Hello, I am the manager of Union Vision. We have assisted international customers in purchasing and importing Chinese toys. Following that, I’ll tell you about my 10-year career in the toy industry. I hope this post has helped you better understand Chinese toy wholesale and avoid mistakes during the purchasing process. We frequently release new toys, Chinese toys wholesale market conditions, purchasing imported Chinese toys, and other videos on this channel. And get our most recent toy catalog for free.
Where do I begin when looking for wholesale Chinese toys?
Many people visit our website and are aware that we are a supplier of various Chinese toys. The first question they ask is what the best toys. Products are and how much they cost. But, if you’re just starting out importing toys wholesale from China, I believe the first step is to identify your own products, including buyer positioning, toy categories, product functional requirements, and sales channels.
The second step is to conduct market research and understand your sales market. Some people, for example, sell their products online through the Amazon website, while others sell their products through the Shopify website and social media, and some of our customers are chain stores and toy retail stores. Because the user groups and sales methods of these sales channels differ, so do the quality requirements and packaging methods for Chinese toy products.
Before beginning your Chinese toy sourcing, conduct product positioning and market research. Because you must select the product that is appropriate for you to sell from among tens of thousands, if not hundreds of millions, of Chinese toys. Many of our customers, after reading our product layers and sample rooms, did not do their homework early on and found themselves in the middle of a purchase with no idea what they needed. This is a real case, one of many.
After conducting market research, learning about the Chinese toys of your peers and competitors, and determining which products you need to buy directly, the next step is to learn about the products available from Chinese toy suppliers.
How to find the Chinese toy manufacturer?
Following that, I will share with you five methods I have used to locate Chinese toy suppliers.
Toy Show
If you are looking for toy suppliers, the exhibition is usually held 1-2 times a year. Suppliers will display their most advantageous and latest products at the exhibition, allowing you to directly see samples and understand all product information. Furthermore, at the exhibition, you can directly negotiate with Chinese toy suppliers and obtain more product details, price, packaging, and ordering MOQ.
However, because those who participate in the exhibition are typically manufactured by relatively large factories, they have higher order quantity requirements. For example, a product may require half of a container or the entire container. This is for merchants who are importing for the first time from China. It’s not very convenient, to say the least. However, the exhibition also served as a channel for buyers to obtain the most recent product information.
The Canton Fair, held twice a year and divided into spring and autumn exhibitions, is the most well-known in China. Toy manufacturers from all over China will attend the exhibition.
There are also toy exhibitions in China, such as the gift exhibition in Shenzhen and the Chinese and foreign toy exhibition in Guangzhou. The scale is not as large as the first and second, but I believe that the smaller the exhibition, the easier it is to find a supplier to support you in terms of price and order quantity.
You can contact me if you want schedules and suggestions for the various toy fairs this year.
Online B2B Marketplace in China
E-commerce in China is very advanced now, and there are already many B2B commerce platforms that can be used by overseas users. The largest B2B companies are:
- Alibaba
- Made-in-China
- Global Source
- Dhgate
Ask a Chinese Toys Sourcing company to help you
After receiving the necessary information from our overseas customers, we use the company’s own local advantages in China to search for suppliers who meet customer requirements through various channels (such as exhibitions, wholesale markets, and existing factory resources), and obtain the necessary information. The customer receives a quotation sheet.
The photo above shows that I am helping a client find a supplier of building blocks. I searched for a Chinese toy market, a factory, and an exhibition, and finally, I chose a manufacturer that is suitable for customizing the style of the building blocks for the client.
Of course, the sourcing company’s work does not stop there. After locating the supplier, the sourcing firm will also serve as an overseas user’s office in China, placing orders with the factory, tracking the goods, and finally receiving the Chinese toys and performing inspection work. This method is the most convenient for international customers.
Use Linkedin as one of your sources
Do you know what Linkedin is? Do you believe Linkedin is solely a recruiting platform? Actually, LinkedIn is now a company presentation platform as well as a social media platform. Many Chinese toy factories now have Linkedin accounts.
You only need to enter the product’s keyword into the search box to find a plethora of matching supplier resources.
Conduct a Google search
Everyone is familiar with Google, and some good Chinese toy manufacturers will have rankings and introductions on it.
You can find this toy supplier on Google, which means he has been vetted to ensure the quality of Chinese toy products.
Here’s how to find the toy factory using Google:
#1 “keywords” + manufacturer+China
#2 “keywords” + wholesale+manufacturer+China
#3 “keywords” + factory+China
#4 “keywords” + factory+wholesale+China
However, what I want to say is that at the moment, only a small number of Chinese toy suppliers will create Chinese business websites and promote them on Google, so you will either find a very good toy factory or very few Chinese toy factories.
Problems You May run into when import Chinese toys
1. Chinese toys safety regulations and certificates
Certificates and safety are the biggest ones of all problems, and different countries have different required standards for imported Chinese toys. Here’s some certification required by US and EU for toy products.
The United States Toy Safety Regulations
- The first three tests of ASTM F963: Mechanical/Physical Testing, Flammability testing, and Chemical testing.
- The other one is CPSIA(Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act): lead and phthalates test, and labeling test.
European Union Toy Safety Regulations
- Toys exported to Europe have to pass Toy Safety Directive (EN 71 — 1,2,3) and have a CE mark.
If you are importing a large number of toys, you’d better do all the required tests. But if your quantity is small, then the costs of all these tests are very high. The best way is to ask your suppliers to offer these test reports which they had done before, in order to make sure their products meet the safety standards. If the suppliers cannot offer you, then you have to change to another who can offer test reports.
Suppliers in China usually won’t do all these tests, most of them do parts 1, 2, and 3 of the EN 71 test and Phthalates test. When you get the EN 71 test report from them, be careful to check whether it includes EN71 part 3, which is the most important part, it can prove the hazardous substance in products is under required limits. Some suppliers will not test part 3, because they are afraid that the test may fail.
Besides, there are many companies that can do CE tests in China, so you also need to check which testing lab the report is from. A famous institutions such as SGS, ITS and TUV will be the best. Some suppliers may offer reports from small Chinese testing labs to save money, but they may not be admitted by importing countries.
2. Inspection Required by China Customs
The toys exported from China are subject to an inspection of China Customs. When applying for inspection of exported toys, you will have to fill out a declaration form for outbound goods and submit other documents required by the China customs, of course, you may ask your supplier or a sourcing agent to do this for you.
When applying for inspection, a declaration of product quality and safety compliance is also required. According to China Customs published requiremnets, a test report issued by a toy laboratory will also be needed for the first-time inspection.
3. Design Infringement
Toy copycats are very commonly seen in China. Many suppliers would just simply copy the designs from big overseas toy brand and manufacture their own products.
If you want to import toys from China, you have to be very careful about the designs of your products. Otherwise, even if you successfully shipped the toys into your country, you may find yourself under an accusation of design infringement, which may cause great losses to your business.
4. Shipping Toys from China
Shipping is one of the key parts of your importing process. You have to pay attention to many details. First of all, when you are asking for a quote from your freight forwarder or supplier, you have to choose the right Incoterm. The most commonly used Incoterm is FOB, short for Free On Board, which covers all the cost for delivering the goods from the factory to the ship or aircraft in the seaport or airport appointed by you. Secondly, you have to make sure the shipping solution you choose is suitable for your cargo. If you purchased toys more than 2 CBM then shipping them by sea freight LCL or FCL will be a very cost-effective option. If your order quantity is rather small, you can try international express. If the size of your toys is small but the value is relatively high, then you may consider shipping them by air freight.
5.Required Documents for Chinese toys in China
In addition to different product certificates, there are also many necessary customs documents to ship the products successfully. Certainly, the required documents vary from different importing countries.
However, there are some general documents in common for most shipments. Here, I’ll list some for you:
- Commercial invoice
- Bill of lading
- Packing list
- Sales contract
- Insurance policy
- Proforma invoice
- Certificate of Origin
- Customs declaration
- Inspection certificate
