Hong Kong is the first point of entry for many visitors to China because of its extensive and convenient international flight connections.  Visitors are often challenged to find a suitable mode of travel between Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

Does your company has well defined pre shipment policy in order to define the duties and responsibilities of each concerned party, be it a vendor, a clearing agent or in house staff.  We think that a pre shipment checklist is must for every organization.  We have defined a structured pre shipment policy and adhere to it while making shipment.  If your organization does not have one it is time to write and document one now.

We are giving a guideline for writing a pre shipment checklist.  Use these guidelines to develop a checklist to ensure that goods ship out as planned without any surprise.  In general, it is better to have a standard packing and pre shipment checklist for the entire organization.

Canton fair officially known as the Chinese Import Export Fair is held twice a year (15th April - 5th May and 15th September - 5th October) in Guangzhou.  Over 100000 visitors come  every year, which results in artificial shortages of hotels, restaurants and taxies during canton fair time.  If you want to save money and avoid paying inflated hotel and restaurant price during Canton Fair, please read following tips.

Once the order is ready with overseas supplier one has to choose a shipping method to import. The choosing right shipping method is daunting task even for seasoned importers as freight agent routinely gives you an incomplete quote for shipment. The major factors that influence shipping decisions are prices, delivery time, safety of goods and ease of delivery to your warehouse. It can done by following the steps:

1. Find total cost of shipment
2. Speed verses Cost of shipment
3. Analyze the total cost of each method
4. Negotiate with freight agent
5. Build relationship with your freight forwarding agent

One of most common question that importer ask is how much time it will take for their shipment to reach destination while importing from China.

Once shipment is picked from suppliers location it goes through export customs clearance in China and therefore loaded on ship.  The date of loading on ship is called ON BOARD DATE.  It can be found at bottom right side of BILL OF LADING

Here is approximate sailing time for your imports from China to most common ports/area around the world.  Please note that these are only guideline and actual sailing can be tracked by visiting shipping company's website.

I have been living and working in China for past 10 years.  International trade is some thing that I took for granted.  Let me make it clear that I am not a guru but what I am writing here basically sums up all steps in import with special focus on importing from China.

You can call it beginners guide to import from China.

Step 1: What to import
The most important decision in import is to find a product that you can import and sell easily for profit.  Know your customer and find out at what price they can buy.  This can be done by doing simple poll/survey or speaking to your existing customer.  It will help to know about your market potential, competitors and regulatory issues.

A small research before import from China will reduce your chances of ending up with dead inventory.