7 mistakes that make importing from China expensive (or ruin it) — and how to avoid them

Most companies that lose money importing don't lose it on a bad factory price. They lose it on process mistakes that repeat so often they're predictable — and avoidable. Here are the seven most costly ones we see again and again, and what to do instead.

1. Paying a deposit before verifying who's on the other end

An attractive catalogue, a fast email reply and a competitive price guarantee nothing. Before you wire a single euro, confirm at least three things: that the company legally exists and matches the bank account you're paying into, that it has real production capacity for your volume, and that it isn't simply reselling another factory's capacity without telling you.

A basic verification costs a tiny fraction of the order's value. A lost deposit costs the entire order.

2. Mistaking a trading company for a real manufacturer

There's nothing wrong with working through an intermediary if you know it and accept it consciously. The problem is not knowing: paying factory price to someone who's actually subcontracting to a third party, with no control over final quality and no ability to intervene if something goes wrong on the floor.

Ask directly for the factory's legal name, request current, verifiably dated photos of the production line, and — whenever volume justifies it — audit before committing to mass production.

3. Not putting the technical specification in writing

"Like the sample" is not a specification. It's an invitation for your idea and the manufacturer's understanding to diverge. Every project should have a single document with dimensions, materials, tolerances, colors (Pantone code if applicable), packaging and any regulatory requirement of the destination country.

That document doesn't just protect quality — it's also your objective reference if you need to raise a non-conformity claim later.

4. Skipping pre-shipment inspection to save a few days

Pre-shipment inspection (PSI) is your last chance to catch a problem before it becomes your problem. Without it, the first time you actually see the real product is when it's already in your warehouse — or worse, in your end customer's hands.

An inspection costs a small fraction of the container's value. Skipping it is measured in returns, claims and reputation.

5. Signing an Incoterm without understanding what it means

EXW, FOB, CIF, DDP — these aren't administrative details, they define who bears each risk and each cost at every leg of the journey. Signing EXW thinking it's the same as FOB can mean you're responsible for arranging and paying for domestic transport at origin without realizing it — and without the local network to fix it if something goes wrong at that stage.

As a general rule: if you don't regularly manage international transport yourself, an Incoterm that leaves that management to someone experienced (typically FOB or CIF) reduces your risk exposure.

6. Underestimating real transit and customs time

Sea transit between Asia and Europe isn't the optimistic "20 days" sometimes quoted: it's typically 25 to 40 days depending on port and route, on top of production, document preparation and customs clearance at both ends. Planning around the best-case scenario is the single most common cause of avoidable stock-outs.

Always calculate on the realistic scenario, not the best possible one.

7. Having no plan for when something goes wrong

Something will go wrong, sooner or later — a delay, a non-conformity, a customs paperwork issue. The difference between a company that manages imports well and one that doesn't isn't never having incidents: it's having a clear process for when they happen.

At SGI we apply a simple framework with every client: Verify the facts before reacting, Communicate the situation with immediate transparency, and Resolve with the fastest, safest option within applicable regulation. It's not sophisticated — but very few companies apply it systematically.

The real cost of an import isn't the factory price. It's the factory price plus everything that goes wrong from not verifying, not documenting and not planning around the realistic scenario.

The practical takeaway

None of these seven mistakes requires an expensive fix. They require a process: verify before committing, document before manufacturing, inspect before shipping, and be clear on who does what at every leg of the journey. That's exactly the process we structure into every project we manage.