What importing from China actually costs

The mistake that costs new importers most: comparing the factory price with the selling price at home and assuming the difference is profit. There are layers of cost between those two numbers.

What you actually pay:

The factory price per unit — usually the only figure a supplier quotes. Always ask for the minimum order quantity, because the price moves with it.

Packaging. Custom packaging with your brand adds a per-unit cost and often a separate minimum quantity of its own.

Inland transport from the factory to the port, and Chinese export clearance.

International freight. A full container is cheaper per unit but needs volume; a part load costs more per unit and is easier to start with; air freight roughly doubles the cost and turns weeks into days.

Cargo insurance. A small percentage of the value, and not the place to economise.

Customs duty and tax in your own country — the line that surprises most importers, because it is charged on the goods plus freight plus insurance, not on the factory price alone.

Local transport from the port to your warehouse.

A wastage allowance. Plan for a percentage of units arriving damaged or off-specification. Pre-shipment inspection reduces it; it does not eliminate it.

Add these up before you decide. We send this full calculation with every quotation, because a quotation without a landed cost is not a quotation.