Courtesy : sustainabilitymattersdaily.com
Eco-friendly product in china
Prior to making this website, I was doing an awful lot of research on manufacturing in China. The reason for that was because I and a previous classmate wanted to start an online retailer that sold eco-friendly products. We thought of selling t-shirts made out of organic cotton, bamboo toothbrushes, and other clothing/gadgets that could be labeled “environmentally friendly”.
As we lived in China back then, we had one clear mission before we kicked off the project: to find eco-friendly manufacturers in China.
First and foremost: which products have I personally imported from China?
Being in e-commerce for such a long time, I’ve tried to import and sell a lot of different products from China.
When I do some counting in my head, I would reckon that I’ve tried at least 25-30 different products. These are some of the few that are still live on the Amazon platform (through another seller – I’ve already let go of my Amazon FBA business):
GoFika Small Dogs Slow Feeding Snuffle Foraging Mat Cloth for Puppies and Pets (14″ x 11.8″) Interactive Puzzle Feeder for Stimulation and Nosework (Pink)
What do these products have in common?
These might all seem like random products to you. But in fact, they have some similarities that you need to think about before importing something from China that you want to sell abroad:
- They are cheap to manufacture in China.
- They can be sold for more than 10 USD in the US.
- They are unique. In other words: there are no direct competitors on Amazon. At least it wasn’t when the products were launched.
- The manufacturers in China are able to ship them directly to the warehouse in the US.
Manufacturers or existing products?
There are some big chances that the person reading this article is interested in importing some ecofriendly products from China and selling them in other geographical areas. Fine – that was my thought was well a couple of years ago.
But the first question you need to answer is: do you want to import products that have already been made or do you want to order customized products with your own logo, etc.?
Chinese manufacturer “marketplaces”
Browsing the internet is a great way of finding eco-friendly Chinese products. The best and biggest marketplace is called Alibaba. Almost every single production company in China that ships internationally will be listed on Alibaba. If you go to their website and type in “ecofriendly”, you will find thousands of products listed:
You can just check this link (Alibaba.com).
And if you don’t want to click that link, this is how it looks like:
However, there are some issues that you need to be aware of.
Alternatives to Alibaba
Alibaba is not the only place to source (eco-friendly) products in China. As I speak and read Chinese, I’ve used some local websites.
However, every time I’ve sourced products in English, these websites have been helpful to me as well:
Ecvv is more focused on machinery and electronics. But DH Gate is probably my favorite. On that platform it’s super easy to contact sellers and get the information you want.
Quality
You do not know the quality of the products listed on Alibaba. As they are an open marketplace, there is no quality control being done by the website. In other words, you have to trust the supplier – or ask for a sample before you buy.
Finding reviews is also very difficult. It does not work like Amazon where you have loads of people reviewing every single product. Alibaba really feels more like gambling, which is why you actively have to work towards minimizing your risk.
Bulk
And this is where it gets tricky. Most of the products listed got a “minimum order quantity”. That could range from 2 products to 10,000 products. Placing an order on a lot of products that you do not know the quality of is not a good idea. You don’t even know if the product is as sustainable as they promise!
Shipping time
Always ask the manufacturers about the shipping time to USA/Europe/wherever you got your warehouse. They do very often, without discussing with you, choose the slowest courier service in order to save money.
Communication is key.
We found out that the language barrier could be difficiult to handle. Many of these small manufacturers are located in rural areas of China and are communicating with their international customers through some translations apps. If you are really dedicated: try to find someone who can speak Mandarin.