This article was first published on Yiwuagt.com. As a China sourcing agent with many years of experience, the site has a lot of knowledge of Chinese imports.
In the past two years, Amazon's business has grown rapidly, and the number of sellers on Amazon has also increased significantly. As the manufacturing center of global products, China has also attracted more and more Amazon sellers to sourcing products from China. But Amazon's rules for selling products are also stricter, and sellers need to be more cautious when sourcing products.
Here you will find a complete guide to sourcing Amazon products from China. For example: how Amazon sellers choose suitable products and reliable Chinese suppliers, and the difficulties that need to be paid attention to when sourcing Amazon products in China, and some methods that can reduce import risks are compiled.
If you read this article carefully, I trust that you can sourcing profitable products for your Amazon business. Let's get started.
1.Reasons for Choosing to Sourcing Amazon Products from China
Some people will say that the labor cost in China is rising now, and because of the epidemic situation, there will always be a blockade, and sourcing products from China isn't as smooth as before, thinking that it is no longer a good deal.
But in fact, China is still the world's largest exporter. For many importers, importing from China has become an integral part of their product supply chain. Even if they wanted to move to another country, they would probably give up on the idea. Because it is difficult for other countries to surpass China in terms of the supply of raw materials and the production process of products. Moreover, at present, the Chinese government has a very mature solution for dealing with the epidemic, and can resume work and production as quickly as possible. In this case, even if there is an outbreak of the epidemic, the workers will not delay the work at hand. So don't worry too much about cargo delays.
2.How to Choose your Amazon Products
Operations account for 40 percent of the success of an Amazon store, and product selection accounts for 60 percent. Product selection is one of the most important aspects of Amazon sellers. So, what should Amazon sellers pay attention to when choosing products from China. The following points are for reference.
1) Quality of Amazon products
If an Amazon seller needs to ship through FBA, his product must be inspected by Amazon FBA. This kind of inspection has quite high requirements on the quality of the purchased products.
2) Profitability
If you don't want to find out that there is no profit or even loss after selling the product, then you must carefully calculate the profitability of the product when purchasing the product. Here's an easy way to quickly determine if the product is profitable.
First, understand the market price of the target product and preliminary formulation of a retail price. Divide this retail price into 3 parts, one is your benefit, one is your product cost, and one is your landed cost. Say your target retail price is $27, then a serving is $9. In addition, you also need to consider the cost of sales marketing and courier. If the overall cost can be controlled within 27 US dollars, then basically no loss.
3) Suitable for transportation
Sourcing products from China is a long process. You definitely don't want to incur big losses by picking a product that isn't suitable for shipping. Therefore, it is very important to choose products suitable for transportation, and try to avoid large or fragile items.
The general modes of transportation include express, air, sea and land. Because ocean shipping is more affordable, you can save a lot of money when shipping large quantities of products. So it is the most common way to ship products to Amazon FBA warehouse, and the shipping time is about 25-40 days.
In addition, you can also adopt a combination of shipping, air and express delivery strategies. For example, if a small amount of purchased products are transported by express, some products can be received as soon as possible, and they can be listed on Amazon in advance, avoid missing the product popularity.
4) The production difficulty of the product
Just like we don't recommend beginner skiers to do difficult platform jumps. If you are a novice Amazon seller looking to sourcing products from China, we don't recommend choosing products that are difficult to produce, such as jewelry, electronics, and skin care. Combining feedback from some Amazon sellers, we found that non-branded products with a product value greater than $50 were more difficult to sell.
When buying high-value products, people are more likely to choose well-known brands. And the production of these products usually requires several suppliers to provide components separately, and the final assembly is completed. The production operation is difficult, and there are many hidden dangers in the supply chain. In order to avoid excessive losses, we generally do not recommend Amazon novice sellers to purchase such products.
5) Avoid infringing products
Products sold on Amazon must be genuine, at least not infringing products.
When sourcing products from China, avoid all aspects that may be infringed, such as copyrights, trademarks, exclusive models, etc.
Both the Seller Intellectual Property Policy and the Amazon Anti-Counterfeiting Policy in Amazon's Selling Regulations stipulate that sellers need to ensure that products do not violate the anti-counterfeiting policy. Once a product sold on Amazon is deemed to be infringing, the product will be removed immediately. And your funds on Amazon may be frozen or seized, your account may be suspended and you may face store penalties. More seriously, the seller may face huge claims from copyright owners.
The following are some of the actions that may be considered infringing:
Used pictures of the same type of product brands on the Internet as the pictures of the products you sold.
Use of registered trademarks of other brands in product names.
Using other brands' copyright logos on product packaging without permission.
The products you sell are very similar to the brand's proprietary products.
6) Popularity of the product
Generally speaking, the more popular a product is, the better it will sell, but at the same time the competition may be more intense. You can identify product trends by researching what people are searching for on Amazon, as well as various websites and social media. Product sales data on Amazon can serve as a powerful basis for observing the popularity of a product. You can also check user reviews below similar products, improve products or new designs.
Here are some of the popular product categories on Amazon:
Kitchen Supplies, Toys, Sports Products, Home Decor, Baby Care, Beauty and Personal Care Products, Apparel, Jewelry and Shoes.
If you aren't sure what kind of products to import, or don't know how to choose specific popular styles, which products are more profitable, you can use the one-stop service of China sourcing agents, which can avoid many import problems. Professional sourcing agents can help you find reliable Chinese suppliers, get high-quality and novel Amazon products at the best prices, and ship to your destination on time.
3.How to Choose a Reliable Chinese Supplier When Sourcing Amazon Products
After determining the target product type, the question you will face is how to choose a reliable Chinese supplier for your Amazon products. Depending on whether your product needs to be customized, and the degree of customization, you are free to choose a supplier who has stock or provides ODM or OEM services. Many Amazon sellers choose existing styles when sourcing products, but make small changes in colors, packaging, and patterns.
For the specific content of ODM&OEM, please refer to: China OEM VS ODM VS CM: A Complete Guide.
To find China suppliers, you can through offline or online.
Offline: Go to a Chinese exhibition or China wholesale market, or visit the factory directly. And you can also meet many Yiwu market agents and amazon sourcing agents.
Online: 1688, Alibaba and other Chinese wholesale websites, or find experienced China purchasing agents on Google and social media.
The content of finding suppliers has been introduced in detail before. For specific content, please refer to:
Online and offline: How to find reliable Chinese suppliers.
4.Difficulties Amazon Sellers May Encounter when Sourcing Products from China
1) Language barrier
Communication is a big challenge when sourcing Amazon products from China. Because communication difficulties will bring many chain problems. For example, because the language is different, the demand can't be conveyed well, or there is an error in the understanding of both parties, and the final product produced isn't up to standard or doesn't meet their expected goals.
2) Finding suppliers has become more difficult than before
This situation is mainly due to the current blockade policy in China. It isn't so convenient for Amazon sellers to travel to China to sourcing products in person. In the past, going to the exhibition or market in person was the main way for buyers to get to know Chinese suppliers. Now Amazon sellers are more likely to sourcing products online.
3) Product quality problems
Some new Amazon sellers will find that some products purchased from China may fail to pass the Amazon FBA test. Although they believe they have signed as detailed a production contract as possible, they still have a chance of encountering the following problems:
Substandard packaging, inferior product, damaged goods, wrong or inferior raw materials, mismatched dimensions, etc. Especially when face-to-face communication is not possible, more import risks are increased. For example, it is difficult to determine the size and strength of the other party, whether it will encounter financial fraud, and the progress of delivery.
If you want to make sure there is no problem sourcing products from China, finding a professional sourcing agent to help you is a good choice. They provide china sourcing export services such as factory verification, assistance in procurement, transportation, supervision of production, quality inspection, etc., which can minimize the risk of importing from China. In addition to basic services, some high-quality China purchasing agents also provide customers with value-added services, such as product photography and retouching, which is very convenient for Amazon sellers.
5. Risk Reduction: Actions to Ensure Product Quality
1) More detailed contracts
With a perfect contract, you can avoid many quality problems as much as possible, and you can further protect your own interests.
2) Ask for samples
Request samples before mass production. The sample can most intuitively see the product itself and the current problems, adjust it in time, and make it more perfect in the subsequent mass production.
3) FBA inspection of Amazon products in China
If the purchased products are found to fail FBA inspection after they arrive at the Amazon warehouse, it will be a very serious loss for Amazon sellers. Therefore, we propose to let the goods pass the FBA inspection by a third party while they are still in China. You can hire an Amazon fba agent.
4) Ensure that the product meets the import standards of the destination country
It is very important that some customers do not take into account the import standards of the local country when purchasing products, resulting in failure to receive the goods successfully. Therefore, be sure to sourcing products that meet the import standards.
End
Amazon sellers sourcing products from China, while risky, also come with huge benefits. As long as the details of each step can be done well, the benefits that Amazon sellers can get from importing products from China must be far greater than the returns. As a China sourcing agent with 23 years of experience, we have helped many clients develop steadily. If you are interested in sourcing products from China, you can contact us.
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