Frequently asked questions

For a mixed container there is no minimum beyond what makes shipping sensible – usually a 20ft container, roughly USD 15,000–30,000 of goods. Per item, stock products (standard tiles, sanitary ware, lighting) can be bought in small quantities; made-to-order items have MOQs listed in each buying guide.

Yes – that is most of our work. A villa package (tiles, bathrooms, kitchen, doors, windows, lighting) typically fills one 40ft container, and savings compared with buying locally often cover the shipping and our fee several times over.

No. Around half of our clients never visit. We source from your brief, send samples by courier, do video calls from showrooms and factories, and handle inspection and shipping. Coming in person is faster for large or design-sensitive projects – see visiting Foshan.

From order to loading: 4–7 weeks for mixed orders (stock items plus made-to-order windows or cabinets). Add sea transit of 2–5 weeks depending on your port. Plan 8–12 weeks door to door.

You pay factories directly by bank transfer against a pro-forma invoice we have checked: usually 30% deposit and 70% after our final inspection, before loading. Our commission is invoiced separately. We do not hold your money for goods.

5–10% of the factory invoice value as buying commission, fixed in writing before we start. That one fee covers the whole job: the factory and market visits, finding and checking suppliers, negotiation, specifications written in Chinese, sample sealing, order organisation, the export paperwork, production follow-up, pre-shipment inspection, container consolidation, and after-sales follow-up with the manufacturer. Details on the service page.

For tiles, sanitary ware, aluminium windows, lighting and cabinets, buying at factory level removes the retail markup. Across the orders we have handled we typically see factory prices in Foshan work out somewhere around 40-70% below the retail levels our clients quote us from Europe, the Gulf, Africa and the Americas for equivalent specification. After freight, duties and our fee, most of our clients estimate they land roughly 30-50% below what they were paying at home, with better specification. Those ranges are our own estimate from the projects we run rather than a promise, and what they are worth on your order depends on the category, the specification and the volume. We quote against your actual list, including freight, duties and our fee, so you can compare it with a local quote before you commit to anything.

Specifications are written in Chinese on the pro-forma; reference samples are sealed and kept by us and the factory; we check during production and run a pre-shipment inspection with a written report and photos before you pay the balance. Where goods do not match the approved sample, we raise it with the manufacturer before shipment and help you agree how it is resolved.

CE, ISO 9001, SASO, CUPC, WaterMark, SAA, UL/ETL and FloorScore are available from larger factories for specific models. Where certification matters we look for models that already carry the mark your market requires, rather than asking factories to “arrange” a certificate, and we can help you request and review the certificates and test reports a supplier holds. Which standards apply depends on the product and your destination market, so confirm what your own market requires before you order.

We order 2–8% spares depending on the product, arrange marine insurance for the shipment, and assist with claims to the manufacturer or insurer on your behalf. Because we work with the same factories continuously, claims are taken seriously.

Yes. Consolidation is a core part of the service: goods from 5–15 factories are collected at one warehouse in Foshan, export-packed and loaded together.

Yes, with MOQs. Private-label packaging for tiles, sanitary ware and lighting starts at a few hundred pieces or a few thousand m²; custom window systems and kitchens are made to your drawings with no extra MOQ.

Yes. Foshan’s Lecong furniture markets are next door; we combine furniture and building materials in one container through our sister furniture-buying trip service.