When I was a sourcing agent, I got a lot of emails inquiring about importing jewelry from China. The question askers are usually newbies or small business owners, who are keen on the niche market for jewelry.
In the email, they asked me a series of questions about Chinese accessories, including where to find wholesale jewelry suppliers, how to import jewelry to USA, the best jewelry to import from China…
They try to find the answer on Google. But unfortunately, no good answers are found on Google search, which is really bad.
In order to help more of these confused people, I put their questions and the answers I shared into this article, hoping that people can find more useful information about how to import jewelry from China on Google search results.
If you have the same problem, then congratulations, because you will find the answer to your puzzle here. Let’s dive deeply in.
Before we start, have a quick view on the main structure of the whole content.
Chapter 1: Why Import Jewelry from China?
When people talk about jewelry, I don’t know what adjectives pop into your head. But for me, light weight, small volume, unique styles and high value… These came out of my head first.
These words may not mean much to people who use jewelry in their daily lives, but to a clever businessman, they all send a valuable message that jewelry is a good niche market, especially for newcomers.
a) Light weight and small volume means that jewelry can be easily transported, even in large quantities. For more information about shipment, I will introduce it in detail in Chapter 4. Jewelry Shipping When Import from China.
b) Unique styles means that you can easily make changes to your jewelry style making them different from your competitors.
As we all know, unique Jewelries are more attractive to customers.
c) High value means you can earn a huge profit especially when you import jewelry from China.
You are really a lucky dog. Because in China, the wholesale price of jewelry is often very cheap, but the retail price may be very expensive in your country.
In fact, you can choose to import jewelry from all over the world, but importing jewelry from China has a unique advantage.
Jewelry industry in China is so well developed that you can find almost every jewelry accessory supplies for jewelry making in Yiwu International Wholesale Market.
Because of the easy access to raw materials, the cost of jewelry is not high for raw materials part. It is mainly reflected in the processing technology. For some diamond-encrusted jewelry, like the earrings below, will be a litte expensive.
For this rhinestone earrings, part of the cost is labor, since the diamonds on this earrings need to be decorated artificially one by one. It sorts of handmade jewellery, so the price can be a few higher than ordinary earrings.
But on a global scale, the wholesale price of Chinese jewelry is still very cheap. After all, China has a large population and cheap labor. Do you know, there is a population of nearly 1.4 billion in China, what a crowded country it is!
Chapter 2: 5 Mian Jewelry Importing Channels
Alibaba.com
If you’ve ever imported products from China, you must have hear the Chinese website Alibaba. Because this is the cradle where every businessman who wants to import from China begins to learn about the products.
There are 5,000+ jewelry suppliers on Alibaba. Through alibaba.com, you can quickly learn information about Chinese jewelries, as long as you have access to Internet, even if you are in the Arctic Pole. You can find a lot of trendy jewelry styles on alibaba’s website.
However, please note that the prices and MOQ on alibaba are scribbled by the sellers, which is no reference significance. In fact, this is just a means of marketing, so the seller can easily catch the eye of customers.
Although the price is not meaningful, but if you have the style in mind, you can still directly send mail to the merchant for specific product information. The merchant will be happy to communicate with you in your email.
Made-in-China.com
Besides alibaba, you can also check out Made in China, AKA MIC. It’s a B2B site like alibaba, but not as famous as alibaba, and the number of suppliers is relatively small, around 2000+. However it doesn’t stop you from finding the right wholesale jewelry suppliers.
Product information on MIC, including the price and MOQ, is more authentic. However to get the most authentic product information, I suggest you contact the supplier by email. There will be a lot of factory resources in MIC, so their MOQ is generally higher than alibaba’s.
In general, whether you are through alibaba, or MIC, you can always find your supplier, but you never really know the strength of your supplier. So before the bulk order is determined, you’d better to collect the samples from various suppliers and decide the next step of purchasing plan after you receive samples.
B2C Website, Such as Dhgate, Aliexpress and Personal Websites
If you are just starting your jewelry business, then I don’t suggest you look for suppliers on alibaba at the very beginning. Because the MOQ problem, you often can not meet the requirements of suppliers, so it is difficult to cooperate with them. Even if you can find a vendor willing to work with you on a small number of MOQ, it will take a lot of time. In the early stages, you should pay more attention to the marketing of your store.
The right thing for you to do is to visit Dhgate, aliexpress or some other personal website to find your jewelry supplier.
All these platforms are B2C websites, they are aimed directly at the end consumer, so the price may be a little higher. But the good thing is that you can even cooperate with them in the form of dropshipping. It allows you to quickly test whether the product will be liked by your customers or not.
Plesase note, jewelries supplied in this way are generally non-customizable, which means you can only choose from the styles that already exist in their stores, and you can’t ask them to make any customizations for you.
After a period of testing, if you find that your products are popular with customers, then in order to reduce costs, you can consider finding the same product on alibaba or MIC and importing it in bulk to your country for retail at wholesale price.
With over 6000+ suppliers in China offering millions of accessories, you can be sure to find wholesalers or factories for your products. Just in case if you can’t find the same product, you can totally find a similar factory and send them your style. They’ll be happy to help you customize your jewelry.
Sourcing Company
If you do not think you can get a good suppliers by yourself or finding suppliers can be a waste of time, you might ask a sourcing company for help who can be your sourcing agent in China.
They will help you screen suppliers, confirm samples, follow up production, inspect goods, and ship them to your country. For all of these, you only need to pay a certain percentage of the service fee.
In general, their service fee will be proportional to the total amount you purchase, which means that the larger quantities you purchase, the lower corresponding service fee ratio you pay. The biggest advantage of sourcing company is to help you save time looking for suppliers.
Jewelry Exhibition
If you really don’t trust Internet purchases, and want to find the fashion jewelry manufacturers, then the best way is flying directly to China to participate in some jewelry exhibitions. You can search for information about these exhibitions online.
At the show you can directly pick samples from suppliers, collect their catalogues and contact details.
I need to remind you, because this channel requires you to fly to China personally, so before you come, you should collect more information about the exhibition you want to attend on the website.
For example, where is the exhibition hall? How to get to the pavilion from the airport? Where is convenient to live near the exhibition hall?
In fact, looking for suppliers through this channel is like traveling to a famous scenic spot in China. As long as you can get a detailed plan ahead of time, I believe you will be able to harvest best wholesale jewelry suppliers at the exhibition.
Local Jewelry Wholesale Market
If you come to China to participate in the exhibition, then I do not recommend that you return directly to the country after the exhibition.
You can go to the jewelry wholesale market in China to have a look. If you don’t find a suitable supplier at the show, then I believe that you will certainly gain something in China’s jewelry wholesale market.
In fact, the resources of the jewelry wholesale market are much richer than the exhibition. As long as you take the time to walk around the various booths in the market, you can always find some unique jewelries.
Imaging that the jewelry you purchased is unique which your competitors can never find. It will definitely help grow your business.
In China, the wholesale market for jewelry is mainly concentrated in Yiwu, Guangzhou and Qingdao. And each market has its own characteristics.
Yiwu Wholesale Market
If you come to Yiwu, then you can not missing the Yiwu Wholesale Market. Yiwu Wholesale Market is a comprehensive wholesale market where you can import any product you want at wholesale price.
The jewelry area of Yiwu Wholesale Market is mainly concentrated on the Floor 2, District 1. Here you can find a wide variety of trendy jewelries, including hair accessories, earrings, necklaces, rings, bracelets, pendants…
I have to say there are only jewelries you can’t think of, but absolutely no jewelries you can’t find.
Usually the jewelry in the Yiwu wholesale market is in stock, which means even a dozen can be sold, as long as you choose a style. This is a great advantage compared to the MOQ of other channels.
Yiwu market is rich in fashion jewelry, abundant styles and low prices. At the same time, the disadvantage is that the overall level of suppliers is lower than Guangzhou. Most styles and designs are not original, so be sure to pay attention to imitation products.
Some people will respond that the quality of Yiwu products is poor. This is very one-sided. You can easily find cheap jewelries in Yiwu Wholesale Market. But if you are only pursuing the lowest price, then the quality of the products you buy will not be good.
Basically, after you have asked a lot of suppliers, you will have a basic judgment on the price level of your product. The price quoted by your supplier is far below this price level, then he must have used very poor materials, so the cost is not high, and the price is naturally low. But the quality of such products is definitely the worst.
Therefore, pursuing the lowest price in Yiwu market is definitely an unwise move!
Guangzhou Jewelry Wholesale Market
The Xijiao Building, Liwan Square and South China International Commodity Market are most famous market for jewelry in Guangzhou. Guangzhou’s jewelry wholesale market is not as complicated as Yiwu. Besides the production is relatively professional.
a) You can wholesale fashion jewelry with high-quality and reasonably priced, by visiting Xijiao Building. It is on the side of the Guangzhou Railway Station, you can easily find it.
b) If you are interested in rhinestone jewelry and silver jewelry, then you must not miss the Tsuen Wan Plaza. Here is the largest and most professional wholesaler of crystal, sterling silver jewelry in China.
c) If you don’t have any ideas, go to the South China Commodity Market and I am sure you will find some inspiration there!
In fact, no matter which jewelry wholesale market you visit, you’d find that the style and design of Guangzhou jewelry are the most innovative and closest to international fashion trend. In the past, many jewelry styles on the Yiwu wholesale market were modeled after the jewelry style of Guangzhou.
Here is a little story I want to share with you. When the Internet was underdeveloped, many Yiwu businessmen went to Guangzhou to buy some of the latest jewelry styles, and then brought them back to Yiwu to reproduce them, and then sold them on the Yiwu wholesale market.
But now basically the Yiwu businessmen don’t do this any more, so where are their designs coming from? I am thinking to introduce this part at a new post.
Qingdao Jewelry Wholesale Market
Qingdao’s jewelry is often very popular in the Korean market, and you can find Korean jewelry wholesale market here.
Qingdao is very close to South Korea, and even many jewelry factories in Qingdao are established by Korean jewelry companies. Therefore, most of Qingdao’s jewelry are some Korean-style jewelry, and the quality is very good.
Among the jewelry wholesale markets in Qingdao, the most famous are the Sino-Korea International Commodities market and Jimo Small Commodities market.
Chapter 3: 2 Typical Jewelry Importers
- The one who have their own design, hoping to find a cooperative processing plant.
Generally speaking, such importers are some of the world’s largest well-known brands like Wal-Mart. They will have their own design drafts, and are high requirements for suppliers. In general, only large jewelry manufacturers in China have the ability to work with them to meet their various requirements for jewelry import and creation.
If you are just a foreign distributor or a website of your own independent brand, then you don’t have to waste time looking for these large manufacturers. On the one hand, it is difficult for you to find them. On the other hand, their minimum order quantity is often very high.
In this case, you can go to the jewelry wholesale market and look for similar suppliers who will help you make small changes to their original products to meet your design requirements.
For example, if you want to make a triangular silver earring, then you can directly find the supplier of silver jewelry, and then find a similar triangle earring in their store. Finally, what you have to do is explain with the supplier how to customize for a small change. The supplier will help you produce according to your requirements.
The advantage of these suppliers is that they usually have a small workshop of 10+ people. Therefore, the order quantity will not be very high, because their production capacity is limited. But they can totally service your requirements very well.
- The one who don’t know what style to buy, hoping to find the popular style.
The business model of this kind supplier is to keep up with the trend, and most of the products they need are in stock. Basically , they will buy a little bit what the supplier have in stock.
If you are such an importer, then alibaba can help you solve the supply problem.
If you want to come to China, then you can go directly to the jewelry wholesale market in China, instead of giving priority to attending the exhibition. Because this will help you complete your procurement plan more efficiently.
Chapter 4: Jewelry Shipping When Wholesale from China
The size of the jewelry is small, so you don’t have to worry about the shipping quantity. Usually in the Yiwu market, the most common way of transporting jewelry is international express delivery like Fedex, UPS, DHL… Because the jewelry is updated fast and has high requirements for timeliness. International express delivery is definitely the best choice.
But for a large number of importers, sea shipping is still the most economical option. Although the sea shipping time is very slow, experienced importers will calculate the hot sale period and then place the order 2 months in advance. One month’s time for the supplier to produce, and the other month to offset the shipping time.
But there is one more thing you need to pay attention to. International express shipping costs are still relatively expensive, so if your jewelry profit margin is not very large, I suggest you still do not use international express.
In this case, importers tend to purchase as many jewelry as possible to meet the minimum requirements for sea freight consolidation. And they use the LCL method to ship goods by sea.
This is also a good way to ship. In fact, many importers often choose this shipping method in order to expand their own interests, when you do not have high requirements for the delivery time.
Final Thoughts on Importing Jewelry
Do you have more clear idea about how to import jewelry from China?
Is there still any problem confusing you?
Welcome to leave your comment, I will try to solve it as soon as possible. Cheers!
4 thoughts on “Top Guide of How to Import Jewelry from China”
Is it a good business to start selling stainless steel jewelry?
Hi Jane, stainless steel jewelry is quite a hot trend both for men and women nowadays. It could be a nice niche, only if you had some unique designs. It seems a good channel to sell stainless steel jewelry via Instagram or Pinterest.
What about all the import papers from China to United States? Is there any checklist of necessary documents and costs of it?
Hi Lejla, thanks for your comment. For the papers, it really depends on different projects. There is no such list that can explain everything. But you can get these answers from your freight forwarder when you are ready t import jewelry from China. And sometimes, your freight forwarder will prepare everything for you, or a sourcing agent can help you fix it.