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A wrong container from China is almost never a production error, but a process error: you skipped a step beforehand. You avoid a bad purchase with five steps: approach five to six suppliers at once, analyse quotes on more than price, lock down all specifications, test a production sample, and keep an eye on production weekly.
Lars HurkmansMore articles
Chinese suppliers ignore your message because it looks like the hundreds of others they already received that day. You get taken seriously by being specific and honest instead of big and rushed: drop the CEO and biggest-brand claims, call yourself a purchase manager, negotiate calmly, ask why prices differ and treat the supplier as a partner.
Forwarding is the whole journey from the Chinese factory to your door in the Netherlands: local transport in China, export, the warehouse, sea or air freight, customs clearance in Rotterdam and the domestic transport to you. A freight forwarder takes that entire chain off your hands from A to Z.
You find a good supplier in China by first determining in detail what you're looking for, and then searching on Alibaba and Made in China. Don't rely on the paid first page, look for the factory behind the shop instead of going through Alibaba chat, and judge a factory on its age: from five years onward it gets serious.
There are countless side hustles for earning money online in the Netherlands, from e-commerce such as dropshipping, print on demand and selling on bol to services like freelance writing, virtual assistance and online coaching. In this article we list twenty ways, with the startup time, difficulty level and requirements for each idea.
You don't apply for a CE marking with an authority: as the manufacturer or importer you declare yourself that your product meets the applicable EU directives. You do that in six steps: determine the directives and standards, check the requirements, test the product, draw up a technical file, affix the CE logo and sign an EU declaration of conformity.
A CE logo shown by an Alibaba supplier is often not a genuine CE marking but the China Export logo: visually almost identical, legally completely different. CE means a product meets EU requirements; China Export only indicates origin. As the importer, you are responsible for making sure your product is actually compliant.
When importing from China, three things determine your costs and risks. Incoterms set out who arranges transport, insurance and customs, from EXW (you arrange almost everything) to DDP (your supplier arranges everything). You pay import duties on the customs value, at a rate that depends on the TARIC code. Import VAT is calculated on the customs value plus the import duties.
You choose a European supplier when short delivery times, higher quality standards and avoiding import duties matter more than the lowest purchase price. For dropshipping on bol that's often decisive: you have to deliver from a European location and within a maximum of 8 working days. The downside is a higher price and a more limited range.
