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Is Chinese New Year that big of a deal to USA retailers?

I wish I had a dollar for every customer that asked me that question. Most Americans can’t begin to understand how big of a deal that the Chinese New Year is to Asia.  It’s just a holiday right?  Not at all, the whole country shuts down for about 2-3 weeks. The countries and territories that celebrate along with China include Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam (TET).

·      Families pour out money for gifts, decorations and food.

·      Completely clean the house to get rid of any bad luck from the previous year.

·      Decorations fill the houses, windows and doors with popular sayings such as wealth, healthy, happy.red envelope

·      Firecrackers will light up the skies.

·      Children receive money in red paper envelopes wishing them wealth and a happy new year.

·      Niangao, the New Year cake that is like a pudding.

 

The official holiday lasts for 15 days, but it can take up to 3 weeks for a factory to get started back into production.  One of the main issues for factories is that their workers are from towns that are very far away from the factory. They will travel by bus, motorbike or anything they can find to get them to their hometown to celebrate with their family.  Even though the factory owner may tell the workers to come back on a certain day, they may come back days later, killing production times. It’s not easy for factory owners to find workers and so they have to let this slide to get their skilled workers back to work.

chinese new year fireworks   As an importer, we have to warn our customers of the impending black hole in the universe called “Chinese New     Year”.  It’s just a time that you don’t want to waiting on orders to complete or start. We try and get all of our orders in the factories in time to be finished a few weeks BEFORE CNY, so that we don’t run into any problems. If the customer wants their product right after CNY it will almost always be late. Key planning is the key for your importer to walk you through before the worst-case scenario.

 

With all that being said, it’s a wonderful holiday and wish all of you could enjoy this celebration even if it’s only in your local China town.  We could all use some good fortune from the economy that has drained many companies in the USA and abroad.

Chinese New Year 2012

Happy New Year from Bigfoot Imports
Shipping and Importing Terms
From the factory floor to your door, Bigfoot Imports also offers you full service for shipping of your products. These include services such as the ocean cargo, documentation, customs clearance, insurance, duties, taxes, transportation… Bigfoot Imports will deliver the products directly to your door or you can ship FOB direct from factory. Bigfoot Imports has developed great relationships with International freight forwarders who offer us the best price and the best service. Our staff is committed in offering real time information to keep you up-to-date on  delivery dates and times.

Below is a list of commonly used trade terms for your reference:

F.O.B (Free On Board) (port-same as FAS)! Risk pass to buyer including payment of all transportation and insurance cost once delivered on board the ship by the seller. Used for sea or inland waterway transportation.
CFR (Cost and Freight) – (destination port-paid to arrival at destination port) Title, risk and insurance cost pass to buyer when delivered on board the ship by seller who pays the transportation cost to the destination port. Used for sea or inland waterway transportation.
CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) – (destination port-same as CFR, but includes insurance)Title and risk pass to buyer when delivered on board the ship by seller who pays transportation and insurance cost to destination port. Used for sea or inland waterway transportation.
CPT (Carriage Paid To) – (place at destination-includes all destination port charges)Title, risk and insurance cost pass to buyer when delivered to carrier or seller who pays transportation and insurance cost to destination. Used for any mode of transportation.
CIP (Carriage and Insurance Paid To) – (place at destination-same as CPT, but includes insurance) Title and risk pass to buyer when delivered to carrier by seller who pays transportation and insurance cost to destination. Used for any mode of transportation
DAF (Delivered to Frontier -(border of country-same as paid by seller to border-all other charges to buyer). Title, risk and responsibility for import clearance pass to buyer when delivered to named border point by seller. Used for any mode of transportation. (border of country-same as paid by seller to border-all other charges to buyer). Title, risk and responsibility for import clearance pass to buyer when delivered to named border point by seller. Used for any mode of transportation.
DES (Delivered Ex Ship) – (on board ship to destination port) Title, risk, responsibility for vessel discharge and import clearance pass to buyer when seller delivers goods on board the ship to destination port. Used for sea or inland waterway transportation.
DEQ (Delivered Ex Quay i.e. Duty Paid) – (destination port-includes duties and taxes, but not destination charges or delivery) Title and risk pass to buyer when delivered on board the ship at the destination point by the seller who delivers goods on dock at destination point cleared for import. Used for sea or inland waterway transportation.
DDU (Delivered Duty Unpaid) – (consignee door-excluding duties and taxes) Title, risk, and responsibility for vessel discharge and import clearance pass to buyer when seller delivers goods on board the ship to destination port. Used for sea or inland waterway transportation.
DDP (Delivered Duty Paid-named destination) – (consignee door-includes all charges origin to destination) Title and risk pass to buyer when seller delivers goods to named destination point cleared for import. Used for any mode of transportation.

 

LC – Letter of Credit

An LC is a document issued by the client’s bank agreeing to pay Bigfoot Imports on a certain date if we meet all project requirements. Using an LC helps assure timely delivery of goods and indemnifies the client against payment of goods not received.
Build-a-Project

  • You have a new idea or some new design of your existing products?
  • You are not sure how take your idea and turn it into a reality?

Bigfoot Imports is here to offer you the right manufacturer who will take care of your project. Bigfoot Imports will work with the factory directly with all of your specifications to bring your product from idea to reality

  • You are looking for a way to differentiate your offerings from those of the competition? Fill out our easy to use form and tell us what you are looking to produce. Bigfoot Imports will search for the right manufacturer who will fit to bring you the final product that you are envisioning.
  • You have found something in the retail market, let us know what you found, we will offer you the perfect product which you are looking for.

Bigfoot Imports will always strive to find the right manufacturer to produce your requested product which fits your time frame, your budget and your expectations.

Process:

  1. Tell us about your project! The more information you share with us, the more we can understand about your project.
  2. We will send you a pre-production picture of your sample for your review. If the initial sample picture meets your expectations then we will move to the next step of having the actual sample mailed to you for your final approval.
  3. After you are completely satisfied with your sample products, we sign the contract for production with signed agreements from the factory.
  4. The factory will produce your product; while our Quality Control experts watch over the whole production process; Bigfoot Imports gets all the shipping arrangements made for you; track the shipment for you while keeping you informed through the whole process.
  5. Start right now by filling out this form!

 

 
Direct to Asian Factories

Bigfoot Imports is co-operative with key manufacturers in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Vietnam. This way, we always provide our clients with the competitive pricing, guaranteed quality and delivery time. Our staff offers more than 15 years experience and have built long term relationships with many factories. Our staff lives full time in each of the countries we source from and are fluent in the local language.

What are most customers’ main questions when it comes to dealing with a factory directly?

1. How do I manage quality control?

2. How can I make sure the product with be delivered at the correct time?

3. How will I be able to communicate with the factory?

4. How can I deal with the business practices of another country?

Let us take care of all these concerns for you.

1. We have Quality Control people in place to make sure that your sample product is the same as your finished product.

2. We will be following your product through the whole process, from sample arrangement to the date of delivery to your door.  We offer updates as often as you would like via our email, live chat or phone.

3. Don’t speak Chinese? We take care of all the communication for you and then translate all this information directly to you.

4. When is Chinese New Year this year and how will it affect your production?  Don’t worry about any of the cultural or business issues related to another country, our staff will always keep us updated on any new developments that could be a problem in production times or delivery.