Buying guides

9 guides, and which question each one settles

These are written from orders we have run, not from a keyword list. Each one answers a question a buyer actually asked us, usually after it had already cost them something.

Start here if you are new to this

Three questions come up before any others, and they come up in this order: where should I be buying, what will it really cost landed, and how do I know the seller is real. The guides below are grouped that way rather than alphabetically.

Where to buy

• Yiwu market guide

  Read before a buying trip, or instead of one. What the district numbers mean and which floors are worth your time.

• Yiwu vs Alibaba

  Read when deciding where to source. The two are different kinds of marketplace, and the cheaper one is not always cheaper landed.

• Wholesale souvenirs from China

  Read if you sell to tourists or venues. A category with its own licensing traps.

What it costs, and what the minimum really is

• Promotional products from China

  Read when budgeting. Which promotional items are worth importing at all once branding and freight are counted.

• Minimum order quantity for gifts

  Read before committing a budget. Minimums are usually per variant, which is where quantities go wrong.

• Shipping costs for gift orders

  Read when the freight quote looks strange. Gifts are light and enormous, so volume decides the bill, not weight.

Getting your branding right

• Wholesale party supplies from China

  Read for seasonal and event stock. Timing and breakage rates matter more than unit price.

• Custom logo printing in China

  Read before sending artwork. Which print method survives which surface, and what file the factory actually needs.

Before your money moves

• How we check a booth before you pay

  Read to see what we actually do before your money moves.

What these guides are not

They are not a substitute for reading your own listing. Every order has a detail that no general guide covers — a seller who is a trading company, a certificate that exists for a different model number, a minimum that applies per colour. The guides tell you what to look for. Looking is still the work.