Promotional products from China

What imports well

• Flat textiles — tote bags, tea towels, drawstring bags. They pack down and ship on weight, not volume.
• Small hard goods — keyrings, bottle openers, USB drives, pens. Dense, cheap to ship, easy to print.
• Drinkware — mugs, bottles, tumblers. Heavy enough to ship sensibly, though fragile items need real packing.
• Apparel — caps, T-shirts, hoodies. Compresses well, though sizing and fabric weight need confirming in writing.

What does not

Anything large and hollow. Inflatables, foam items, bulky plush, big plastic housings — they bill on volumetric weight and the freight can be several times the goods value.

Anything with a battery. Power banks, lit items and electronics carry dangerous-goods restrictions that rule out most economy routes and add cost and delay you did not budget for.

Anything needed inside three weeks. Sea freight is 25–45 days and air is expensive; a rushed promotional order is usually cheaper bought domestically.

What branding adds

Printing is quoted separately from the item and has its own minimum, commonly 500 to 1,000 pieces for a single-colour print and higher for multi-colour or full-wrap.

Set-up charges are per colour and per position. A two-colour logo on two sides is four set-ups, and on a small run that dominates the unit cost.

Ask for a digital proof before production and a photograph of the first printed piece before the run completes. Both are normal requests and both prevent the expensive version of this going wrong.

Realistic numbers

• Stock item minimums: 50–200 pieces at a Yiwu booth, higher direct from a factory.
• Custom print minimums: 500–1,000 pieces is typical for single colour.
• Print set-up: charged per colour per position, usually a flat fee per run.
• Sampling: 7–14 days for a printed sample, faster for a plain stock sample.
• Production: 15–30 days after artwork approval for a printed run.