Canton Fair Guides for Overseas Buyers

2026-11-08 · Batch 10 · money, risk and the long game

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  A Deposit Buys a Place in the Queue, Not the GoodsWhat a 30/70 split actually pays for, the four milestones a balance can attach to, what withholding costs the buyer, and the one purchase order clause that makes a hold arguable.
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  A Freight Rate Is a Price for Space on a Particular DateWhat sets an ocean rate apart from a price list: capacity withdrawals, peak season surcharges, contract against spot, and the four weeks of the year when booking late costs the most.
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  A Sample That Arrives Before You Fly Saves a Week on the FloorHow buyers get physical samples from Chinese suppliers before travelling: the three routes, what couriers refuse, the declared value question, and the brief that makes a sample worth sending.
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  A Trading Company Sells You a Factory You Cannot SeeHow to tell which one is in front of you, what a trader genuinely adds, which risks move with the intermediary, and the two contract clauses that keep the production site visible.
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  AQL Is a Sampling Rule, and a Sampling Rule Needs a ClauseWhat AQL actually specifies, how to read the table without memorising it, why the defect definitions decide the outcome, and what the clause must say for a failed inspection to mean something.
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  An Exit Plan Is Written While the Relationship Still WorksWhat to count on the day a supplier starts to fail, who owns the tooling, how to collect files while people still answer email, and how to leave a market without closing it.
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  EXW, FOB, CIF and DDP Move the Risk Somewhere Buyers Do Not LookWhere EXW breaks on export declaration, why FOB is the wrong term for a container, what CIF insurance actually covers, and the single file that separates DAP from DDP.
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  One Production Run Does Not Have to Be One ContainerWhen splitting a run across two sailings or two ports pays, how the documents split with it, why the second shipment repeats most of the fixed cost, and how to write the split into the order.
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  The All-In Price Is a Freight Quote You Cannot See InsideWhat an all-in delivered price hides: who holds the booking and the bill of lading, where the freight margin sits, which documents you never receive, and how to test the number without insulting anyone.
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  What Changes Between the First Container and the SecondWhere prices should fall and where they quietly rise, how substitution creeps into a repeat run, why packaging drifts, and which details must match the first entry exactly.

2026-11-06 · Batch 9 · first-shipment mechanics

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  Booking a Container: Direct With the Line, or Through a ForwarderWhat a booking actually reserves, what a carrier will not do for a small shipper, what a forwarder adds, and the point where a direct service contract starts to pay for itself.
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  Detention and Demurrage: The Clock Starts at DischargeTwo clocks, two owners: demurrage inside the terminal, detention outside it. Where free time comes from, what actually starts each clock, which documents stop it, and how to keep the exposure off your invoice.
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  One Carton, Not One Container: What Couriers Cannot DoWhere the express network stops: weight and size limits per piece, clearance rules above the low-value threshold, the four cargo types that fail at the counter, and the point where a parcel has to become a freight shipment.
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  Packaging for Transit: What Actually Survives a ContainerFour forces act on cargo between the factory and the destination warehouse. How carton grade, stack height, humidity and pallet pattern decide whether the goods arrive intact, and what to specify in the order.
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  Reading a Factory's Real Capacity Before You Trust a Lead TimeHow to judge what a factory can actually produce per week: what to count on the floor, which station sets the ceiling, why the quoted lead time is a sales number, and what to write into the order to hold it.
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  Selling Through Amazon FBA After a Sourcing TripWhat changes when the destination is a fulfilment centre rather than a warehouse: delivery appointments, pallet and label specifications, who is the importer of record, and the calendar that decides your launch date.
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  Sending Goods Back: Returns, Repairs and Rework in ChinaThree flows that look identical and clear differently: a return for credit, a repair and re-export, and a rework before reshipment. What customs wants to see, what the freight costs, and when scrapping is the cheaper answer.
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  The Account Changed, and the Message Was UrgentWhen the account details change mid-order: why the beneficiary name has to match the contract, the three legitimate reasons for a different payer or payee, how to verify without accusing anyone, and what to do if the money has gone.
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  What an NVOCC Is, and Why It Is on Your Bill of LadingA carrier that owns no ships, a bill of lading with a name you have never heard of, and the licence number that decides whether the arrangement is normal or a problem. How to read the document you are asked to accept.
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  When a Shipping Document Has to Be Changed After IssueWhich errors on a bill of lading actually matter, what an amendment costs at each stage, why a manifest filing is harder to change than the document itself, and how to approve a draft so there is nothing to amend.

2026-11-05 · Batch 8 · destination guides

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  A Separate Customs Territory, and a Second Set of NumbersThe GB EORI that replaced the EU one, import VAT and postponed accounting, CDS declarations, the UK Global Tariff, UKCA against CE, and why Northern Ireland is a different question again.
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  Clearance Now Runs Through a Portal, Not a Broker's DeskWhat changed when Canada moved importers onto CARM: the portal account, the security required for release before payment, the broker's role, and the bilingual labelling rules that stop a retail launch.
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  Neither Market Lets a Foreign Seller Clear Its Own GoodsThe resident importer rule in Japan and the Korean broker requirement, PSE and KC marks, consumption tax and VAT, and how the China-Korea agreement and RCEP change the duty on the same product.
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  One Number Follows the Goods to the Last BorderWhy an EU import needs an EORI, who can be the importer of record, how import VAT is paid and recovered, what IOSS does for parcels under 150 euros, and where ICS2 advance data fits.
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  One Region on the Map, Six Different BordersWhy ASEAN is not a customs union, how Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines differ on tax, licences and low-value goods, and where a regional warehouse pays.
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  The Border That Refuses Cargo Over a Speck of BarkWhy biosecurity, not customs, sets the schedule into Australia and New Zealand: ISPM 15 stamps, the seasonal stink bug measures, why LCL is riskier than FCL, and what onshore treatment costs in days.
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  The Box Crosses the Pacific, and Then Meets the LicencePacific and Atlantic routings into Latin America, Brazil's RADAR registration and layered taxes, Mexico's mandatory broker and NOM rules, and why the invoice description decides the clearance.
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  The Certificate Is Issued Before the Container ArrivesHow Saudi SABER and UAE conformity schemes work, why a shipment certificate is refused when it is applied for late, what Arabic labelling requires, and which arrival charges are billed before release.
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  The Container Cannot Sail Until Someone Files the Entry DataWhat an American buyer needs in place before goods leave Shenzhen: an importer of record with a bond, an ISF filed 24 hours before loading, formal versus informal entry, and the duty stack on Chinese-origin goods.
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  The Port Is Only Half the DistanceCargo tracking notes that must be issued before loading, pre-shipment conformity for Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania, the ports where containers wait, and what the inland leg really adds.

2026-11-03 · Batch 7 · after the fair

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  A Trial Order Should Be Small Enough to Lose and Big Enough to Learn FromSizing a first order from a new Chinese supplier: units, cubic metres and pallets, LCL against air, the terms worth insisting on, what a trial is supposed to measure, and the documents it needs.
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  An Agent Sells Attention, and Attention Has a ScopeWhat a Chinese buying agent actually does, how commissions and fixed fees are structured, where the conflicts sit, and which parts of the job a freight forwarder already covers.
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  Chinese New Year Stops the Factory, Not the CalendarWhat Chinese New Year does to a supply chain: the pre-holiday production push, the shipping crunch in January, return-to-work rates in February, and the dates an order has to hit to survive it.
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  Switching Suppliers Is a Project, Not a DecisionThe signals that justify leaving a Chinese supplier, what switching actually costs in tooling and certification, how to run two sources in parallel, and the exit terms worth agreeing before you need them.
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  The Chinese Calendar Moves Three Times a Year, and Freight Moves With ItHow Chinese public holidays reshape production and freight: the pre-holiday booking crunch, cut-offs that move earlier, post-holiday ramp-up, and how to place orders against a calendar you cannot control.
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  The File You Keep Decides What You Can Prove a Year LaterThe documents, photographs and messages worth keeping after a shipment from China, how to name and store them, which ones customs and insurers ask for, and how long each has to be kept.
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  The Order Is Decided in the Two Weeks After the FairA dated follow-up sequence for the two weeks after the Canton Fair: what to send on day one, how to ask for a quotation with carton data, what silence means, and which contacts earn a second message.
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  The Second Order Is Where the Margin Actually Comes FromTurning a first shipment into a repeatable supply line: reorder triggers, the four parts of lead time, safety stock arithmetic, the price band you should be moving to, and what to change on the second order.
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  The Second Sample Is Where a Supplier Shows Its ProcessHow to order a second sample properly: the difference between a show sample and a production sample, who pays the fee and the courier, what to write in the request, and how to seal a reference sample.
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  Two Quotations Are Not Comparable Until Five Variables Are FixedWhy two quotations from Chinese suppliers rarely describe the same thing: Incoterm scope, carton and packing differences, MOQ ladders, payment terms, currency and validity, and how to put both on one landed-cost sheet.

2026-11-02 · Batch 6 · category deep dives

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  304 or 201 Decides More Than the Price of a PanChoosing cookware and housewares in Guangzhou: how to tell stainless grades apart at a booth, what a food contact declaration has to name, why melamine and glaze matter, and how breakage prices freight.
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  A Container of Sofas Runs Out of Air Before It Runs Out of WeightHow furniture and building materials actually load: cubic metres per set, knocked-down against assembled, container rain and desiccant, ISPM 15 crates, and why these orders are decided by carton dimensions.
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  A Cream Is Regulated Where It Lands, Not Where It Is MadeSourcing cosmetics and personal care at the fair: cosmetic against drug classification, EU notification and the responsible person, US facility listing, and the alcohol and aerosol cargo rules.
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  A Lamp Is Three Products: the Fitting, the Driver and the PlugWhat decides whether a light fitting can be sold in your market: mains voltage and frequency, plug type, LED driver standards, the difference between EN 60598 and EN 61347, and where smart bulbs go wrong.
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  Every Millimetre of Carton Is Paid for at the PortHow carton dimensions, board grade, pallet footprint and inner packing set the freight bill: the arithmetic of cubic metres, why palletising wastes space, and what to specify in the purchase order.
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  Miss the Sailing by Ten Days and the Stock Is Worth HalfWorking backwards from a retail date for promotional and seasonal goods: production, cut-off, transit, Chinese New Year and Golden Week, and what to put in the order so the cargo is not late.
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  On Anything With a Battery, the Paperwork Sets the PriceWhat a Chinese electronics supplier can and cannot certify at the Canton Fair: the CE directives that apply, FCC ID against self-declaration, UN 38.3 summaries, watt-hour limits and the air rules for lithium batteries.
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  The Class Decides the Documents, the Money and the BuyerBuying medical devices and health products from Chinese suppliers: why the risk class comes before the price, what a technical file contains, and which home health products are not devices at all.
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  The Part Has to Fit the Car, and Then It Has to EnterBuying aftermarket auto parts in Guangzhou: how fitment data is checked, which parts carry their own approval, why brake fluid and batteries change the booking, and how dense cargo prices.
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  Tools Are Sold by the Piece and Shipped by the KiloHand tools and hardware are dense cargo with a finish problem: what decides the freight, why plating and salt spray hours matter, how tool sets split across tariff lines, and how packing protects an edge.

2026-11-01 · Batch 5 · money and supplier risk

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  A Letter of Credit Tests Documents, Not GoodsWhat an LC guarantees and what it does not, the four banks in the chain, where the fees accumulate, why first presentations get refused, and when a 30/70 transfer is the better instrument.
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  An Audit Looks at the Factory. An Inspection Looks at Your Order.What a factory audit covers, what a pre-shipment inspection covers, when to book each, how to read the report, and the questions neither one can answer about your container.
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  Before the Deposit Leaves, Check the Name on the AccountHow to confirm a Chinese supplier's bank account belongs to the company you think you are paying: the licence name, the credit code, the four account types, and the check that takes ten minutes.
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  Four Public Checks Before the Deposit LeavesThe business licence, the public credit record, the scope of business and the customs registration: what each proves about a Chinese supplier, what it does not, and how to read a bad result.
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  One Supplier Is a Single Point of Failure, and Also a PriceWhat it costs to qualify a second factory, three workable models of dual sourcing, why certificates and carton dimensions do not transfer, and how long the process takes.
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  Someone's Name Sits on the Entry, and It Carries the LiabilityWhy the importer of record is not simply the buyer, what DDP does and does not transfer, and how the name on the customs entry decides who pays duty, penalties and recall costs.
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  The Container Is Wrong. The Next Ten Days Decide the LossWhat to do in the first ten days when a container arrives short, damaged or off-spec: the notice windows, the evidence pack, who is liable, and which claims are worth the cost of pursuing.
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  The Purchase Order Is the Only Document That Says What You BoughtThe fields a Chinese purchase order needs to be enforceable: measurable specification, quantity tolerance, packing and marks, inspection rights, delivery place and the payment schedule.
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  Two Rates, One Invoice: What the Conversion CostsHow the rate on your bank statement is built, why onshore and offshore renminbi trade at different prices, when to fix a rate on a container, and what a 30/70 split does to the total.
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  Your Drawing Leaves the Room With the QuotationHow design and brand protection works in China: first-to-file registration, what an NDA is worth, mould ownership, and the customs recordal that stops copies at the border.

2026-10-29 · Batch 4 · compliance and documents

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  A Certificate of Origin Is Not One DocumentThe difference between preferential and non-preferential origin certificates, which agreement each form belongs to, how rules of origin are actually tested, and the paperwork mismatches that get a claim refused at the border.
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  A Pallet Without a Stamp Can Stop a ContainerWhat ISPM 15 covers and what it leaves out, how heat treatment and fumigation differ, how to read the IPPC stamp, and why a repaired or reused pallet is the most common cause of a refused container.
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  Four Marks, Four Different JobsWhat each conformity mark actually asserts, which market it covers, who signs the declaration, what a test report proves and what it does not, and the documents to collect before the container is booked.
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  If It Touches Food, It Is Regulated as a MaterialWhich products count as food contact materials, what the EU framework and plastics rules require, how ceramics, glass, metal and bamboo are treated, and which declaration has to travel with the goods.
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  One Regulates Substances, the Other Regulates ProductsHow REACH and RoHS differ in scope and obligation, what the 0.1 percent threshold means per article, why a test report ages, and the wording to put in a purchase order instead of a compliance claim.
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  Some Cargo Needs Permission Before It Needs a BookingWhat makes a product dual-use, where the control lists sit, how the catch-all clause pulls in unlisted goods, what an end-user statement does, and why the licence decides the sailing date.
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  The Mark on the Carton Is a Legal StatementWhich imports must carry a country of origin mark, what legible and permanent mean in practice, where the EU and the US rules differ, and how marking interacts with the description on the invoice.
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  The Six Digits That Decide What Your Goods Cost to ImportHow the Harmonized System works, why the supplier's code is a starting point rather than an answer, the classification calls that move duty the most, and how to get a code that survives an audit.
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  Three Questions Customs Asks, and How to Answer ThemWhat customs is trying to establish when it queries a shipment, how transaction value is built and what gets added to it, why a low declared value is a poor trade, and the records that answer a query in a day.
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  Two Documents Decide Whether the Container ClearsThe fields a commercial invoice and packing list must carry, the four mismatches that stop a container, how to declare samples and free goods, and what to fix at origin rather than at destination.

2026-10-28 · Batch 3 · Freight decisions: ports, quotes and what arrives after

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  Cargo Insurance: What the Policy Pays, and What It RefusesInstitute Cargo Clauses A, B and C compared, insured value and the 110 percent convention, general average, the exclusions that decide most claims, and the evidence a surveyor will ask for.
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  Chargeable Weight: Why Your Air Quote Is Not Your Cargo WeightHow air freight is charged on the greater of actual and volumetric weight, the 6,000 divisor, rate break points, surcharges that move weekly, and the size limits that decide whether cargo can fly at all.
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  Four Ports, One Order: Choosing an Exit Point from South ChinaYantian, Shekou, Chiwan and Nansha compared on carrier choice, sailing frequency, trucking time from Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and the inland costs that decide which one your cargo should use.
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  LCL or FCL: What a First Order Should Actually BookLCL is priced by the cubic metre and FCL by the container. Where the two cross over, what a shared box does to your cargo in handling, and the numbers to collect at a supplier booth before you decide.
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  Reading a Freight Quote: Every Line, and What It BuysThe lines that make up an export freight quote, from terminal handling and documentation to VGM, seal and telex release, which charges are optional, and the questions that turn an all-in number into a comparable one.
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  Ten Questions, and the Answers That Should Worry YouTen questions that separate a forwarder who can move your cargo from one who can only quote it: licence, inclusions, destination costs, cut-off policy, claims handling and the name of the person who answers at midnight.
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  The Invoice That Arrives After the Container DoesTerminal handling, delivery order, documentation, demurrage and detention at the arrival end: what each charge is for, who raises it, why it never appears in a Guangzhou quote, and how to get the number before you book.
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  The Rail Option: Three Weeks to Europe, and What It Asks of YouChina-Europe block trains explained: the route through Alashankou and Brest, two gauge changes, 18 to 25 day transit, where the cost sits between sea and air, and which cargo actually suits it.
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  Three Words Buyers Use for Two Different ServicesGroupage shares a container with other shippers; consolidation fills your own container from several factories. What separates them, when each one pays, and the warehouse costs that decide the answer.
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  Why Containers Miss Boats: Cut-offs, Gate-in and RolloversThe five dates on a container booking, the order in which cut-offs bite, how the gate-in window works in practice, and what a rollover costs when the factory finishes a day late.

2026-10-28 · Batch 2 · Working the fair: floor, booths, data and money

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  A Chinese Quotation Is Not a Landed CostWhat sits between an EXW unit price and goods in your warehouse: origin fixed charges, freight, duty, destination fees, and the four lines a supplier quotation usually leaves out.
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  An Interpreter for the Fair: Cost, Access and BriefingDay rates in Guangzhou, how interpreter access works at the fair, what belongs in a one-page brief, and which meetings need a professional rather than a bilingual salesperson.
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  Buyer Tools at the Fair: The App, the Map and WeChatWhat the official app does well, what it cannot tell you, why the printed hall map still wins on the floor, and the four tools buyers actually use for the whole week.
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  How Money Actually Moves in GuangzhouSetting up Alipay and WeChat Pay with a foreign card, where Visa still works, how much cash to carry, and why a supplier deposit must never leave for a personal account.
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  How to Test a Product Before You Commit to a ContainerStock samples, customised samples and trial cartons: what each costs, how long each takes, where to test, when a sample fee is credited, and what a sample can never tell you.
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  Leaving the Fair With Data You Can Actually UseA capture routine that survives the flight home: booth number first, one page per supplier, the six numbers a quotation needs, and why carton dimensions matter more than the catalogue photo.
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  Lunch at the Fair: Hours, Halls and What It CostsWhere food sits inside the complex, when the queues peak, what a set meal costs, and why leaving the venue for lunch costs more time than it saves.
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  Two Days at the Fair: What to Do, and in What OrderA hall-by-hall plan for two days at the Canton Fair: how to split the first morning, which aisles to walk twice, when to negotiate, and what two days genuinely cannot cover at a venue this size.
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  What a Booth Display Tells You Before You Ask a QuestionNine signals visible from the aisle at a Canton Fair booth: product depth, factory or trader, sample quality, the certification wall, price tags, and what each one implies about your order.
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  When Air Freight Beats Sea Freight on a First OrderAir, express or LCL for a first batch: how chargeable weight works, why fixed charges hurt small sea shipments, and a three-order path from air to a full container.

2026-10-27 · Batch 1 · Getting in, getting around, getting cargo out

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  Batteries and Electronics from the Fair: What Has to Be Right Before Cargo MovesBattery cargo stops for paperwork reasons far more often than for safety reasons. Covers the UN numbers buyers meet at the fair, why UN38.3 and the MSDS are not the same document, the 30 percent state-of-charge rule, how sea and air requirements differ, and the six mismatches that hold a shipment at the terminal.
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  Booking a Pre-Shipment Inspection Around the Canton FairAn inspection booked after the goods are packed is an inspection that delays the vessel. Covers the three points at which to inspect, what AQL 2.5 actually means in pieces, who performs the check, what it costs, how to write a brief a stranger can work from, and what to do when it fails.
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  Collecting Samples from Twenty Suppliers and Shipping Them as One ConsignmentSamples from a week of booth visits arrive as twenty small parcels from twenty factories at twenty different times. Covers who pays for samples, how a consolidation warehouse receives and checks them, when to combine and when not to, the channel choice between express, air and sea, and the cargo that breaks the plan.
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  FOB, CIF or DDP: Who Pays for What on a Canton Fair OrderMost Canton Fair quotes are FOB and most first-time buyers assume that means delivered. Covers what FOB includes and where risk actually transfers, why CIF insurance is minimum cover, why DDP is not always possible or legal, a line-by-line cost table across the three terms, and the trap in a quote that looks too cheap.
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  How Long a Canton Fair Order Really TakesA canton fair order does not start when you sign and does not end when the ship sails. Breaks the chain into production, inspection, booking, trucking, export clearance, ocean or air transit, destination clearance and delivery, with realistic day ranges for each and the five things that actually cause delay.
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  MOQ, Deposit and Payment Terms: What to Settle Before You Leave GuangzhouA price agreed at a booth is a starting position, not an order. Covers what MOQ really covers, how the price ladder works, deposit and balance structures, what a proforma invoice must contain to be usable, and the four payment requests that should end a negotiation.
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  Phase 3: Textiles, Footwear, Bags, Food and Toys — What to Check Before You OrderPhase 3 runs October 31 to November 4, 2026 and carries the categories where compliance, not price, decides whether an order is profitable. Covers what is actually exhibited, the label and test requirements per category, why food and supplements are a different business, and the narrowing window before Chinese New Year.
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  Registering for the Canton Fair as an Overseas BuyerA buyer badge is not a ticket and cannot be bought at the gate. Covers pre-registration on the buyer system step by step, the invitation letter and the M visa, where the badge is actually collected, how to badge a Chinese assistant or interpreter (two per buyer, per phase, RMB 300 a day), and the six reasons applications come back rejected.
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  Visiting the Factory While You Are in GuangzhouMost exhibitors sit within two hours of the fair, which makes a factory visit possible between phases. Covers which industrial belts are reachable in a day, realistic drive times from Pazhou, what to look at once you are inside, the questions that reveal a trading company, and why the changeover days are the best factory days of the trip.
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  Where to Stay for the Canton FairPazhou Island, Zhujiang New Town, the old city and the outer districts each give a different morning. Covers what each ring costs in travel time to the gates, how rates move across the three phases, when to book, what the metro does at 08:30, and what to do if you are booking late.