Buy building materials from China on a Foshan buying trip
Most buyers arrive with the idea that China is one big market and the only question is which website or which fair. It is not. Foshan, Guangzhou, Yiwu and the online platforms sell overlapping things at very different prices, in very different quantities, and each of them is the wrong place for at least half … Read more
Every autumn we get the same message from buyers in September: “We are coming for the Canton Fair, can you show us tile factories the same week?” Yes, and it is a good plan, but only if you turn up in the right phase. Since the fair was reorganised in 2024, building materials and sanitary … Read more
Every few weeks someone sends us a list of forty Chinese building materials markets they found online and asks which ones to visit. The honest answer is that most of them are on the list because someone needed a long list. Perhaps a dozen matter for a foreign buyer, and which dozen depends on what … Read more
People arrive in Foshan wanting to buy everything here, because everything is cheaper here. That is roughly true and it is still the wrong way to plan a container. Some products save you half the money and arrive better than what you could buy at home. Some save you 10 percent and give it back … Read more
Ask five people in Foshan what an agent costs and you will get five answers, and at least two of them will be “nothing”. That is the first thing to understand about this market: the cheapest-looking service is almost never the cheapest, and the fee you can see is often the smallest part of what … Read more
Tiles are the product most people think of when they think of Foshan, and for good reason: the kilns around the city produce more porcelain than any other region in the world. They are also the product where first-time buyers make the most avoidable mistakes. This guide walks through an order the way we run … Read more
There are two practical ways to buy building materials from China: order remotely through an online sourcing platform, or buy in person from the factories with someone representing you on the ground. Both work. They suit different orders, and the choice gets easier once you see what each method actually asks of you. Knowing who … Read more
“How much for a container?” is the first question we hear. The honest answer is that it depends on what is inside, but a worked example helps. Below is a typical villa finishing package from recent orders, with rounded numbers. The goods (FOB Foshan / Shenzhen) Category Quantity Indicative value Porcelain tiles, first choice, 800×800 … Read more
Every tile carton from a Chinese kiln carries a grade mark. Buyers see “AAA” in showrooms and “Grade A” on invoices and assume they mean the same thing. They usually do, but the terms are informal; the labels that matter are the Chinese ones on the box. This note explains what the grades mean, where … Read more
Windows are the most technical thing most buyers put in a container, and the item where a vague specification costs the most. A window that arrives 15 mm too wide, with the handle on the wrong side, cannot be fixed on site. This is the checklist we run through with every factory in Dali before … Read more