Many of you will choose to import Fitness Equipment,Gym Equipment,Crossfit Equipment from abroad,For many new traders, Importing sounds like a nightmare to go through.
How do you find suppliers?
How do you eliminate the risk of scams & bad quality?
Where the hell do I get started? in fact, it’s not that complicated at all IF you know the basics behind the importing process – payment, shipping, taxes and customs
What does “importing” mean?
In general, importing means that you’re buying goods from a supplier outside your country
Here’s the basic game plan:
-Find a good product,You’ll need to brainstorm, research, and select products to import and sell
-Different from the out-of-date product that makes your product standing out.
-Find a good supplier, It can take some digging to find the right supplier, but there’s ways to ensure you avoid the scams; increase your odds at finding an awesome supplier
-Sell some samples,You’ll want to place a sample order to test & validate your product.
Here’s the BIG pitfalls to avoid.
– Please Don’t let any supplier convince you they can’t ship small orders, they are just trying to squeeze you.
We Support you Small Order for testing our quality Fitness equipment, Start at $1, 000 Worth and Small & mixed orders welcome for us.
– Please Make a business trip to meet with your supplier if you have time.
Obtain a business visa
- In order to get the visa, you will have to submit the required documentation and items, which includes:
- A valid passport from your current country of residence.
- A black and white photocopy of the picture page of your passport.
- Black and white photocopies of previous Chinese visas you have obtained (if any).
- A recent, passport-style photo of yourself.
- A completed visa application form (available at the Chinese Embassy’s website).
- An invitation letter from the supplier you are meeting.
– Please Pay attention to “Money Safety” and “Payment Options” and Avoid payment fraud. Some importers may experience this type of fraud when placing their orders. It typically involves their payment for orders being sent to the wrong bank account, which can leave both the supplier and the importer out of a large amount of money.
Reduce your risk of this type of fraud by following two simple steps:
Don’t send your payment to a bank account that isn’t registered under the name of the company you are ordering from.
Don’t send your payment to a bank account registered in a different city from your supplier, even if the name on the account is similar.
Otherwise, you will simply lose your money and have virtually no legal recourse to get it back.
– Wire Transfer, 
FITMUS Accept Wire Transfer for bulk order ( your bank account to the supplier’s bank account)
Next is company banks USD account:
PAYMENT ROUTE of Rizhao Fitmus Sporting Goods Co.,Ltd
Beneficiary Bank: CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK HEAD OFFICE
SWIFT NO.: PCBCCNBJ
Bank Address: Wenhua Road, Wulian County, 262300, Rizhao, Shandong, China
Beneficiary: Rizhao Fitmus Sporting Goods Co.,Ltd
A/C No.:3705 0171 7008 0000 0050
Address: North Industrial Park,Wulian County, 262300, Rizhao City, Shandong Province, China
TEL:+86-633-5889298
Most Chinese companies will accept wire transfer as a default payment option. If they don’t, it may be a sign that something dodgy is going on.
– PayPal,
We Accept Paypal, available for Sample Order.All your payments with PayPal are protected, so you can always open a dispute and request a refund if a supplier has scammed you.
Paypal account: info@fitmus-sport.com
– Western Union
Fitmus Accept Western Union, The only time you should use Western Union is when you are ordering product samples as WU transfer fees are much lower than bank transfer fees. When you use WU, you can’t actually send money to a company; only individuals can send and receive money via the WU network.
Our bank detail for Wester Union :
BENEFICIARY: Rongfu Li
First name:Rongfu
Last name:Li
ADD: Wulian County North Industrial Park,Rizhao City,Shandong Province,China 262300
Tel : +86-15106330468
After payment, please send us all the related information(MTCN, country, amount, order number) via email.
– We suggest NOT Always looking for the lowest price.Don’t buy counterfeit crap. Not that there isn’t money to be made, it’s just a bad business to build (and illegal).
If you come across a quote that is significantly cheaper than the others, raise a red flag. You should know that there is no lowest price in China, only the lower and lower prices. Lowest price always accompanies with high risk, maybe quality, quantity or reputation.
Just find a reliable supplier and grow with them in a healthy way.
– We sugget NOT Failure to clarify product details.
If you aren’t extremely clear to your supplier about your required specifications, there is a big chance you would receive exactly what you didn’t want. Not clear means the factory will make the decision for you based on cost saving.
Ensure you double check the materials and the manufacturing process of each quote so you can feel confident in the products you are purchasing.
Make sure your supplier has totally confirmed every spec of your target product, including the packaging. Sometimes, it’s necessary to send the sample for recheck.
-IMPORTANT SUGGESTION: DO NOT Showing distrust towards your supplier.Build a relationship with a good supplier. You need to sort through the hundreds of bad suppliers and find the greatest in your niche.
International trade is based on mutual trust. If you don’t trust your supplier, nobody will look after your production in the factory, and nobody will sincerely help you when trouble happens.
Here are the 4 most popular shipping methods you can use to import goods from China:
-1) Regular Post.
regular China Post which can take up to 6 weeks to arrive. No online tracking is provided. It can be used for parcels under 2kg
-2) Courier.
Shipping with a courier company will be the most suitable method for most people starting out IF it involves small, lightweight items. With courier companies such as TNT, DHL, UPS or FedEx you pay a premium price for each kilo BUT you get fast delivery times and an online tracking facility. These days most courier shipments take just 3-5 business days to arrive in any Western country from anywhere around the globe
-3) Air Freight. 
This is somewhere between courier shipping and sea freight. Shipping times vary from company to company, but in general range between 5 to 10 days
With Air Freight you’ll usually have to handle documentation and customs clearance on your own (unlike with courier companies)
Air Freight is usually cost effective once shipments are in the range of 100kg or more UNLESS very bulky items are involved; if that’s the case your only viable option is to use Sea Freight
-4) Sea Freight. 
This is the most popular shipping method used by big companies to import goods from China. The cost per kilo is very low but the downside is the lengthy delivery time. Depending on where you’re located it will be in the vicinity of 30 to 40 days in most cases.
Just like with Air Freight, you’ll have to take care of the documentation, customs clearance and delivery of goods from the port to your warehouse.
Also, with Sea Freight it’s very important to calculate all the EXTRA COSTS involved once the goods arrive in your country. Your supplier will usually give you the FOB price, which means that the goods are loaded onto the ship. But that’s not the end of the story! Once your shipment arrives at the port there are all kinds of extra charges, such as:
Unloading charge;Port fees;Docking fees;Storage fees;Clearance fees;Etc.
the easiest way to keep these costs under control is by using a freight forwarding company. You can ask them to quote for door-to-door delivery which includes all the fees associated with Sea Freight shipping.Even with all the additional fees Sea Freight is still the cheapest shipping method for imports from China. Remember that it’s cost effective ONLY if your order is big enough.
one full pallet will be enough if your margins are right. Again, this will depend on the kind of goods you’re importing, their value and weight.
In general, Sea Freight is better for bulky items or in cases where the shipping time is not that important.In other words, the best shipping method will depend on your order!
– Learn more about Tax.
When you import FITNESS EQUIPMENT from abroad, you have to pay two kinds of tax before the goods are actually released to you: Value Added Tax (VAT) Import Duty
The VAT rate is different for each country, so make sure you check your country’s specific VAT rate before making any calculations. SUCH AS The current VAT rate in the UK is 20%. Import duties vary widely from product to product so do check the accurate rate with the help of this free online calculator:
https://www.dutycalculator.com/
Import duty & taxes for Kettlebells from China
https://www.dutycalculator.com/dc/168336/sports-leisure/exercise-fitness/dumb-bells-weights/import-duty-rate-for-importing-kettlebells-from-china-from-china-to-united-kingdom-is-2.7/
Import duty will be usually be in the range of 2%-5%, but with some products it can be as high as 10% or even more. On the other hand, with some product groups you won’t have to pay import duty at all, so be sure to check out that online calculator to see exactly how much import duty you’ll have to pay for your particular goods.
REMEMBER!!! Import duty is payable only on the goods’ value
but VAT will be applied to the TOTAL of:
Goods’ value (price paid to the supplier)+Shipping+Import Duty
Importing from China:A Step by Step Guide ( For example, Sea Freight Bulk order)
1. Identify your import rights.
2. Identify the goods you want to import. Fitness Equipment HS code 95069119
3. Ensure the goods you wish to import are permitted into your country.
4. Classify your goods and calculate the landed cost
5. Find your supplier in China and place an order.
6. Arrange your cargo transport. we suggest Choose a good freight forwarder partner
we understand that delays might happen during the process, such as goods might not be produced on time, the vessel might not sail as scheduled, goods might be held by the customs. Be prepared and plan accordingly.Do not expect your cargo would leave the port as soon as completed in the factory. Because it needs at least 1~2 days for your cargo transport from the factory to the port. And the process of Customs Declaration needs your cargo to stay at the port for at least 1~2 days.
Besides, there’s only one route frequency each week in some cases. Missing the day of this week, you will have to wait till next week.
7. Track your cargo and get prepared for arrival
.
Shipping goods internationally takes time,During the time, check your commercial invoice, packing list, the bill of lading, and other related freight documents.
8. Obtain your shipment.When the goods arrive, make arrangements for your customs broker to clear them through customs (and quarantine if applicable).
If everything goes well, it’s your rights to pick up your shipment.
-Lastly,You need to know who you are working with
1)-Factory / manufacturer: produce and provide products directly
2)-Trading company: buy from factory and resell, provide additional services.
3)-Sourcing agent: help customers to sourcing product in China and charged for their service, mostly from 3% to 10% of the goods value.
Now you should understand the roles they are playing, but it still doesn’t represent that you’ve known who they really are. Because nearly 90% of your supplier claims that they are factory if you search your product from the internet and get contacted with them.If you are serious about working with factory without any middleman, here is a useful checklist for you:
Check their website or category and see if they provide a mass range of product.Generally speaking, a factory is unable to produce multiple kinds of product, because every single product line required production equipment, technology and mass materials to invest, that’s a huge amount. For example, if your suppliers provide stainless steel product and rubber/silicon product as well, then they probably are trading companies. It is Right.
Check the MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) of your supplier. Usually trading company offers much lower MOQ than factory. For a factory, the cost of mass production for 500-piece products and 3,000-piece products is almost the same. There is a narrow difference of the production process (capacity, labor, materials and so on). A low quantity means the wastes of capacity, same labor worked, and higher cost of material to purchase by factory. That’s why factories are unwilling to accept a small MOQ. But Trading companies are able to take this by their multi-channel sources and they work with many small-scale factories who produce product only, without sales and advertisement channels to be found by overseas customer like you.
Check the business license of your supplier
There is one thing you should know that is useless to check the registered capital that written in their business license because the registered capital is no need to be verified by bank or government now.The right method is to check their business scope whether if appears MANUFACTURING “生产/制造” in Chinese.
Check their factor audit report.
Both B.V（Bureau Veritas）TÜV Rheinland are authoritative organisations which is a powerful evidence to showing they are factory. followed this list and get them passed, you’ll know that you want to know.
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Question 1: do you think factory will be careful with your order?
If you buy small quantity with mixed fitness goods, we suggest you choose trading&manufacturer combination. Because Chinese Big Factory boss seldome like small order, so there is no gurantee for small orders.
if you work with middleman, they can go to the factory to check quality and ask them to send photos, as far as I can see, middle men are more honest than Chinese factories, this is hard to explain but I can say the Chinese bosses are old stupid Chinese, they do not speak English and they have typical Chinese mindset, those sales girls are lazy and not responsible, middle man are all young guy, they are enthusiactic and have passion.
Question 2: Alibaba certificated manufacturers are real manufacturers?
There are thousands of companies open Alibaba with manufacturer’s company lisence but they are middle men, you can’t tell it. Alibaba is not that serious with this, if you pay them money, you can have all the service on Alibaba.The right method is to check the supplier business scope whether if appears MANUFACTURING “生产/制造” in Chinese.
Question 3: Hongkong Bank Are real companys?
Hongkong Bank can avoid tax but there are no company registered Hongkong Bank in China, if you see their bank names are different from their company names or their company address is in Hongkong, this is innormal. In most cases，they are sole trader. A lot of hackers is to steal customer mailboxes and then deceive customers to pay money to their hongkong bank accounts.
I think there is no way can 100% to tell fraud manufacturers, the best way to get good quality is to check the webiste contant,
see their photos good or not, the products information detailed or not, if a company is not responsible with their website, how could they be responsible for their customers?