Many small and medium-sized sellers of Amazon, or new sellers, do not know how to import from China and sell on their own Amazon website, losing a lot of money and even many foreign customers are afraid to try amazon sales. In fact, the process is not as complicated as you think, just 11 tips, you can master this skill.
Next, we’ll help you analyze each step carefully to make sure you really understand it.
Prepare some questions to ask yourself
Before everything starts, you need to ask yourself a few questions so that you can prepare ahead of time if you encounter problems later.
What product should I sell first?
How do I know to find a trustworthy supplier?
How can I avoid scams?
How to negotiate with China supplier to get a lower price?
What’s a good payment method?
How to arrange the shipment?
Identify products you source from China
- Go with a product you like – you are passionate about your work
- Go with a product uniqueness – you can sell at a high price
- Go with a product you can ship in large quantities – low shipping cost per unit
2. Analyze Amazon the best sellers
You need to go through the data and choose the right products to sell on Amazon. Get good traffic and good orders.
3. Make the most of this tool: JUNGLE SCOUT PRO EXTENSION
From blow picture, you can read the data carefully.
Understand the import regulations, precautions, and trade terms of the products
Certain goods are not allowed to be imported. Different countries have different prohibited products. Also make sure whether the goods you intend to import are subject to any permits, restrictions or regulations by your government.
It is the importer’s responsibility for assuring that the goods comply with a variety of specific rules and regulations.
Importing goods that are unsafe, that fail to meet health code requirements, or that violate restrictions could end up costing you quite a bit of money in fines and penalties. At the very least, such goods would be detained and possibly destroyed. And you need to know the different trade terms, like FOB, CIF, CFR and so on, you should know how to choose these trade term. What is FOB shipping?
Our little advice to you：
If you are brand new, let the supplier handle the delivery as far as possible. Then you can focus on booming your business. Simple but costly.
If you have gained some experiences, then you can try to control your goods delivery through a forwarder by yourself. Simple and cheap.
Find a good China suppliers
After choosing the right product, you need to find the right China supplier.
First, you need to know the type of supplier and then choose the method to find the China supplier.
1. Types of China suppliers
There are 3 styles China suppliers, manufacturer, trading company and sourcing agent. We will explain to you one by one.
Factories: China factories are the earliest existence of China suppliers. These suppliers have their own factories. They set up factories, buy machines, hire workers and are at the forefront of production.
Trading Company: Trading companies are between customers and factories, playing a coordinating & management role. China trading companies are highly focused on one commodity category and have a strong logistics organization.
Sourcing agent: This is a new type of China supplier. The China sourcing agent is more like the Chinese representative of foreign sellers, helping to solve a series of things importing from China.
You can check our previous article: Factories, Trading Company, and Sourcing Agents Which one is suited for your Amazon small business?
Our little advice to you：
A sourcing agent is better for small to medium business sellers because they often have small order quantities or even lack of importing experience. If you work with China sourcing agent, you can get:
Different product categories purchased from multiple platforms
The products purchased by Chinese agents are no longer the products of a single or a single commodity category, but hundreds of products purchased on multiple platforms at the same time. You can purchase on Alibaba, Amazon, 1688, Taobao etc.
Relatively lower price and lower MOQ
China sourcing agent has a strong supply chain system, as they already cooperated for many years, they can help you get the lower price and lower MOQ. You will gain more competition than your peers.
TEM-8 TOP English ability
The salesmen here are usually English majors with excellent English expression and writing skills, they can help you communicate with suppliers smoothly.
In-house inspector
China sourcing agent has its own inspector to help you inspect the samples and production.
Great Stability
Once you choose a China agent, he will represent you in China and do his best to help you deal with things, the stability is great.
2. The method that finding a good China supplier
You can find suppliers using online outsourcing directories or professional sourcing companies. Some good places to start include Alibaba.com, China.cn, and Analema International.
1) You can visit trade fairs (two trades shows in China are worth mentioning, Canton Fair and East China Fair), search suppliers on Google Map, check customs data, go to local wholesale market, filter sellers on retail sites and use many other ways to find potential suppliers.
2) If you don’t have much experience dealing directly with suppliers in China, another option is to seek the help of a commission-based China sourcing agent or sourcing service provider. However, the fee can range from 3 to 15% of the purchase price. Be aware that there might also be hidden commissions between sourcing agents and Chinese manufacturers. The biggest benefit of working with a good agent(RunSourcing) is its network and relationship with the qualified and trustworthy manufacturers, whom you might find hard to access on your own. If you decide to go this route, after working with sourcing agents a few times and familiarizing yourself with the process, you can eventually manage your own deals without their help. Of course, if you can continue to work with sourcing agent, they can give you more customized services.
3) You can find China supplier online. you can check the article: Looking for Top 5 Best China Wholesale Website That Can Be Trust
Ask to see samples
You’ll want to place a small sample order to test & validate your product. This is part of the ‘secret sauce’ that most new entrepreneurs miss.
Before place bulk order you should order around 20pcs to test the market. You should know pretty quickly if you are making money and what the problem areas are. Within a month it should be painfully apparent if you need to find a new product or if you should scale up your current product.
If you can’t make a profit with your product on those sales channels, then I don’t think it is worth it to put any more effort into that specific product, and I would look for another product to sell. Given that you are finding success with your product and have no deadly hiccups, let’s move on to scaling this baby up.
Place a trial order
Place your order with the vendor, shipper or exporter and identify shipping terms that will be used.
Once you have selected your supplier, request a P/I (Proforma Invoice or Quote Sheet) for your prospective purchases to include the harmonized system number, description & value per item. Your P/I must show the weight & the packed dimensions as well as your term of purchase.
When you place the order to China supplier, our little advice you should not:
1. Always looking for the lowest price.
If you come across a quote that is significantly cheaper than the others, raise a red flag. You should know that there is no lowest price in China, only the lower and lower prices. Lowest price always accompanies with high risk, maybe quality, quantity or reputation.
2. Failure to clarify product details.
If you aren’t extremely clear to your supplier about your required specifications, there is a big chance you would receive exactly what you didn’t want. Not clear means the factory will make the decision for you based on cost saving.
Confirm payment method and delivery time
There are many costs associated with shipping goods, including container fees, packaging, terminal handling, and broker fees. In order to get a complete picture of shipping costs, each of these factors should be taken into account.
Check the details:
1. Top 2 things to consider when shipping from China
2. Sea freight
3. Air freight
4. Courier service
Below are some payment methods, they have advantage and disadvantages, you can choose according to your requirements.
| PAYMENT METHOD | ADVANTAGES | DISADVANTAGES |
|---|---|---|
| T/T |
1. Accepted by all suppliers with a bank account
2. Low cost
|
1. Requires an upfront deposit payment
2. No payment protection
|
| L/C |
1. No deposit payment required
2. Puts pressure on the supplier to comply with buyer requirements
|
1. Rarely accepted for very small orders (e.g. Below $30,000)
2. Not accepted by all suppliers
3. High fees
|
| Alibaba TA |
1. Integrated with Alibaba’s supplier directory
2. Funds are withheld by Alibaba until the buyer ‘approves’ the goods
|
1. Not accepted by all Alibaba suppliers
|
| PayPal |
1. Suitable for very small transactions (e.g. Sample orders)
2. Fast. Payments arrive instantly.
|
1. Not accepted by all suppliers
2. High fees
|
Inform the label requirements
Amazon has the label they require, you need to inform the China supplier in advance to paste the label as required. Otherwise, the FBA warehouse will reject the goods.
Arrange product inspection
After the production is completed, it’s time to send in the Quality Inspection agent. This will at least cause a delay of one to two working days, assuming everything is fine and there’s no need for remakes or repairs, in which case the shipment could be delayed for another month or two.
You may also need to verify that your items are compliant with the applicable product regulations (e.g. California Proposition 65). As of today, compliance cannot be verified on site by a Quality Inspection agent.
Instead, you, or the inspector, must submit batch samples to a product testing laboratory, such as SGS or Bureau Veritas. It usually takes 7 to 12 days, before the test results are back.
Transport to FBA or your destination
There are many costs associated with shipping goods, including container fees, packaging, terminal handling, and broker fees. In order to get a complete picture of shipping costs, each of these factors should be taken into account.
Once happy with the freight quote, you will need to send us or forwarder your supplier’s contact details. We’ll take it from there. We’re going to keep close touch with you and your supplier, make sure your shipment transportation quick and safe.
Check the details:
1. Top 2 things to consider when shipping from China
2. Sea freight
3. Air freight4. Courier service
Upload products and sell customers
After receiving the product, you need to immediately put it on the shelf and sell it to customers, and deal with their after-sales problems by giving you feedback
Conclusion
Hope our article can help you. If you have any questions, please leave us a message. We will reply to you soon.
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