There are countless offers on the Internet claiming to offer goods to individuals at wholesale prices. The sad fact is that, despite their claims, most of these wholesale products companies already got the lowest possible prices on goods and are reselling them to you at a profit. You may wonder how it is possible that these companies can secure wholesale goods but you have to rely on them for your products.
In fact, you can get those wholesale goods without relying on drop shipping companies or overstock stores. The value of true wholesale goods goes well beyond price. When you can secure goods at the lowest prices without sacrificing quality, you can offer your customers far better service and selection than you could by relying on middlemen providers to receive your imported products.

Importing From China for Wholesale Goods

One of the best ways to make sure that you are getting true wholesale prices is to import your goods directly from the manufacturer in China. These prices are what the drop shipping company paid in the first place. Of course, in order to import the goods at wholesale prices, you need to be registered as a legal business. Drop shipping companies rely on people being inexperienced or afraid to take the step to create a legal business. However, once you do so, you can have access to true wholesale goods and can begin to compete with other big sellers on the market.

Other Benefits of True Wholesale Goods

When you buy goods at true wholesale prices, you can control the amount of mark up on these goods. This, in turn, allows you to compete in a variety of markets and venues without having to worry about making a profit. For example, you can take your true wholesale goods and, perhaps, even compete with used goods of the same quality at a flea market or trade show. With drop shipped goods, this sort of technique would likely not be possible – especially with specialized goods or electronics.
In addition, many true wholesale goods are designed and priced to be purchased in bulk, giving you much more control over the shipping costs and bottom price lines than you would have with drop shipping companies. If you know that you can corner a market with a specific product and can find it at a true wholesale prices (allowing you potential mark ups of 700 to 800%), there is no reason why you would not make the initial investment in importing such a product.

When many people think of importing from China, they assume that it is identical to drop shipping. However, there are several major differences with which you should be aware if you choose to begin importing your products from China. Importing from China versus drop shipping is an important consideration to any new entrepreneur. The differences in services and prices may very well make or break your overall business plan.

What is Drop Shipping?

Essentially, drop shipping is the process of shipping goods that are stored by a company to customers that are secured by a drop shipper. In essence, you choose a drop shipping company that imports and stores products and set up your store front to sell those products to your customers. After the sale, the drop shipping company will ship the goods to the customer as if they had purchased them from you. The drop shipping company handles all importing and pricing concerns.

What is Importing From China?

When you import goods from China, you take a hands on approach to the process of selling cheap goods at a significant mark up. The only process that you are not responsible for handling is the actual manufacture of the products. After that, you must choose a manufacturer, import the goods and set the prices yourself based on how much you paid to have them imported. Of course, you can hire the services of an importing specialist and other such important roles. However, you are in sole control and responsible for the proper importing of your product.

Which Should I Choose?

Well, although this can depend on a variety of factors such as experience and budget, the best overall route is to import the good yourself from a Chinese manufacturer. Drop shipping companies still charge a mark up on the products to cover their own costs. When you import large volumes from China, you can set your prices lower than you would with a drop shipping company. In addition, you have a much larger variety of venues at which you can sell your Chinese imported goods. Many drop shipping companies are not set up for you to sell at flea markets or trade shows. However, importing from China puts you in sole control of your products and how they are sold.

Budget Concerns with Importing From China

For the most part, you must have the money ready when you import from China. This is often not the case with drop shipping companies. Although there are a wide variety of funding options for importing from China, you may find yourself wanting to start an importing business but without the funding to do so. In this case, using a drop shipping company to supply the revenue you need to begin importing from China may be a good option. Remember, even having a credit card and only $500 to spend can get you well on your way to becoming a successful Chinese product importer.

An estimated $250 billion in Chinese products are imported into America each and every year. The majority of these goods are imported by large scale businesses for resale in chains like Family Dollar, Walmart and Target. With such competition, it can be difficult for the beginning Chinese importer to imagine becoming and eBay power seller or making a living solely by importing and reselling Chinese goods. The following 5 tips for a China importing beginner can help you gain some insight into how to properly handle the business.

1. Search for and Stick to Credible Manufacturers

   This goes beyond due diligence. Make absolutely sure that you can trust the Chinese manufacturer with which you will be dealing. This can go as far as to making a trip to China to personally visit the manufacturing facility to view the working conditions and meet the person that will be handling your products. A sign of good business to Chinese exporters, such a trip can quickly show you which manufacturers you can trust in China.

2. Become Familiar With Chinese and Business Terminology

   You can avoid some very costly mistakes by making sure that you are well versed in both business and Chinese terminology. If you mean to order one product but your exporter thinks that you mean something else entirely, you could find yourself with a shipment of products that you cannot sell to your customers. You must also know all of the terms associated with shipping products and performing transaction. If you are asked for a bill of lading but have no idea what such a document is, you could be in trouble.

3. Always Check Your Products For Quality

   Whenever you receive a shipment of goods, thoroughly inspect them to make sure that they are exactly what you thought that you would receive. If there are some differences in what you expected or needed, especially with products that are bound by safety guidelines, you could have a shipment of goods that you cannot resell.

4. Be Specific With Shipping Instructions

   When it is time to ship your products, you absolutely must make sure that you are specific about your shipping requirements. If you are importing fragile goods, they need to be marked and shipped as such. If you need added protection or palettes, make sure you specify that such precautions are necessary when the goods are shipped.

5. Get the Help That You Need

   If you are having difficulty handling the financial aspects of importing Chinese goods, it might be best to hire a part time accountant, especially as your business begins to grow. On the same note, if you would prefer to not deal directly with Chinese manufacturers, you can hire services from a importing broker to make the process quick and easy. If you do not have the knowledge or resources to handle a specific aspect of importing, don’t be afraid to hire someone to help you.

We are currently in the middle of constructing a new blog for Learn to Import from China. On this blog, you are going to find all of our recent news, along with tons of informational posts and tutorials, to help you further expand your Importing from China businesses. We are going to do our best to get a solid blog post up at least every other day, although we would really like to get a post up daily. Be sure to add us to your RSS reader, and do not forget to subscribe to our mailing list to get all of the upcoming updates and our free guide beginners guide! We will be sharing information with you on the following topics.

• China Importing News
• Marketing
• Sales
• Ebay
• Amazon
• Tutorials
• Tips
• Legal
• Much More!

Be on the lookout for upcoming blog posts, which will lead to this post being deleted. Bare with us, while we get this thing launched.

One of the best ways to verify a Chinese manufacturer is to pay them a visit in person. However, many beginning Chinese importers may not have the time or money to take a trip to China to perform due diligence. Luckily, there are various other techniques that you can use to check up on your Chinese manufacturer before making a financial commitment. Provided here is a basic overview on China Importing Background Checks.

Researching Contact Information

One of the first things that you can do to verify the existence of your Chinese manufacturer is to check on their contact information. Reliable Chinese manufacturers will provide a company telephone number rather than a personal or cell phone number. Take the time to call the company and verify that, first, there is a real person answering the phones.

Registered Corporate Number

Each legal company in Chinese territories is required to be registered with the Chinese government and receive an individual company code. You can use this code to verify that your Chinese manufacturer is a real company. If your chosen manufacturer does not provide this code, they are likely a scam. The Bureau of Industry and Commerce in China is responsible for keeping records of all of these codes and can assist you in checking on a company. You can also call the following numbers based on the location of the manufacturer:
Changsha: 86-731-2891606 Hunan: 86-731-2287058

Pricing Information

One way to spot Chinese manufacturer scams is to take an honest look at their prices. Wholesale prices on some goods can be surprisingly low when compared to brand name products. For example, a good quality lap top could legitimately sell at about $30.00 wholesale. However, prices that are much lower could denote a scam. If you are doubtful as to how a product could be large scale manufactured for such a low price (a snowmobile for $12.00, for example) be sure that you are very careful. At best, the product is very low quality. At worst, you could get ripped off.