This text is intended for those who want to learn more about buying goods from China.
Depending on your needs, we can divide the purchase into cheap, cheaper and the cheapest, i.e. the most profitable.
The price of a product that is ordered from abroad until it enters the country is formed by the price of making the product itself and the costs of transportation.
Costs after entering the country are fixed (or at least should be) and we will not consider them.
Buy cheap
All of you have probably already heard of Aliexpress, DHgate, Gearbest and many other Chinese online bulk shopping sites.
If you are an individual and ordering goods for your personal needs this is the cheapest purchase for you.
Due to low or free shipping this is the best option for you since no one else can provide you so low shipping costs.
There is no agent in China who can do this.
The price of sending small packages is a separate story and is raised to the level of the country.
How and why the shipping costs are negligibly small we tried to explain on our to the blog in the text Free delivery of products from China
Since it is a question of buying by the piece, the prices of these items are higher than if you would buy them wholesale.
So the same product on Aliexpress is more expensive than on Alibaba for the reason that on Aliexpress you buy by the piece, while on Alibaba you have an MOQ or minimum quantity that you have to order.
It is clear that such customers are different and that the one who buys more can have and has a better price.
So, Alibaba is cheaper than Aliexpress, i.e. B2B purchase (buying in bulk) is cheaper than B2C (buying by piece).
If you are an individual and you buy goods on piece, look no further, this is the best buy for you.
In this text, we have taken Alibaba and Aliexpress as examples for comparison, but these are general rules that apply to all B2C and B2B sites.
Cheaper purchase
Buying in bulk is certainly cheaper than buying by piece.
But shopping on Alibaba and other B2B sites (Made-in-China, Globalsources...) is not always the same.
There are two parameters that affect your final price. Again, it's about quantity and transport.
A customer who orders, say, 500 phone cases cannot have the same price as a customer who orders 50,000.
That is why you have different prices on Alibaba for different quantities.
So if you order a larger quantity, you get a cheaper product per piece.
It should also be added that if you are capable, skilled and know how to approach the seller, you may be able to bargain and get better prices. but certainly cheaper than sending by air.
And there is a difference, it is not the same to send xym3 goods in a collective container or to fill the entire container yourself.
It is often more profitable to take a larger quantity of goods and rent the entire container than to go with a smaller quantity in a collective container.
Depending on the type and quantity of goods you are ordering, calculate for yourself what is more profitable for you, or tell us, we can help you and suggest you the most cost-effective solutions.
The value that is looked at here is the price of the product per piece arrived at your warehouse.
Sometimes when you take a larger quantity and fill a container you get a cheaper final product price than taking a smaller one quantity and you go with a collective container.
This is very important, and few people pay attention to this calculation.
The most profitable purchase
China is a huge country and is a big enough market by itself, which leads to a paradox unknown to us here.
Believe it or not no, it is a big expense for many factories to have a whole branch of the company dealing with exports, since you have to have export licenses, meet international certificates, people who speak foreign languages, transport organization, etc.
All that costs and as a factory they are not internationally known and believe that they cannot or do not want to compete on the world market.
Those factories only produce for the domestic market, they have positioned themselves there, they are successful and that is quite enough for them, such there are a lot of companies and they are not on Alibaba.
There is everything, from extremely bad copies to top quality products. This market is not seen or known about by someone outside of China.
You can find a good price for a product on Alibaba, but an agent who is in China can probably find it. even more favorable.
In addition, you must know that Alibaba has everything from genuine manufacturers and their original prices to second-hand and even third-hand resellers.
Many Chinese companies listed on Alibaba identify themselves as both manufacturers and distributors/wholesalers. However, it's important to note that this doesn't always mean they are actually manufacturers.
Factories often hire agents to sell goods for them on the international market as it is more profitable for them. they meet and solve the problem since they don't make your product.
And then your pain starts.
They basically just resell other people's goods.
Like, say, if you opened a web shop and sold goods on it, but in bulk.
Maybe they have signed contracts with real producers, but you'll admit it's not the same. Many don't even have that.
Let's face it, there is that and it is also done on Aliexpress, but it is simpler to solve the problem of one piece of some goods than 100,000 pieces, and the eventual loss of money is not the same.
Your calculation
Buyers always start with the logical assumption that if I have to pay someone else (in this case an agent) it will cost me more in the end, all together.
However, when buying from China on great, that's not really the case.
Look at it this way, let's say you want to buy phone cases and you find them on Alibaba for $1/piece.
That price suits you and you want to buy 1000 pieces. Your costs are $1000 without shipping.
The same mask can be found for you by an agent for say $0.9, and maybe even cheaper!
You have room to give $100 to the agent for his services and to you don't think about whether your goods will arrive and whether someone will not steal or cheat you!
In addition, the price of $100 for the services of an agent for goods worth $1000 is too high.
Also, we as agent, we do non-stop shipping of goods for this area and we certainly have better shipping prices than a seller who may never have shipped goods to this part of the world.
You don't need to think a lot and figure out what is better for you.
What you need to know is that the prices on Alibaba are not always correct, it is better to say they are rarely correct.
The sellers are trying to attract the buyer with a lower displayed price. Only when you contact them will you find out the true price of the product!
If you give us a target price of the product you want to buy, our service of finding a cheaper price of the same product is free.
Based on your target price and quantity, we find the product and give you the price of the complete service with delivery to your customs.
If the price suits you, we will go to the realization of the work.
If not, you owe nothing to anyone, contact us the next time you want to order something from China.
To conclude, it is clear that buying in bulk is most profitable with the help of an agent.
We are sure that you do not want to be another in the series of emails we receive complaining that you ordered goods from China without us, and it hasn't arrived, or it's damaged, missing parts, etc.
We can't help you then, so call us in time!