Recommended import from China forums & blogs

It can be quite hard to find accurate and up to date information on the internet. There are plenty of blogs and e-books but only a few are worth reading if you ask me. Forums are largely underestimated as a reliable source but offer a wealth of free information for startups and small businesses looking to import from China. The best thing is perhaps that you can get lots of free advice from the existing members, of which quite a few are professional sourcing agents based in China.

Forums

The Wholesale Forums

I’ve been reading this forum for a couple of years by now and it’s one of the most active forums that covers import/export and China sourcing topics. The content tends to be of a fairly high standard and can pride itself with contributors from plenty of professional sourcing firms, such as Globalsources.com.

Wholesale Forum

I started reading on Wholesaleforum.com (not to be confused with thewholeseforums.co.uk) in 2011 and it’s basically a slightly less active version of the above mentioned alternative. Definitely a worthwhile visit. Apart from import/export it covers anything from shipping and e-commerce to accounting and taxes.

Alibaba Forums

This forum is obviously more laser focused on China sourcing (or perhaps Alibaba sourcing if I should be more specific) than the two others. It’s also very active and a lot of new content is produced every day. However, in my opinion the threads are fairly low quality and some sub forums are infested with shameless self promotion by Alibaba suppliers. Hardly helpful for anyone who’s looking for some serious advice.

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Blogs

There are more than two blogs writing about importing related topics, but I have quite a hard time to find any that write quality content and update more than 3 times per year. Below I tell you which blogs I read on an almost daily basis.

China Law Blog

It’s amazing these guys hasn’t written a book yet (or am I wrong?). While Chinalawblog.com is not focused only on importing (it covers a ton of China business related topics) it’s still a must read for small businesses and startups sourcing from China. Below I list a few posts I think you should read:

• How to negotiate with Chinese companies.

• Choosing a China OEM manufacturer: A practical guide.

• How to find your China manufacturer.

• Doing business in China safely. The due diligence basics.

• China product sourcing problems.

• Payment fraud in China. This season’s edition.

Quality Inspection

This blog is focused on China importing and Quality Assurance and most posts are written for small to medium sized enterprises. I can confess that I’ve been drawing a lot of inspiration from Qualityinspection.com during the development of Chinaimportal.com. The infographics are another great reason to visit this blog. Nobody makes AQL and QC as easy to understand as these guys. These are the posts you should read today:

• Best Practices For Importers.

• Who is your best contact in Chinese factories?

• Difficulties of foreign companies sourcing products in China.

• 5 ways an importer can develop an unfair advantage.

• The small buyer’s dilemma in China.

• Top 10 mistakes committed by importers.

• The 10 components of a good quality assurance strategy in China.