Glossary of importing from China

EXW (Ex Works) means the seller makes the goods available at its own premises and nothing more: it does not load the truck, does not clear the export and does not pay for transport. It is the term with the fewest obligations for the seller and the most work for the buyer, who has to arrange collection at the factory inside China.

See also: FOB , DDP

FOB (Free On Board) means the seller delivers the goods loaded on board the vessel at the port of origin and clears the export; from that point on, risk and cost belong to the buyer. It is the most common term when the importer has its own customs broker at destination and wants to control the freight.

See also: CIF , EXW , DDP

CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) means the seller pays for sea transport to the port of destination and for cargo insurance, but risk passes to the buyer when the goods are loaded on board at origin. The practical difference from FOB is that freight and insurance are included in the seller's invoice, not in yours.

See also: FOB , DDP

DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) means the seller covers transport, import clearance and duties and taxes up to the agreed place at destination. It is the term with the most obligations for the seller and the only one in which the buyer receives no payment demands when the cargo arrives. Clearance is always executed by a customs broker authorized in the destination country, and the registered importer is still whoever holds the RFC in Mexico.

See also: FOB , CIF , Customs broker , Pedimento

DAP (Delivered At Place) means the seller delivers the goods at the agreed place in the destination country, but without clearing the import or paying duties: that stays on the buyer's side. It sits between CIF and DDP and is useful when the importer has its own customs clearance but wants the seller to handle transport to the door.

See also: DDP , CIF

1688 is the domestic wholesale platform of the Alibaba group: it sells in yuan and in Chinese to buyers inside China, with no export service. Its price is lower than that of the same reference on Alibaba.com because the factory has not built in the cost of exporting, the bilingual service or the intermediary's margin. Buying there requires a Chinese account, a Chinese address and payment in yuan.

See also: Alibaba.com , Taobao , MOQ

Alibaba.com is the international platform of the Alibaba group: it sells in dollars, in English and with suppliers set up to export. It is the easiest entry point for a new buyer, and also the most expensive, because the seller has built the cost of serving foreign buyers into the price. The same factory can sit on both platforms at different prices.

See also: 1688 , MOQ , Trade Assurance

Taobao is the consumer marketplace of the Alibaba group: it sells by the unit and with no minimum quantity, unlike 1688, which is wholesale. It is useful for testing individual references before committing to a large order. For volume you normally move to 1688, where prices run in quantity tiers.

See also: 1688 , MOQ

MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) is the smallest quantity a factory will accept producing in one order. It is not an arbitrary figure: it reflects the tooling that has to be set up, the minimums the factory itself has with its material suppliers and the slot the order takes in its production schedule. Understanding that is what makes it possible to negotiate.

See also: 1688 , OEM , Sealed sample

OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) describes the model in which you supply the design or the specification of the product and the factory produces it exclusively under your brand. The mould and the tooling are usually yours, and their ownership has to be documented in the contract. It is the route to differentiating yourself, and also the most expensive and slowest one.

See also: ODM , MOQ

ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) describes the model in which the factory already has a developed product and you customise it: brand, colour, packaging, functions. It is much faster and cheaper than OEM because there are no new moulds to amortise, but the product is not exclusive: the same factory can customise it for another buyer under another brand.

See also: OEM , MOQ

Huaqiangbei is a commercial district in central Shenzhen made up of several market buildings devoted entirely to electronics and their components, and it is described as the largest electronics market in the world. For an importer its value is not in buying there — prices are counter prices, not factory prices — but in the fact that it lets you check in one afternoon whether a reference exists, what it costs and with which variants.

See also: PCBA , Shenzhen

PCBA (Printed Circuit Board Assembly) is a printed circuit board already assembled with its electronic components, as opposed to the PCB, which is the bare board. Contracting a PCBA service requires handing over the Gerber files, the bill of materials and the position files. It can be turnkey, with the manufacturer buying the components, or on consignment, with you supplying them.

See also: Huaqiangbei , MOQ

Trade Assurance is Alibaba.com's payment guarantee system: it holds the payment until the buyer confirms receipt, and it covers breaches of deadline, quality or quantity within the terms agreed in the order. It is more useful on a first order with a new supplier than in an established relationship, and it does not cover anything that is not written in the order.

See also: Alibaba.com , Letter of credit

AQL (Acceptable Quality Limit) is the international standard for attribute sampling, applied to accept or reject a lot without inspecting 100% of the units. A statistically sized sample is drawn and the defects in it are counted; if the number exceeds the agreed limit, the entire lot is rejected. The usual levels in consumer goods are 2.5 for major defects and 4.0 for minor ones.

See also: ISO 2859-1 , Critical defect , Pre-shipment inspection

ISO 2859-1 is the international standard that defines attribute sampling plans — the table that states how many units must be inspected for a given lot size and inspection level. Its US equivalent is ANSI/ASQ Z1.4, and in practice the two are used interchangeably. It is the standard on which any AQL inspection is built.

See also: AQL

A critical defect is one that can harm the user or breaches a mandatory legal standard: a cable with insufficient insulation, an electrical product without the required certification, a part that detaches from a children's item. In an AQL inspection the tolerance for critical defects is zero: a single case rejects the whole lot.

See also: AQL , Major defect , Minor defect

A major defect is one that prevents the product from being sold or stops it working as it should: parts that do not fit, a button that does not respond, a finish that does not match the approved sample. It is normally assessed against an AQL of 2.5. It does not put the user at risk, but it does ruin the sale.

See also: AQL , Critical defect , Minor defect

A minor defect is one that does not prevent the sale but affects appearance or the perception of quality: surface marks, loose threads, a slightly crooked label. It is normally assessed against an AQL of 4.0. It is accepted in greater numbers precisely because it affects neither function nor safety.

See also: AQL , Major defect

Pre-shipment inspection is the check carried out on finished, packed production before the goods leave the factory. It is the control point that conditions payment of the balance, and that is why it is the moment when the buyer still holds all the leverage over the supplier. It is also known by its English initials, PSI.

See also: AQL , During production inspection

During production inspection is carried out while the lot is half-manufactured, and its purpose is different from the final inspection: it catches the problem while it can still be corrected on the line, before the rest is made. It is known by its English initials, DUPRO, and is recommended on large orders or complex production.

See also: Pre-shipment inspection , AQL

A sealed sample is a unit from the approved lot that is kept, signed and dated to serve as a reference for later orders. It is the only practical way to detect that quality has dropped between the first order and the fifth: without a reference sample, comparing is expressing an impression, not performing a control.

See also: AQL , Pre-shipment inspection

Volumetric weight is the weight that results from dividing the volume of a package in cubic centimetres by a factor set by the carrier, usually 6,000 for general air freight. In air freight and express parcels the higher of the actual weight and the volumetric weight is billed, so a light, bulky product is charged for the space it occupies and not for what it weighs.

See also: CBM , LCL

CBM is the cubic metre, the unit in which consolidated sea freight is quoted. It is the reference unit of sea transport in the same way the kilo is the reference unit of air freight. Reducing the volume of the packaging reduces the invoice directly, even if the product itself does not change.

See also: LCL , Volumetric weight

LCL (Less than Container Load) is consolidated sea freight: your cargo shares a container with that of other shippers and you pay for the volume you occupy. It is the natural route for small and medium orders. From about 15 cubic metres upward, moving to FCL usually works out cheaper.

See also: FCL , CBM , Cargo consolidation

FCL (Full Container Load) is full-container sea freight: you pay for the whole container, whether you fill it or not. A 20-foot container takes about 28 usable cubic metres in practice and a 40-foot one about 58 to 60. The break-even point against LCL usually sits at around 15 cubic metres.

See also: LCL , CBM

Cargo consolidation consists of receiving the orders of several suppliers in a single warehouse and shipping them together as one international consignment. The saving has two components: you stop paying a freight charge and a customs entry for each supplier, and you reduce the billable volume by eliminating unnecessary packaging.

See also: LCL , CBM , Warehousing

Warehousing is the service of holding your goods in the agent's warehouse while the load is completed or until you decide to ship them. The usual practice in the sector is to include the first 30 days and to bill from there per cubic metre per week. It is a line item worth having in writing before you start, because without it warehousing turns up as a surprise charge.

See also: Cargo consolidation

T/T (Telegraphic Transfer) is the international bank transfer, the standard payment method with Chinese suppliers. The usual structure is 30% as a deposit and 70% against documents or against inspection. The rule that genuinely protects you is that the money always goes into the account of the company that signs the contract, never into a personal account or one held in the name of another company.

See also: Letter of credit , Trade Assurance

A letter of credit is a payment undertaking issued by the buyer's bank against the presentation of complying documents, so that the seller is paid if it meets what was agreed and the buyer pays only against documents. It protects both parties, and its cost and its documentary rigidity mean it is only worthwhile from a certain volume upward.

See also: T/T

The pedimento is the Mexican customs declaration that documents a foreign trade operation: which goods enter, under which tariff code, at what customs value and which taxes are paid. It is the central document of an import, and it is drawn up and signed by the customs broker, not by the importer.

See also: Customs broker , RFC , Tariff code

The RFC (Registro Federal de Contribuyentes) is Mexico's tax identification number. On an import, whoever appears as the importer before the SAT must hold an RFC and the legal capacity to import, and that does not change because the shipment is negotiated on DDP terms. Without an RFC on the Mexican side, no formal import is possible.

See also: Importer registry , Pedimento

The importer registry (padrón de importadores) is the SAT registry in which a Mexican company must be enrolled in order to import on a regular basis. Being on the registry is a requirement for clearing goods recurrently, and there are sector-specific registries for certain product categories.

See also: RFC , Pedimento

A customs broker (agente aduanal) is a professional licensed by the SAT through a patent to clear goods on behalf of third parties. In Mexico, import clearance is always carried out by a customs broker or a customs brokerage: neither the carrier nor the purchasing agent can do it directly. It is a regulated profession, not an ordinary commercial service.

See also: Pedimento , Despachante aduaneiro

NOMs (Normas Oficiales Mexicanas) are mandatory technical regulations for certain product categories. If your item falls within their scope it cannot be imported or sold without the certificate, and the certificate has to be obtained before shipment because testing is carried out on the finished product. The most common categories are electrical goods, toys, children's products, textiles and footwear.

See also: CRT , Pedimento

The CRT (Comisión Reguladora de Telecomunicaciones) is Mexico's telecommunications authority following the dissolution of the Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones in July 2025. Every product that transmits by radio — WiFi, Bluetooth, cellular — needs homologation before this authority, and certificates issued by the previous body remain valid until they expire. Many Chinese suppliers still advertise the procedure as "IFT certification", a name that persists even though the body has changed.

See also: NOM , ANATEL

The tariff code (fracción arancelaria) is the eight-digit code that classifies goods in order to determine their duty, their non-tariff regulations and their origin obligations. How much you pay and which NOM applies both depend on it. A wrong classification is one of the most frequent causes of customs detention and of subsequent rectifications.

See also: Pedimento , NCM

Import VAT is the value-added tax triggered when goods are brought into the country, calculated on the customs value plus the duty and the customs processing fee. If you import under your own RFC it is recoverable, which in practice makes it a cash-flow cost rather than a final cost. If you import under a simplified scheme in which someone else appears as the importer, you cannot recover it.

See also: Pedimento , RFC , DTA

The DTA (Derecho de Trámite Aduanero) is a flat fee paid for every customs clearance operation, regardless of the value or the volume of the goods. Because it is flat, it penalises small, fragmented operations: it is one of the arithmetic reasons why consolidating several orders into a single clearance lowers the total cost.

See also: Pedimento , Consolidation

The NCM (Nomenclatura Comum do Mercosul) is the tax classification code that determines a product's tariff treatment in Brazil. The import duty rate, whether licenses are required, and the obligations before the regulatory agencies all depend on it. Two visually similar products can carry different NCM codes and noticeably different tax burdens.

See also: Siscomex , Tariff classification

Siscomex is Brazil's integrated foreign trade system, the electronic platform through which import and export operations are registered and cleared. Operating in it requires prior authorization of the Brazilian company. It is the functional equivalent of the Mexican pedimento in that it is the mandatory channel for the operation.

See also: RADAR , NCM

RADAR (Registro e Rastreamento da Atuação dos Intervenientes Aduaneiros) is the authorization that the Receita Federal grants a Brazilian company to operate in Siscomex. Without RADAR authorization the company cannot register imports in its own name. There are modalities with different value limits depending on the company's profile.

See also: Siscomex , Despachante aduaneiro

A despachante aduaneiro is the professional licensed in Brazil to represent an importer before the Receita Federal and carry out customs clearance. It is a regulated activity, with a periodic qualification examination. In Mexico the equivalent is the agente aduanal, and in both cases clearance is carried out by this professional, never by the carrier or the purchasing agent.

See also: RADAR , Customs broker

ICMS (Imposto sobre Circulação de Mercadorias e Serviços) is the Brazilian state tax on the circulation of goods, and on an import it is calculated on a base that already includes the import tax itself and other levies. Its rate varies by destination state, which means the same goods can carry a different tax burden depending on where they are cleared into the country. It is one of the reasons Brazil cannot be quoted with a flat percentage.

See also: NCM , Remessa Conforme

The Remessa Conforme program is Brazil's regime for cross-border e-commerce purchases. Certified companies submit the tax information in advance and receive simplified, faster customs treatment. It is designed for small shipments to end consumers, not for commercial volume imports, which are channeled as consignments or in the importer's own name.

See also: ICMS , Siscomex

ANATEL (Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações) is Brazil's telecommunications regulator, and its homologation is mandatory for any product that emits radio: WiFi, Bluetooth or cellular. Without homologation the product cannot be legally sold in Brazil and imports intended for sale are blocked. It is the requirement that stops the most electronic products, and the one most often overlooked because it does not concern electrical safety.

See also: OCD , Inmetro , CRT

Inmetro is the Brazilian body for metrology, standardization and industrial quality, and its certification is mandatory for much of the electrical equipment and household appliances. Unlike ANATEL, which regulates radio frequency, Inmetro regulates electrical safety and performance. A product may need both certifications at the same time.

See also: OCP , ANATEL

An OCD (Organismo de Certificação Designado) is a body designated by ANATEL to assess and certify telecommunications products within the homologation process. It is the counterpart of Inmetro's OCP, but they operate in different fields: the OCD for radio frequency and ANATEL homologation, the OCP for Inmetro product certification. Confusing them is a common mistake and delays the procedure.

See also: ANATEL , OCP

An OCP (Organismo de Certificação de Produto) is a body accredited by Inmetro to issue product conformity certificates. It is the route through which Inmetro electrical safety certification is obtained, and it has no connection with ANATEL radio homologation, which is processed before an OCD.

See also: Inmetro , OCD

UN38.3 is the section of the United Nations manual on the transport of dangerous goods that regulates lithium batteries. The test report certifies that a specific cell and pack model has passed eight tests simulating altitude, temperature, vibration, impact, short circuit and overcharge. It is specific to the model, not the brand: a supplier may hold it for a cell but not for the pack it is selling you, and without it no airline or shipping line accepts the cargo.

See also: MSDS , Wh , IEC 62133

An MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet), also called an SDS, is the safety sheet describing the composition, the hazards and the handling and transport conditions of a hazardous material. For lithium batteries it is required alongside the UN38.3 report on every shipment, and its absence blocks the cargo just as a missing report does.

See also: UN38.3

The watt-hour (Wh) is the unit that measures the energy stored in a battery, and it is what determines which transport routes are permitted. Watt-hour capacity is calculated by multiplying the amp-hour capacity by the nominal voltage. A power bank rated at 20,000 mAh at 3.7 V stores 74 Wh, and that figure — not the mAh — is what decides whether it can fly.

See also: UN38.3 , mAh

The milliampere-hour (mAh) is the unit used to advertise battery capacity commercially, and on its own it does not say how much energy is stored: voltage is needed. The same product may claim 20,000 mAh referring to cell capacity at 3.7 V or to usable capacity delivered at 5 V, and the difference between the two readings is roughly 26%. That is why a power bank promising 20,000 mAh can deliver 11,000 real ones without being defective.

See also: Wh , UN38.3

Bluetooth SIG is the organization that administers the Bluetooth standard, and any product that uses it must be declared with the SIG to be marketed as a Bluetooth device. Without that declaration the product can be pulled from sales platforms and blocked at customs. The declaration is made by the manufacturer and is verified against the declared product identifier, which many resellers cannot provide.

See also: FCC , CE

IEC 62133 is the international safety standard for cells and lithium batteries for portable use. It covers the abuse tests a battery must pass to be considered safe in normal use and under failure conditions, and it is the reference usually required alongside the UN38.3 transport report. It does not replace UN38.3: they are different documents with different purposes.

See also: UN38.3 , MSDS

RoHS is the European directive restricting the use of certain hazardous substances — lead, mercury, cadmium and others — in electrical and electronic equipment. Although its legal scope is the European Union, many buyers in other markets require it by contract as a guarantee of material quality. It applies to components, solder and coatings.

See also: REACH , CE

REACH is the European regulation governing the registration, evaluation and authorization of chemical substances. In consumer electronics it applies to plastics, inks, coatings and adhesives, and its requirements are extended by contract to buyers outside the European Union. It is complementary to RoHS: RoHS restricts specific substances, REACH regulates chemical substances as a whole.

See also: RoHS , CE

CE marking is the manufacturer's declaration that a product meets the essential requirements of the European directives that apply to it. In consumer electronics it usually covers electrical safety, electromagnetic compatibility and, where applicable, radio spectrum. It is not a certification issued by a body: it is a self-declaration backed by a technical file the manufacturer must be able to produce.

See also: RoHS , FCC , LVD

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is the US communications regulator, and its authorization is mandatory for any electronic device that emits radio frequency or contains an oscillator. In Mexico and Brazil the functional equivalents are homologation with the CRT and with ANATEL respectively. A product sold in all three markets needs all three.

See also: CE , ANATEL , CRT

The LVD (Low Voltage Directive) is the European directive governing the safety of electrical equipment operating within certain voltage ranges. It is one of the directives a product must comply with to carry CE marking. It focuses on electrical safety, not on electromagnetic compatibility, which is covered by the EMC directive.

See also: CE , EMC

EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility) is the requirement that electronic equipment does not emit interference affecting other devices and is itself able to work in the presence of interference from its environment. In the European Union it is a directive in its own right that forms part of the CE marking file, and it is assessed separately from electrical safety.

See also: CE , LVD , FCC

An IP rating is the classification indicating the level of protection an enclosure offers against dust and water, expressed as two digits. IP65 corresponds to protection against dust and splashing, IP67 to temporary immersion and IP68 to continuous immersion. The common mistake is for a product to claim a rating that the gasket or cable gland does not meet, so the real protection is lower than the one declared.

See also: RoHS

Shenzhen is a city in southern China, in Guangdong province, and the world's largest manufacturing centre for hardware and consumer electronics. It is home to the Huaqiangbei component market, the headquarters of Huawei, DJI, BYD and Anker, and the ports of Yantian and Shekou. Its advantage for an importer is not that it is cheap, but that the factory is usually less than an hour from whoever represents you.

See also: Huaqiangbei , Yantian

Yantian is one of Shenzhen's main container ports and one of China's largest export terminals. Together with Shekou and Chiwan, it concentrates the sea sailings to Latin America, and it is the reason an order made in Shenzhen can be loaded without a long inland haul to the port.

See also: Shekou , Shenzhen , FCL

Shekou is Shenzhen's other major port, in the Nanshan district, with container and ferry services to Hong Kong. It complements Yantian on sea departures and adds flexibility when a particular route or shipping line does not operate from the main terminal.

See also: Yantian , Shenzhen

Dongguan is the industrial city next to Shenzhen, and together they form a single manufacturing continuum. It concentrates a large number of plants making components, plastics, moulds and electronics assembly for brands around the world. For a buyer, the administrative border between Shenzhen and Dongguan is irrelevant: it is the same industrial area.

See also: Shenzhen , Huaqiangbei

Guzhen is a district of the city of Zhongshan, in Guangdong, and the world centre of decorative lighting manufacturing. When an LED product carries no connectivity, the competitive advantage lies in Guzhen and not in Shenzhen, so it pays to work with the cluster that matches the product rather than forcing sourcing from the city where you happen to keep an office.

See also: Shenzhen