The complete Filipino guide to importing from China
Fourteen chapters, step-by-step, from picking a product to clearing customs.
Know Your Real Cost Before You Pay
Not the supplier's price — your actual landed cost, with shipping, duties, VAT, and the fees people forget. The included calculator does the arithmetic so you find out whether a product is profitable before your money is on a boat, not after.
Verify a Supplier Before You Send Money
The specific scam patterns Filipino importers keep falling for, what a legitimate supplier's paperwork looks like, and the nine-point review to run before you click pay. Including the one line that tells you instantly when something is wrong.
The Part Free Content Skips
How duties and VAT are actually computed. Which product categories need Philippine government clearance before they can legally enter. What to do when a shipment gets held, and what every day of delay costs you. Most free importing content is made by companies that earn money moving your cargo — complicated is bad for their business, so they stay vague here.
Buy ebook for ₱599
Table of Contents
PART ONE — DECIDE BEFORE YOU SPENDCHAPTER I — Is Importing Still Worth It?
1. Why Direct Beats Local Wholesale (the layer cake of middlemen)
2. The Market in Three Numbers (supply, demand, and growth)
3. Honest Expectations (20–45 day waits, capital that sleeps, delays)
4. Who Shouldn't Import Yet (six honest gut-checks)CHAPTER II — How Much Capital Do You Actually Need?
5. The Six Cost Buckets (everything you will actually pay for)
6. A Full Worked Example (from ₱60 supplier price to ₱77 landed cost)
7. Why "₱10k Lang" Is a Red Flag (the de minimis trap)
8. The Test-Order Mindset (your first order is an experiment)CHAPTER III — Where to Buy: Alibaba, 1688, Taobao & the Rest
9. What a B2B Platform Actually Is (three mental shifts)
10. The Landscape (platform-by-platform comparison)
11. Going to China in Person (Canton Fair, DIY sourcing trips)
12. Manufacturer vs. Trading Company vs. Middleman (five ways to tell)
13. Why This Book Focuses on Alibaba (and when to graduate)PART TWO — FIND A SUPPLIER WITHOUT GETTING SCAMMEDCHAPTER IV — Finding Your Product and Your Supplier
14. The Four Ways to Search (keyword, image, category, RFQ)
15. The Three-Window Rule (check before you fall in love)
16. Reading Competitor Reviews (their complaints are your spec sheet)
17. Categories That Move Here (and which ones are regulated)CHAPTER V — Is This Supplier Legit?
18. The Badges and What Each One Actually Proves (and doesn't)
19. The Seven Questions That Reveal a Supplier
20. Reading Reviews Critically (volume, middles, specifics)
21. How Import Scams Actually Work (the four real patterns)
22. The Red Flag Checklist (thirteen reasons to walk away)CHAPTER VI — Price, Minimum Orders, and Samples
23. What's Negotiable and What Isn't
24. Negotiating Without Fooling Yourself (the $2 to $1 trap)
25. Getting the MOQ Down (honesty, leverage, and tiyaga)
26. Samples (₱2,500 insurance on a ₱30,000 order)
27. Your Protection Clock — and How to Extend ItPART THREE — PAY WITHOUT LOSING MONEYCHAPTER VII — The Paperwork That Protects You
28. Why a Chat Is Not an Agreement
29. The Purchase Order (what goes in it, and the sample photo trick)
30. The Invoice (their signature on your agreement)
31. Incoterms (who owns the risk, and where)
32. Delivery Timelines (the date that isn't the date)
33. Asking for After-Sales Support in WritingCHAPTER VIII — How to Pay
Why There's No COD (and why escrow is better)
34. The Methods and Their Real Fees (2.99% versus 0%)
35. "Wala Akong Credit Card" (routes that work for Filipinos)
36. The Credit Card Cash-Flow Play (and its honest risk)
37. The Last Sixty Seconds Before You Click (nine checks)
38. What to Do the Day After You PayPART FOUR — SHIP IT AND CLEAR ITCHAPTER IX — Shipping 101
39. What a Freight Forwarder Actually Does
40. Sea, Air, or Express (and why sea is the real secret)
41. LCL vs. FCL (why your paperwork is everybody's paperwork)
42. CBM Explained (and how to compute shipping per piece)
43. Vetting Your Forwarder (eight questions, accreditation check)
44. Getting Goods Past Manila (the province problem)CHAPTER X — Customs, Duties, and the 12% VAT
45. Do You Even Need This Chapter? (skip it if you're on all-in)
46. The ₱10,000 De Minimis (and why split shipments fail)
47. The Landed Cost Formula (a full worked example)
48. HS Codes (the number that sets your duty)
49. ACFTA Form E (free money most importers leave behind)
50. The Fees Nobody Warns You AboutCHAPTER XI — Do You Need a Permit?
51. Two Questions People Keep Confusing
52. Personal Name vs. Registered 53. Business (the accreditation path)
54. Sample or Bulk? Before Pickup or Before Selling?
55. FDA, DTI-BPS, NTC, DA (which product needs what)
56. Prohibited vs. Restricted Goods
57. The One-Page Decision TableCHAPTER XII — "Naka-Hold sa Customs" — What Happens Now?
58. Hold, Seizure, and Forfeiture (three different things)
59. The Three Clocks (and who actually pays the storage)
60. What to Do in the First 48 Hours (six questions to send)
61. Why Under-Declaration Is a Risk, Not a Shortcut
62. How to Prevent Most Holds (ten habits)PART FIVE — RECEIVE IT AND SELL ITCHAPTER XIII — When Your Shipment Arrives
63. Settling With Your Forwarder (pay on arrival, never before)
64. Getting It Home (door-to-door, pickup, or booking a vehicle)
65. Photograph Before You Open (evidence with an expiry)
66. Inventory & Quality Checks (against your PO and your sample)
67. Documenting Damage and Filing Disputes
68. Building Toward Repeat OrdersCHAPTER XIV — Selling What You Imported
69. Where Your Buyers Actually Are (Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop)
70. Pricing From the Bottom Up (why a 50% markup nets 39%)
71. Listings That Convert (your unfair photo advantage)
72. Content That Converts (six repeatable formats)
73. BIR RR 16-2023 and the Internet Transactions Act
74. Getting Your Puhunan Back FastCLOSING — HANDA KA NA, BOSS
75. The Whole Book on One Page
76. The Ten Rules You Can't Break
77. The Numbers to Keep
78. Your First 90 Days
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