You used to ship parcels. Now you have to import properly.
The duty is the headline. The real change is that everything you never had to do — a customs entry, an HS code, a bulk MOQ, a supplier you have actually checked — all arrived at once. And because you are buying containers instead of cartons, being wrong about a supplier now costs you a quarter rather than a weekend.
This page is for you if…
- You sell on Amazon, Shopify, eBay, Etsy or TikTok Shop and your goods come from China.
- You used to ship direct from a Chinese warehouse in small parcels, and that has stopped working.
- You are now placing bulk orders with a supplier you have never met and never verified.
- You have never filed a formal customs entry, and are not sure whose name is on the ones being filed.
- Your margin maths stopped working and you are not certain which line item broke it.
If two or more of those are true, the section below is written about your situation specifically. If none are, try the other three.
The problems, and what we do about each
“I have no idea whether this supplier is a factory or a middleman.”
We read their official registry record in Chinese and tell you in one working day — including whether their registered scope actually permits manufacturing.
Supplier Registry Check · US$95“The sample was perfect. I am about to order 3,000 of them.”
A live, interpreted video walkthrough of the plant, filmed against a checklist, so you see the line that will make your goods before the deposit moves.
Remote Video Factory Audit · from US$450“They just emailed asking me to pay a different bank account.”
Stop. This is the most expensive fraud in the trade and it is almost always fake. We check the account name against the registered entity — and the free walkthrough is published.
Supplier Due Diligence & Verification · from US$180“I cannot work out my landed cost, and it keeps changing.”
A dated, sourced briefing on the measures actually touching your categories, plus the supplier-side documents your customs broker will ask for.
Tariff & Trade-Measure Exposure Briefing · from US$350“My supplier speaks enough English to sell, not enough to solve a problem.”
We join the call and interpret both ways — including the parts where the polite answer and the real answer differ.
Product Sourcing & Interpreting · from US$150/dayA sensible order to do this in
You can take any one of these and stop. But this is the sequence that wastes the least money.
- 01
Check the shortlist
US$95 each. Run three or four — the differences between them tell you more than any one report.
Supplier Registry Check · US$95 - 02
Look at the plant
Before the first bulk order, not after the first bad one.
Remote Video Factory Audit · from US$450 - 03
Understand your exposure
So the landed-cost model is built on something dated and sourced.
Tariff & Trade-Measure Exposure Briefing · from US$350 - 04
Keep it running
A Sourcing Desk retainer from US$450/mo covers ongoing checks and interpreting without a new quote every time.
Answers written for your situation
No email required, sources named, dates on everything. If these solve your problem you do not need to hire us, and we would rather you knew that.
- Can I still ship low-value parcels from China duty-free?
- Who is the importer of record, and why does it matter?
- Is my Chinese supplier a factory or a trading company?
- My Chinese supplier changed their bank details by email — is it a scam?
- Is Trade Assurance enough, or do I still need my own due diligence?
Questions we get from this group
I am tiny. Is US$95 worth it on a $4,000 order?
That is roughly two percent of the order, and the failure mode is losing the whole deposit. Most first-time buyers spend more than that on samples from suppliers they never checked.
Can you just find me a supplier?
Yes — sourcing is a service. But we charge you a fee and take nothing from the supplier, which means we are more expensive than an agent on commission and considerably more honest about what we find.
Do you handle the shipping and customs?
No. We are not a freight forwarder or a customs broker and do not take title to goods. We verify the supplier and assemble the supplier-side documents your broker needs.
Not quite you?
Not sure which engagement fits?
Book a 45-minute consult. We map your situation to the right process, tell you honestly what is and is not possible, and give you a fixed fee. No obligation.
