If you are a small business owner or just starting out on a new business venture, you have probably considered ordering your stock from China. And, why not? The prices are low and it’s the workshop of the world, right? But then you start chatting to a few suppliers on Alibaba and hope slowly fades as you realize that they have a Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) that is way out of your budget or a lot more product than you need.
The truth is that, unfortunately, importing small quantities from China is never an easy process. You will face problems like higher shipping fees, high MOQs and, if you’re not careful, inferior product.
So let’s talk about how you can get what your business needs without breaking the bank or delaying your business dreams.
What is considered a small MOQ in China?
Small MOQs are defined differently depending on who you’re talking to. For this article, I will define a ‘Small Wholesale MOQ’ as having a total value of USD$1000 to USD$5,000 (not including freight cost).
There are a couple of things that affect the quantity you buy:
Cost of production: Manufacturer’s profit margins are usually very low in China, so they raise the MOQ to a level that is high enough to make the production worthwhile. If MOQs are too low, they risk losing money from the cost of production.
Freight: If the size or weight of the order is too low (eg. Less than 500kg or smaller than 1cubic meter), it is very likely that it will be sent via airfreight which can cost around 80% more than sea freight. This is because sea freight companies tend to avoid small shipments unless the value of the goods is quite high. For example, 1 cubic meter of fluffy toys may have to catch a plane, but 1 cubic meter of gold can be put on a ship (just an extreme example for you!).
So when talking about MOQ, it is more consistent to talk about the value of the goods.
What If I want To Order Less Than USD$1000 Worth of Goods?
We have supplied quite a few orders of less that $1000 so don't let this stop you from contacting us! But do remember that freight (as mentioned above) is always an issue that you will have to face.
However, if you are only looking for 1 or 2 low value items, the best thing I can recommend to you is to check out Aliexpress.com which is a retail shopping site like Amazon. But note that the shops sell at retail prices rather than wholesale prices. So it’s a good place to buy very small quantities like 5 sets of earphones. Note that if you are buying products from a few different shops, each shop will charge airfreight individually. In that case, you may want to think about consolidating your orders.
Once you are ready to buy wholesale on your next stock, start looking at other supply options because you will save a lot more from wholesale prices. You can check out our process or drop us a message and we will see if we can help you get what you need.
Consolidating Orders
We have had Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) customers that want a few different products in small quantities that can’t be bought from the same supplier. In this case, their major issue is the shipping cost. Sending the items one by one can double or triple the cost of the actual items. In these cases we have placed the orders, received the items and organised the freight for the customers. The items are then consolidated (combined) into a single shipment. This has a few advantages:
You avoid difficulties with the language difference
You don’t have to worry about coordinating a lot of different suppliers because we do that for you
Get domestic product prices – Since we order your products from within the country, we can receive local prices which are lower than export prices
Don’t have to rely on the supplier’s freight companies – we always shop around for the most affordable freight
Lower freight cost - together the items have a higher weight and larger dimensions so this lowers the freight price
You receive the goods altogether
So the biggest tip we can give you for your smaller MOQ is to consolidate your orders. This will decrease the freight cost per item because the more items you include in the shipment, the freight cost per item becomes lower.
If you are thinking about ordering stock from China but aren’t sure how to go ahead, we will be happy to help you with any questions you have.
Keep on keeping on, all you SMEs!
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