In the past period since the website www.uvozizkine.com was created, we have received many inquiries from people who want to start their own small business by importing a small amount of products.
Most of them do not have much relevant experience, and they think that it is very simple: find a Chinese supplier, buy the products at a low price, ship them home and sell them at high prices in the domestic market.
But the truth is that importing a small amount directly from China is not that easy and not that profitable.
You will face many different problems, such as shipping costs that may be higher than the price of the product, or your order is much less than the MOQ (minimum quantity) supplied by the manufacturer-supplier.
In some cases, you may have to give up your idea to start a new business.
In this article, we will provide you with a complete introduction on how to import products in small quantities from China and point out some possible problems.
1. What is a small business? And what is a small quantity for customers?
Different companies and people have different definitions of small business.
Most consulting agents or consulting companies define small businesses as those with annual imports of less than USD 500,000.
But for many beginners this amount is too high and maybe unattainable even after 5 years of business.
That is why it is not easy for a small start-up to find a suitable source or consulting company that can offer them a suitable service.
Customers who purchase 5,000-50,000 USD (including different types of products) in one account are defined as Small Business.
With this amount of money, the shipment quantity is usually from 5M3 to 40HK container. This amount can usually reach the factory MOQ.
4 to 5M3 will usually be the most appropriate minimum volume for an LCL (Less Than Container Load) shipment.
If the purchase is less than this, the whole process of exporting and importing is complicated and costs a lot of money, which means that the average cost for each product will be high.
Low volume buyers refer to those who buy less than $2,000 per order, and those just starting a new business (which we mentioned at the beginning) are also part of it.
This article will focus more on helping this group of people.
2. Which products are suitable for the customer of small quantities?
Importers, small businesses, those who buy more than 5,000 USD per order, they need to know what to import and how to sell.
But beginners, new small businesses probably don't even have a clue what products to start with.
a. Products of large or small size
Shipping is always a big problem for small volume importers.
Because their delivery volume is always too small for ship, usually less than 2M3, and they generally have to choose air freight, which costs 8-10 times more than LCL sea freight.
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Products of large size or large packaging, such as mugs and larger toys such as teddy bears, etc., are not suitable for small importers, because express and airmail fees are charged by the size of the package and not by weight (length * height * width).
This means that your shipping cost is even higher than the value of the product, and your competitors import by sea which costs them 80% less than you.
So you have no chance to compete with them on the local market.
The conclusion is that for small importers, the right choice is products of low value and small size.
The shipping cost will not be high, sometimes only 10% of the product value.
Such as fashion accessories, small electronic products, watches, etc.
Most importers will not choose shipping because of the shipping speed, so there is no need to worry about the shipping cost being higher than the competition.
b. Choose interesting products, instead of common items
For this reason, we also display and highlight some of the products on our site in the Buy from China menu
Buyers of small quantities can try to find special and interesting products and avoid those common products that can be bought everywhere.
Some people think that everyday products like socks will sell very easily because everyone needs them, but that's not true.
Why, well because there are numerous people importing and selling these items at a small profit and it will be difficult to compete with them.
But you can consider importing some special socks, like "non-slip socks" or well-designed socks.
Common products in everyday life are not suitable even for small businesses.
For example, we have received many inquiries from different countries in the region, where they want to import a 20GP container of A4 paper for printing.
But only when we give them the prices do they realize that forthe same money can buy them in their country, because this type of product does not have much added value, and the cost mostly depends on the raw material.
Therefore, the price is very transparent, even with a large demand.
Toilet paper is also a very common product, but only with an interesting design: US dollar, Euro, etc. and even the Kama Sutra.
These special toilet paper can easily be sold at several times higher than the usual price.
3. How to find Chinese suppliers for customers who want small quantities of goods?
Most small buyers find Chinese suppliers on the Internet.
Even the customers who buy a large quantity (about 30,000-50,000 USD for each order), rarely come to China to find suppliers, except to attend some trade fairs.
Firstly, the costs are high, including air tickets, hotel fee and traffic fees, and will cost a total of about 4,000 USD for a week's visit to China.
Secondly, finding a good Chinese supplier is a difficult task, unless you go directly to some places like trade fairs or Yivu wholesale market. Or you have already contacted suppliers before coming to China.
a. Alibaba
Whether you are a big or small buyer, searching for Chinese suppliers on Alibaba is the best choice.
But if you buy too small quantity (less than 400 USD per item), Alibaba suppliers probably can't sell you the goods, because they usually have a higher MOQ.
Maybe you can pay a higher price for the products, so they will sometimes suppliers still sell them.
If not, you need to contact DHgate or AliExpress.
Don't spend a lot of time assuring them that you will buy a large quantity in the future and this is for trial.
Because Chinese suppliers hear this from clients every day, and it doesn't work at all.
b. Dhgate and Aliexpress
If you still find it difficult to get the MOQ supplier of Alibaba, maybe you can go to DHgate or AliExpress.
Usually DHgate tends towards retail quantities, whose purchase quantity is between Alibaba and AliExpress.
Aliexpress is more inclined towards retail, although it claims to deal with wholesale as well.
4. How to deliver goods from China when purchasing a small quantity?
Shipping method is really a big problem for small quantity buyers, as mentioned at the beginning.
Sometimes it is not worth importing from China, because air transport is the only way to send it, and it is too expensive.
a. Express services and air transport
International express services DHL, FEDEX, etc. are suitable for cargo up to 300 kg, while airplane cargo is suitable for over 300 kg.
Air transport needs the same import and export processes (papers) as sea transport. You must collect your cargo at the airport.
Dangerous items such as liquids, electricity and battery products cannot be shipped by air.
b. LCL companies that offer a comprehensive shipping service
This type of LCL company is the best choice for small customers. They usually specialize in certain ports or areas and offer complete shipping services.
They will handle all the custom and shipping processes and you just need to pick up your cargo at their warehouse, or sometimes they can deliver it to your door.
Their price is very low even if you ship 0.5M3, because the container is shared by several clients.
But this type of company is hard to find, and they don't exist in all areas or cities.
It would be better to ask some experienced importers or freight forwarders in your country, maybe they know them.
c. Combine loads from different suppliers and ship together
If you buy from different suppliers, then you need to think about consolidating them in one shipment and this will save you shipping costs.
This makes more sense for ocean freight. If you are importing 5 different products from 5 suppliers, each product 0.5M3, consider bundling them together using LCL sea freight.
By doing this, your shipping costs will be 80% less than air express shipping. And you still have to pay for 5 international exports separately.
So you need a person to consolidate your cargoes in China. One solution is to find a reliable agent and freight forwarder that has its own warehouse, which you can then use for consolidation (usually for free).
However, most freight forwarders do not have a warehouse and they just collect their cargo from the supplier and then send it to the LCL shipping company to be loaded into the container.
Another more difficult solution if you are a beginner is that you can choose one reliable supplier and tell the other suppliers to send all the cargo to him, and then the freight forwarder can pick up the goods together in one place.
We recommend that you try to consolidate the cargo by hiring someone agent to gain more import experience.
Congratulations after all, you have taken the first step of expanding your business and next time you can try to buy a larger quantity.
5. How to avoid scams when buying small quantities of goods?
Many startups are afraid of being scammed when buying products online from China, but the truth is that the number of scams is on the decline.
Whether you buy from Alibaba, AliExpress or DHgate, none of the suppliers cannot take your money without sending the product.
Due to such online platforms, all suppliers are initially required to offer their Chinese ID cards or company registration information.
Then they have to pay a certain fee every year to become a supplier on these platforms.
Say, if you are a supplier and have a gold supplier status on Alibaba, you have to pay 29,800RNB (about 4,730 USD) per year for membership fee;
pay a deposit of USD 4,700 to become an AliExpress supplier.
One interesting thing is:
many people believe that gold suppliers are qualified suppliers verified by Alibaba, this is also said by Alibaba.
But that is not true. All suppliers on Alibaba have gold status because they paid for it.
So you can simply ignore the supplier status when searching for suppliers on Alibaba.
So, the worst case scenario is that the products the supplier sends are of lower quality than you expect or the shipment contains less of the products you agreed upon.
What you should do when finding a supplier online is to research them carefully. and don't just focus on the lowest price.
From a bad seller or you will take the risk of getting cheap quality or problem products.