Sourcing Mistakes When Importing from China

Estimated reading time: 13 minutes

Hey, importers! Did you ever make mistakes when importing from China？

Every importer or Amazon FBA Seller has unique stories when buying wholesale from the Chinese market.

It suddenly popped into my mind: Why not sort out all the common mistakes and share them with the people who are engaged in Chinese trade? We need to source products competitively when we sell on Amazon, but making mistakes causes extra costs.

By reading this post, you can avoid the four types of primary mistakes when importing from China.

Companies need to embrace the Internet in the future deeply, and we’d like to share more about how to drive value in overseas markets.

Common sourcing mistakes when importing from China – Get it at a glance

• Choosing the Wrong Supplier
• Skipping Sample Orders
• Failure to Authenticate the Supplier
• Omitting Quality Inspections
• Overriding Import Rules
• Skipping and Not Verifying the Supplier
• Neglecting Order Monitoring
• Lacking Formal Agreements
• Overlooking the Chinese New Year
• Selecting the Wrong Product
• Rushing Your Order
• Not Comparing Suppliers and Products
• Setting Unrealistic Expectations
• Skipping Shipment Insurance

Now it’s time to examine deeply the sourcing mistakes when importing from China:

NO.1 Lack of Understanding of China

A large portion of the best-selling products on Amazon are made in China. Even the top Amazon FBA sellers are buying from Chinese vendors.

However, it seems that the lack of understanding of China occurred widely in Western countries. To learn something about the country you are going to navigate is essential, especially when you want to import or export to China. This is a market which has 1.4 billion people.

a) A good understanding of Chinese Culture will be helpful

What is the purpose you came to China? The answer is simple: the Chinese wholesale market is the place where you can find a variety of products at a reasonable price. You want to find out the best things to sell on Amazon or retail stores and generate revenue.

But before you navigate the new territory, do you have a basic idea of Chinese culture and the people there?

Here are several typical examples:

1. Cold water or hot water:  Both sides feel it’s weird to see others when they are drinking water. You know how much the Chinese people love to have hot water, but you can hardly get hot water when you are in Western countries.

Anyway, there is no black or white about it, and all about tradition.

2. Face means Everything: You must give faces to Chinese suppliers, especially when you meet business owners. You would benefit from that when you need support from those Chinese vendors.

Who made the decisions in those Chinese organizations? The owners decide everything! If you find it’s a hassle to talk with the merchandiser or salespeople when you negotiate the business terms, then just go straight to their senior-level person for a solution. I believe it can save you time. This resource will help you gain valuable insights into effectively negotiating with Chinese suppliers.

3. Chinese Dinner Table Culture: I met many times when there was still a lot of food left on the table after dinner with Chinese vendors because they ordered too much.

Don’t just think the Chinese are wasting food. This is part of Chinese culture: China vendors would leave some food on the table and then eat everything. Why is that? Because they think it is an excellent time to show the generous and enhance cooperation.

And meanwhile, if a Chinese toast on you, you’d better show your respect and drink as much as you can…especially for the first time you met. (My suggestion is if you don’t enjoy the alcohol, just let them know at the beginning.)

In Chinese culture, drinking together and sharing more on the table is important. It’s time to test and feel if the other people are worth trusting or driving to a deep partnership.

The Chinese vendors would remember or recall the moment, especially the “drinking happy hour” with you (their client).

And they might tag on you after enjoying the drinking hour together: there is no black or white when referring to any of the below cases.

1. Drink a lot with them: Maybe worth supporting you more in the business field.
2.  Drink a little: Still need time to strengthen the relationship.
3.  Not drinking at all: the client just doesn’t like drinking, and next time No need to prepare the alcohol.

Have you experienced that? Share with us the interesting stories you have!

My tip here is: do not overconsumption the Chinese spirits（BAI JIU), it’s very strong!!

Let them know that you need to back to work, so just beers or red wines are perfect.

b) Understand the Chinese People’s Character

1. Direct or Indirect Answers: You may rarely hear “No” when you are chatting with your China suppliers about your order details.

Why the Chinese vendors always say “ YES, NO PROBLEM, SURE, OF COURSE”?

It’s all about the Chinese personality: they don’t want to offend you even if they disagree. It’s just because of the character, which means do not offend someone unless that’s essential or have to.

My tip here is that don’t overtrust when you hear ” YES” from Chinese vendors. It may be caused by the language barrier or caused by Chinese personality.

You need to have written proof or confirmation in emails about the details of your orders. The Chinese believe the written terms rather than oral ones.

2. Can’t Take a Compliment for Granted: It’s not strange a situation like below happened in China:

” Hey Mike, you did an excellent job designing these artworks!”

” No, no, actually, my friend Tom gave me the inspiration about how to create artwork for this theme.”

The Chinese people just can’t take a compliment for granted. Why? It’s part of Chinese culture.

Chinese culture made people stay humble instead of showing themselves.

3. The Doctrine of Golden Mean: Chinese ancient philosophy is a theory of  Yin and Yang. By this theory, China does not have a strict concept of good and evil, right and wrong.

Understanding Chinese philosophy helps you to be aware of Chinese personality. Therefore, you can be better engaged with them when you are doing China import and export business.

c) Good Geographic Knowledge in China Helps You Find the Resource

You need to know how to buy from China. When you get to find China’s resource distribution map. You’ll know where to find the ideal product.

For example, you want to sell stuff on Amazon and start with toys.

You need to know Shantou City is the toy capital, and you can find all types of toy manufacturers there.

For further information, read this article: “How to Find the Best Toy Manufacturers in China? ” or “Factory Distribution in the East of China“.

d) Not Enough Understanding of the English Level in this Country

Some customers told me that language was still a barrier when they were trying to explore more in this territory: China.

That’s right because China is still a developing country and a poor Asian country in general.

However many Chinese who are engaged in the import and export industry can speak English. (but at a different level)

It would not be difficult for you to explore the China Fair like the Canton Fair or HK Fair. The vendor’s salesman or merchandiser can speak English, and it’s no problem to communicate with them about product details.

Don’t overthink the language barrier in China would stop you, and you can achieve more fruitful results than you expected.

In this part of the article, I suggest you read more about the advantages of cooperation with Chinese sourcing agencies.

NO.2 Not Enough Experience When Dealing with Chinese Vendors

China products are attractive to Amazon FBA sellers as they can find the best items sold on Amazon. A lot of the hot-selling Amazon products are manufactured in China.

However, it’s not easy for overseas buyers when they are implementing purchase orders or sourcing products from China.

From my point of view, it needs a lot of practice until you train yourself to be an expert when buying and importing from China.

In this section, I will share the common mistakes when global importers are buying wholesalers from the Chinese market.

1. Think of a B2B E-commerce Wholesale Site like Alibaba 

It’s a trend, and people are already used to sourcing products or vendors on wholesale websites like Alibaba. These Chinese wholesale websites become the primary source for finding the top-selling items on Amazon.

And a lot of Amazon merchants/importers pretty much rely on the result page displayed on those wholesale sites.

But do you know the reality is that Chinese vendors are paying to list their products/services on the 1st result page?

What does that mean? The vendors who are listing on the 1st result page may not be the best option and only because they paid for the premium listing position on the result page.

2. Too Much Reliance on the Vendors You Met in China Fairs

No question that participating in an extensive Trade Show like the Canton Fair is worth doing when you need to buy and import from China.

In those China Fairs, you can see a lot of products sold by Amazon, and now you understand where they come from…

Is it an exciting moment?

It happened that the fresh importers who lacked experience would quickly place the order at the Canton Fair because they thought the Chinese vendor they met was just perfect. I would suggest investing more time to make the final decision.

Do not assume that all the great vendors are joining the Canton Fair. Use the China Fair as an excellent opportunity to have more ideas about the products, viewing the new samples there and checking the pricing range will do good for your China import business.

There are a lot of excellent Chinese vendors who didn’t attend the China Fairs.

3. Think Working with a China Factory is the Best Option 

Is purchasing from a China factory instead of a trading company or sourcing agent would be the best option? It depends…

I saw many international buyers pursuing working with Chinese factories directly to achieve the best price. I do believe that if you can coordinate with a specific factory very well, then you will benefit from long-term cooperation.

It is based on whether you have enough skills and time to manage the whole ordering process and the experience to evaluate each specific factory.

Three questions here you can ask yourself when buying in bulk from China:

1. Why those factories, especially the top one, would like to work with you?
2. Do you have the buying power, and the order volume/value attractive enough for those factories?
3. Who dominates the specific industry now? (if the product is exclusive and few vendors can make it then it’s the seller who dominates the market)

You will get an idea of whether you should go factory directly after you reply to these three questions. I would suggest finding the vendors who fit your business well is the best option!

4. Consider Price is the Only Critical Factor

Some Alibaba sellers shared with me, ” We don’t like the Amazon FBA sellers who just want to get the lowest price or only focus on the price.”

There is a saying in the Chinese wholesale market “ There is no lowest price but lower price only…” The wholesalers or manufacturers know how to control the cost by using different raw materials. The point here is all about the QUALITY. You pay what you get.

I never bought from the cheapest offer when I received the various quotations because I do believe that the sheep wool comes from the sheep.

We consider the pricing of China items to be important but not the only critical factor.

5. Skip the Quality Inspection

What’s the most crucial thing in your mind when importing from China?

Maybe my answer is ” the quality.” The healthy cash flow of your online store is based on the excellent quality of your product, which keeps generating value for your business. Please pay attention to quality control in China.

You need to focus on details when importing or buying wholesale from China vendors.

The Amazon best sellers would never skip the quality inspection before shipments. Unless for the repeat orders, and you have established good business relationships with your supplier.

NO.3 Didn’t Adapt Yourself to the Chinese Business Environment 

After reviewing many successful stories of foreign cooperations in China, I found they have a common feature: adapted themselves well to the local environment while implementing their business strategy.

a) Think all the Chinese companies would screw up your business and not be trusted

The scam happened everywhere on this planet, and China is not an exception. You came here the pursue the profit. Do not magnify the negative parts of doing business in China, which would affect you to be more successful in developing the import business.

Most Chinese vendors are reliable and want to develop business relationships with you instead of screwing up your business. Otherwise, China could not emerge as a world factory.

b) Implement the Same Purchasing Process when Buying from Your Countries and China

You may be equipped with enough buying experience when conducting purchase orders with local vendors in your country.

Some of the experience is still workable when towards the  Chinese vendors. Why did I say only “SOME” of them are useful?

It’s simple: because the Chinese are speaking Mandarin and Americans speak English, they are different!

You need to focus on every detail when buying from China; otherwise, it may turn out to be a different result as you expected.

c) Sometimes a little Aggressive is Necessary

I have a Canadian friend John who’s buying from China, and he is a real gentleman.

He told me that he kept waiting for the response from the China vendor but still didn’t receive any reply about the order status after a week. John shows his patience, and I think his personality drives that.

If I were John, I would call the China vendor the next day if they don’t reply to me…Yep, sounds kind of aggressive.

But I would toast to them if the vendor can finish my order smoothly.

Keeping a little aggressive is necessary when handling your orders in China.

Adapting yourself to the business environment would greatly help you when you are buying from China.

NO.4 Lack of Import & Export Experience 

To start a China import project from beginning to end is a long and complicated process. It took months to get it implemented, and therefore you should come with essential import and export knowledge for your business.

If you’re ready to begin the product sourcing process in China, start with a reliable sourcing agent, reach out to our product sourcing service page, or contact us, and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours, supporting you every step of the way. 

a) Assume Sea Shipping is the Cheapest Option

Is sea shipping the cheapest option for international trading? Yes, if the total cubic meter of your imported goods meets the FCL (full container shipping) standard, then it’s the best option.

Otherwise, you need to evaluate your imported products by weight, cubic meter, and value…check with your shipping agents, then make your decision. Do not forget to check the freight both for air courier and air freight for reference. Additional information: Shipping from China to the US.

By the way, checking the import duty from China is essential before buying wholesale from overseas vendors.

b) Did not Analyze Your Product before Import from China

We do not suggest any Amazon sellers import products from China blindly.

What to sell on Amazon and how to sell on Amazon? You need to know things to buy.

Amazon’s top sellers always analyze their products before sourcing them from the wholesale market.

A qualified RFQ (request for quote) would help your Chinese vendors complete the quotes for you in a short time.

The RFQ details, such as the product material, dimension, packaging, local compliance, color, design, assortment…etc, are essential.

c) Selecting the Wrong Supplier to Work with Well begun is half-done

Fresh importers are easy to be trapped in working with suppliers who are not professionals in doing product manufacturing or providing excellent service.

Working with expert China sourcing agents like OwlSourcing will be the right solution when conducting your China sourcing work.

Contact us for more information if you start your US imports from China business.

Read More:

• How to Verify China Vendor?
• How to Set up A Valid Manufacturing Contract in China?
• Sourcing Agent on Alibaba
• How to Find Chinese Reliable Manufacturers
• Permits and Licenses When Importing from Asia

Final Thoughts

You came to China’s wholesale market to find the right product and make money on Amazon.

I hope you can have more ideas about how to avoid four types of Primary Mistakes when importing from China.

Also, you can contact us to find more solutions if you have any questions about Amazon Seller Tools, Amazon Seller Software, and other supportive Amazon services.

Please leave us a comment if you would have anything to share with us!