Frequently asked questions

Goods are paid in yuan to the seller inside China, and you reimburse us in dollars. Our commission, the additional services and the freight are invoiced in US dollars. We do not charge the customer in yuan and we do not apply an exchange rate of our own: the rate used is the one from the actual purchase transaction, and you can ask for the receipt.

Payment is made in two instalments because the real weight and volume of the goods are not known when the purchase is placed, and without those two figures international freight cannot be quoted accurately. The first payment covers the product, our commission, the additional services and the costs inside China. The second is the international freight, and it is issued once the goods are already in the warehouse and have actually been measured and weighed.

We tell you before buying and you decide. On 1688 listing prices change frequently, and sometimes the published price corresponds to a quantity that is not the one you need or to a different variant. We never buy at a price higher than the quoted one without your explicit approval.

Card payments are not processed on this website. We work by bank transfer and, for recurring orders, on the payment terms agreed in writing. The reason is simple: in an import operation the value of the goods is paid to the Chinese seller up front, so the cash flow has to run in that direction.

Yes, we issue an invoice for our commission and the services contracted, and we hand you the Chinese seller's purchase invoice exactly as we received it. That separation is deliberate: you see what the goods cost and you see what the service cost, in two separate documents.

We buy on 1688, Taobao and Alibaba.com, and also directly from factories when the customer already has an identified supplier. The difference between them is one of price and language: 1688 is the Chinese domestic market in yuan, Taobao sells by the unit with no minimum, and Alibaba.com is the export platform in dollars.

No. That is exactly the problem the service solves. 1688 requires a Chinese account, a Chinese payment method and a delivery address inside China; we supply all three. You only need the product link and to pay us.

We detect it on receipt, while the goods are still in China and before they leave. At that point we claim against the seller in Chinese, with the platform as backing and the order in front of us, which is when real leverage exists. We send you photographs of what arrived and you decide whether it is returned, replaced or written off.

Yes. You can buy on any platform or from a supplier you already know and have it dispatched to our Shenzhen warehouse. We receive it, check it against your list, consolidate it and ship it. In that case we charge for the receiving, storage and consolidation services, with no purchase commission.

Yes. If you do not have the link, a photo or a clear description is usually enough: we locate equivalent references, send you options with their price and their variants, and you choose. In that case the search work is invoiced separately when the order does not go through.

Yes, and it is the recommended step. We receive the sample at our warehouse, send you photographs and video with real measurements and weight, and forward it to your address. The cost of the sample and its shipping are on your account, and the sample handling service has a published price.

Yes. On receipt we check the reference, the quantity and the external condition of the packaging, and we send you photographs of what arrived. That basic check is included. If you want formal sampling to AQL criteria, with a report and an explicit conclusion on the batch, it is contracted separately and invoiced per inspector day.

AQL is the international standard for sampling by attributes: a statistical sample is drawn from the batch and the number of defects is counted, accepting or rejecting the whole batch on the result. It is worth it on large orders or when the product has a functional component you cannot see — electronics, mechanisms, anything that may fail to work. On simple, low-value accessories the receipt check is usually enough.

We send you the report with the photographs and a recommendation. From there the seller can remake the production, correct the defective pieces, apply a discount or accept the return. We negotiate that outcome with you and with the seller before the goods leave China, which is when it can still be resolved with no logistics cost.

Yes, and we do not treat it as a problem. You can hire a third party to inspect your order, or come and see it yourself. Our interest is that the order goes out well; if an external inspection gives you peace of mind, that suits us too.

With two concrete measures: keeping a sealed and signed sample of the approved batch, and measuring an objective parameter on every batch instead of comparing only by photographs. Without a reference sample and a measurement, comparing two orders is stating an impression, not running a control.

An order takes as long as three periods added together. The seller takes from two to five days to deliver to our Shenzhen warehouse. Consolidation time depends on you: from the same day, if you send a single order, up to the weeks you need to gather together all the orders you want to combine. And international transit runs from 4 to 10 days by express, 7 to 15 by air and 25 to 50 by sea. In practice, a complete order lands between three and seven weeks.

It depends on the route. On a DDP shipment the import taxes are included in the rate you pay and clearance is executed by an authorised agente aduanal or despachante at destination. If you operate FOB or CIF with your own clearance, the duties are paid by the importer directly. What we never do is give a tax figure without knowing the tariff classification of your product.

In Mexico, whoever is registered as the importer needs an RFC and to be on the padrón de importadores, and clearance is executed by an authorised agente aduanal. In Argentina, a CUIT, registration as an importer and a licensed despachante de aduana. In Brazil, a CNPJ and registration with Siscomex. In every case, the tariff classification of the product is the datum on which everything else depends.

Yes. You can contract the freight on your own account and have your carrier collect from our Shenzhen warehouse, and you can have your despachante handle the import at destination. In that case we prepare the export documentation and hand the goods to whoever you designate. We work DDP, but also FOB, CIF and EXW.

Yes, and that is the main reason to use a consolidation service. All the sellers dispatch to our Shenzhen warehouse and we join the orders into a single consignment. You pay one freight instead of five, one clearance instead of five and one delivery instead of five.

Goods can be stored for thirty calendar days from the first receipt, at no cost. From that point on, storage is invoiced per cubic metre per week. That is enough time to wait for another seller to complete the order; if you need to hold stock for longer so as to ship it in batches, it is quoted separately.

Yes. We apply the label with the SKU corresponding to each listing, check with a scanner that every code scans correctly, and verify real measurements and weight per unit and per master carton. Doing it in China costs a fraction of doing it at destination and prevents the load being rejected on arrival at the marketplace warehouse.

Yes, there is a specific de-labelling service. It is essential if you sell your own brand and the supplier does not produce exclusively: without that step, your customer receives the same product with another company's label. The service has a published price per unit.

Yes, on a white background and of the actual goods you are going to receive. It serves two purposes: building the product listing without depending on the manufacturer's images — which are the same ones your competition uses — and avoiding sending samples to a photographer at destination. The price is per image.

Yes. We group several references into a single sellable package with its own SKU and its label. Building it at origin avoids the most expensive per-unit operation there is, which is building it at destination. It is quoted separately when the set has more than four components or requires special packaging.

Yes: user manual, warranty card, promotional insert or leaflet. They are printed and placed inside the packaging before shipment. Doing it in China costs a fraction of printing it at destination and removes a repacking step on arrival.

Yes, and it is usually one of the clearest savings. We replace oversized boxes with tight-fitting packaging, remove redundant packaging when the product is already protected and group units into master cartons. On light and bulky products the reduction in billable volume is usually between 20% and 40%, and it translates directly into a smaller freight invoice.

You are. When we have not purchased the goods, we do not verify their origin, their lawfulness or whether they infringe third-party intellectual property rights — that responsibility sits with the buyer. We provide a receiving, storage, consolidation and transport service on goods that are already yours and whose provenance you control. This is not a formality: if the goods turn out to be counterfeit or to infringe a patent, the seizure and the claim fall on whoever imports them, even though we moved them. If you want us to verify the supplier's origin before buying, that is a separate service with a published price.

Yes. We do not move counterfeit or branded replica goods, products that infringe patents or registered designs, items prohibited from import in the destination country, or regulated products requiring a licence we cannot verify. Nor perishables, cold chain, animals or plants. The check is made before purchase.

Yes, with documentation. The manufacturer has to be able to provide the UN38.3 test report for the exact cell and pack model, plus the material safety data sheet. Without those two documents no airline or shipping line accepts the cargo. In addition, depending on the watt-hour capacity, air transport may be restricted and the sea route becomes the only viable option.

We cannot guarantee that a seller will always comply, because no service can. We cannot guarantee lead times when there is a supply chain disruption, a national holiday or a customs inspection at destination. We do not assume the commercial risk of your inventory, and we do not give tax or customs advice: decisions about your import regime are yours to take with your accountant and your despachante.

We issue a written service agreement with the scope, the commission, the tiers, what is invoiced separately and the process in the event of a discrepancy. For volume orders a purchase contract with the supplier can also be signed. It is more work up front and it prevents most misunderstandings.

Money is protected by three concrete controls: the goods are paid to the seller in two instalments, never into a personal account but always into the company account named on the order; the receipt check takes place before the goods leave China; and the commission agreement is in writing before purchase. None of the three removes the risk entirely, and together they reduce it to the level most importers consider acceptable.