China Sourcing Guides for International Buyers
Sourcing is the first half of an import; freight is the second. This hub joins them: how to find and verify a Chinese supplier, how to buy from more than one factory without losing control of the order, how documents and landed cost are built, and how consolidation turns several small shipments into one manageable freight plan.
Every guide below is written for the buyer placing the order — not for the factory. Read them in order and the shipping decisions that follow are much smaller problems.
Finding and verifying suppliers
Before any money moves: who the factory really is, where they are, and which platform to buy through.
How to Verify a Chinese Supplier Before Paying
Verification is a layered process, not a badge: confirm the legal entity, the production structure, the product evidence, the payment path and the pre-shipment plan before money moves.
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How to Find Manufacturers in Shenzhen Guangzhou and Yiwu
City names are sourcing clues rather than guarantees: Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Yiwu each favour different product types, order sizes and supplier structures.
Read guide →Best China Sourcing Cities by Product Category
Matching a product category to the right Chinese manufacturing cluster shortens supplier search, but the city matters far less than verifying the individual supplier you place the order with.
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Alibaba vs 1688 for Overseas Buyers
1688 is a domestic wholesale marketplace and Alibaba.com is built for international trade, so the platform choice changes language, payment, export support and how much verification the buyer performs.
Read guide →Buying from multiple suppliers
Most real orders touch more than one factory. This is where supplier coordination becomes a logistics problem.
How to Buy from Multiple Suppliers in China
Buying from several Chinese suppliers is a coordination problem before it becomes a freight problem: one schedule, one carton-data standard, one consolidation decision and one source of truth.
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How to Coordinate Multiple China Suppliers
Multiple suppliers are not a shipping problem, they are a coordination problem: unique references, one status model, one data deadline and one delivery instruction sheet reduce the surprises.
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Shipping from Multiple Suppliers in China: Consolidation Guide
How to combine orders from several Chinese factories: verify cartons and documents, compare freight costs, and decide when separate shipments are better.
Read guide →Documents and import costs
The paperwork that travels with the cargo, and the arithmetic that decides whether the order was actually profitable.
What Documents to Ask a Chinese Supplier for Before Shipping
Commercial documents, product data and logistics instructions have to tell the same story; missing or inconsistent paperwork is usually what slows clearance and reconciles badly after arrival.
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Landed Cost from China: How to Calculate Your Total Import Cost
Calculate the true cost of importing from China—from supplier price and freight to customs, import taxes, delivery and the cost per sellable unit. Includes an Excel planning worksheet.
Read guide →Shipping your orders
Once the order exists, these guides cover moving it — from first shipment to choosing the forwarder who runs it.
How to Ship Alibaba Orders Internationally
How to ship Alibaba orders internationally using supplier shipping, a China freight forwarder, consolidation, air, sea, express or DDP.
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How to Choose a Freight Forwarder in China
A practical due-diligence framework for comparing China freight forwarders, normalizing quotes, verifying operations and testing a logistics partner before you scale volume.
Read guide →For e-commerce importers
Sourcing decisions look different when the cargo is going straight to a marketplace or a 3PL.
DDP Shipping from China for Shopify Sellers
A practical guide to DDP shipping from China for Shopify and DTC inventory — consolidation, customs scope, air or sea freight and 3PL delivery.
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Shipping Small Quantities from China: Express, Air or Sea?
A practical 2026 decision guide for importers buying a few cartons: chargeable units, minimum fees, customs and the total delivered cost.
Read guide →Supplier pickup, consolidation, export documentation, DDP delivery and final-mile planning — handled by one team from Shenzhen.