. FBA prep is regular warehouse work for us, we do bundling and multi pack sets, and we can have the factory ship straight into FBA, in which case we build the material pack and instruct them on how to meet Amazon's requirements. We can also combine your goods with other shipments to bring the freight cost down, and book the delivery appointment at the fulfilment centre. The one thing we do not do is hold your stock in an overseas warehouse and feed it into FBA in batches, because we have no overseas warehouse. Prep work is quoted per order and billed separately from the goods, since no two SKU lists take the same handling.

Duty is not one rate. It follows from how your product is classified in your own country's tariff schedule, so the first job is classifying it correctly on what the product actually is: material, function and end use. Once the code is settled, your customs authority publishes the rate, and the tax is calculated on the declared value of the goods, with freight and insurance included or excluded depending on the country. Who pays depends on how the shipment is set up, and there are three normal arrangements: you have your own import and clearance company and they pay the duty; you want a fully documented import in your own name, in which case we list the duty separately and you pay it yourself; or, most commonly, you simply want the goods to arrive, and we handle it door to door with the forwarder clearing under their own importer. Give us the product details and the delivery address and we can put the landed cost, freight and taxes included, into one sheet before you commit, with the final figure always subject to your customs authority.

It depends on how the goods arrive. Small shipments moving by international courier are normally cleared by the courier under their own arrangements, so most first orders never need you to appoint anyone. Once a shipment crosses your country's formal entry threshold, someone has to file a proper customs entry, and in the United States that means a licensed customs broker plus a customs bond, which is a financial guarantee to customs that the duty will be paid, taken either per entry or annually. If you have neither, the usual route is the third of our three standard arrangements: we handle the shipment door to door and the forwarder clears it under their own importer, so nothing has to be set up in your name. The trade off is worth knowing before you choose it. Goods cleared that way are not imported under your company's name, so if you need a clean import record for VAT recovery, brand registration or an audit, set up your own broker and bond and we will list the duty separately for you to pay.

Yes. We act as the exporter on the China side, issue the export documents and hand the goods over to your forwarder. If you need the import entry in your own company's name, agree that clearance arrangement with your broker before booking. For an EU customs operation, confirm your EORI and any required VAT details with your broker. Other destinations have their own importer-registration requirements. Agree the precise named place or port, Incoterms® version and cost and risk allocation in writing. FOB is for sea or inland-waterway delivery on board a vessel; FCA can suit container or multimodal handovers. Neither term proves that an import declaration is accurate. Before booking, confirm the actual importer, who makes the declaration, the supported customs value and who pays applicable import charges. Confirm which entry and tax-payment records will be available. Do not accept false declarations or a route that cannot substantiate the declared value and importer. Our existing forwarder-managed DDP channels use the forwarder's importer; below-value declarations are common and we do not know the exact value declared. That is a risk disclosure, not a recommendation to use those channels because the order is small. Tell us the exact document set your forwarder and your customs need and we will confirm what we issue as standard and what carries a cost.

Yes, if the shipment moves on our freight. We buy the cargo insurance ourselves and we handle the claim for you if something goes wrong, rather than handing you a policy number and leaving you to argue with an insurer. If you use your own forwarder, cover and liability follow the Incoterm you agreed: on FOB, everything before loading is ours and everything after it is yours to insure. While the goods are in our warehouse, shortage, damage and loss are on us. We do not publish a premium rate, so ask and we will quote it alongside the freight. What the cover excludes, and the basis any claim is settled on, we confirm per shipment, so put that question to your agent before the goods move.

Sort it by volume first. Under roughly two cubic meters, express courier or air freight is usually simplest. From there up to around twelve to fifteen cubic meters, LCL, where your pallets share a container with other shippers, normally wins. Above that a full container is usually cheaper per unit and takes far less handling damage: a 20 foot container holds about 26 to 28 cubic meters of packed cartons, a 40 foot about 54 to 58, and a 40 foot high cube about 65 to 68. Two things surprise people about LCL. It is billed on volume or weight, whichever is greater, and it carries fixed destination handling charges that do not shrink with a small shipment, so a large LCL booking can cost more than simply taking a 20 foot container. Rail to Europe sits between sea and air on both price and time. Send us the packed carton sizes and weights and we will tell you which bracket your order actually falls into.

Yes, and it is routine work for us. Each supplier delivers into our warehouse, we count the cartons against the packing list and photograph them on arrival, and both of those are included by default rather than billed as extras. Reinforcing the outer cartons for the container ride is quoted separately, because every product needs a different solution. While the goods sit with us the responsibility is ours: anything short, damaged or lost in our warehouse is on us to compensate. The first week of storage is included. The failure that actually bites is timing, since one late supplier holds up the whole booking, so tell us your cut-off and we will chase each supplier against it, and the day we hear one is slipping you hear it from us.

Split it in two. On the China side, production starts when the 30 percent deposit is paid, and the production time itself depends entirely on the product and is confirmed by the supplier before you pay. Then inspection, then the balance before the goods ship, then booking and loading, which typically adds a week or two after the goods are ready because sailings run to a fixed schedule. On the water, expect roughly two to three weeks from South China to the US West Coast and four to six weeks to the US East Coast or Northern Europe, plus clearance and inland delivery at your end. Two things move these numbers more than anything else: your destination port, which is why nobody can give you a real answer until you say where the goods are going, and Chinese New Year, which compresses everything for weeks on either side of it.

If we arrange the freight, we handle the export side in China, including the export declaration and the shipping documents. If you use your own forwarder, we act as the exporter, issue the documents and hand the goods over for your forwarder to take from there. The standard set is a proforma invoice up front, then the commercial invoice and packing list for the shipment, the bill of lading or air waybill from the carrier, and a certificate of origin where your country's duty treatment requires one. What we need from you is the exact consignee and notify party details, the delivery address or port, and any specific wording your broker wants on the invoice, because getting that right before filing is far cheaper than amending documents after the vessel has sailed.

Yes, we do this often, and it works to most countries that trade a lot with China. Very small or unusual markets we cannot cover, so tell us the destination and we will confirm first. Under DDP Incoterms® 2020, the seller handles import clearance and applicable duties and taxes at the named destination. A “duties included” quote alone does not prove those duties were correctly calculated or paid. On our existing forwarder-managed DDP channels, below-value declarations are common and we genuinely do not know the exact value declared. Clearance uses the forwarder's importer, so there is no entry in your company's name. This describes those channels, not every DDP shipment, and is not a recommendation to accept inaccurate declarations. Before booking, confirm the actual importer of record, accurate valuation and declaration responsibility, and the entry and tax-payment records available to you. Reject a route that requires false declarations or cannot substantiate the declared value and importer. If you need an import record in your company's name, agree that arrangement with your broker before shipment. Choose the delivery term for the transport and handover; FOB applies to sea or inland-waterway transport and does not itself prove compliance.

Yes, all of it. Labelling, barcodes and repacking are regular warehouse work for us, bundling into sets is no problem, and we can also have the factory ship straight into FBA, in which case we prepare the prep material pack and walk the factory through Amazon's requirements. Combining shipments to save freight into FBA and booking the delivery appointment are both fine as well. The one thing we do not do is hold your stock in an overseas warehouse and feed it into FBA in batches, because we have no warehouse outside China. Prep is billed per order and quoted separately, since the work varies so much by product, so send us your cartons and the label files and shipment plan from Seller Central and we will price it.

You get a named person, a fixed reporting rhythm and, if the freight is ours, insurance. The same agent runs your order from start to finish and does not change halfway through. During production you get a weekly report plus a report at each milestone, over email and WhatsApp, and messages are answered within the same working day. When the goods arrive at our warehouse we count them against the packing list and photograph them, both included as standard. If the shipment moves on our forwarder, we buy the cargo insurance ourselves and we file the claim for you if something goes wrong, rather than handing you a form. If you use your own forwarder, responsibility splits at the Incoterm, so on FOB everything up to that point is ours.

FOB: the supplier covers everything up to the goods being loaded on the vessel in China, and your cost and risk start there. CIF: FOB plus ocean freight and basic insurance to your port, but not the charges at that port, and the risk still passes back in China. CNF, also written CFR: the same as CIF without the insurance. PI, proforma invoice: the supplier's formal offer with product, quantity, price, terms and bank details, and the document you approve to start an order. PL, packing list: what is in each carton, with carton counts, weights and dimensions, used by customs and by you when the goods arrive. CO, certificate of origin: proof of where the goods were made, which some countries need in order to apply the right duty rate. T/T, telegraphic transfer: a bank wire, the normal way payment moves, usually a deposit to start production and the balance before shipment.

The billing logic matters more than any number, because rates move every few weeks. Air and courier charge on whichever is greater, actual weight or volumetric weight, so light bulky goods are billed on the space they occupy rather than what they weigh. Sea freight is charged per cubic meter for LCL or as a flat rate per container for FCL, with fixed origin and destination charges that stay roughly the same whether the shipment is big or small, which is exactly why small sea shipments disappoint people. On time, courier is a few days, air freight is roughly a week door to door, and sea is two to three weeks on the water to the US West Coast and four to six to the East Coast or Northern Europe, before clearance and inland delivery. We do not publish rates, because any number printed here would be wrong by the time you read it. We price each leg against the current market when we quote your actual cartons.

Accept it only after the supplier can explain the actual clearance arrangement and substantiate accurate declarations. Under DDP Incoterms® 2020, the seller handles import clearance and applicable duties and taxes; the label does not prove that a particular shipment meets customs requirements. Ask who will be the importer of record, who makes the declaration, how the declared value is supported, which duties and taxes the quote includes, and what entry and tax-payment records you will receive. On our existing forwarder-managed DDP channels, below-value declarations are common and we honestly do not know the exact value declared. The forwarder clears through its own importer. That is our channel disclosure, not a statement about every supplier's DDP shipment or a reason to accept it. Do not accept false declarations or postpone accurate customs arrangements until your business grows. If the proposed route cannot substantiate the value, importer and required records, choose another arrangement before shipping. FOB does not automatically make an import compliant; agree a delivery term that fits the transport, handover and who can lawfully carry out clearance.

Duty is owed by whoever is the importer of record, and which of you that is depends on how the shipment is arranged. Three setups cover nearly everyone: you have your own import and clearance company and they pay; you want the import documented in your own name, so we list the duty separately and you pay it; or we run it door to door with duty included and the forwarder clears under their own importer, which is what most buyers choose. On the code, classification is a judgment about what the product actually is, so the reliable way to settle it is to give your broker the full material composition, the function and the end use and have them confirm the code, or ask customs for a binding ruling if serious money turns on it. Our part is giving you accurate product descriptions, materials and documents to support that. The final classification and rate belong to your customs authority, not to us.

The sequence is quoting and comparison, sampling if the product is customized, order confirmation, production, inspection, booking and loading, ocean transit, customs clearance, delivery. Two payments mark the timeline: production starts on the 30 percent deposit, and the balance is paid after inspection passes and before the goods ship. Two stages slip more than the rest. Sampling, because approval rounds depend on how fast both sides respond, and booking, because vessels run to a schedule and a few days late at the factory can mean a week or more waiting for the next sailing. For a straightforward reorder by sea, think in months rather than weeks; for a first custom product with sampling and tooling, longer again. We give ranges rather than a date we do not control.

Chinese New Year is the biggest scheduling variable in Chinese manufacturing, and its effect runs far longer than the official holiday. Factories stop accepting new work well before the date because everyone is racing to finish first, workers leave early and come back late, and the first weeks after the break run at reduced output as staff return, so real capacity takes several weeks to recover. Freight gets hit twice: a rush to ship before the holiday pushes rates and squeezes space, then a quiet stretch, then a second surge. The rule that works is to plan for goods to be finished and loaded before the holiday rather than merely ordered, which means placing orders well ahead of it and accepting that anything confirmed close to the break will most likely ship after the ramp back up. If you want a buffer, produce early and let the goods sit with us. The first week of warehouse storage is included.

Yes, both ways work. Most orders come through our warehouse, where FNSKU labelling, carton markings, poly bagging and bundling are done while a mistake costs a relabel rather than a rejected delivery. Goods that reach our warehouse are counted in and photographed on arrival, included as standard, so you have a record of what each supplier sent. On a factory direct shipment nothing passes through us, so that check does not apply; we put the materials pack together and instruct the factory to label and mark to Amazon's requirements. We can combine shipments into FBA to save freight and book the delivery appointment. What we cannot do is stage goods in an overseas warehouse and feed FBA from there, because we have no warehouse outside China. Prep is quoted per order, so send us the product and your prep list.

Decide on the ratio, not the rate. Work out the freight cost per unit for each option and compare it to the unit price of the goods: if air adds a few percent, the speed is usually worth it; if it adds a third, it rarely is. There are four practical brackets. Courier for a few cartons, first samples or urgent restocks. Air freight for light, high value or time critical goods. LCL for a few cubic meters, remembering it carries fixed destination charges that a small volume cannot absorb. And a full container once you are past roughly twelve to fifteen cubic meters, where the cost per unit drops sharply. First test orders often justify air even when the math looks bad, because finding out whether the product sells is worth more than the freight saved, while restocks of a proven seller almost always go by sea. We quote against the current market rather than a published rate, and we price each leg separately.

Consider it only after verifying the importer, declared value and customs records. “Door-to-door” describes the delivery scope; it does not prove an accurate import declaration. DDP Incoterms® 2020 assigns import clearance and applicable duties and taxes to the seller, but the actual clearance arrangement still needs to be checked. Our existing forwarder-managed DDP channels use the forwarder's importer. Below-value declarations are common on those channels, and we genuinely do not know the exact value entered. Do not assume that arrangement applies to every DDP shipment, or that an unknown declaration is acceptable because the order is small. Before accepting the quote, request the actual importer details, the supported goods value, declaration responsibility, included duties and taxes, and the entry and tax-payment records that will be available. If you need an entry in your own company's name, arrange that before booking. Reject false declarations and choose another route if the value, importer or required records cannot be substantiated.

Clearance at your end is done either by your own broker or by the forwarder, depending on which of three arrangements you choose: your own import company handles it; you import in your own name and we list the duty separately for you to pay; or we run the shipment door to door with duty included and the forwarder clears under their own importer. To work the duty out yourself, settle the classification first, then look the code up in your own tariff, the HTS in the United States or TARIC in the EU, and check whether additional duties apply on top of the base rate for goods of Chinese origin, because those stack rather than replace. The duty base is the declared value of the goods, with freight and insurance counted in or left out depending on the country. We deliberately do not publish rates, because they change faster than any web page. What we do provide is accurate product descriptions, materials and documents, and if you give us the goods and the delivery address we can build a landed cost sheet with freight and taxes included, with your customs authority and your broker having the final word on the number.

If we book the freight, yes. We take out the cargo insurance ourselves and we file and chase the claim for you rather than leaving you to argue with an insurer at the other end. Before that point the line is simple. While your goods sit in our warehouse, any shortage, damage or loss is ours to make good, because the goods are in our care. Counting the cartons in and photographing them on arrival is included as standard, so there is a record of what each supplier actually delivered. If you use your own forwarder, responsibility follows the Incoterm you bought on, so under FOB everything up to loading is ours and everything after is yours to insure. Reinforcing outer cartons for a long sea leg is quoted separately, since every job is different.

We can arrange it, and we are just as happy to hand the goods to your own forwarder. A forwarder moves cargo: booking, documents, clearance, delivery. Our work sits before and around that, finding or managing the supplier, visiting the factory, inspecting the goods, handling payment, bringing several suppliers together in our warehouse. Where our responsibility ends depends on how you buy. If we arrange the freight, we insure the cargo, claim on your behalf if something goes wrong, and on a door to door job we stay with it to your door. If you use your own forwarder, we act as the exporter, hand over the goods and the export documents, and responsibility splits at the Incoterm, so under FOB everything before loading is ours. What we do not sell is warehousing on its own or customs clearance on its own.

Choose by transport mode, handover point and who can lawfully carry out clearance, rather than by the size or maturity of your business. FOB and CIF are for sea or inland-waterway transport; FCA can fit container or multimodal handovers. For door-to-door delivery, agree the named destination and import-clearance responsibilities. Under DDP Incoterms® 2020, the seller handles import clearance and applicable duties and taxes, but the label does not prove that a shipment has accurate declarations. CIF includes freight and the required insurance to the named destination port; it is not an all-in door-delivery quote. Ask which destination charges are included and which remain payable: terminal handling, release or documentation fees, your broker's clearance, an ISF filing for applicable U.S. ocean shipments, inland trucking, and demurrage or detention if applicable free-time conditions are not met. Do not count a charge twice if the seller's carriage contract already covers it; CIF can include unloading costs under that contract. Give us the goods and the delivery address and we will put those destination costs in writing before you commit. Before booking, confirm the actual importer of record, accurate customs valuation under the destination's rules, who makes the declaration and pays applicable taxes, and the entry and tax-payment records available to you. On our existing forwarder-managed DDP channels, below-value declarations are common and we do not know the exact declared value. Reject false declarations or an arrangement that cannot substantiate the value and importer; choose another arrangement before shipping. Importing in your own name or choosing FOB does not by itself prove compliance.

The importer of record pays, and no, we do not issue HS codes or duty rates as a service. We do not take on standalone customs clearance, so any code or rate that appears in a costing from us is a budgeting figure, not a ruling. What we do give you is a landed cost sheet. Send us the product details and the delivery address and we put goods, freight and taxes into one number before you commit. Who pays follows the setup: your own import company pays it themselves, or you import in your own name and we list the duty separately for you to pay, or, most commonly, we run it door to door and the forwarder clears under their own importer. If real money turns on the code, ask your broker for a binding ruling first.

Turn it down. We will not put a false value on any document we issue. Payment of duties by you, a seller or a forwarder does not make an inaccurate declaration acceptable. The goods value must be supported by accurate transaction and product records and assessed under the destination's customs valuation rules. We also need to be clear about our existing forwarder-managed DDP channels: below-value declarations are common, and we honestly do not know the exact value declared. The forwarder clears using its own importer. This is a risk disclosure about those channels, not permission to use a false invoice or a recommendation to accept an unknown valuation. Before shipment, confirm the actual importer, who makes the declaration, how the value is supported, and which entry and tax-payment records will be available. Do not book a route that requires false documents or cannot substantiate the declared value and importer. Agree a suitable alternative with your broker before the goods move; accurate customs arrangements are required from the first order, not only once volumes grow.

Yes. FNSKU labelling, carton markings, bundling into multipacks and the prep your category calls for are all done in our warehouse before loading, so a wrong label costs a relabel rather than a refused delivery. We can also have the factory ship straight into FBA where that suits you better. We build the material pack and instruct them on Amazon's requirements. We can book the delivery appointment, and we can combine shipments to bring the freight per unit down. What we do not do is hold your stock in an overseas warehouse and drip feed it into FBA, because we have no warehouse outside China. Send the label files and shipment plan from Seller Central with the order. This prep work is billed per order and quoted separately, since no two SKU lists are the same.

Work backwards from loading, not from ordering. The target is goods finished, inspected and on a vessel before the holiday, so count back through the ocean booking, the inspection, and the supplier's stated production time, then add margin, because every factory in China is trying to finish at the same moment and quoted production times stretch in the weeks before the break. Capacity does not return on the official return date either: workers come back over several weeks, output ramps rather than restarts, and a factory running short staffed still quotes optimistically. Customized products and anything that needs a mold or a new pattern need more margin than a repeat order of a standard item, and air freight can buy back time at the end but cannot buy back production. If you are close to the line, the safer plan is to produce early and hold the goods rather than squeeze the schedule. The first week of storage with us is included.

Yes, PayPal works and we will send you a payment link. We also take Stripe links, US ACH, Western Union, bank transfer in foreign currency to our registered Chinese import and export company, payment through our offshore company, your own overseas card, and letters of credit. The amount decides which one makes sense. Above $1,000 we normally route it to the registered import and export company, because that is the account the export declaration and the tax rebate sit against. Below $1,000, a mini order, it is simpler through the offshore account or PayPal, and that is where paying by your own card is easiest. PayPal and Stripe processing fees are yours to carry, which is the one reason a bank transfer costs you less on a large payment.

On our suppliers' orders it is 30% to start production and the remaining 70% after inspection is complete and before the goods leave China. On a first order that shape does not bend for size: whatever the value, the balance is settled before shipment. Small here means under $1,000, which is also the point where payment goes to our offshore account or PayPal rather than to the import and export company. If the supplier is yours, the terms are whatever you agreed with them, we stay out of that transaction, and our own fee is invoiced after the goods have shipped. Credit terms come later rather than at the start. We normally look at them once you are three orders in, and the limit is set by Sinosure, the Chinese export credit insurer. If Sinosure will not cover the balance, we cannot offer terms on it, and we would rather tell you that than let you plan around a number we cannot support.

The checks you run before the wire matter far more than anything you can do after it. Two of them stop almost every scam on a supplier you do not know yet: pay a company account and confirm the name matches the business licence of the company you signed with, and have someone physically visit the address to confirm a real operation exists. Once you know a supplier or an agent, a personal account is ordinary enough and not a signal in itself. We do both on every supplier we introduce. On our side, we are a Chinese import and export company with more than ten years of registered history, our record is public in the business registry, and our office is a real address you are welcome to visit. On orders through our suppliers the payment structure protects you as well, since 70% of the money is still yours until inspection is done.

Yes, you get proper paperwork. We issue a proforma invoice before you pay and an invoice afterwards, and that applies to our service fee as well as to the goods. The name on the invoice is the company you actually paid, so if the money went to our registered Chinese import and export company the documents come from that entity, and if it went to our offshore company they come from that one instead. Payments reach us by bank transfer in foreign currency, PayPal or Stripe link, US ACH, Western Union, card, or letter of credit. When the supplier is yours, we list their charges and our service fee as separate lines rather than one number, so your accounts see exactly what was paid to whom.

In practice, no. Stalls in wholesale markets such as Yiwu deal in RMB, either cash or a local mobile payment app, and US dollars in cash or a foreign credit card will get you turned away at most counters. We buy in the market on your behalf and you settle with us afterwards through the normal channels. The same limitation exists at factory level: many smaller factories have no ability to receive foreign currency at all, in which case we receive your payment, convert it, and pay the factory in RMB.

Both happen, depending on whose supplier it is. If the supplier is yours, you pay the factory directly and the goods money never passes through us; we only invoice our service fee, and we invoice it after the goods ship. If that factory cannot receive foreign currency, which is common with smaller ones, we can receive on their behalf, convert, and pay them in RMB. If you are buying through our suppliers, you pay us rather than the factory, because the order sits on our contract with them.

No escrow, and we would rather say so plainly. We do not currently take payment through third party escrow or holding services. What we do accept is PayPal and Stripe links, US ACH, Western Union, bank transfer in foreign currency to our registered Chinese import and export company, payment through our offshore company, overseas cards, and letters of credit. A letter of credit is the bank backed route if you want a neutral institution holding the trigger on a large order. Otherwise the protection on our suppliers' orders is structural rather than platform based: 30% starts production, and the remaining 70% is only due after inspection is complete and before the goods leave China, so the money that matters is still yours while the goods can still be put right.

Yes, that is already how we work. On our suppliers' orders, 30% starts production and the remaining 70% falls due after inspection is complete and before the goods ship, so the balance stays a real lever. If inspection fails, we arrange rework until you are satisfied rather than asking you to release the money and hope. Our own factories do not ask for 100% up front; the normal shape is 30% down with the balance either before shipment or on terms. Where a factory you found insists on full prepayment, we look at it case by case and can accept it conditionally, but we will also put alternative suppliers in front of you. Your own supplier's terms stay yours to set, and our inspection is $99 for one man day, charged per visit rather than per container, with re-inspection after rework charged again.

No, not on its own, and we would rather show you our own structure than pretend we run everything through one account. Payments to us do not all land in the same place. Above $1,000 they normally go to our registered Chinese import and export company, because that entity handles the export declaration and the rebate, while smaller orders usually go to our offshore account, PayPal or a card, and we also have a US receiving company. We can send you the Chinese business licence for whichever entity you are paying, at enquiry stage, and we invoice under the same company name you paid. With a supplier who is new to you, the sensible default is to pay a company account, check the name against the licence and have someone go to the address. With a supplier or an agent you already know, paying a personal account is ordinary and not a warning sign, and Western Union is the same. Neither is fraud by itself.

It is real protection, just narrower than most buyers assume. It covers the order you placed and paid for on the platform, essentially whether the goods shipped and whether they matched the terms you recorded there, and claims run on a filing window rather than on how long your goods actually spend at sea and in customs. What it cannot do is stand in the factory before the goods are packed. Our work sits earlier than any claim: verifying the supplier before you pay, inspecting to AQL 2.5 and 4.0 while the goods can still be reworked, and on our own orders holding 70% of the money until that inspection is done.

You can pay by PayPal or Stripe link, US ACH, bank transfer in foreign currency to our registered Chinese import and export company, through our offshore company, by card, by Western Union, or by letter of credit. PayPal and Stripe processing fees are on your side. Orders above $1,000 normally go to the import and export company, smaller ones to the offshore account or PayPal. For checking us rather than taking our word: ask for the Chinese business licence of whichever entity you are paying, we hand that over at enquiry stage, and we are happy to do a video call from the office or have you visit it. On orders through our suppliers the schedule is the protection, 30% to start production and 70% only after inspection is complete.

On our suppliers it is 30% to start production and 70% after inspection is complete and before the goods leave China, and on a first order with us the full amount is settled before shipment, whether it is a small order, meaning under $1,000, or a large one. A supplier reopening the price mid production is not normal. On anything we quoted we do not do it: our own team is penalised internally for a late increase, and we have shipped orders at a loss rather than reopen a price. What our order confirmation does not do is fix a price beyond that order, because exchange rates and raw material costs move, though a repeat order from a long standing customer normally reprices at the same number. On a supplier you contracted yourself we will push hard, but we did not negotiate that price and we have no way to force them.

Split those two apart, because they are not the same thing. Paying off platform into a company account is not by itself a scam; platform fees have gone up and plenty of legitimate suppliers ask for it. It is acceptable as long as you hold a signed order document and you know who is on the other end. On a personal account, the sensible default with someone you have not dealt with before is to ask for a company account and check the name against the business licence. With a supplier or an agent you already know, a personal account is ordinary and we would not read anything into it. What should stop you is a supplier who cannot produce that licence at all, or who pushes you to move fast and skip the check. One thing worth knowing if the amount is significant: a contract in Chinese, under Chinese jurisdiction and stamped with the company chop, is what actually functions in a Chinese court, so have a Chinese qualified lawyer draft it rather than relying on an English version.

No. We take Western Union ourselves, along with PayPal and Stripe links, US ACH, foreign currency transfer to our registered Chinese import and export company, payment through our offshore company, overseas personal cards and letters of credit. The one thing we do not take is third party escrow. Nor do our own payments all land in one account: above $1,000 they go to the import and export company, below that usually to our offshore account or PayPal, because putting a mini order through the export company carries declaration work that is not worth it. So the payment method tells you very little. What tells you something is the business licence, and someone standing in the building. With anyone new, paying a company account is the sensible default; with someone you already know, a personal account is ordinary. Ask us for all three.

Staged payments yes, escrow no. We do not take third party escrow at the moment. If the supplier is yours, you normally pay the factory directly and we stay out of that transaction, though many Chinese factories cannot receive foreign currency, and where that is the case you pay us and we convert the money and pay them in RMB. Our service fee on your own supplier is invoiced only after the goods ship. If the supplier is ours, you pay us: 30% to start production and 70% after inspection is complete and before the goods leave China, which is the staged structure people usually want escrow for. A first order is settled in full before shipment whatever its size, small meaning under $1,000. Credit terms only come up after about three orders together and depend on Sinosure granting cover; if Sinosure declines, we cannot offer them.

It depends on whose supplier it is. On orders through our suppliers you pay 30% to start production and 70% only after inspection. A failed inspection means we arrange rework until you are satisfied, and rework caused by the factory is not charged to you. If a factory has changed materials or specification, we will normally tell you to cancel or demand a remake. Where something goes wrong on our supplier's side we make it good, usually as a credit note deducted from your next order, or in cash once it is verified if there is no next order. On a supplier you found yourself we will coordinate, and we can go to the factory in person if the case needs it, at a $99 factory audit fee, but the liability sits with that supplier and we will not quote you a recovery rate we do not control.

If you paid for the tooling, the mould is yours. There is no argument about that from our side, and we put it in writing: the agreement names where the mould is stored, and if you decide to move production to another factory, you are allowed to take the mould with you. For scale, a plastic or metal mould usually runs $2,000 to $3,000 each, and that tooling charge can be set against your orders and refunded once you reach an agreed volume, which differs product by product. Where the factory paid for the tooling itself, the mould stays with the factory and you have no claim on it, though exclusivity on an open mould product is still something we can go and ask for against volume.

An English NDA signed with a Chinese factory is usually close to decorative. The document that works here is an NNN agreement, covering non disclosure, non use and non circumvention, written in Chinese, governed by Chinese law, and carrying the factory's company chop rather than only a signature. We sign NNN and NDA agreements as routine, and because we verify a supplier's business license and visit the site before you engage, you at least know the entity on the agreement exists and is operating. Have a Chinese qualified lawyer draft the text rather than taking legal guidance from a sourcing agent, and disclose in stages: give the factory what this step actually requires, not your full file on day one.

It depends on whose design it is, and there is no point pretending otherwise. If the product is an open mould item, meaning the factory's own design and tooling, the intellectual property really is theirs, so your competitor can order the same item tomorrow unless exclusivity is agreed. That is a negotiation rather than a standard term, and the factory will want a volume commitment in return. If the product is developed from your own design, we guarantee exclusivity, sign a formal agreement covering it, and treat protecting your intellectual property as one of our core responsibilities. Contracts are one layer. Registering your trademark and design in China, splitting sensitive steps across different suppliers, and building a brand and packaging worth more than the product itself are the layers that hold when enforcement is slow.

On its own, usually not. A standard NDA addresses disclosure only, so it does nothing about the factory using your design itself or going around you to your customers, and an English text under foreign jurisdiction is hard to act on in a Chinese court. The version with teeth is an NNN agreement, in Chinese, under Chinese jurisdiction, stamped with the factory's company chop, which is the mark that actually binds a Chinese company. We sign these routinely and we check a supplier's licence before you engage, and we go to our own factories in person on every order, but be clear eyed about what paperwork does: it lowers risk and gives you something to act on, it does not make copying impossible, and on an open mould catalogue product the design already belongs to the factory, so keeping it away from your competitors is a matter of negotiating exclusivity rather than of paperwork.

An exclusivity agreement on your own design before production starts, and a lawsuit against the factory if we catch it selling your design to anyone else, Amazon included. On a product developed from your own design we sign a formal exclusivity agreement. What it contains depends on the case, though it generally sets a term, a volume you have to meet and a territory. It normally carries no damages clause, but it does give you audit rights. If we do catch a factory we work with selling your custom design to someone else, we take that factory to court and report progress to you as it happens. What we will not claim is that paperwork makes copying impossible. On an open mould item the design belongs to the factory, so exclusivity there is something we have to negotiate, and the factory will want volume in return.

Yes on your own design, and negotiable on an open mould product. Where the design and the tooling are yours, exclusivity is a commitment we make and cover in a formal agreement. Where the mould is the factory's own, exclusivity is still something we can go and ask for, but the factory will want volume in return, and how much depends on the product and the factory, so treat it as a conversation rather than a standard term. What goes into the agreement depends on the case, though it generally sets how long it runs, the volume you have to hit to keep it, and the territory. It normally carries no damages clause, but it does give you audit rights. Tell us the item and the quantity you can commit to and we will find out what that factory will actually agree to.

Contracts, registrations, and owning the tooling. We sign NNN and NDA agreements with factories as standard practice, and on anything developed from your own design we sign a formal exclusivity agreement as well. If you paid the mould cost, the mould is yours: the agreement names where it is stored, and if you move to another factory you are allowed to take it with you, which is the practical thing that stops a factory holding your product hostage. Those documents work best on top of a trademark registered in China. And if we catch a factory we work with selling your design to someone else, we sue that factory and keep you updated on the case as it goes. An original structure is defensible; a generic item with your logo on it is not.

Yes, and we do not charge for it. We usually give you a template to work from, at no charge, which you can adapt yourself rather than paying a lawyer to start from nothing, and then we get it signed with the factory. Treat it as a starting point rather than legal advice, since we are a sourcing company and not a law firm. Your instinct about the document is right: a US style NDA covers disclosure only, while an NNN adds non use and non circumvention, and it needs a Chinese version under Chinese jurisdiction to mean anything, because that is where the factory and its assets sit. We are a sourcing company and not a law firm, so we will not advise you on the wording, and on anything high value have a China qualified lawyer read it before it is signed.

Not on anything we knowingly take on. Counterfeits, replicas and obviously infringing products we turn down outright, as a matter of principle, and they sit on the same list as sanctioned goods, military items and dangerous goods, none of which we touch. The risk that remains is the accidental kind, and it shows up most with wholesale market goods, where the seller often has no idea that a print, a character or a shape belongs to someone. Rights are registered market by market, so the search that actually protects you is one run in your destination country, by you or your IP counsel, before the order is placed. A trademark or patent clearance check in the US or EU is not something we can run from this side.

Yes, and you do not have to take our word for it. We will send you our Chinese business licences when we reply to your enquiry, for all three entities involved: the registered Chinese import and export company, our offshore company, and the US company that receives payment. The licence carries the registered Chinese name and the registration number, so you can look the company up yourself and check that the name on the account we ask you to pay matches it. A video call to walk you round the office is no problem either, and you are welcome to visit in person. What we do not have is a client willing to take a reference call from a stranger, and we would rather tell you that than dress something else up as one.

Here is what you can check rather than take on trust. We have fifteen years of export experience serving large US importers, and products we have handled can be found in Walmart, Ross, TJ Maxx and Burlington, which is a standard those buyers audit against rather than assume. When the supplier is ours, two inspections are included by default, one by our own team and one by an independent third party that works for neither the factory nor us. And we do not raise a price after you have paid a deposit; our team is penalised internally for that, and we have shipped orders at a loss rather than break it. We are not the cheapest agent you will speak to, and if your current supply chain is already working we will tell you to keep it.

We are a registered Chinese import and export company with more than ten years of history, a public business registration, a real office you can visit, and separate departments for machinery, chemical raw materials, apparel, household goods, toys and electronics, so the person handling your product is the one who knows that product. We visit the factories we work with in person, and we can shoot whatever photos or video you want while we are there. Here is how to check any agent, us included: match the name on the receiving account to the name on the business licence, and confirm the office address is a real operating office. An agent who will not give you both is the one to worry about.

Fifteen years of export experience, run through a Chinese import and export company registered for more than ten years. Our buyers sit in North America, the United States, Canada and Mexico, in Europe, Germany, France, the UK, Belgium and Austria, in Australia, and in South East Asia, mainly Malaysia and Indonesia. We serve large US importers, and products we have handled sit on shelves at Walmart, Ross, TJ Maxx and Burlington. Small buyers are welcome too: one was a shopping mall in Morocco ordering twenty to thirty pieces per style across several dozen styles, which we ran end to end. Internally we are split into departments for machinery, chemical raw materials, apparel, household goods, toys and electronics, so the colleague who picks up your enquiry knows your product type.

Ask all of them the questions they would rather not answer, then compare. We will tell you when we have no experience in your product category instead of taking the order anyway, we itemise the supplier cost and our service fee separately when you bring your own supplier, and we take no kickbacks from factories, which is a business principle rather than a position we can be talked out of. When the supplier is ours, our margin sits inside the quote, we say so openly, and two inspections are included, ours and an independent third party's. What we are not is the cheapest, and we dislike the word free, because an agent working for free is being paid by someone else, usually out of your freight.

We stay on the hook after the goods land, and how far that goes depends on whose supplier it was. If the supplier is ours, we pay. The usual route is a credit note applied against your next order, and if there is no next order we verify the problem and refund you the money. One batch of apparel reached the US with the wrong sizes, so we hired five or six workers there to rework it on the spot and the client did not lose the season. If the supplier is yours, here is the unwelcome half: we cannot pay for their mistake. We are responsible for the process, the vetting, the inspection, the follow up, not for standing behind someone else's supplier, but we push hard to get it put right. While your goods sit in our warehouse, shortage, damage and loss are ours.

If the supplier is yours, yes, you carry on dealing with them directly and we simply run the order, with you, us and the factory in one group chat. If the supplier is ours, we hold the factory details back while we are quoting, because that relationship is what we are paid for, and we would rather say that than invent a reason. Once your order is in production you are welcome to visit and to speak to them directly. And if you then want to place the next order with that factory yourself, nothing stops you. We will not pretend to like it, because you lose our quality control and our production follow up, but we do not stand in the way, as long as you own the decision.

Reports yes, references no. We have no clients willing to take a call from a stranger, and we are not going to dress something else up as one. What we can send before you commit is a real inspection report: the international format, a short product description, the inspection conclusion, and a large number of photographs with written notes against them. Quantity counts and carton shipping marks are always in there alongside the product checks, and it is the same standard as the reports the big companies issue. Our inspections follow AQL 2.5 and 4.0 sampling, and you are welcome to name SGS or BV instead. Ask and we will send a sample report with our reply, or we can film the line for you while we are at the factory.

Those cases are real, and planning around them is more sensible than taking anyone's word. Structure matters more than promises here. If you bring your own supplier, your payment for the goods goes directly to them and never passes through us at all, and our service fee is only paid after the goods have shipped. If you buy through our suppliers, it is 30% to start production and the remaining 70% only after inspection is complete and before shipping, so the balance is paid against an inspection result rather than against hope. On top of that we are a registered import and export company with public registration, more than ten years of history and an office you can walk into, and since most products carry no strict minimum, a small first order is a perfectly reasonable way to test us.

Yes, and you do not have to take our word for it. Ask us and the business licence comes back in our first reply, before you have committed to anything. There are three entities and we will send all of them: the Chinese import and export company, our offshore company, and the US company that receives payment. The Chinese licence is in Chinese and carries the registered name and the registration number, which is exactly what you need to look the company up yourself in the national enterprise credit system, and what you should match against the name on any account we ask you to pay. If you want to see the office too, we will walk you around it on a video call.

Verify it through how we quote. When you bring your own supplier, we list that supplier's cost and our service fee separately, including our contract with the supplier, so there is nothing left to find. When the supplier is ours, the quote is a single price with our margin inside it, and we tell you that up front instead of pretending the service is free. We take no kickbacks from factories in either case. Go and compare our number against others, and be careful with the quote that lands far below everyone else, because in fifteen years the lowest price has reliably produced the most trouble.

Registration and office, yes. References you can ring, no. Ask and we will send the business licences in our reply: the Chinese import and export company, our offshore company, and the US company that takes payment, and you can look the Chinese one up yourself in the public enterprise credit system. The office is real, you are welcome to visit, and if that is too far we will show you round on a video call. On references we have nothing to offer you, because no past customer of ours has agreed to take calls from buyers. What we can send is sample factory audit and inspection reports, so you judge the work rather than the talk.

Follow the money. Our income comes from you and only from you: a service fee when the supplier is yours, or a margin inside our quote when the supplier is ours, stated openly rather than hidden. We take no kickbacks from factories, and that is a line we do not cross. The more useful test is what we are willing to tell you that you would rather not hear: that we have no experience in your product category, that your existing supply chain is fine and you should leave it alone, or that a first order is the wrong moment to push a factory on price.

The difference is structural rather than personal. Someone working per task cannot send a QC person to a factory in another province, cannot stand behind an independent third party inspection, and has nothing at stake if your order goes wrong. We are a registered import and export company with our own team split by product type, we go to our factories in person, and on our own suppliers two inspections are included by default, ours and an independent third party's, both following AQL 2.5 and 4.0. We are also more expensive than what you were paying before, and if all you need is someone to place a simple repeat order, we are probably not the right spend.

It depends on whose supplier it is, and we would rather be blunt than comforting. Cross border litigation from the US or Europe is slow and expensive enough that at most order sizes it is not a real remedy, so the protection has to be built before you pay. If the supplier is ours, we carry it: normally a credit note deducted from your next order, or money back once we have verified what happened if there is no next order. If the supplier is your own, we cannot compensate you for their failure. We will chase them and coordinate as hard as we can, but we have no way to force them, and the liability sits with that supplier. So check before you pay, match the receiving account name to the business licence, have the place visited, and pay in stages rather than all up front.

You get one named contact for your order, and we do not change them halfway through. Messages are answered within the same working day, and a new enquiry gets a quote back within two working days. Email and WhatsApp are the two channels. English is the language we work in with you, and we handle the factory in Chinese, so the translation is our job rather than yours. We are organised by department, machinery, chemical raw materials, garments, household goods, toys and electronics, but not every category is one we have experience in, and we say so at quoting stage when we do not. If we are following up a supplier you found yourself, we open a group chat with you and the factory, and in practice we answer faster than the factory does.

Yes, that is one of our two standard modes. The follow up fee is 3% to 9% of the order value with a $100 minimum, charged after the goods ship, and the bands are on our Services page. From order confirmation we chase production, prepare export documents and consolidate. With a supplier you found yourself we do not attend the factory every time; when we do, a factory visit is $99 and a pre shipment inspection against AQL 2.5 and 4.0 is $99, each one man day, and re inspection after rework is charged again. You pay the supplier for the goods direct, the exception being a factory that cannot receive foreign currency, where we collect for them and settle in RMB. We cannot compensate you for a bad order from your own supplier. We sell the process, not a guarantee on somebody else's goods.

Partly, and the honest menu is shorter than you might expect. Follow up on its own is simply the normal service fee, 3% to 9% of the order value with a $100 minimum, and the bands are on our Services page. A single pre shipment inspection is $99, which buys one inspector for one day at one visit rather than being priced per container, and if the goods are reworked the re inspection is charged again. What we do not sell on its own is warehousing or customs clearance. Those only come attached to an order we are already running. Labelling, repacking and sorting out extra SKUs are quoted per order, because no two of those jobs look alike. The first week of storage in our China warehouse is free.

You get one named contact for the order, and we do not swap them out halfway through. English is the working language here, so nothing waits for a translator, and we deal with the factory in Chinese ourselves. The person assigned comes from the department that covers your category, machinery, chemical raw materials, garments, household goods, toys or electronics, rather than a general account handler. Messages get an answer within the same working day, and a quotation on a new enquiry comes back within two working days. We work by email and WhatsApp. While your order is in production you get a weekly report plus a report at each milestone. Working across the time difference is routine here rather than something we arrange specially.

Avoid Chinese New Year, which empties factories for far longer than the official week, and the National Day break at the start of October. The busiest windows are built around the Canton Fair in spring and autumn, efficient for seeing many suppliers at once, and expensive. On weekend opening, tell us your dates and we will check what is open rather than guess. And yes, we look after you while you are here: we go with you to the factories, walk Yiwu with you and interpret at the fair. We cover the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta and in practice anywhere in China, and we can book hotels and flights for you, with the travel costs yours. Besides English we have Spanish, French, Arabic and German, but those need booking well ahead. The accompaniment is $199 a day in English and double that in Spanish, French, Arabic or German, with your flights, hotels and transport on your own account.

We do not publish a set of office hours, we commit to response times instead. Messages get a reply within the same working day, and a new enquiry is quoted within two working days. Working across your time zone is routine for us rather than something we arrange specially. You get one contact person per order who does not change part way through, reachable by email and on WhatsApp. English is the working language, so nothing waits for a translator to be found. Days spent with you at factories or in the markets while you are in China are charged at $199 a day in English, or $398 in Spanish, French, Arabic or German.

Yes, and day to day safety is rarely what catches people out, the practical things are. Check visa rules with your nearest Chinese embassy before you book, because visa free and transit arrangements have changed repeatedly and any list you read online, ours included, ages badly. Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay with your own card before you fly, since everyday payment is largely cashless. Assume your usual apps, mail and maps may not work on local networks, so arrange roaming or an eSIM. Keep every address saved in Chinese characters for drivers. We can also plan the trip, book your hotels and flights with those costs on your own account, and put someone alongside you at the factories, in Yiwu or at the Canton Fair, at $199 a day in English, or $398 in the other languages we cover.

A weekly progress report and a report at each production milestone, both as standard rather than on request. Which milestones your order has depends on what it is and who makes it, so tell us the product and we will set them out with you before production starts. In between, ask for whatever you want to see. We go to our own factories in person and can photograph or film the line, the goods in progress, the packing and the loading. With our own suppliers there are two inspection reports as standard, one from our team and one from an independent third party, both against AQL 2.5 and 4.0 sampling. On a supplier you brought us, inspection is booked and charged separately. If a factory tells us the date is slipping, you hear it from us that same day.

You hear about a slip from us the same day we hear it, and what we can do next depends on whose supplier it is. With our own suppliers we have real leverage, a long relationship, an unpaid balance and the next order in our hands. We go to the plant and look at the line instead of asking for a status update, find out which step is behind, and price both air freight and a split shipment so you can choose. With a supplier you brought us we chase, visit and push, but we cannot force a contract that is not ours. On our own supplier orders a discount on the goods is possible depending on the circumstances. Freight we normally do not refund, because it is paid to carriers rather than sold by us. Where the delay was our fault on our own supplier, we have absorbed an entire air freight bill ourselves, one running to RMB 100,000 to 200,000.

There are three separate effects, and the shutdown is the least of them. Before the holiday everyone wants to ship, so factories run hot and subcontract more, which is exactly when quality problems cluster, and freight space tightens and prices at the same time. Then production stops, officially for about a week, in practice often two to four, because workers travel home across the country. After the holiday comes the part buyers underestimate: some workers do not come back, new ones are trained on your order, and both output and consistency take weeks to climb back to normal. Plan backwards from your on shelf date through customs, transit, inspection and production, and if the arithmetic lands in the weeks right before the holiday, either pull the order forward or accept that it ships after. The dates move every year, so confirm the actual window for your product before you commit to a launch date.

Email and WhatsApp are the two channels we run buyer communication on, and the rhythm is fixed rather than something you have to chase. While your order is in production you get a weekly progress report and a report at each milestone, so you have both the running picture and the dated checkpoints. Messages are answered within the same working day, and a new enquiry is quoted within two working days. One person handles your order from start to finish and does not change midway. If a factory tells us it is going to be late, you hear it from us that same day, together with what we are doing about it.

Yes, this is normal work for us, along with buying in person at the Yiwu market. You send links or photos, and we check the real price with the seller instead of trusting the listed one, because 1688 prices frequently exclude tax and domestic freight, and the shop on the listing is often a trader rather than the factory. We pay in RMB on your behalf, have the goods delivered to our warehouse, check them there, consolidate what you bought from different sellers into one shipment and export it properly. Inspection matters more on this channel than anywhere else, because these sellers are domestic operations with no export experience, no English and after sales rules that are nothing like the ones you are used to, so once goods leave their hands you have very little recourse. Storage in our warehouse is free for the first week while the rest of your order arrives.

Yes, we can do a live walkthrough, and we would rather tell you what it is worth. A video call shows you the line at one moment from the angle the camera is pointed at, and you are right to notice that someone chose that angle. What backs it up is that our own people are physically in the factory taking the photos and video themselves, at points we pick during the run, rather than forwarding what the factory sends us, and that the pre shipment inspection is a sampling check against AQL 2.5 and 4.0 with a written report, plus an independent third party check on our own suppliers. Whatever you want filmed, the line, the raw material, the packing, the container being loaded, ask and it gets filmed. If a factory treats a process as confidential you will be told that is the reason, rather than quietly steered around it.

Yes. We go with you to the factories, walk the Yiwu market with you and interpret at the Canton Fair. Geographically the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta are routine, and in practice we go anywhere in China as long as you cover the travel costs. English is the working language. We can also cover Spanish, French, Arabic and German, but those need booking well ahead, because we have only a few people in each. We can plan the itinerary and book hotels and flights for you as well, with those costs on your own account. Accompanying days are $199 in English and $398 in any of those other languages, and the travel costs sit on top.

Yes, all three. We meet buyers here and go with them to factories, walk the Yiwu market with them, and interpret at the Canton Fair. We are most often in the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta, but we will travel anywhere in China as long as you cover the travel cost. We can also put the trip together for you, flights, hotels and the order of the visits, with those costs paid by you directly rather than buried in a fee. English is the working language. Spanish, French, Arabic and German are available too, but book those well ahead, because we have only a few speakers of each. Accompaniment is $199 a day in English, or $398 in the languages above, on top of the travel costs.

Yes, and this line has its own terms. On 1688 and Taobao buying there is a minimum order value of $500, the one place we set a floor. The fee is our usual 3% to 9% of the goods value, with the bands on our Services page, and domestic freight inside China is paid by you on top. Sellers there will not take payment from abroad, so we place the order, pay in RMB, take delivery at our warehouse, consolidate and handle the export. From order to everything in our warehouse is about a week. If a domestic seller sends the wrong item, we will chase it for you, but the liability is the seller's, not ours. Once the goods are in our warehouse, shortage, breakage and loss are on us. Yiwu market is where we go for many different regular, non customised products in small quantities.

It depends on the product, so send us the actual product rather than the category. We have run this for apparel, mugs and phone cases, and most of the suppliers we work with hold no strict minimum, with some products orderable in single units. There is no minimum order value, but there is a $100 minimum service fee, and on single unit orders that is the number to think about hardest. Above it the rate is our usual 3% to 9% of goods value, set out on our Services page. On speed, some suppliers can dispatch the same day, and what we are willing to commit to is dispatch within three days. That is the handover to the carrier, not the transit to your customer, which depends on the destination and the service you pick.

Usually China, but not always, and weigh that knowing we are a China based operation. What decides it is not labour cost, it is whether the supporting supply chain exists where you want to build. China's advantage is density: components, materials, tooling, finishing and packaging usually sit within a short drive of the assembly plant, which is why sampling and design changes move quickly and why a mid volume order does not stall waiting on one input. Where another country holds the raw material or an established industry, certain textile segments in India, furniture and some assembly in Vietnam, it can genuinely be the better call, and tariff exposure may push you there regardless. The plain part: we source in China and nowhere else. If you conclude Vietnam or India is right for your product, we are not the agent for it, and we would rather say so.

Every category has tiers, and the gap between them is usually material grade, the process used and how much QC is built into the price, not the factory's honesty. Ask the specific version of the question: which material or grade, which process, what inspection level is included, and what failure looks like in year two rather than on arrival. When we quote we will tell you which band the price sits in and what you actually give up at the bottom end. Fifteen years in, the pattern is consistent: the cheapest option produces the most trouble, and it usually shows up after the goods are already in your warehouse.

Often yes, and sampling is where you find out cheaply. Our departments are split by product type, so the person quoting your product knows the process, and we will raise a manufacturability problem rather than quietly quote around it. This matters most before tooling: a plastic or metal mould is 2,000 to 3,000 US dollars each, an apparel pattern is around 100 dollars, and a logo only change is tens of dollars, so the order in which you make changes decides what they cost you. We have enough past cases to tell you roughly how many rounds a change like yours normally takes.

Both work, at different stages. Dropshipping lets you test demand without capital, and the price is that you have no leverage on cost, no control over quality, the same photos as everyone else selling the same item, and no way to fix a bad batch. Once a product sells repeatedly, holding stock is normally where the margin appears, and it is also the first point at which custom packaging, your own logo and an actual brand become possible. Because most of the suppliers we work with have no strict minimum, that first stock order does not have to be large, and we can hold the goods at our China warehouse with one week of free storage while the rest of the order comes together.

Yes, it is the single thing we do most, and here is what it takes. Fifteen years of OEM work covers logo printing, custom colours, custom shapes, tooling, custom packaging and private label, and we do the packaging design itself for buyers who would otherwise hire a designer. Send your logo as a vector file; if you do not have one, we will convert it and send a mockup back for your approval. Give colours as Pantone references, not CMYK, RGB or hex, because those do not translate into production. Dielines, dimension drawings and 3D mould files help but are not essential, and where you have none we can help get them made. Packaging minimums follow the packaging type, and a plain printed carton generally starts around 1,000 pieces. A packaging sample takes about a week. Packaging almost always comes from a different factory than the product, and getting the two onto one delivery date is our job rather than yours.

Yes, all of it, done in China: labelling, repacking to Amazon's carton requirements, bundling into sets, consolidating several suppliers into one shipment, shipping direct into Amazon warehouses, sharing a shipment to save freight, and booking delivery appointments. We can also have the factory ship straight to FBA, in which case we build the material pack and walk the factory through the requirements. What we need from you are the FNSKU and shipment files from Seller Central, because those are generated in your account and cannot be made on our side. One thing we do not do: we have no overseas warehouse, so we cannot receive your goods abroad and feed them into FBA in batches. Prep is quoted per order rather than off a price list, since the work differs by product. Counting the goods in and photographing them is included, while reinforcing outer cartons is charged separately.

Yes, and that gap is exactly what we fill. 1688 sellers are domestic traders: no foreign currency payment, no international shipping, no export paperwork. We place the order, pay in RMB, take delivery at our warehouse, consolidate and export. Minimum order value on this channel is $500, our fee is the same 3% to 9% as everywhere else, and the bands are set out on our services page. Domestic freight from the seller to us is paid by you. Allow about a week from placing the orders to everything being in our warehouse. On arrival we count the goods and photograph them as a record; a proper inspection is a separate service at $99 per man day. If a seller sends the wrong goods we will chase them for you, but the responsibility sits with that seller rather than with us.

Usually yes, with one caveat about whose factory it is. The 500 to 1000 piece quote is rarely a factory being difficult; it comes from fabric, which carries its own minimum per colour, plus the cost of setting up a line and cutting a pattern for a style that will only run once. Factories we work with regularly will go below their published minimum for us, sometimes well below, while a factory you found yourself has no particular reason to do the same, and that is one of the real differences between bringing us your supplier and using ours. We recently handled a Morocco shopping mall order at twenty to thirty pieces per style across several dozen styles, so small runs are not theoretical here. Practical ways to get down there: use stock fabric instead of a custom dye, share one fabric across several styles, and accept a higher unit price on the first run; pattern making is around 100 dollars per style, and if you are only adding a logo it is tens of dollars.

Most categories yes, and where we have not handled your product before we tell you so when we quote rather than after. We have departments covering machinery, chemical raw materials, apparel, household goods, toys and electronics, with different colleagues specialising inside those. Send us the product and you get a quote within two working days, with our experience level stated plainly alongside it: this is one we run regularly, or this is new to us. Where the category is new but sits close to something we already run, we say that too, and we normally put a side by side comparison of the sourcing options in front of you before you commit. Some things we turn down whatever the margin: sanctioned goods, military products, dangerous goods, counterfeits, and anything to be bought outside China.

Yes on testing, no on FDA registration, and there is one thing we will not do. A certificate the factory already holds is passed to you exactly as we received it: we do not verify that it is genuine and we do not check report numbers against the issuing body, so please do not read our involvement as authentication. Where no certificate exists, we arrange testing through a testing company, and a single certificate generally starts around $300 to $500 depending on the product and the standard. If the supplier is ours, the quote states whether certification is included, because it is a real cost line. CPC for US children's products goes through a CPSC accepted laboratory, and we work with one here regularly. Name SGS or BV if you prefer, at your cost. FDA registration you file yourself.