buying and importing building materials and furniture directly from china

[henry2109]

Hello

 

I am in the process of building a house. I have come to the conclusion, that the prices and choices for building material in Thailand is ok, but not overwhelming. I have checked websites from Alibaba and made-in-china, both give an immense choice for everthing you could imagine, and mostly to good prices. I looked especially for tiles, window, doors, bathroom vanities, bathtub, and also furniture like sofa, beds, rugs. To buy there seems very tempting, especially since Thailand is so close to China.

 

The big issue is the cost and the unknown factors concerning shipping, tax and custom. A small container with 15 cbm to my door would cost around 1900 USD. Tax and custom are depending on the good, usually around 30 %.

 

My question: Has anybody experience with importing goods from china? How did it turn out? What were the goods? How much did it cost? Did you work with a shipping agent?

[OneMoreFarang]

Interesting idea.

 

But then, if that would be feasible, don't you think some smart people would have done that already, and maybe on a big scale?

 

[henry2109]

6 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Interesting idea.

 

But then, if that would be feasible, don't you think some smart people would have done that already, and maybe on a big scale?

 

well, on a big scale it is happening since years. Most home marts do it.

 

Rather new may it be on a small scale, like a singe house builder buying directly. With the ongoing development of the digitalisation it is becoming more common and the buying process certainly is much easier than ever. However, many supplier on Alibaba and made-in-china demand minimum quantities that only suit bigger companies, like shops, distributors or Hotels. However, more and more suppliers also serve small customers, which only demand 1 or a few units of a good.

[Dan O]

You'll need a consolidator to assemble your goods to be containerized. With all the lockdowns and port issues from covid alone that may stop your progress in its tracks for an unknown time.  You would have no control after purchase of the materials due to those shutdowns and have already paid for your goods.

 

You also wont know the real quality of products purchased until they arrive and then correcting or solving any issues could be a nightmare to solve. The minimal savings and perceived better selection may be lost to the issues you may face. 

 

[hadock]

I sourced and  exported products from China to Germany for almost 20 years. No building materials, but electronic products, home appliances, small furniture and so on..

In my opinion it will not be worth it, and maybe in the end you have a lot of trouble and spend more money than if you had bought in thailand.

 

- First you have to find a supplier in china, best is always to buy from a producer. The big ones don't even bother to reply if you only want to order one or two items.

  Mostly they have some minimum order quantity, if you do not reach this minimum quantity maybe they will still sell to you, but for a much higher price.

  Note that many products which you can see at alibaba, globalsources, made-in-china are sold from trading companies. They are selling all kinds of things also in small quantities.

  They always post pictures of big companies and a group of workers, but in reality they are a one man or woman show. And let's face it, some are not really

 reliable, especially after you transferred the money to them.

 

- So even if you find a producer or trading company with a good product and price you have no idea about the product quality. I always ordered a sample first to get an impression.

  If the sample is ok, you can continue. Many samples we ordered went almost immediately to the garbage, bad quality, bad packing, broken, wrong product, wrong colour, and so on.

  Another way is you have someone in China who makes some quality control directly at the producer, and before the order will leave the factory. But  this will cost

 extra again. 

 

- Next Problem shipping . You quote 1900 USD for a container. But note there are many fees and charges on top of this 1900 USD. Handling and booking fees,  preparing 

document fees, fuel charges and so on and so on, a long list of extras. Depending on which terms you buy in china, EXW, FOB, ect there can be easily 1000 USD on top.

And then the most unknown factor..custom in thailand...who knows how much they will charge you. And do not forget that you have to pay tax on the complete price of the order

(product price + shipping fees) 

 

In 2018 and 2019 I imported from China to Thailand two times, an e-motorbike, and a very small boat. Both items were half price in China compared to Thailand. 

After checking shipping rates with air and seafreight and adding the custom tax, the price would be almost the same as in thailand. 

 

So at the end I found a forwarder in China who ships goods to Thailand by truck. They have warehouses in all big cities in china. So the supplier can send the order to the warehouse and the forwarder sends it to a warehouse around BKK, there you can pick it up or for an extra fee they will make delivery to your place. Cost for shipping is a flat rate, depending on the product, volume and weight. The rate includes transport, custom tax and VAT, no extra fees. Both times it was sent from Guangzhou in China to BKK. The truck needed around one week, and the price was very attractive. 

If you're interested you can send me a PM, i will give you the contact details. 

 

Please note that i did that before covid. Since then freight rates have surely gone up a lot, and I have no idea if it is still attractive.

[henry2109]

7 hours ago, hadock said:

I sourced and  exported products from China to Germany for almost 20 years. No building materials, but electronic products, home appliances, small furniture and so on..

In my opinion it will not be worth it, and maybe in the end you have a lot of trouble and spend more money than if you had bought in thailand.

 

- First you have to find a supplier in china, best is always to buy from a producer. The big ones don't even bother to reply if you only want to order one or two items.

  Mostly they have some minimum order quantity, if you do not reach this minimum quantity maybe they will still sell to you, but for a much higher price.

  Note that many products which you can see at alibaba, globalsources, made-in-china are sold from trading companies. They are selling all kinds of things also in small quantities.

  They always post pictures of big companies and a group of workers, but in reality they are a one man or woman show. And let's face it, some are not really

 reliable, especially after you transferred the money to them.

 

- So even if you find a producer or trading company with a good product and price you have no idea about the product quality. I always ordered a sample first to get an impression.

  If the sample is ok, you can continue. Many samples we ordered went almost immediately to the garbage, bad quality, bad packing, broken, wrong product, wrong colour, and so on.

  Another way is you have someone in China who makes some quality control directly at the producer, and before the order will leave the factory. But  this will cost

 extra again. 

 

- Next Problem shipping . You quote 1900 USD for a container. But note there are many fees and charges on top of this 1900 USD. Handling and booking fees,  preparing 

document fees, fuel charges and so on and so on, a long list of extras. Depending on which terms you buy in china, EXW, FOB, ect there can be easily 1000 USD on top.

And then the most unknown factor..custom in thailand...who knows how much they will charge you. And do not forget that you have to pay tax on the complete price of the order

(product price + shipping fees) 

 

In 2018 and 2019 I imported from China to Thailand two times, an e-motorbike, and a very small boat. Both items were half price in China compared to Thailand. 

After checking shipping rates with air and seafreight and adding the custom tax, the price would be almost the same as in thailand. 

 

So at the end I found a forwarder in China who ships goods to Thailand by truck. They have warehouses in all big cities in china. So the supplier can send the order to the warehouse and the forwarder sends it to a warehouse around BKK, there you can pick it up or for an extra fee they will make delivery to your place. Cost for shipping is a flat rate, depending on the product, volume and weight. The rate includes transport, custom tax and VAT, no extra fees. Both times it was sent from Guangzhou in China to BKK. The truck needed around one week, and the price was very attractive. 

If you're interested you can send me a PM, i will give you the contact details. 

 

Please note that i did that before covid. Since then freight rates have surely gone up a lot, and I have no idea if it is still attractive.

Thanks for telling your detailed experiences. So for you, not worth the effort.

 

The last 6 month, I made two purchases from china, both for the village I live in. Both orders were from a lamp company, first time 10 solar street lamps, the second time 4 solar spot lamps. They were directly delivered, door to door, the service was good, and so was the quality of the goods. I first wanted garden stand lamps instead of spot lamps, but because of the weight of the poles the delivery cost would have become to much.