First Shipment from China: 11 Steps Without Mistakes

14.10.2026·6 min read·Delivery Pro China

First shipment from China – a step-by-step guide: supplier, contract, payment, warehouse, customs. Find out where beginners lose money and calculate your budget.

In brief: An official first shipment from China goes through eleven stages: selecting a supplier on 1688 or Alibaba, checking a sample, signing a contract, paying through an agent, delivering to a warehouse in Guangzhou, acceptance with measurements, packaging, calculating the full landed cost, collecting documents, and customs clearance. Most mistakes are made during correspondence with the factory, not at the border.

Three Conditions Without Which Official Import Does Not Work

Before searching for a supplier, check that the basic conditions for official import are met.

• Shipment from 50 kg. Below this threshold a shipment is possible, but the rate per kilogram is higher – it is cheaper to consolidate a shipment than to send it in parts.
• Legal entity or sole trader. In official import, the importer is you: the contract, customs declaration, and goods are registered under your company.
• Customs broker. Declarations are filed by the broker. If you do not yet have one – this is a solvable issue, but it needs to be resolved before the cargo is dispatched, not on the day the container arrives.

If one of these conditions is not met, the shipment is not cancelled – it proceeds under an alternative scheme, and this changes the final cost.

Where to Find a Supplier and How to Verify One

The main platforms are 1688 and Taobao for the Chinese domestic market, and Alibaba for export. Prices on 1688 are usually lower; however, sellers there operate only within China – they do not handle export shipments, and communication is conducted in Chinese. Working with such suppliers requires a buying service, where an agent pays for the goods, receives them at their warehouse in China, and then ships them as a regular cargo. For a first shipment this is practical: you do not need an account in Chinese yuan or negotiations in Chinese.

How to verify a supplier before payment:

1. Order a sample. Product listing photos often do not match what actually arrives.
2. Request the factory's product documents and specifications. The broker will need them, and it is better to discover missing documents now rather than at customs.
3. Clarify the exact dimensions and weight of a packed unit. Sellers are reluctant to provide these figures and often understate them, while the shipping cost is calculated based on actual measurements.
4. Check whether the goods appear on any restricted lists for your destination.

Contract and Payment: Common Pitfalls

The contract is concluded directly between your legal entity and the supplier – not through an intermediary. Customs matches the invoice against the contract down to the last detail, so any discrepancy in the product name or price creates problems at exactly this stage.

Regarding payment: a direct transfer from your bank to a Chinese bank requires currency control and takes time. In practice, a payment agent is used. Market commission rates range from 3 to 20%, so it is important to understand in advance exactly how the person you are paying through earns their fee.

A practical rule: do not transfer the full amount upfront to an unknown supplier. The standard scheme is a partial prepayment, with the balance paid after the goods have arrived at the warehouse and you have seen the acceptance photos.

Warehouse in Guangzhou: Acceptance and Packaging

The supplier ships the cargo to the warehouse via domestic Chinese delivery, using the address and code you receive from the operator. The code is written on every unit – it is used to identify the cargo upon arrival. If there are multiple suppliers, the cargo is consolidated at the warehouse and sent as a single shipment. There is no paid storage at this stage.

On the day of arrival, every unit is counted, weighed, measured, and photographed. This is the first point at which the actual shipping cost becomes clear: the price is calculated based on actual measurements, not the seller's data.

Regarding packaging: factory packaging is designed for shipping a full batch within China. In consolidated cargo, units are handled multiple times and stacked on top of each other, so packaging is almost always reinforced. It is important to know in advance: breakage is not covered by insurance – neither by the operator nor by the carrier.

How to Calculate the Full Landed Cost Correctly

Freight is calculated by weight or by volume – whichever figure is "heavier" for the shipment. Volume is calculated using the formula: length × width × height × 1.1. Which figure is used as the basis depends on the carrier's pricing and is always stated in the quote.

This is precisely why a contractor quoting a price per kilogram without specifying dimensions will be forced to recalculate it later.

In addition to freight, the full shipment budget includes:

• reinforced packaging;
• cargo collection to the warehouse;
• export documents;
• insurance beyond the mandatory minimum;
• delivery from the consignee's warehouse to your address;
• customs payments (duty and VAT);
• customs broker fees.

Duty and VAT can be estimated in advance using the customs duty calculator at dpc.pro.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it possible to make the first shipment without a legal entity? Official import requires the importer to be a legal entity or sole trader: the contract, declaration, and goods are registered under you. Without a legal entity, a shipment is possible under an alternative scheme, but this affects the final cost and the clearance procedure. Clarify your situation before calculating.

Why might the shipping cost differ from the initial quote? Freight is calculated based on actual measurements and weight taken during acceptance at the Guangzhou warehouse. If the supplier provided inaccurate dimensions – which is common practice – the final figure will differ from what you calculated during negotiations. Any discrepancy is agreed upon before the cargo is dispatched.

Do I need a sample if I have seen the product at a trade show or from another supplier? Yes. A specific batch from a specific factory may differ from the sample you saw at a trade show. The only reliable way to verify quality is to order a sample from the exact supplier you plan to work with.

What is a buying service and when is it needed? A buying service is a service in which an agent pays the seller on a Chinese domestic platform (such as 1688), receives the goods at their warehouse, and then ships them as regular cargo. It is needed when a supplier operates only within China and does not handle direct export shipments.

Start with one test shipment and compare the result on a real cargo.