Quoting from [LauraE]:


What do I need to know about buying from a company in China and having it shipped to the U.S.?  Do I need an agent?  What is an agent?  I am currently interested in buying wedding and formal wear from China but I do not understand steps I need to take to have items shipped to my store in California.  Are there special taxes that I have to pay? 

Here are the steps in simple terms. Buy products.... ship from China to Cali....clear goods thru customs.... transport to your store.....

 Basically that's it....Now for the fun stuff.

You will have the following to pay for.. The products/ shipping & insurance for the shipping/ customs/ forward transport.. There are QUOTAS for clothing in the US so you will have to deal with those (that happens on the China end for memory). You will most DEFINATELY need a Customs Clearance Agent in California to help get your goods thru customs (you do NOT want to do this yourself trust me!)

Its is not hard to import stuff, you just need to have all your ducks in a row BEFORE you pay for the goods. Have you done your Due Diligence on the supplier? Have you organized a prehipment inspection by a third party in China? Have you found a customs agent for yourself in the US? Have you crunched the numbers for all the costs/ fees etc into your "landed cost" so you know whaqt the true cost of the goods is?

Get all that set up before you pay a dime to anyone for anything. Its just a matter of resarch and common sense.

PS as an aside I remember reading an article recently about some chemical that had tainted dresses imported into the US. I think it was some sort of bath they gave the dresses just before packaging (a final clean perhaps?). Turns out the chemical was not rinsed off properly and it was a bad skin irritant... You might want to double check that as well.