How to Import Products from China

China is one of the most desirable countries to import products from, mostly because of the extremely low pricing that the manufacturers there offer.  Politicians always talk about how they will bring factory jobs back into the United States if they get elected but no one considers how much doing so would increase the cost of living in the U.S. 

It is estimated that labor costs are approximately 10 times greater in the U.S. as they are in China.  Most of the everyday items we as Americans buy would no longer be affordable if they weren’t manufactured in China.  Americans can capitalize off of China’s low labor costs by importing products from China to sell in the U.S. market.  Labor unions can criticize this practice all they want but at the end of the day, U.S. consumers want lower prices.

Even though the cost of goods sold from Chinese manufacturers are considerably lower than anywhere else in the world, the importation of these goods is not particularly easy.  This article will provide some information on what is entailed in importing products from China and some of the challenges you can expect to encounter.

The Language Barrier

Assuming that you don’t speak Mandarin, how will you communicate with the representatives of Chinese factories?  The good news is that most of them have English speaking representatives.  If they don’t, you may need to hire a translator.  Google makes it easy to search for factories and manufacturers in China so once you’ve identified one or several of these companies that you may want to work with, you can try sending them an email to see what kind of a response you’ll get.  Translators can help you through this process if no one at the company speaks English.

Many Chinese factories have sales representatives searching for importers on LinkedIn.  Many of them speak English so utilizing LinkedIn as a starting point could get you some initial information about the types of products that are available to you.  If you decide to call the factory, remember that there is a 12-hour time difference between the east coast of the United States and China. 

Visit the Factories

Once you’ve identified the manufacturers you’re interested in working with, it would really be a good idea for you to actually go there to see their facilities and what they have to offer.  You can schedule a time with the factory to tour their facility with one of their sales representatives.  If they don’t have an English speaking representative, your translator may have to be present for your visit.

During this visit, you can make an assessment of the level of professionalism the factory has to offer, what kind of products they manufacturer and what kind of pricing you’ll be dealing with.  You will learn a lot about how the products are made and who the key people are at the company who you can correspond with if you have any problems or difficulties.  Chinese professionals like dealing with people face-to-face.  You may want to consider reading a little about Chinese culture before your visit.  Certain mannerisms that are acceptable in the U.S. may be insulting to the people of China.

Quality Control

China is a much different place and the Chinese people have a different perspective on things than we do here in the western part of the world.  After all, it is about 8000 miles away.  Most importantly, Chinese factories have a much different concept of quality than we do.  An important factor to recognize is that there are a lot of good quality products manufactured in China and a lot of extremely poor quality products.  If you are interested in importing products from China, you will need to subcontract a third-party quality control company who understands what quality is recognized in the United States.  Otherwise, you can end up importing a container full of unsellable crap.

The good news is that quality control companies will offer their services for about $100-$200 per day.  Like most things in China, this service is fairly cost effective.  A quick Google search will reveal the companies in China that offer these types of services.  Make sure that the quality control company you hire has experience in the industry that you’re in and has extensive knowledge of the types of products you will be importing.  They will need to visit the factory to conduct a physical inspection of the products you are importing to ensure their quality meets U.S. standards.  This is one of the most important functions in the process of importing from China.

Shipping and Logistics

All major U.S. freight forwarding companies have counterparts in China so if you are able to locate a local freight company, they can orchestrate the pickup and shipping of your goods from the Chinese port.  Normally the factory will make arrangements to transport your goods from their facility to the port.  From a shipping perspective, it’s more cost effective to order a minimum of one full container of goods.  If you order less, you can make arrangements for your goods to be placed on a consolidated shipment where the shipping cost could be higher. 

Keep in mind that it could take about 6 weeks to ship your items from China to the United States via ocean freight.  This doesn’t include the amount of time it will take to transport your items from the port to where ever your warehouse is.  Depending on the weight of your products, you can also have them shipped via air freight which will take much less time but cost a lot more.

Keep in mind that the entire country of China basically shuts down for the Chinese New Year which is almost the whole month of February.  You will not be able to import any product during that time and if you try to get your order shipped the month before, expect freight prices to be considerably higher.

Part of the shipping process will involve getting your products through U.S. Customs.  You will ultimately need to hire a customs broker to help you through this process.  If you’re importing a food item, your imports will also have to be cleared by the FDA and USDA.  You can contact a local customs broker in your area to help you through this process.  They will coordinate your shipment with your freight forwarder.

For more information about importing products from China, please call Ashlar Consulting Corporation at 305-849-9399 or visit www.AshlarConsultingCorp.com.