By Richard Brubaker in 'All Roads Lead To China'

We have all seen just how risky sourcing from China can be should one not have the proper systems in place, and during my time in China I have been asked a lot about how to import from China.

Sometimes the questions are coming from people who are just entering the sourcing space, and sometimes the questions come from people who just want to buy a couple hundred pieces of something as a hobby.

This 10 part series (each clip is around a minute) offers up some good advice. It is the basics, but for those who are just looking at how to get started, this series is a good set of ten tips to follow. There are surely more, but for the purposes of this post I would say it has covered a good half of the questions I have been asked multiple times in the past.

Where I would say the biggest gap exists is that he does not fully address the need for importers to be very specific about the goods the need. Have specifications and samples available that you can send to potential suppliers for quote, and when there are goods such as metals and plastics that have different grades be very specific about the grade needed.

Part 1: Qualify your supplier

Part 2: Always Quality control your goods

Part 3: Buy Insurance

Part 4: Pricing

Part 5: Buying Terms

Part 6: Shipping LCL (Note: He hard sells his service here, and you should know that there are many providers who will ship LCL)

Part 7: Don't try to import what everyone else is

Part 8: Have a sales contract in place

Part 9: Decide if you are a retailer, a wholesaler, or an importer (Warning: Another sales pitch here)

part 10:

This article was first published in All Roads lead to China. It is written by Richard Brubaker, Founder and Managing Director of China Strategic Development Partners. With almost 15 years of Asia experience (the last 5 based in mainland China), Rich assists his clients (both Fortune 500 companies and SMEs) in understanding the China market, determining their own China platform and implementing effective strategies.If you would like to contact, you can do so by email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .