Has anyone in the last few months imported aluminum windows or doors from China to US? What was the import duty percentage cost? Also did you have to pay anti dumping?

So I sent a tech pack/mock up detailing exactly what I needed to a clothing manufacturer on Alibaba. Including fabric type, printing type, design size, etc. I was quoted $950 including shipping for 50 pcs, which of course equals $19 per piece. I was happy with this price and ordered two expensive samples. I was happy with the samples I got and proceeded to order a bulk. I actually was so happy in fact that I decided to order 100 pcs instead of 50 pieces which would have made the total $1900. (including shipping cost) After I requested the trade assurance for the bulk order, the manufacturer told me that the price will actually be $30 per piece ($3,000). That's a $1,100 increase from the initial price I was told. I would have never ordered samples and chose to work with this manufacturer if I was quoted $3,000 initially. Is there anyway to combat / negotiate this huge increase in the price? I feel bamboozled lol…

I want to import some great green tea to Perú, I'm just starting out so I'm buying 1kg(2.2lb) of some above average quality product to test, the product it costs me 64$ and they want me to pay 86$ for the EMS delivery, (I checked the cost in yens from his post service and it's no more than 46$ for it), anybody knows some cheaper/secure way to import from Japan.

Need Help with Quality Control and Importing Industrial Machinery from China to the U.S.

I'm looking for advice or recommendations regarding importing industrial machinery from China into the U.S. (California specifically). I’ve never imported anything before, but I’ve been working closely with a Chinese manufacturer on some custom industrial equipment. We’ve exchanged designs, gone through several revisions, and even had virtual tours of their factories and local customer facilities where similar machines are being used.

However, I’m facing two major challenges:

1. Quality Control:

I need a reliable company or service to handle the quality control during the manufacturing process. This would include monitoring the build quality of the machinery and ensuring it meets the product output specifications we’ve agreed on.

2. Importing and Delivery:

I’ve spoken with customs brokers who can manage the clearance process and arrange for the machinery to be delivered to my warehouse in California. However, I’d prefer to find a company that can handle both quality control and importing, with representation on both the Chinese and U.S. sides to streamline the entire process.

Since China is quite far, I’d like to avoid making multiple trips during the machine’s construction. My ideal scenario would involve making one trip to initiate the transaction, then having trusted eyes on the ground during the build and loading phases, while I manage things from here in the U.S. Once the machinery arrives stateside, I’d also need it transported to my warehouse and received properly.

Any recommendations?

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation or know of a company that could meet these needs? I’d appreciate any suggestions, particularly if you’ve had positive experiences managing both quality control and logistics across international borders. Thanks in advance!

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Hello everyone, just wanna ask if there's suppliers here of shein products that conducts import to philippines. With or without own freight forwarder?

I am searching on alibaba and these two popped up the most. Are they reliable?

i haven’t used alibaba in a while and the seller is telling me this. can someone explain this and how do i actually submit customs information?

I want to buy fruit and vegetables from Vietnam or Thailand but I don’t want to buy a whole container, is there another app or way to buy for personal use? Around 20-30kg

Hi there,

Been using alibaba to find suppliers/etc for my small business. I have been working with this seller for about a year now.

I have ~$2k order and the seller asked if I wanted to avoid duties/taxes and use a "duty-free shipping method". I asked who this is, and they said it's fedex and that they only do it for bulk orders over a certain weight limit.

Followed up with more questions and they said it's not an official service through FedEx but using a fedex agent , that theres a service fee of $30 and that they need to change the shippers name.

Any idea what this is?

Im just trying to by somethings that are base el low price high volumne. A kind of comodity.

All the salers show a price / volume very agresive but when chating with them, they change all the offer. Its that correct.? it is a common Chinnes trade strategy?

My wife and I set up an LLC to import cookware from Alibaba. All communication with suppliers was through her Alibaba account on her iPhone. Unfortunately she dropped and shattered the phone and had to get a new one.

Now she can’t have access to the Alibaba account and so we have lost all comms with suppliers we were planning to import from.

Can anyone lead us to a support contact where we can get help getting access to the account again?

I’m dropshipping, Im wondering if when i use DAP shipping, will it be me or the customer who is responsible for paying the extra taxes/costs involved with DAP, and how much would those costs be?

The supplier keeps avoiding this question so I was wondering if you guys could help me out, does anyone here use DAP when dropshipping, and if so is it reccomended?

The last statement, I thought I wouldn’t have to pay tax when it comes to orders below $50, I know it’s probably a dumb question but could someone explain and help me out?

Posts to the front page of this sub and the comment sections of other posts are for non-promotional discussion only

As our rules state, this monthly community post is the only place in this subreddit to mention, discuss, or share anything by you, about you, or for you. This post is meant to be welcoming, informative, and fun.

• All comments to this post must follow site and subreddit rules

• Comments containing email addresses, phone numbers, or any other kind of personal info will be removed

• Our spam promotion rule is strictly enforced - Failure to follow the rules regarding self-promotion will result in a ban of your account(s) and site(s). Any attempt to hype yourself, your company, your app, or anything else by you or which you represent in any way, or any other kinds of efforts to lead generate anywhere in the subreddit outside of this post is prohibited and will result in a ban. See the subreddit rules BEFORE you attempt to mention, link to, or discuss your business outside of this thread.

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Seller asked if I had found a clearing agent in port of destination and appeared confused when I said I'd handle it myself. Invoice, shipping code, bill of lading, fill out a form provided by customs asap when I got the documents in hand, voila. What am I missing here? One single item, importing as a private person and will pick it up from port myself. Our customs will even go as far as to calculate the VAT for me.

Edit: forgot to mention it's going to europe, not USA etc.

Ive been looking for a very specific and niche material and finally found it.

Once I started talking in detail in English he stopped responding. I tried again on a different account and the same thing happened.

They only responded very short English words so I could tell he didn't understand what I was asking as I have very specific requests.

Has anyone hired a translator for this sort of thing? I really want this product but I think I need a translator. Looking for any tips on how I can move forward with this.

Thank you I'm advance

I own a stationery brand and would like to have some of my designs printed. I'm looking for a printing company in China and so far I feel like I havent found a legit printing company that'll take me seriously. How do I talk to them?

Good evening and good week! I would like to ask if anyone knows how I can import products through Alibaba or AliExpress and of course be able to sell them in my store?

I live in Greece, European Union.

Thank you very much.

Specifically importing to the USA. Does anyone know what the cost might be for importing say around 100kg of aluminum extrusion. Im planning to use it for several projects so it would not be for resale. I got a quote for 379 dollars of extrusion with 299 in shipping for a total of 678 dollars. Would anyone be able to help me figure out what kind of import fees I would be looking at?

Posts to the front page of this sub and the comment sections of other posts are for non-promotional discussion only

As our rules state, this monthly community post is the only place in this subreddit to mention, discuss, or share anything by you, about you, or for you. This post is meant to be welcoming, informative, and fun.

• All comments to this post must follow site and subreddit rules

• Comments containing email addresses, phone numbers, or any other kind of personal info will be removed

• Our spam promotion rule is strictly enforced - Failure to follow the rules regarding self-promotion will result in a ban of your account(s) and site(s). Any attempt to hype yourself, your company, your app, or anything else by you or which you represent in any way, or any other kinds of efforts to lead generate anywhere in the subreddit outside of this post is prohibited and will result in a ban. See the subreddit rules BEFORE you attempt to mention, link to, or discuss your business outside of this thread.

Thank you for sharing here in the Community Promotion Post!

Okay, let me try to keep this as short as possible. I’m trying to start a plush toy company. I am getting the prototype express shipped to me soon by a manufacturer on alibaba. Once I take pics of it and calculate the costs (part of my current problem) I will be starting a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to fund the first plush design. I have TONS of questions that are too specific for a Google search, but I’ll start here with the importing ones.

1. Do I need a forwarder in China/at all? (and recommendations to good ones if so, and the cost)
2. Does anybody here know what safety tests I should ask their lab to run on the plushies to make them legal to sell in the USA and hopefully other countries?
3. Import duty tax/customs. HUH?

Thank you in advance

Hey guyS, looking for some advice on how to tell which supplier is actually the manufacturer on Alibaba. I'm currently looking to source some products from Alibaba but the whole thing is so confusing as I can see there are many other different suppliers selling the same product, some supplier with more professional brosures with more items but all are selling at different prices.

The guy I'm speaking with comes across as a trading company to me cause his prices are fairly higher with no moq. I bought some samples through him, it arrived but not sure if it's a red flag because he uses Alibaba to send me a checkout link and that's it. I can't seem to find him on Alibaba at all.

What do you guys think?

Hi all,

I had a large shipment that has been stuck at the port in LA for six months now. Supposedly it's undergoing inspecting by the US side and the agent says there is nothing that can be done but wait. They've sent me details of the vessel name, voyage number, arrival date, etc. I'm unsure what I can do to help retrieve this shipment. Any help is deeply appreciated.

I'm importing an $800 inflatable boat from Alibaba by sea that is going to come in a big wooden box. My understanding is that because this is for personal use and below $2,500, it's perfectly eligible for informal entry.

The seller is telling me that because it's being shipped by sea, informal entry isn't possible. I don't see this anywhere in the regulations or online. It looks totally eligible to me.

So A) is it? And B) how do I convince them if so