What Do We Import From China? A Small Seller Guide

Current Pricing and Availability

Last updated: August 2026

Bottom line: for a small importer the practical answer to what do we import from china is consumer goods that are compact, non-regulated and made in volume — phone and computer accessories, kitchen and storage items, tools, textiles and packaging — at unit costs 40% to 70% below domestic wholesale. The discount is real and it arrives with minimums and lead times.

Availability is not the constraint. Sourcing platforms list tens of thousands of factories across those categories, and almost anything you can name has a supplier willing to quote. What varies is minimum order quantity: 500 to 1,000 units is normal for a manufacturer, while trading companies will accept 50 to 200 at a higher unit price.

That difference decides whether a category is reachable for a first-time importer at all.

Pricing follows quantity in steps rather than smoothly. A phone accessory might quote at $2.10 for 100 units, $1.45 for 500 and $1.10 for 2,000 — so the cheapest unit price frequently belongs to a quantity you cannot sell.

Buyers who chase the lowest number rather than the lowest total commitment end up with three years of stock and a good story about margin.

What to stay away from at the start

Regulated categories carry obligations that attach to your name rather than the factory's: anything ingested, applied to skin, used by children or plugged into a wall requires testing and documentation. Branded goods are worse — the counterfeit risk is real and the consequences are yours.

Anyone working out what do we import from china for a first attempt should stay in unregulated, unbranded, compact goods and learn the process before adding compliance to the list of things that can go wrong.

Lead times are the other half of availability and they move with the calendar. Production runs four to six weeks in normal periods and considerably longer around Chinese New Year, when factories close for weeks and the backlog afterwards pushes everything out. Ordering in December for spring stock is planning; ordering in January and expecting March delivery is optimism.

Cost Breakdown and Margins

Bottom line: a unit quoted at $1.45 lands nearer $2.35 once freight, duty and inspection are counted — a 60% increase that is invisible on the quote and decides whether the import was worth doing. Anyone working out what do we import from china should price the landed figure, never the factory number.

At a $12 retail that is still a strong margin — the point is not that importing fails, it is that the figure people quote each other is the first row rather than the last.

Sellers who plan from $1.45 and discover $2.60 have lost 45% of the margin they budgeted, which on a competitive category is the difference between viable and not.

The costs that arrive after the goods

Two more lines sit outside the table because they land later. The first is storage: 500 units of anything occupies real space, and a seller without a garage ends up paying for a unit or crowding a spare room.

The second is capital tied up — money committed at order sits in transit for weeks and then in inventory for months, which is why importers who sell steadily still feel poor. Anyone deciding what do we import from china should size the order against how fast the stock actually turns rather than against the price break.

What moves the landed number most

Order size dominates. Freight and inspection are largely fixed per shipment, so spreading them across 500 units costs $0.64 each and across 2,000 units costs $0.16. That is why the same product genuinely is cheaper at volume — not because the factory discount is large, but because the fixed costs stop mattering.

It is also why a first small order looks disappointing and should be treated as tuition rather than as the steady-state economics.

Air versus sea is the other big lever. Air freight arrives in days and can cost several times sea freight per unit; sea takes four to six weeks and is cheap. For a first test order air is often worth it despite the cost, because finding out the goods are wrong six weeks sooner is worth real money.

For repeat orders, sea and better planning.

Quick tangent — I use the Closo Sell Lots to track what is actually moving right now, which saves me about three hours a week of manual search. Worth a peek before your next haul.

What Experienced Buyers Check First

Bottom line: before price, experienced importers check three things — whether the company is a manufacturer or a trading company, what the real minimum is, and whether the category carries certification obligations — because those three decide whether the deal exists at all. Price is the last conversation, not the first. , according to U.S.

Small Business Administration

Manufacturer or trader comes first because it sets everything downstream. A factory quotes lower, demands 500 to 1,000 units, and can change specification. A trading company quotes 15% to 30% higher, accepts 50 to 200 units, speaks better English and handles paperwork.

Neither is wrong — the trader is genuinely useful on a first import — but paying trader prices while believing you are dealing with the factory is a common and expensive confusion. Asking directly, and asking what else they manufacture, sorts it in one message.

Minimum order quantity is second, and the number quoted publicly is rarely the real one. Most suppliers will go below their stated MOQ on a first order at a higher unit price, and many will send a sample run of 20 to 50 units for a fee.

Buyers who accept the listed 1,000 because it was written down commit thousands of dollars they did not need to, which is the single most common first-import mistake.

Certification decides whether you can sell it at all

The third check is regulatory and it is the one that ends projects. Anything ingested, applied to skin, used by children, or plugged into a wall requires testing and documentation, and the obligation attaches to the name on the box — which is now yours rather than the factory's. Ask for existing test reports before discussing price.

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Beyond the three, experienced buyers order a sample and time it. How fast they respond, how the sample is packed and whether it matches the description predict the relationship far better than the quote does.

They also ask for photographs of the actual production line or warehouse rather than the marketing images, which are frequently stock images borrowed from somewhere else entirely.

They check the calendar too. Factories close for weeks around Chinese New Year and the backlog afterwards pushes lead times out considerably, so an order placed in January for March delivery is optimism rather than planning. Experienced importers order ahead of that window or accept that spring stock arrives in summer.

Finally they structure payment defensively. Standard terms of 30% deposit and 70% before shipping mean the entire amount leaves your account before a finished unit is seen. Paying slightly more per unit to hold a portion until after a third-party inspection is cheap insurance on a first order, and it becomes negotiable once a history exists.

That combination — trader or factory, real minimum, certification, sample, calendar, payment — is what turns the question of what do we import from china into a decision rather than a gamble.

One habit worth copying from importers who have done this repeatedly: contact five suppliers, not one. The spread in quotes for an identical specification is routinely 40%, and the spread in responsiveness is larger still.

Five short, specific enquiries take twenty minutes to send, and the differences between the replies tell you more about the market than any amount of research on a sourcing platform. The supplier who answers fastest with the most precise questions is usually the one worth ordering from, even when they are not the cheapest.

Common Questions

Bottom line: the questions that matter are about minimums, landed cost and certification — price per unit is the last one, not the first. These come up most often when working out what do we import from china.

What can I realistically import first?

Compact, unregulated, unbranded consumer goods: phone and computer accessories, kitchen and storage items, hand tools, textiles, packaging. They ship cheaply, carry no compliance burden, and are made by hundreds of suppliers, which means quotes and minimums are competitive. , according to Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals

How low can the minimum really go?

Lower than the listed number, usually. Most suppliers will go below their stated MOQ on a first order at a higher unit price, and many send a sample run of 20 to 50 units for a fee. Accepting a published 1,000-unit minimum because it was written down commits thousands of dollars unnecessarily.

Why is my landed cost so much higher than the quote?

Because the quote is the factory price alone. Add branding, freight, duty, inspection and a few percent of rejects and $1.45 lands nearer $2.60 per sellable unit. Freight and inspection are largely fixed per shipment, which is why small first orders look expensive per unit and larger ones genuinely are cheaper.

Factory or trading company?

A factory quotes lower and demands 500 to 1,000 units; a trading company quotes 15% to 30% higher, accepts 50 to 200, and handles paperwork. The trader is genuinely useful on a first import. What is expensive is paying trader prices while believing you are dealing with the factory — so ask directly.

Do I need certification?

If the product is ingested, applied to skin, used by children or plugged into a wall, yes, and the obligation attaches to your brand name rather than the factory's. Ask for test reports before discussing price. Anyone deciding what do we import from china should treat a supplier who cannot produce them as a stop rather than a negotiating position.

How long does it take?

Four to six weeks of production plus two to six weeks of sea freight, or a few days by air at several times the cost. Factories close for weeks around Chinese New Year and the backlog afterwards pushes everything out, so an order placed in January for March delivery is optimism.

On a first test order, air freight is often worth the premium simply to learn sooner whether the goods are right.

How should I pay?

Standard terms are 30% deposit and 70% before shipping, which means the whole amount leaves your account before a finished unit is seen. Paying a little more per unit to hold a portion until after a third-party inspection is cheap insurance on a first order, and it becomes negotiable once you have a history with the supplier.

Next Steps

Bottom line: pick one compact unregulated product, contact five suppliers rather than one, and ask the same three questions — real minimum, unit price at that quantity, and lead time — because the spread between replies on an identical specification is routinely 40%. Twenty minutes of enquiries teaches more than any amount of platform browsing about what do we import from china profitably.

Then price the landed figure before committing anything. Factory quote plus branding, freight, duty, inspection and a few percent of rejects — a $1.45 quote lands nearer $2.60 per sellable unit.

Order the smallest quantity the supplier will accept, pay for air freight on that first run so you learn six weeks sooner whether the goods are right, and hold part of the payment until after an inspection. Plan around Chinese New Year rather than discovering it after the fact.

Then decide where the stock actually sells

Imported goods are identical to everyone else's imported goods, so the sale goes to whoever the buyer sees first.

Listing the same catalogue across eBay, Poshmark, Mercari, Vinted and a Shopify store puts a single production run in front of several audiences with the listing work done once — provided the quantity comes down everywhere as units sell.

Closo keeps one catalogue crosslisted and in sync for exactly that, which is what stops a 500-unit order turning into cancellations.

For the arithmetic behind the decision, the Closo blog hub covers marketplace deductions, shipping cost bands and sell-through by category. Read the shipping pieces before you commit to anything bulky — dimensional bands decide more of the margin than the factory discount does, and they are the cheapest thing to change while a specification is still on paper.

That, rather than a category list, is where the answer to what do we import from china is actually decided.