Yiwu City is the world’s largest commodity in Zhejiang of China

China, Zhejiang Province, Yiwu, the bigest wholesale market of the world.

This toy market has four districts, they are district B, district C, district D, and district E.  Every district has 12 streets, so a total of more than 2,000 stores. Each district sales different toys type.

District B have plush toys;

District C have plush toys, inflating toys, party toys, plastic toys;

District D have plastic toys, electric toys, wooden toys;

District E have plastic toys, regular toys, gift toys, party toys;

China is a nation of factories, and Yiwu, more than any other place, is where their gigantic production is disgorged.

To your left: artificial flowers, toys, fashion jewellery, hair accessories, jewellery fittings, arts and crafts.

To your right: photograph frames, crystal, and buckets and spades in lurid reds and yellows.

This is where Father Christmas comes to shop, particularly in a recession when money is tight and the generous old gent has to tighten his already straining belt.

The Yiwu wholesale market is the public face of the greatest experiment in mass production ever seen, hawking, for example, the output of the world’s five biggest sock manufacturers and its largest zip factory.

There are 320,000 different commodities on sale, which fit into more than 1,500 categories and 34 industries. They are concentrated in four wholesale markets that feature more than four million square metres of selling space and ship to more than 200 countries.

This market has everything. if you gave each supplier three minutes during an average eight hours of doing business, you would need over a year to get around the market.

Yiwu International Trade City, also known as the Yiwu Market, is the primary wholesale market complex in Yiwu, Zhejiang, China. According to the World Bank, it is the world’s largest small commodities market.

The market is divided into 5 districts covering an area of 4 million square meters for 75,000 booths where 100,000 suppliers exhibit 400,000 kinds of products.

The products come from around 40 industries and include 2,000 different categories of goods. The best time to get to the market is around 10:00 AM when almost all shops are open. Regular opening hours on weekdays are between 8am – 5pm.

District 1

This 4-story building was built in 0ctober 2001 and started being used on 22nd October 2002. It covers an area of 340,000 square meters and holds more than 10,500 shops. This district has banks, vending machines, and fast serving restaurants like Burger King, McDonalds, and Pizza Hut.

More than 70 percent of the products you find here are for export. The 1st floor is filled with common toys, inflatable toys, plush toys, artificial flowers, as well as flower accessories. The 2nd floor is filled with jewellery and head ornaments

The 3rd floor is filled with ornament accessories, picture frames, tourist art & craft, decoration craft, festival craft, porcelain, and crystal. The 4th floor has big showrooms filled with factory outlets.

District 2

This 5-story building was opened on 22nd October 2004 and covers an area of 600,000 square meters. It has more than 10,000 shop fronts that are cubed from floor one to floor three. The stalls open from 9:30 am to 5pm. Just like District 1, District 2 also has banks, restaurants, and telecommunications companies inside.

District 3

This district is a 5-story building with more than 7,000 shop fronts and covers an area of 460,000 square meters.  The stalls are open from 9:45 am to 4:45pm.

Different industries are put on different floors as follows:The 1st floor has stationery and office products such as pen, paper, and ink. The 2nd floor has sporting products. The 3rd floor has buttons and zipper outlets as well as other garment accessories. The 4th floor has travel products and cosmetics & beauty outlets

District 4

This is the strongest and the best-bred district. It was opened on 21st October 2008 and covers an area of 1,008,000 square meters. This district has more than 19,000 shops that mainly sell textile products.

District 5

◆. After selecting a supplier, you must confirm with the supplier that the actual products and the samples in the stores are the same. If not, they should let you know in advance. Because it is very common that the actual products and the samples are not the same in Yiwu market.

For this problem, the supplier will not take the initiative to explain to you, and it is only when you actually receive the actual products that you will find it’s too late. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you confirm this issue with the supplier in advance.

◆. Some suppliers in the Yiwu market are specialized in doing one category, and some others do the various categories of products at the same time. If you are unfamiliar with Yiwu market, then professional agents can help you find more professional suppliers, even manufacturers.

Their prices will tend to be better, the quality of the products will be more secure, and the suppliers are more familiar with the products. The suppliers that deal with a lot of categories often have multiple cooperative factories. Relatively speaking, the suppliers who do various categories are not more professional than those who have specialized in just one category.

Unprofessional seller

◆. For price negotiations, the price of the supplier will not be very different. Generally, the quantity of about 1000 pieces can be offered at a great price. And sometimes, the supplier will give you a little discount of about 3-5%.

Some customers think that if they directly ask the supplier whether the price of 10, 000 pieces will be lower, they will get a low price of around 10-20%. But this is not true, as even after doing this; the price will still be the same as that of 1000 pieces.

You don’t have to be surprised, because this is normal. Since suppliers don’t believe you will buy 10, 000 pieces. They just think that this is a trick of you asking them about the lowest price possible. So, when you hear that the price of 1000 pieces is almost the same as that of 10, 000 pieces, you shouldn’t be surprised at all.

4. Find A Yiwu Market Agent and Know Their Tricks

When you come to Yiwu, you will find that there are too many agents. But there are only a few large companies with at least 500 people, and thousands of agents with 10 people or less, or even just 2-3 people.

Among the various agencies, it is important to find a good company and build trust with them, since long-term cooperation is important. The damage done by a bad agency to your business cannot be under-estimated.

So, there are some hidden rules and tricks that you need to know in the Yiwu Wholesale Market. By understanding these things, you can easily find a good agency to protect your own interests.

4.1 Where To Find Your Yiwu Market Agent?

If you are abroad but want to find a good agent in advance for visiting the Yiwu market, then you can search for “Yiwu Market Agent” on Google, where you will find some Yiwu agents. If you have already arrived in Yiwu, you will see a lot of advertisements about Yiwu agents at the airport, train station, and even at your hotel entrance. You can choose one of them.

Here, I also want to share something special with you. If you are a customer from the Middle East and Africa, then you can find people who are doing import and export business in Yiwu directly to your country. They can communicate with you in your own language and they fully understand the situation of China and your country.

You can go and search for them as agents. They will prepare everything for you in China, including visas, air tickets, hotel reservations, etc. After coming to China, you only need to focus on purchasing your products, and they will do the following: inspection, delivery, customs clearance, and other issues for you.

Customs-Clearance-Procedure

freight-shipping

4.2 What does Yiwu Market Agent Serve?

The services provided by the Yiwu Market Agent are as follows:

1. Yiwu market agent will take you to the market, and help you source wholesale products according to your procurement plan. Or when you don’t have any plan, they can take you to some of the most popular shops in the market.
2. When you enter the store, the agent can act as a translator to help you communicate with the supplier. If you’re lucky, he or she can get some discounts for you.
3. Generally speaking, many guests will purchase some goods in various shops to form a whole cabinet in Yiwu market. And your agent will help you to create a variety of forms to help track your various products.
4. When you finally decide on the goods you want to purchase, the agent will help you to place an order with the supplier and pay the required amount. This is because the supplier only accepts the RMB.

![Two foreigners are confirming order with the booth](../resources/images/Two-foreigners-are-confirming-order-with-the-booth.jpg )

1. Agents can provide their warehouses in China, by temporarily storing the products you have purchased. This gives you time to concentrate on your purchases without worrying about having a place to store your goods in China.
2. They receive goods for you, check the goods, and then ship them to your country. When you complete the procurement process, you can just go back to your country. Your agent will help you to complete the follow-up. This way, you don’t have to waste time; after all, time is money.
3. As you enjoy these services provided by the agent, they will charge you a certain service fee, which is usually settled according to the total amount of purchases.

4.3 What is Yiwu Agent’s Service Charge? How Much Should You Pay for The Agent Service?

This is a very interesting topic and one that foreigners who come to Yiwu to purchase goods are normally concerned about, especially for those importers who have no any purchasing experience in Yiwu. You may not be aware that there are more than 1, 000 agencies in Yiwu! The largest agency normally has at least 500 people and the smallest agency usually has around 5 people.

There are so many agents available in Yiwu. In fact, you will not know how to choose the best agent. At this point, you may be attracted to ads that claim to offer 3% commission or even lower, and some even give 0% commission.

My advice is that you should not be misled by these ads. This is just a low-cost competitive marketing method used by agencies to attract new customers. When you contact these companies, they will also tell you that there are various other service fees to collect. Although there is no set industry standard in Yiwu, as far as I know, it is more reasonable and reliable for the agents to charge around 5-10% service fee.

You can go ahead and choose an agent with a low service fee, but you will find some of the problems that I am going to talk about in the next paragraph. They are some of the most used tricks by Yiwu agents, which many of our readers have shared with us.

4.4 Some of Yiwu Agent’s Tricks You Need to Know

In order to maintain the interests of their own company, some agencies that charge 3% or lower service fees often use some tricks to make up for the loss of service fees.

1. Change suppliers

   When you think that the quality of supplier A’s product is good, the price is acceptable, and as a result, you go ahead and place your order. But then, your agent is more likely to replace your supplier A with a cheaper supplier B, in order to benefit from it. As for you, the lower price of supplier B means that you may get a poor quality product.

2. Ask suppliers for a kick back

   When you go directly to the market, your agent will help you to negotiate with the supplier. During this time, the agent will use the Chinese language to ask the supplier to increase the original price by 2-3% as a quote for you. In this case, the price of the product you pay will be more expensive.

3. Force suppliers to cut prices

   When you and the supplier decide on the product and price, the agent will force the supplier to cut the price when placing the order. This way, the agent receives the profit from the price difference. This situation will also cause the supplier to give you poor product quality and protect their profit.

5. How to Ship Products from Yiwu to Your Country?

Yiwu is a city with very developed logistics and transportation networks. Here, you can choose to ship to your country in many ways. In general, there is express delivery, air transportation, and shipping.

Among them, express delivery is the fastest way. Frankly speaking, the goods can be sent directly to the address door that you provide within 3-5 days. Note that; express delivery is the most costly way. So it is only suitable for small, high-value goods, such as electronic products, accessories, watches and so on.

If you are ready to send by express, then I suggest that you do not contact Fedex, DHL, UPS, or any other official express. Because their discounts for individuals are usually limited. A good solution would be to contact Yiwu’s express agent.

You can find a lot of such express delivery companies around the market. They have a very low discount rate because they have a lot of clients. If you compare the two, you will find that using an express agent can really help you reduce the cost of freight.

If you are shipping, or want to transport by air, you can go to the Chanchun District and Futian District of Yiwu Market to find some freight forwarding companies.

Many freight forwarding companies will claim to be able to send to any country. However, these freight forwarding companies are not the best choice. I suggest that you find some freight forwarders that are specialized in your country line. Such companies normally give you a full quote to your country right away, including some details on customs clearance.

Some freight forwarders will tell you that they can ship goods to any country. In fact, they ship to several major countries. So, if your country is not one of those countries that they normally ship to, they will contact other freight forwarders to help you ship. Then, the quote will end up being much higher.

Especially, for some customers in the Middle East, Africa, Russia, and South America, customs clearance is not as easy as in North America, and it is more likely to have problems.

The freight forwarding companies in the special line can help you solve various problems more professionally because of their rich experience. And a large number of these special line freight forwarding companies have been opened in Yiwu by people from your country, so it will be more convenient in communicating.

If you are from a country along the “Yixinou Railway“, you can also choose to ship the goods to your country by rail. The “Yixinou railway” starts from Yiwu and passes through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France, and finally, Madrid. The choice of rail transport saves about half of the cost of time, and its cost is only half or less that of air transport.

6. Four Things You Need to Know About Yiwu Wholesale Market

6.1 Are All the Booths Opened by Manufacturers?

Most booths are owned by individual businesses, while others are owned by trading companies and they’ve got lots of factories that supply them on a long-term basis. If you do not want to buy in large quantities, in some cases, you may get better prices from them than when buying from the factory.

There are some booths owned by factories. These are mainly based in Yiwu and nearby cities. Others are based in Fujian, Guangdong, and other provinces. The scales of these factories range between 10 and 1, 000 staffs.

If it’s your first time visiting Yiwu, or you do not have much information and experience on import, you will find it challenging trying to distinguish whether these are individual businesses, small workshops, or large-scale factories. Even though most booths claim to be manufacturers, you shouldn’t trust them at all.

6.2 Are Yiwu Products of Poor Quality as Alleged?

Some commentators on the internet allege that all Yiwu products are of poor quality, thus they cannot be exported to the United States. This is not true because of the following reasons:

Yiwu product does not mean “Made in Yiwu”. As mentioned earlier, Chinese products have industrial areas where they are manufactured from. Many products sold in Yiwu are made in other leading production areas and they are just availed in Yiwu for sale.

One of the top 3 exporting countries from Yiwu is the U.S. Many high-quality products are exported from China to the U.S every year. Yiwu also has some budget products which target developing countries, but it’s not true to say that all Yiwu products are not of good quality.

For example, most Christmas products are produced in Yiwu, but you will also find suppliers in places like Shenzhen and other areas. However, the Shenzen supplier may play a dirty trick by not telling you that the products were manufactured in Yiwu, or even he/she may claim that what they sell is better than that made in Yiwu.

6.3 Is Yiwu Wholesale Market only suitable for Small Businesses?

Many articles on the internet are saying that Yiwu market is only suitable for small businesses, and Shenzhen or other big cities are better for big orders. But the truth is that you won’t find a market with an MOQ that’s higher than that of the markets in Yiwu.

For those individuals who want to buy one item from $1000 or more to 2-3 containers, this is the best place to source them. It’s quite difficult to persuade the booth to sell one or two cartons for one item, as this quantity is very less than their MOQ.

Usually, every product in any market needs lead time. However, some of them tend to have spot goods so that you can purchase in small quantities. But there are two conditions which you should consider before buying spot goods.

Spot goods cannot be changed. All the colors, logos, and styles, as well as packaging, remain the same as the samples that you see in the booth. If you want customized products, you will have to buy in large quantities. Because spot goods are already manufactured, their standard or design is not current, thus they are not suitable for fashion products.

6.4 How Does Yiwu Differ from Ningbo, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou?

Ningbo, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou are all big coastal cities in China and have ports, which is a factor that gives them many advantages of export. This is also the reason why most large international companies have set up their procurement or branch offices in these cities. Also, there are various professional trading companies which offer better services.

Yiwu does not have a port and relies on the Ningbo port, which is 200km away. Meanwhile, Yiwu supplies many goods to Ningbo, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou.

You can’t find any other place like Yiwu wholesale market that collects so many products from Ningbo, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou.

Ningbo doesn’t have any market and its advantage is the port only. On the other hand, Shenzhen only has a market for electronic products, while Guangzhou is a popular market for jewelry, clothing, and related items. And these markets are in different places and sourcing from them is not easy. It is only during Canton Fair when suppliers congregate at one place in China.

7. Other Wholesale Markets and Yiwu Fairs

In fact, Yiwu has many different types of wholesale markets. The Yiwu wholesale market that you know is referred to as the “Futian market”. But there are other wholesale markets in Yiwu. These markets are not as famous as the Futian market, but you can also find some products that you want here.

Yiwu Huangyuan Clothing Market

Tag: clothes, suit, uniform, coat, scarf, dress, T-shirt, jeans, skirt, shirt, trousers, jacket

Yiwu Furniture Market

Tag: light, sofa, chair, bed, drawer, door, table, bookshelf, fireplace, couch, mirror, crib, clothes tree

Yiwu International Capital Goods Market

Tag: kitchenware, lamp bulb, LED, leather, crafts, tools, equipment

Although Yiwu has many open markets all year round, Yiwu’s exhibitions will also be held from time-to-time. Most of the customers who come to China to participate in the Canton Fair normally fly to Yiwu to participate in Yiwu Exhibition after the completion of the Canton Fair.

You can think of Yiwu’s exhibition as a mini Canton, where to find some real factories. But if you want me to give you some advice about whether to go to the Canton Fair or to the Yiwu Exhibition, my suggestion will be the Canton Fair, as you will find more suppliers and products there. The following is an exhibition to be held in Yiwu in September 2018 and 2019. You can refer to it.

Name of Fairs in Yiwu	Data
The Belt and Road Yiwu Sports Industry Exhibition	Sep.7-9/2018
2018 China Art and Frame Expo	Sep.18-20/2018
China Yiwu Auto and Motorcycle Parts Exhibition	Oct.21-24/2018
China Yiwu International Commodities Fair	Oct.21-25/2018
2018 China Yiwu International Manufacturing Equipment Expo	Nov.29-Dec.1/2018
2018 Belt and Road Initiative (Yiwu) glasses and eye care products fair	Apr.1-3/2019
The 14th China (Yiwu) Cultural Products Trade Fair	Apr.27-30/2019