There are 300,000 global customers from more than 215 countries come to Yiwu, sourcing in Yiwu market, then export to their own country. How do they start? How to do business in Yiwu? ■First, you tell us which item you are looking for, the quality, quantity, packing details, freight direction, your schedule and any other request. Then we will make appropriate arrangements according to your need. Guide you to visit the right product markets or visit the good factories if necessary. And we also supply Airport pickup, Hotel book (with best discount) and other service if you come to Yiwu. ■Second, we will arrange 2 translators to go to Yiwu wholesale market and visit shops one by one with you. You just need to choose the items and check price, our staff will write down the item No, price, pcs / ctn, Measure of ctn, take sample or take photo. At last, we will make a sheet with price list, photo, calculate total amount and total cbm for you. ■Third, after you confirming the order, you send 30% deposit to our account by T/T (price is as same as supplier offer to you), then we order goods from suppliers (quantity of suppliers can be 5-100 per container). We collect goods and inspect goods in our warehouse. We make a list of received goods, you send balance to us. Then we book container, arrange shipment, send full set documents to you. ■Forth, the most important is, as a professional trading agency, we are your reliant business assistant when you are not in China. If you have some product need to be located in china, we will try our best to give you the quotation in short time, and also will send popular and latest products information to you. If you have no time for Yiwu visiting, please contact us. We can help you find the most suitable products. Just as we promised, the whole process can be seen. Experience our top notch service and quality products made in China today!

Many customers who are planning to come to Yiwu always ask the question "Why Yiwu?". Follow me to know Why Yiwu. Yiwu is located in east of China, near Shanghai. Yiwu is famous for its largest wholesale market of general merchandise in the world – Yiwu market, i.e. China Yiwu International Trade City. The feature of Yiwu Market: 1) The World’s Largest Wholesale Market Of Small Commodities 2) One-stop Shopping of Commodities in 1901 Categories You need not go to other places, only in Yiwu market. 3) Zero-distance Contact With 58,000 Chinese Suppliers You can see, you can touch, you can take photos, huge designs for your choice. 4) All-day Exhibition Of 410,000 Kinds Of Consumer Goods It opens 8 Hours a Day (9:00 AM – 5:00 PM), 7 Days a Week, 365 Days a Year. It is like a permanent tradeshow. 5) Accept Small Quantity, Can Mix lots of Items in One Container Unlike Guangzhou or other cities in China, where buyers usually are required to buy container loads of goods to receive favorable pricing, minimum quantity in Yiwu starts only with 1 carton, and yet you still receive wholesale prices. 6) All the Prices in Yiwu wholesale market is the Factory Price Yiwu is the Heart of the World’s Factory. 90% shops in yiwu market are factory direct sale. 7) Most of the Products are in Stock, Can Deliver within 1 week Time is money. Featured Products in Yiwu Market: 1) Apparel & Shoes: T-Shirts, Dresses, Sportswear, Lingerie, Jeans, Underwear, Socks, Boots, Sneakers. 2) Fashion Accessories: Headwear, Hats, Ncketies, Belts, Gloves, Sunglasses, Watches, Bags, Handbags. 3) Gifts & Crafts: Christma Products, Crystal Crafts, Metal Crafts, Holiday Gifts & Decoration, Photo & Picture Frames, Key Chains, Candles & Candles Holders. 4) Health & Beauty: Massagers, E-Cigarette, Makeup & Makeup Tools, Skin Care, Perfume & Perfume Bottles, Personal Hygiene. 5) Home & Garden: Baby Supplies, Bath & Toilet, Bedding, BBQ, Cookware, Tableware, Kitchen Accessories. 6) Jewelry: Bangles & Bracelets, Brooches, Earrings, Jewelry Set, Necklaces, Rings, Silver & Sterling Silver Jewelry, Gemstones. 7) Office & School Supplies: Pens, Notebook, Calculator, Educational Supplies. 8 ) Promotional Gifts: Keychain, Caps, Lanyard, Digital Photo Frames, Coasters, Golf Items, T-shirts. 9) Sports & Outdoor: Camping, Games, Pet & Products, Scooters, Sport Products. 10) Toys: Dolls, R/C Toys, Educational Toys, Ball, Electrical Toys, Plastic Toys. That is all for Why Yiwu. So, why not come to Yiwu? Welcome to Yiwu!

We are ICTC Imp & Exp Co., Limited, your reliable yiwu agent, offer you one stop yiwu market sourcing solutions. Click About us. The Feature of ICTC 1) TOP10 Reliable & Professional Yiwu Agent Provider 2) One Stop Export Solution Services 3) Over 10,000 Factories Source 4) Over 3,000 Containers Shipping Per Year 5) Over 120 Countries Marketing 6) Over 100 Million US Dollars Turnover 7) Affordable Commission, Low to 1% (No include the inland charge $650.00 for one 40HC and $500.00 for one 20FT container) Cooperation Advantages With us: 1) Outstanding Reputation: TOP10 Trading Company in Yiwu China, good credit both in suppliers and buyers. 2) Top Notch Service: well-trained staffs, great in translation of English, Spanish, etc, careful in purchasing, strict in inspection, and fast in shipment. 3) Convenient Transportation: pick up and drop between airport (Shanghai, Hangzhou, Yiwu), hotel, market and factory. 4) One Stop Solution: sourcing, ordering, shipping, settlement services, your ideal business partner in China, Looking forward to building up long-term business relationship with customers worldwide, we welcome people from all areas to join in and to create a better and bright future together.

Why Do You Need a Yiwu Agent? There are 5 important reasons that why you need a Yiwu Agent. 1.Sourcing Your Goods There are dozens large markets in Yiwu, and they are expanding, changing and growing all the time. There are more than 100000 booths in Yiwu, (such as Imitation jewelry & hair ornament market, it’s about 7000 shops) and it’s said that, it will take you a whole year to stop at each booth for 1 minute. You could tell us what items you are looking for, and we will make appropriate arrangements. Then all you need to do is choosing goods, checking price, and we will arrange a translator to go to market with you to translate, and also take photo, write down the item No, price, pcs / ctn, Measure of ctn, and other details for you. At last, we will make a sheet with price list, photo, calculate total amount and total cbm for you. 2. Collect & Inspect goods After you confirming the order and payment, we will order the goods from suppliers (quantity of suppliers can be 5-100 per container).We collect goods and inspect goods in our warehouse, and if we find something wrong, we will ask supplier to correct it. And a list of received goods also will be sent to you, you send balance back to us. 3. Loading container We will book container, arrange shipment, and load goods according your direction. 4. Documents We will send full set documents to you, Packing list,Commercial Invoice,B/L,Forma A,Certificate and so on. 5. Shipment & Payment Most shops do not accept USD,so you send 30% deposit to our account by T/T(price is as same as supplier offer to you),then we order goods from suppliers(same shops you visited,same price suppliers offer to you). After you TT balance to us, we will pay money to suppliers, and arrange shipment, book container, and send full documents & B/L to you. The most important is, when you are not in China, we can be your reliable business assistant.

Yiwu is the largest wholesale market of general merchandise in the world. Who should come to Yiwu? Basically, anyone interested in importing from China need to check out Yiwu market, especially if he/she is in “small commodities” industries. But here I just stress on who MUST come to Yiwu. Yiwu is the Mega for wholesalers, shop owners, supermarket owners, and dollar store owners. If you happen to #1 Have distributing channels. #2 Own several shops for toys, gifts/crafts, stationary… #3 Have one or two supermarkets for everything. #4 Have several dollar stores. Then come to Yiwu. This is a place that will help you make good profit.You will find that 99% products selling at Yiwu market can be sold at your own store at 8+ times of their buying price. Say, you buy one flush Barbie at 1.00 USD; you can sell it in your store for at least 8.00 USD. For some small things like hair clips, sewing kits, photo frames… the profit can be totally out of your imagination. For half of the products you find in your nearby corner store (dollar store), Yiwu can exports it, at a price that can keep your mouth open for ten seconds. These are all the good things about Yiwu. Good prices make sure you have enough profit; Rich variety helps you mix up a full container easily. Things People Don’t Like About Yiwu: 1st one is – MINIMUM ORDER. Let’s see the basic black hair bands. They are sold at 0.0003 USD / piece. You can have them packed in one pack of three and sold them at 1.00 USD or 2.00 USD at your store. It’s a hundred-times-profit. But, wait… the minimum order is 14,400 pieces. Suppose each person in your neighborhood uses up 10 pieces bands each month, and then you have to have a population of 1,440. Solution for this can be having some strong selling channels that can help you sell quickly and bulky for one product, or having several stores sell a large variety of everything. 2nd one – QUALITY. You pay junk prices for junks. Although the quality improved in recently years, especially after the worldwide financial crisis, people still think it’s too risky to buy without excellent quality inspection. I once ordered two packs of “red envelopes”, around 4,000 pieces. When my parcel arrived, I found none of the patterns were what I had selected previously. It’s bad enough. I had to use the designs they delivered. Too much hassle to go back and argue. Solution for this problem can be having someone good to do inspection for you. And make sure that person is crystal clear about what you’re looking for. No misunderstanding. >> See Yiwu Agent This is all about who should/must come to Yiwu – wholesalers, shop owners, supermarket owners, and dollar store owners, and of course, anyone who is looking for new opportunities.

At what time does Yiwu market open and close? During weekends? The Golden Week? The Spring Festival? Or other holidays? As more and more people are asking me this question, so I think it’s my fault not putting up a separate article to explain this clearly. Yiwu market ONLY closes at The Spring Festival. No weekends, no other holidays, ONLY takes a break at The Spring Festival. The next Spring Festival – 2011 Spring Festival holiday is from 3rd, Feb. 2011 to 13rd, Feb. 2011. So the market will close in this time for sure. My suggestion is don’t come to Yiwu in one week before The Spring Festival or in one week after The Spring Festival. People either don’t have enough time to take care of you because they’re too busy or they are still in the holiday relaxing atmosphere. The whole China doesn’t work much in this half a month. If you’re working on your visiting plan now, do come after 22rd, Jan. 2011 or before15th, Feb. 2011. Otherwise, you’ll have to stay in China and celebrate The Spring Festival 2011 with Chinese people.

Yiwu market is opening all the year round(including weekends), you can come at any time. Considering its nearby trade fairs, weather, business season…, the best time to visit Yiwu would be from March to June and from September to December. From March to June: In the end of February and the beginning of March (after Chinese new year), there are many new items in Yiwu market. You can come to Yiwu to have a look. The spring Canton Fair(April 15-19, April 23-27, May 1-5, 2010), East China Fair(01-10 March 2010), Hong Kong Gifts & Premium Fair (27-30 April 2010), Hong Kong International Jewellery Show (5 – 9 March 2010)… are all at this time, so you can visit Yiwu and these fairs together. Yiwu market products are pretty complimentary to these fairs. So you can compare and enrich your products range. The weather at this time is also quite pleasant. It’s spring. The average temperature is 10C/50H-25C/77H. However, things that are not so good are: no cheap flights, no discount hotels… because it’s crowded. From September to December: Autumn Edition Canton Fair and Yiwu Fair are all held at the latter half of November each year, Autumn Edition Hong Kong Electronics Fair (13-16 Oct 2011), Autumn Edition Hong Kong International Lighting Fair (27-30 Oct 2011)… are all at this time. So you can visit Yiwu and these fairs together. Yiwu market products are pretty complimentary to these fairs. Again you can compare and enrich your products range. The weather at this time is very pleasant. It’s autumn. The average temperature is 10C/50H-25C/77H. Things you’re not going to like that much are the same: no cheap flights, no discount hotels, people everywhere… These are all about the best time to visit Yiwu each year. Hope it helps Visit Canton Fair and Yiwu together? Another good thing about best time to go to Yiwu (how to go to yiwu?) this year is that we’re planning to offer a one-stop visiting solution for these who’re going to visit Canton fair and Yiwu air together. >> one stop solution for canton fair and yiwu fair This means you ONLY need to contact us. Then, your canton fair visit and Yiwu visit are all hassle-free. How do you like this idea?

If you’re working on your Yiwu visiting plan, one thing you surely need to do is to arrange your finances in advance. Can I use business credit cards to pay for purchases? Is it easy to wire money to a Yiwu local bank? How can I get access to my own money over Yiwu? The answer to the first question is “No”. Most of shops in Yiwu don’t accept international business credit cards. But if you have an international debit/credit card with a Visa or Master Card logo, there will be no problems withdrawing your money from many Yiwu ATMs. Bank of China, ICBC, China Construction Bank… all have ATMs for international cards. It’s also cheaper to take money out from ATMs than withdraw them from bank counters. But after confirming with several bank staffs, using an international card to withdraw money from ATMs would be the last option, because usually the rate is high and there are limitations for how much you can withdraw once, or per day… For example, a China local card can only take out 2,500 RMB/365 USD once and 20,000 RMB/2,920 USD per day from ATMs. You definitely need to check up these limitations and restrictions with your own bank. Carrying cash would be the easiest way. You can check with your customs for how much money (your local currency or foreign dollars) is allowed to take out of your country. Carry as much as you could, that’s the top 1 option recommended here. It’s pretty safe to carry cash in China. (*Disclaimer: only my thinking and it all depends on how you carry it.) You’ll find people in Yiwu tend to carry more cash alone with them. International cards (Visa, Master) can certainly serve as backup options. If you plan to withdraw over 10,000 USD from banks here, another option is you exchange that money into RMB and wire to someone’s bank account in Yiwu, and you can withdraw that from his/her/their account after you arrive in Yiwu. You may check up with your bank for how much money they would charge for this. For withdrawing money from banks here, it’s almost free. Usually it takes several working days to transfer money from your bank account to a Yiwu bank account. *DON’T do this unless you’re 100% confident with the bank account you’re going to transfer money! ONLY choose someone you can 100% trust in. In all, it all depends on how much you would like to spend in Yiwu. If just for accommodation, sampling and small deposit, carrying cash plus bank cards would be enough.

Yiwu market is the world largest wholesale market for small commodities. Cheap price made it famous but crap quality made it notorious in the past. How to buy from this “huge” Yiwu market is still not clear for many of its visitors. Here is one example: Nancy is from Singapore, who represents a large company and plans to source some products from Yiwu. Before she came, she thought that Yiwu market is something like a fair or trade exhibition. She can easily import directly by speaking to the sellers there. She was greatly disappointed to found out that 95% of the people in the market are not ready to export directly. They don’t have export licenses, don’t know anything about FOB price, and most of them even don’t speak English! How Yiwu market works? Factories (or sheer agents) have their shops/showrooms set up inside the market. They sell the products they produce/ represent. Usually two people are working inside the shops. One is “boss”, the other is “assistant”. In most cases, the “boss” is the factory owner’s wife, daughter, or close relatives, someone the factory owner can completely trust. The “assistant” is usually a girl they employed, who can speak some English and know how to use a computer. “Boss” usually don’t speak any English and knows little about foreign trade. Their job is to keep everything under control. To keep the overall cost down, the “shop assistant” is usually high school graduates or college graduates. They don’t have much knowledge about foreign trade either. So the shops here just put whatever available inside, and sell. That’s it. They are happy with this. To export directly to overseas buyers is not something they’re happy to do, or able to do. So here comes the question: How to buy from Yiwu market? In most cases, you have to use an yiwu agent to assist you with all the sourcing activities. They can arrange your visit, accompany you to the market to browse, then collect orders, do inspection, and finally ship out your products. Of course, agents will usually charge a commission from 1% – 5% of your total purchase value, according what you buy and how much you buy. >>Yiwu Sourcing Commission *The good things about using an agent: Obvious enough, an agent can make things much easier for you. Sourcing from Yiwu without an agent is nearly a “Mission Impossible”. You have no warehouse to collect your orders, no title to ship out your containers, and no one do inspection. And agents can also help you get cheaper prices sometimes because they have connections with suppliers. They buy a lot from suppliers and suppliers are also willing to offer a discount because agents help them sell. *The bad things about using an agent: This only comes when you stay with a “bad” agent. You may find that almost every agent’s site promises MIRACLES. In fact, the reality is quite different. Most agents are inexperienced, incapable, have no connections, have no warehouses, tell lies, make mistakes, create additional costs, waste time, and choose slow cheap container lines…. (I’ll try to write another article about how to select a good agent according to my humble experiences later.) Suggestions: Come to Yiwu for a visit if possible Personally, I would recommend each buyer come to Yiwu for a visit to see things by themselves. This is crucial to their business success. Firstly, buyers know their market far better than their agents. They can select the right products at a right price. If they stay with an agent, there can be lots of mis-communications and time waste. Buyers can also discover new opportunities. Agents just don’t have the buyer’s eyes. And I don’t think agents can show all the opportunities of this huge market, just by emails, phones talks and live chat. Secondly, buyers can know the fact at some extent. They can excess to information like price and new arrivals. They can explain exactly what they want and show the agents/factories how to do in the future. They can also make quicker decisions. Thirdly, information online or you get from somewhere else usually turn to be junks. You spend lots of time and energy, but without any positive results in the end. Above is just a quick overview of how to buy from Yiwu market. Of course, you can set up your own buying office and even register your own business if your business already reached a certain level .I’ll put on more information about how to buy from Yiwu later on.

How to get a good price from Yiwu market? Despite the fact that most of the prices in Yiwu market are already cheap cheap, people are still keen on the answers to this question. All right, here are a few tips: #1 Find a reliable and professional yiwu market sourcing agent.Get rid of the dipping (price increase caused by your agent) to get a better price from Yiwu market. There are many yiwu agent in yiwu China. You should find a reliable and professional yiwu market sourcing agent. A experienced agent knows which shop is best, cheaper price and better quality. A reliable agent will not get kickbaks and the commission is affordable. You need not pay high to 10% ~ 30%commission. What is reasonable? 1% ~ 5%. >> yiwu sourcing commission #2 Buy bulky to get a better price from Yiwu market. You can always have better prices if you can buy bulky from the market. For example, one container of straws, then you may get a 3% discount off. If you just buy a few cartons, there would be very limited space for bargain. So try to buy bulky to have a better discount. #3 Pay off the balance while collecting your orders. Many suppliers are willing to offer a slight discount if you can pay off the balance upon goods delivery, so they don’t need to keep a big cash flow. Now this method doesn’t work so well because of the financial crisis. Most suppliers now ONLY “grab cash” as they say. #4 Compare to get the lowest price form Yiwu market This is a huge market for zillions of products. Suppliers are competing to keep the price within a reasonable range. So it is always a good idea to compare if you have enough time. I’m sure you can always have a better price if you compare 10+ shops for one same product. Hope these few tips can help you get a good price from Yiwu market. I’ll keep posting more tips about how to get the best price from Yiwu market here as time goes by.

How to send a parcel / box / carton back home from Yiwu? I have bought three 3 luggage of jewelry and watches, it is about 95kgs. How can I send them back to home from Yiwu? This Is A True Story: Cristina is from Switzerland. She bought a 20 kg parcel of stones from Yiwu market, and then realized she had to send this parcel back home by courier. Her hotel couldn’t help her then she left me a message on this site. “If I cannot find a cheaper way to send this parcel back home, I may just give it to someone” Because the prices in Yiwu market are so fascinating that people just keep buying and forget the weight. In the end, they realize that the courier fees are more expensive than the goods themselves. And it’s too heavy for them to carry along. “How can I send this back home at a cheaper price?” #1 Let an import and export agent help you send out if you have one or can find one. These agents use couriers the most, so they always know how to send out your parcel at a cheaper price. In fact, many of them are partners of couriers like FedEx, DHL, TNT, UPS, EMS… They can have discount as low as 55% off sometimes. #2 Call FedEx or DHL and let them come to your hotel to collect your parcel.In Yiwu, you can only call these two because other couriers either don’t have an office in Yiwu or don’t come to your hotel to collect your parcel. Here are the toll free hotlines: FedEx: 800-988-1888(for fixed line phones); 400-886-1888(for mobile phones) DHL: 800-810-8000(for fixed line phones); 400-810-8000(for mobile phones AND fixed line phones) *you’d better check out all the prices and discounts via above phone no., their courier boys usually don’t speak any English. #3 Go to China Post office and send your parcel from there.If you have a big parcel and you want to send out cheap, and you don’t care much about time and security, then China Post would a nice choice for you. You can go to their office and send out your parcel directly. I usually send at here: No. 458, Chouzhou North Rd. This office is not far away from the main market – Yiwu International Trade City. AND it’s just beside Yiwu Binwang Market. 6 RMB taxi fees would take you here from Yiwu International Trade City. Here is the Chinese address: 稠州北路 458号 宾王邮局 Of course, I’ll always be happy to assist you send your parcel back home from Yiwu. We usually use FedEx, TNT, UPS, DHL and EMS as our partners. You can just leave me a message on this site then we’ll stay in touch. Hope this how to send a parcel back home from Yiwu article helps you send your parcel / box / carton from Yiwu hassle free.

FCL means full containers load, LCL means less than container load. Ship by FCL/ LCL sea from Yiwu to worldwide is very cheap. Ship by FCL(full container load) from Yiwu: This is the way that most buyers like to use because it’s so much cheaper and secure to ship by a full container. It’s also very easy to operate: get all your suppliers, no matter a few or a dozen, deliver all your products to your Yiwu Agent warehouse, then let the container go to the warehouse, get loaded and shipped. You open that container in the warehouse at your destination port or even in your own warehouse. Buyers usually use a trade agent to do this. Trade agents will do everything: collect goods, do QC, provide warehouse/load men, arrange customs declaration, prepare documents …and follow up the whole process. The charges of trade agents for this part of service are usually included in their commission which you both agreed. AND you don’t need to worry that much about what should be filled in your container. Yiwu market has zillions of products for you to choose from, a few cartons of this and a few cartons of that can easily fill up a 20 feet(28 cubic meter), if not a 40 feet container. The easiest way my clients using is filling some disposable foam food containers to fill up the extra space. Only around 45 USD/CBM (cubic meter), but they are popular products you can sell out with no problems. These foam containers are very light and can also be used to protect your expensive products. In most cases, you’ll also need a customs clearance agent/forwarder at your destination port to help you with the clearance and handling. And you’d better also know the restrictions (if any) and solutions for importing your products into your country before shipping your container from Yiwu. Customs and customs clearance agents of your port can help that with no problem. Ship by LCL(less than container load) from Yiwu: If you tried but still cannot fill up 15 CBM (an experience data, if you have less than 15 CBM, It’s better to ship by LCL; if more than 15 CBM, go for a 20 feet container. You can obtain the exact data from your destination port), then you may consider using LCL. The process is more or less the same with shipping by FCL, but you need to have a mark on each carton. It’s really cheap to ship this out from Yiwu, but the handling charges at your destination fees are usually very high. This is all about how to ship by FCL (full container load) and LCL(less than container load) from Yiwu. Hope it helps.

Yiwu QC (Quality Control) - you can’t be wrong if you’re too careful Too many times, you would hear how huge Yiwu market is and how rich the variety there is, and how cheap the prices are. I’m sure you also heard of lots of scary stories of Yiwu suppliers(or China suppliers). I have to stress here again: QC is VERY important for your importing business from Yiwu. After one year of sourcing from Yiwu market, I’d like to share with you the lessons we learned from our experience. #1 Open each carton AND each pack, check as more as you can. #2 Don’t let anyone who don’t know your products collect your order and do QC, unless they have a physical sample in hand. Unhappy Stories: During the past year, we had several unhappy experiences with some of the suppliers. One of our US clients came to Yiwu last December and ordered 1,200 pcs paddle brushes as a trial order. Our client were very happy with the quality of the samples, so we placed the order, after a long wait, the brushes finally arrived in our warehouse. The supplier promised us. “No problem, there will be absolutely no problem with the quality of these brushes, your customer will be happy” “You can relax!” I checked a few pcs of each carton, they looked nice. So I paid them. But when our people were tagging these brushes, problems came one by one. #1 some of the logos were badly printed, the outer layer of paint can easily go off after a few touches. #2 there was a detachment imperfection on the side of some brushes. #3 two cartons arrived unsealed, with 1 piece missing of each carton. We thought that were all the problems. Our client agreed to sell them for a discount. The supplier also could cooperate with offering a discount for these problem brushes. When more and more problem brushes got checked, I became more suspicious about their quality control. So I revisited their shop. After comparison with the original sample, I found a even bigger problem. They switched. The brushes they shipped were NOT the ones we ordered! They’re only similar products, but the quality is of two different levels. We had to return all these brushes because they cannot replace them. They even can’t agree for selling all these brushes to us as a discounted price. “We’ll probably throw one or two of them to each cartons and ship it to other customers later” As they told me. Very sad story. Our client waited for more than 3 months… We have to source new substitutes for them again. A big waste for everyone! Imagine what will happen if no one there to do proper QC. You will pay all the shipping cost … Scary! So the lesson we learned from this case is: open each carton and each pack, don’t listen to any promises from the supplier. Mistakes like wrong color, wrong printing and wrong packing can ALWAYS happen here and there. 3 Set Of Physical Samples: Another mistake that buyer can often make is placing the orders by themselves, but let someone else do the QC and collect their goods later, without leaving any physical samples to QC people. This could be a disaster to both buyer and the people who is going to do QC. Because in most cases, the QC people don’t know what the products exactly are! As a result, many problem products will be shipped to buyer, then… What we learn from these cases is “use the same person to follow up the order”, try to reduce these problems to its lowest level. Or have “3 set of physical samples” – One goes to buyer, one goes to QC people, one for factory for production. Hope the lessons we learned can be useful to you too. And you won’t need to learn these lessons again.

Yiwu Sourcing Packaging Tips -Good Price And Good Quality Must Go With GOOD Packaging! One thing that many buyers, esp. new buyers often neglect is packaging. They often spend so much time and energy on good price and good quality, but overlook good packaging. Good packaging is very important to avoid damages. One of our clients from Saudi Arabic ordered some crystal trophies. He paid the deposit and went back home without specify packing requirements. What he told the factory was “make sure you use the best packaging to avoid damages”. What the factory boss promised him was “no worry, they will never break. We’re experienced!” When the factory delivered trophies to our warehouse, we examined the packaging and told him our concerns that the packaging may not be endurable enough. The boss told us that he could not find the right packing supplier because holiday is approaching. And he promised us that the packaging he used was good enough. Considering the fact that he sells trophies for a long time, and it’s close to holiday, our client needs these trophies urgently… So we let them go. In fact, that was the only option for us at that time. Then misfortune happened: Our client emailed us that the small and mid-sized trophies were nearly all damaged when we were still on holiday. Now we’re busy looking for replacements and discussing how to pay for the damages… Don’t expect a small piece of “fragile” label can save your fragile products. From my experience, plenty of load men just overlook that label intentionally, or unintentionally. They just load using the best way to save their energy, if there is no one to watch them. There are many groups of load men on the way to handle your products at different destinations. You can imagine how dangerous if your products are not properly packed. Surely, you don’t want to open your cartons at your warehouse, and have some nasty surprises. So here is my suggestion regarding packaging if you’re sourcing from Yiwu: While you’re discussing price and quality next time, DO discuss packaging as well. Good price and good quality must go with GOOD packaging!

Customs Clearance Tips for Import from Yiwu China Read in Advance: ————————————————————- In most cases, you’ll need a customs clearance agent / shipping agent help you clear your orders when they arrive in unless your China agent can arrange door-to-door shipping service for you. This article is only for those who have never imported from Yiwu / China. However, if you just want to import a few ctns or a few pcs, you don’t need to read this article either. They can simply be shipped via courier like UPS and DHL. Ask Your CC Agent (Customs Clearance Agent) before Going to China: ————————————————————- Different countries have different regulations and limitations for importing certain products. Different cc agent will have different practical ways to help you with clearance. So, you will need to talk to several good customs agents, before you come to China, to know what their suggestions are for the products you plan to import. What are the certificates the customs require? What are the practical ways to handle different situations? … This is not a 1-minute talk. You will need to obtain detailed, solid information as more as you can. This is very important because you can save a lot of time and money by doing this. Ask Your CC Agent before Placing Your Orders: ————————————————————- Once you’re back with a preliminary order list in hand, you should talk again with your agent. Tell them specifically what products are on your list. How they can help clear these products and what are the cost. By doing this, you can know what you’re going to order won’t be confiscated by the customs. And you don’t need to pay extra cost. Ask Your CC Agent after Your Products Finished Loading: ————————————————————- Once all your products are collected and loaded. Your agent in China will know the numbers like total ctns, gross weight, item names… and they’re going to make the customs papers for you. The requirements for different products are usually different. The purpose of this talk with your CC agent is to know: “How to make right papers?” “What are the requirements and what are the practical ways to meet these requirements?” “Which data must be exactly the same? Which data can be less accurate?” … Then pass all these info to your China agent for making correct papers. After doing this, you can sit and wait for your products to arrive in, without worrying that they can get stuck in the customs. Ask these 3 asks, have these 3 talks. You will have a smooth transaction through your customs. And your China agent can also offer some useful suggestions based on their experiences. Don’t forget them Do your due diligence. This is a once-off work. Things will be much easier for your next order.

The merchandise in Yiwu market is the cheapest in the world. A pair of socks: US$2+ in US, US$0.2 in Yiwu. A pair of sneakers: US$20 in US, US$2.5 in Yiwu. Kitchen Knife Sets: US$49 in US, US$6 in Yiwu. Almost every product is on sale for about one-half, one-third, or one-tenth of the lowest price available in the cheapest discount stores of Europe and America. What’s more, the quality of these items seemed in no way inferior to the products on sale in store around the world. In many cases, in fact, they are the same goods. Why Yiwu market can keep such low prices? #1 A Huge, Cheap Supplier Base Yiwu with its neighborhoods forms the largest private/family owned factory base in China. After 20 years of running their machines day and night, they already fished off many factories in Europe and America. Now they are the most efficient manufactures in the world for socks, buttons, zippers, straws, plush toys, jewelry accessories, hardware and tools… What’s more, they’re not only the largest, but also the cheapest. Let’s see have a look at Mr. Jinwu’s factory: Mr. Jinwu’s house, a 4 store building of around 800 m2 with a yard, was built 7 years ago. Now the first floor is his warehouse and workshops, the second floor part as his office and part as workshops, the third floor is where his family live, and the fourth floor is dorms for his workers. They produce sun caps according to orders. When there are no orders, these workers doing other part-time jobs. Mr. Jinwu pays electricity and water at residential rate, instead of industrial rate. That’s to say, he pays 50%-40% less on electricity and water every month than other factories located in industry zones. Plus zero house rental, zero insurance and medical care cost for his workers… You can imagine how competitive his price is! There are tens of thousands of factories like this in and around Yiwu. How could anyone else beat them on prices? # 2 Scale Effect As so many factories get together, including many big ones, the scale effect shows its power. Logistics cost, marketing cost reduced. Parts, accessories, materials, even production lines prices all reduced significantly. The more factories arise, the lower prices there will be. # 3 Big Battleground As Yiwu market became the world largest wholesale market for daily using items, more and more factories, not only factories from nearby areas, but also factories from all over China, are putting their products on this market, to fight for a bigger share. These ruthless competitions ended up with a 2-3% profit margin for many products. # 4 Strong Government Support While all China looked free market as an evil character of capitalism, Yiwu already opened its free market in 1982, which is one of the earliest free markets in whole China. In the last 30 years, Yiwu government put almost all their money and energy to build markets. Then rent shops to venders at very low rentals. Private companies are not allowed to get into market building business. All markets in Yiwu are built by government and run by a government appointed company. In this way, Yiwu attracts more and more vendors from all over China by its low shop rentals. As a result, factories from cities like Wenzhou, Ningbo, Shantou, even Guangzhou, where tons and tons of products were produced each day for exporting, came to Yiwu market in flocks to sell their products. Yiwu market offers most-favored-vendor treatment to factory outlet centers. In recent years, they put more efforts bringing in more national top brands and global brands, all in the most favored treatment, to improve products quality level. With these strong backup from government, Yiwu market kept prices at an extremely low level for three decades in the past. And there shows no signals that this situation will change soon. # 5 “One-Cent-Profit” Making Money Businessmen of Yiwu and its nearby areas are famous for hard-working and agility. They’re keen on every “one-cent-profit” businesses opportunity . For example, the profit of one sewing needle is just about 1/10 cent RMB, the profit of one straw is just 1 cent RBM. But if you can sell containers of them in one month, you can still earn a descent profit. As long as there is a profit, no matter big or small. These so called “ants businessmen” would desperately go for it. This is probably one of the most important reasons why Yiwu market has such cheap prices.