Despite the growing prices and labor costs, China will remain the most important electronic equipment manufacturing base. There are many electronics producers in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. It is thanks to a large, qualified workforce and an efficient supply chain. But what should the importer keep in mind if he is about to start importing? The whole process can be divided into four phases.

1）Cost evaluation and planning

From the very beginning, the importer should carefully evaluate his plan and investing capabilities. What does the target customer needs? What can the Chinese factories deliver? First, do not import brand electronics because the prices will likely be similar to Western prices or even higher. Moreover, most of these brand products are deliberately fake, and fake merchandise will most likely be seized by customs.

Another important step is a cost evaluation. The tariffs on laptops, smartphones, and tablets imported from China are 0% in most cases, but they should be checked since it varies from country to country. Value Added Tax is also applied, and the tax rate varies depending on the country. Pay special attention to import duties, especially when the product is new on the market. Sometimes the Chinese supplier will be able to provide you with the HS code of the product, but it may not always be correct.

It can be said that in the most popular categories of electronic device trade, the market is saturated. It may be hard to persuade customers to buy the no-so-good generic cellphone or mediocre tablet because they already overflow the market. If you are aiming for big success.

2) Finding a supplier

There are two main e-commerce marketplaces you can search for suppliers, Those B2B platforms serve major transactions. It is always the best option to establish a close relationship with your supplier. Even if you buy only 100-200 pieces, you should buy them directly from the supplier. Choosing a trading company means higher costs and greater risks.

What kind of risks should be considered? For example, the customer should pay special attention to the device specs. For instance, a surprisingly cheap cellphone has a 12MP front camera and 8GB of internal memory. On paper only. Remember that you cannot get something extra for the price of something ordinary.

Of course, a trading company is still a better choice in some instances, especially when the producer is not willing to fulfill a large order. In this case, we can order them from the trading company.

3) Logistics

How to choose the best method of shipping? There are several logistics solutions suitable for the transport of electronic equipment.

Air transport is expensive but fast and reliable.

Sea transport takes more time and is suitable for bigger orders (like full container load).

If you ship to another Asian country or Europe, rail freight is also a good solution.

Most use international shipping companies’ services, such as DHL or UPS. There is also a national post operator, China Post, which offers both air and sea delivery and competitive prices.

The delivery time and shipping fee depend on the destination country, and the differences may be quite huge. The distance doesn’t matter: sometimes it is more expensive to ship your goods to neighboring Mongolia than to remote New Zealand.

As far as small amounts of goods are concerned, organizing the whole shipping process is a piece of cake, things get hectic when your delivery quantity is larger. Soon enough, you will realize that you cannot earn much on a small order, but getting a bigger order is far more risky and complicated. So, after all, which option is better? The decision is up to you.

4) Solving problems

In case something goes wrong, you still have some chance to solve your problem. Remember these platforms are not online shops; they serve as a platform to enable communication between buyers and suppliers, so they cannot be held responsible for the product’s shortcomings. Some suppliers offer the option of unconditional returns, so even if the product is working properly, you can still send it back. If you are not satisfied with the solutions suggested by the supplier, you can always complain to the b2b platform, but as far as we know, this rarely works. People in charge of those web pages deal with thousands of complaints daily and are not interested in strictly enforcing their own rules (it may have tremendous consequences for their business because suppliers may be discouraged from using their services).