Advice for “Don’t Make These Mistakes When Importing from China”

As a new businessman, if you are importing from China for the first time, the process can be fraught with mistakes and potential problems. A small mistake maybe lead to a great loss of money and time.

To well-reminder and save your cost as much as possible, here this article shares top 5 common mistakes, which would be very useful and meaningful for you to avoid making those mistakes.

Common Mistake #1-SOURCING THE WRONG PRODUCTS

China is the world’s factory of everything you want for your business. The first challenging thing when importing from China is that you have no idea what products to source, so choosing the wrong products.

Here listed two products you should avoid in sourcing at the beginning:

1.Complex products

If you buy complex products such as electronics, bags made from multiple materials, or even jewelry made from high-value materials, it would require getting different parts from different suppliers. So monitoring and checking the quality standards may be difficult in this case. So you can expect that for quality issues, it would be more costly for you than sourcing non-complex products.

2.Counterfeit products

Please do not try fake products, it might bring you into legal troubles, so think twice before you decide.

COMMON MISTAKE #2 – SELECTING THE WRONG SUPPLIER

One of the inherent risks when importing from China is working with unreliable suppliers, who response slowly, cannot feedback in time, cannot control quality.

There are 3 kinds of suppliers when you importing from China – factories, small trading companies, and sourcing agencies. Knowing which type of supplier that you are doing business with is important, because sometimes the supplier you found on the website, might not be an authentic and reliable people or company. It isn’t easy to verify a supplier 100% over the phone or via email.

If you are a buyer who will buy large quantity products which can meet the MOQs of the factory, you can directly source your products from manufacturers.

If your purchase is not large quantities, but you are searching for a wide range of related products, then a trading company is a good option.

Lastly, you can find sourcing agentsfor cooperation. They are in a better position and specialized in sourcing products, logistics, and shipment.

COMMON MISTAKE #3 – WITHOUT CONSIDERING PRICE WELL

When you start importing from China by a B2B site, you should contact multiple suppliers and request quotes. You need to compare them and filter out the best suppliers for your business. The most important thing you need to consider is pricing, and secondly, consider quality.

Take the time to do your research and compare prices among your list of potential suppliers.

However, when you look at prices, you have to look for subtle differences among each vendors, that might affect a small increase in price. Materials, components, size, or other specifications may be some of the factors that contribute to small price differences. And finally selecting a competitive price with good quality supplier.

COMMON MISTAKE #4-NEGLECT QUALITY INSPECTION

Standardized quality audits can help you choose from multiple suppliers. Third party inspection can give you a lot of objective insight into the supplier of your choice. They can also help inspect your goods and monitor quality during the final production phase.

Don’t just look at the picture and make a decision, quality check is necessary because it can help you understand the true capabilities of the supplier and eliminate potential risks before placing large orders so that to keep your business safe.

COMMON MISTAKE #5-WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS OF SHIPPING AND IMPORTING

When shipping goods from China, you have to consider several points:

The most appropriate mode of shipping, by sea/by air / by rail / the express courier and so on. You should compare each type of transport modes through shipping cost and time, then select the best one.
Transportation costs and Ocean freight rates.
Import Duties
Account for any costs beyond the overseas transport. During this process, issues like customs inspections can happen on both sides of the ocean. If your goods are inspected it can cost a few thousand dollars per container.
Preparing the correct customs declaration and documents. For paperwork and documents, even just a slight inaccuracy can lead to serious delays.
Rules for Modes of Transport and Delivery. Know different Incoterms, it can help you understand “Who Pays for What and What is My Responsibility as a buyer” when importing from China.
- Ex Works (EXW).
  - Free Carrier (FCA).
- Carriage Paid To (CPT).
- CIP Carriage And Insurance Paid To (CIP).
- Delivered at Terminal (DAT).
- Delivered at Place (DAP).
- Delivered Duty Paid (DDP).

All above points should be calculated into the costs for importing from China.

CONCLUSION

Importing from China can provide you with a favorable business in terms of capabilities of high output, low cost, rich products and rapid expansion. Meanwhile you have to pay attention to some common mistakes to avoid unnecessary trouble as beginner importers. Do hope that the mistakes presented in this artcle can help and alarm you well.