YCP Team
Sourcing team, Shenzhen
These guides are written by the people who do the work: the sourcing team that visits the factories, checks the paperwork and handles the shipments described in them.
Where a page states a price, a rate or a range, it is either our own published figure or a market observation drawn from work we have actually done. Where no honest single number exists, the page says so instead of inventing one.
Guides by this author
1688 vs Alibaba.com
Alibaba Group owns both. 1688.com is the Chinese domestic wholesale market; Alibaba.com is the export marketplace. What actually changes for a foreign buyer — price, MOQ, shipping and risk.
What a China sourcing agent charges
Commission, flat fee, retainer or markup — the four ways a China sourcing agent charges, what each one does to their incentives, and the costs that do not appear on the invoice.
What sourcing from China actually costs
Every cost between deciding on a product and having it in your warehouse: samples, tooling, unit price, agent fee, inspection, freight, duty and the charges nobody quotes.
mAh to Wh
Watt-hours = (mAh ÷ 1000) × voltage — and for a power bank that voltage is the cell's 3.7 V, not the 5 V from the USB port. The formula, the 100 Wh and 160 Wh limits, and the separate rules for shipping them as freight.
Sourcing sports equipment from China
Which Chinese city makes what in sports and fitness, what changes when the product carries a person's weight, and where the real costs sit. Written by a sourcing team, not a directory.
What to source in Guangzhou
Guangzhou is a trading city, not a factory city. Which markets are worth the trip, what each one actually sells, and why a market price is not a factory price.
Importing from China to Singapore
GST is 9% on CIF plus duty, and the old "under S$400 is free" rule ended on 1 January 2023. Permits, duty-free reality, freight modes and the mistakes that cost the most.
What to source in Yiwu
Yiwu is the world's small-commodity market — enormous variety at very low minimums. What it is genuinely the best place for, and the orders you should place elsewhere.
How to import from China
From finding a supplier to clearing customs: the actual sequence, what each step costs, and the specific point in it where most first orders go wrong.
How to find a reliable supplier in China
The four documents every Chinese company must have, where the state publishes them for free, and the checks that separate a manufacturer from a reseller.
The sourcing mistakes that cost the most
The expensive mistakes are nearly all made before production starts, while they are still free to fix. The order they actually cost you money, and what to do instead.
Getting samples right before you order
Five different objects are called "a sample" and each is evidence of something different. What to ask for at each stage, what it costs, and what to do the day it arrives.
The pilot order: how big, and what to check
A pilot order is an experiment, and most are badly designed. How to size one so the result means something, what to measure, and how to read what comes back.
Private label manufacturing in China
What private label actually buys you, what stays with the factory, and the legal consequence nobody mentions: putting your brand on a product makes you its manufacturer.
Sourcing electronics in Shenzhen
What Shenzhen is genuinely the best place for, the solution-house layer that explains why ten factories quote the same product, and what to source somewhere else.
The Canton Fair, and whether it is worth the trip
Two sessions, three phases, and a category split that decides whether your week is useful. What the fair is genuinely good for, and when the flight is not justified.
Sourcing power banks from China
Which cell is inside decides everything — safety, capacity, certification and whether the shipment flies. What to specify, what to test, and the arithmetic that catches an overstated capacity.
Sourcing wall chargers and GaN adapters
A charger is a mains safety product, not an accessory. What GaN actually changes, why a swappable-plug kit is several products, and the approvals that decide whether it can be sold.
Sourcing USB and USB-C cables
USB-C is a connector, not a capability. What actually differs between two identical-looking cables, the resistor test you can run yourself, and what to write in the specification.
Sourcing wireless chargers
The certification mark is licensed and certified products are publicly listed, so the biggest claim in this category is one you can verify yourself. Plus the thermal problem that drives returns.
Sourcing TWS earbuds from China
Two pairs with the same chipset and drivers are not the same product. What decides quality, the Bluetooth qualification most brands skip, and what to test on a sample.
Sourcing Bluetooth speakers
Consumer power claims have no common measurement behind them. What to specify instead, how to compare two samples honestly, and what an IP rating does and does not cover.
Sourcing headphones from China
Almost every returned headphone is a hinge, a headband joint, an earpad or a cable entry. What to specify mechanically, what to test, and the sound-level obligation that follows your brand.
Sourcing smart watches
The same hardware can be a fitness product or a medical device depending on what the box says. What that means for your listing, plus the radio, battery and data questions.
Sourcing fitness bands
A band is worn against skin around the clock, which makes materials the dominant compliance question. Plus the app you will not own and the sensors you cannot claim for.
Sourcing Bluetooth trackers
A tracker without a finding network is a beeper. What that means commercially, the unwanted-tracking detection every product now needs, and what to specify.
Sourcing car chargers
A car's 12 V system produces disturbances a bench supply never will, and a parked car in summer is the real thermal case. What to specify and which tests to ask for by name.
Sourcing portable power stations
The largest lithium object in a 3C catalogue. Why air freight stops being an option, why the battery management system is the real product, and what to specify.
Sourcing phone mounts and holders
The failure mode is a phone on the road. How each attachment method fails, why heat causes nearly all of it, and what to test before you order.
Sourcing selfie sticks and tripods
A stick is a mechanical product; the detachable shutter button is a radio with a coin cell. What each half needs, and what actually breaks.
Sourcing USB hubs and docking stations
A hub divides bandwidth, it does not add it. The two completely different ways video travels over USB-C, and the host-compatibility problem that drives returns.
Sourcing keyboards, including mechanical
Switches are the easy part. The layout matrix multiplies your SKUs by market, and how the legends are made decides whether they are still readable in a year.
Sourcing computer mice
Every listing sells the sensor and every warranty claim is the click. The one component to pin down by part number, and what else actually fails.
Sourcing laptop stands
The only product here with no radio, no battery and no firmware — which changes the economics. What actually fails is creep and finish, and neither is caught by a load test.
Sourcing webcams
Two cameras with the same sensor look different. What actually decides image quality, the one yes/no specification that decides support cost, and the privacy design nobody specifies.
Sourcing phone cases from China
Cases are easy to make and easy to get wrong for reasons that have nothing to do with quality. Where the rights sit, why "military grade" certifies nothing, and what actually fails.
Sourcing screen protectors
The universal hardness claim is a pencil grade, not a mineral one, and every protector claims it. What actually decides the product is adhesive and tolerance.
What "3C" means, and how the category works
To a trader, 3C is a product category. To a Chinese factory, 3C is a compulsory certification for the domestic market. Confusing them is expensive, and it happens constantly.
UN 38.3: what it is and why your battery cannot ship without it
Eight design tests, a test report and a test summary — and no certifying authority anywhere. What the document you were sent actually is, and how to check it.
Shipping power banks by air
A power bank is a battery, not a device with a battery in it — and IATA says so in terms. The classification, the 30% state-of-charge rule, and what changed on 1 January 2026.
The MSDS/SDS a battery shipment needs
Sixteen numbered sections in a fixed order, and the one your forwarder actually reads is section 14. How to tell a real document from a one-page summary with a logo.
CE marking on China-made electronics
For most electronics CE is a self-declaration, so the document your factory sent is a test report. What actually has to exist, who signs it, and the EU-operator requirement.
FCC certification for products entering the US
An FCC ID names the company that holds the grant, and it is usually not you. The two authorisation paths, what a module's grant does and does not cover, and what to check.
UKCA marking after Brexit
CE recognition for the Great Britain market was extended indefinitely for most product rules, so UKCA is often an option rather than an obligation. And GB and Northern Ireland are not the same market.
RoHS and REACH, in plain English
A RoHS limit applies to each homogeneous material, not to the product as a whole — which is why an averaged report answers a question nobody asked. And REACH is a different regime entirely.
PSE certification for Japan
A diamond mark and a round mark mean two completely different routes. And the obligations attach to a business in Japan — which is a corporate decision, not a form.
KC certification for South Korea
Electrical safety and radio are separate regimes under one mark, and a plugged-in product with a radio needs both. Plus the part that makes this checkable: approvals are public.
IEC 62368-1: the standard that replaced 60950
It replaced the separate IT and audio/video safety standards, which were withdrawn. So a report against an old one is a dating device, and the reasoning behind the new one is worth understanding.
How to tell a real test report from a photocopy
Forgery is rare. A genuine report about a different product is common, and it passes every instinct you have for spotting a fake. Seven checks, in the order that finds problems fastest.
GPSR: the EU rules that changed in December 2024
Regulation (EU) 2023/988 applies from 13 December 2024. Who must exist in the EU, what has to be on the product, and why listings are removed without an investigation.
What a certificate of conformity is worth
The phrase names two different documents: a supplier's own statement, and a shipment document some countries require before goods can clear. Confusing them strands containers.
Certifying anything with a radio in it
Qualification, radio approval and a trademark licence are three separate obligations, and "it is Bluetooth certified" answers at most one. What each one is, and who has to hold it.
MOQ: why it exists and how to move it
A minimum order quantity is three separate minimums stacked together, and only one is usually binding. Ask for the parts and the number moves; argue with the total and it does not.
Incoterms 2020 for people who buy from China
They allocate cost and risk — not ownership, not carriage, not insurance, not blame for a delay. The four questions that pick a rule, and why a term without a place is not a term.
Payment terms with Chinese suppliers
The six instruments and what each one actually protects, why the beneficiary matters more than the schedule, and why there is no normal percentage — only an opening position.
Letters of credit, and when they are worth it
A letter of credit is independent of your sale contract, so the bank pays against compliant paper whatever is in the box. What that means for a China order, and the four conditions under which the cost is earned.
AQL sampling: what the numbers mean
AQL is a limit, not a level, and ISO 2859-1 is written for a continuing series of lots. ISO publishes a different part for the isolated lot most importers actually have.
Pre-shipment inspection: what actually gets checked
An inspector checks your goods against your documents. Send no approved sample and no defect list, and the inspection is quietly run against the factory's own paperwork — and passes.
What a factory audit covers
The two social audit programmes most often shown to buyers say on their own sites that they are not certifications. What an audit really examines, and the question it rarely answers.
CBM, container sizes and what actually fits
A load stops at the first of three limits — volume, payload or the way your cartons tile the floor. And why the capacity figure everyone quotes is nominal rather than a fact about your container.
Air or sea: the real cost comparison
You are billed on chargeable weight, not weight, and transit time is working capital. Why the "air costs N times sea" figure is empty, and why the honest answer is usually both.
Consolidating from several factories
Combining suppliers into one container is usually cheaper. It also creates a moment when goods belong to nobody — and an export declaration question most buyers never ask.
Customs clearance without surprises
Clearance reads back three decisions you already made — what it is, what it is worth, where it is from. The declaration is yours, and so is its accuracy.
HS codes: getting the classification right
Only the first six digits are the same everywhere, so your supplier's export code is not your import code. And a classification is an argument made in a fixed order, not a search result.
Duty, VAT and GST on China imports
Duty is a cost; import VAT is usually recoverable. The tax is charged on the duty. And the base the duty is calculated on differs by country — the treaty says so.
Tooling and mould costs: who owns the tool?
Paying for a mould is not owning it, and owning it is not controlling it. The three questions that decide whether you can ever leave — and why the third is the one nobody asks.
Lead times: what the number actually covers
The number a factory quotes is the production step, which is usually the smallest link. Everything that slips happens between the steps — starting with when the clock starts.
Protecting your IP in China
Rights are territorial and the trademark system is first-to-file. A mark registered at home is worth nothing in China — and the statute says so in one sentence.
Quality control: the four gates, in order
Quality is decided at four moments and only one of them involves an inspector. The gates in order, what each must produce, and why the free ones come first.
Packaging design for China production
Packaging has to survive the journey, sell the product and satisfy the law — three jobs judged by three parties who never meet. Which wins when they conflict, and the version-control failure that causes most defects.
Dealing with a bad batch
Your options are decided by where the goods are and what is still unpaid — both settled before the batch was made. The decision tree by position, and what to do in the first hour.
Huaqiangbei, explained
Shenzhen's electronics market is a distribution layer for the domestic trade, not a supply channel for exporters. What it is unbeatable at, what it cannot give you, and how to use it.
Dongguan, town by town
Dongguan administers 32 towns directly, with no district tier between. So "a factory in Dongguan" names a city, not a place — and the town is the part that carries the meaning.
The Pearl River Delta, explained
The delta has an official definition: nine cities. But the split that decides your sourcing is the estuary — an east bank and a west bank that industrialised separately, and were joined by road only in 2024.
Planning around Chinese New Year
The statutory holiday is short, exact and published. The factory shutdown is long, unpublished and different everywhere. Planning against the wrong one is the whole problem.
The Chinese factory calendar
Everyone plans around Chinese New Year. The holidays that catch people out are the three-day ones nobody abroad has on a calendar — and the weekends that are officially working days.
Visiting a factory
A visit is not an inspection and cannot be one. What two hours in a building can establish that no document can — and why the wall of certificates is the least informative thing in it.
Which trade shows are worth it
A show is a discovery and calibration tool, not a buying tool. Which one is worth the flight depends on which of three jobs you need — and on a number most shows do not publish.
Working with Chinese suppliers
Most "communication problems" are specification or channel problems in disguise. The mechanical fixes — open questions, numbers instead of adjectives, and why a chat message is not informal.
China plus one, honestly
A plus-one strategy only works if the origin moves — and origin is the country of the last substantial transformation, not the last address on the carton. How to test it before you commit.
Reading tariffs without panicking
There is no single "tariff on China". What lands on an entry is a stack of separate legal instruments, each with its own process and its own clock — and you have a right to be heard in some of them.
Importing from China to Malaysia
Goods valued RM500 or below sold online now carry a flat 10% sales tax, charged by the seller — a rule in force since January 2024 that most guides still have wrong.
Importing from China to Indonesia
Indonesia's low-value threshold exempts duty, not tax — and the flat rate above it does not apply to bags, textiles, footwear or books. Plus the permit system with a 30-day clock.
Importing from China to Thailand
Thailand's low-value import rule has been rewritten more than once, and its own customs notification list proves it. The mechanism, the three separate taxes, and where the live rule actually lives.
Importing from China to the Philippines
The Philippine threshold is written into statute with a three-year inflation adjustment, is measured on FOB not CIF, and relieves duties and taxes only — not regulatory clearance.
Importing from China to Vietnam
Vietnam abolished its small-parcel tax exemption outright in February 2025, so there is no current threshold to look up. What is left, and what the land border changes.
Importing from China to Australia
Australia's low value threshold is not a tax-free window. It decides whether the overseas seller collects GST at checkout or the border collects it on arrival — and "re-deliverer" is a named category.
Importing from China to the UK
For consignments of £135 or less the seller charges UK VAT at checkout — unless you are VAT-registered and give them your number, in which case you account for it yourself and recover it on the same return.
Importing from China to the United States
The US duty-free de minimis exemption has been suspended for all countries — regardless of value, origin or mode — since 29 August 2025. What replaced it, and what it does to a small-parcel model.
Importing from China to the EU
The EU abolished the €22 VAT exemption in 2021 and now requires an import declaration for all goods regardless of value. The €150 duty exemption has been announced for removal too.
Importing from China to the Gulf
The Gulf is one customs union and several conformity regimes. In Saudi Arabia the importer — not the exporter — initiates certification, and every consignment needs its own certificate.
Importing from China to India
Power banks, chargers, earbuds, speakers, smart watches, keyboards and USB storage are all on India's compulsory registration schedule — and that schedule was amended six times in the last twelve months.
Alibaba vs Made-in-China.com
Neither platform is a supplier database — both are advertising businesses with a directory attached. The four things that genuinely differ, and why the choice matters less than what you do next.
Alibaba vs Global Sources
One is a mass marketplace optimised for transaction volume; the other has been built around trade shows and curated verticals. The question is breadth versus depth plus a physical meeting.
1688 vs Taobao
Not wholesale versus retail. A 1688 seller prices and packs for a Chinese business that will resell; a Taobao seller for a Chinese consumer — and neither is set up for export.
Alibaba alternatives
What most people want to escape is not Alibaba — it is the limits of a directory. The four kinds of alternative, what each actually solves, and why a ranked list would be useless.
Agent or do it yourself
The comparison is not cost against cost — it is which risks you hold. And it is five separate jobs, not one decision, which is why most "DIY" buyers have already outsourced two of them.
Trade Assurance, explained
It is order protection, not product insurance — and it protects the order as described in the platform contract, which almost nobody fills in properly. Plus the commonest way buyers lose it.
What the badges actually certify
A badge attests one of three completely different things — a paid tier, an identity check, or an on-site assessment — and only one of them involves anybody looking at a factory.
Dropshipping or wholesale
Two different businesses, not two ways of buying. And the low-value import rules that made cross-border dropshipping cheap have been narrowed or removed in seven markets in three years.
Planning a business trip to Shenzhen
Visa-free entry, the 240-hour transit rule, arriving via Bao'an or Hong Kong, paying with a foreign card, police registration and interpreters — for buyers visiting factories.