Setting up a Shopify store with products made in China

The monthly cost of a Shopify store depends on the plan chosen, and the official page shows its price in the currency detected from the visitor's location, not systematically in euros: a direct check of shopify.com/fr/pricing for this research, for example, displayed Singapore dollars. Always confirm the price in euros when you subscribe, from a French connection.

Several French agencies specialised in Shopify, consulted in late August 2026, converge on the following order of magnitude, excluding annual commitment: Basic around 36 euros per month (25 euros with an annual commitment), Grow around 105 euros (66 euros with an annual commitment), Advanced around 384 euros (289 euros with an annual commitment), Plus from around 2,300 dollars per month for large volumes. A more limited Starter plan exists at around 5 dollars per month, without a full store.

Transaction fees come on top. The rate applied to card payments via Shopify Payments decreases with the plan, from just over 3% on the entry plan to just under 3% on Plus in the currency shown during this check, the actual rate in euros depending on the market and card type. With a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, an additional tapering surcharge applies, from 2% on the entry plan to 0.2% on Plus.

In France, selling online as a business requires a registered structure. Registering as a sole trader (micro-entreprise) is done online via the Guichet unique des formalités des entreprises, at the earliest one month before starting activity or at the latest within fifteen days afterwards, free of charge except for commercial agents (23.21 €). Selling without registration carries a fine of 7,500 €, and a false declaration a fine of 4,500 € and six months' imprisonment.

On the product side, sourcing most often runs through a platform such as Alibaba, with paid samples ordered before any bulk commitment. Standard minimum order quantities usually sit between 100 and 1,000 units, with some suppliers accepting lower minimums, from 10 to 100 units, or even a single piece at a higher unit price. A sample generally costs between 15 and 50 dollars each, plus shipping, and is usually non-refundable: it is a normal verification cost.

The minimum order is generally negotiable: an already-paid sample, a credible prospect of repeat orders, fewer colour or size variants, and a small premium on the unit price are the most common levers.

A store selling a custom-made product, rather than reselling a generic catalogue, is judged first on the precision of its product page: exact dimensions, materials, tolerances, intended use and limits of use. This precision reflects the specifications negotiated with the factory, not a generic description copied from the supplier.

On photography, a custom-product store benefits from showing the actual product, the one from the approved reference sample, rather than a rendering or a generic photo already reused by several brands. A series of photos from several angles, in use, with a close-up of the finishes, reduces the return rate.

The page also benefits from spelling out what sets a custom manufacture apart from reusing an existing product: the material chosen, a modified mechanism, branded packaging. These are the elements that justify the selling price and that must stay consistent with the contract signed with the factory.

Beyond the Shopify transaction rate, a store importing from China must handle import VAT. Since 1 July 2021, every shipment from a third country to the European Union is subject to VAT regardless of its value, and must be covered by an electronic customs declaration; for shipments of 150 € or less, this declaration is made via the Delta H7 online service.

The Import One-Stop Shop for VAT, the IOSS, is an optional scheme in force since the same date: it simplifies declaring the VAT due on distance sales of goods imported at 150 € or less. The operator registers in a single member state and declares each month the VAT due on all its sales across the Union, without separate registration per country. Above 150 €, or without the IOSS, VAT is settled under the usual rules, most often advanced by the carrier at customs clearance.

Two models compete for fulfilling an order: building up stock in Europe, received and checked before each sale, or shipping each order directly from China as sales come in. No official figures allow a precise comparison of the average lead times of the two models, but the structural difference is clear: local stock allows quality control before shipping and a controlled lead time, while direct shipping depends on international transport for every order.

Choosing direct shipping does not change the seller's legal obligations towards their customer. According to lawyers specialising in e-commerce law, who cite Article L221-15 of the Consumer Code, the business remains automatically liable for the proper performance of the contract, even when delivery is handled by a partner supplier: product compliance, announced lead times and handling returns remain the seller's responsibility. The fourteen-day right of withdrawal applies in both cases.

The General Product Safety Regulation, the GPSR, is EU Regulation (EU) 2023/988, in application since 13 December 2024. It requires that a product can only be placed on the EU market if there is an economic operator established in the Union and responsible for the tasks set out in Article 4(3) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020: the manufacturer when established in the Union, or failing that its authorised representative, the importer or the fulfilment service provider, with an identifiable point of contact.

A store putting packaged goods into circulation must also check its obligations country by country. In France, any producer subject to extended producer responsibility must register with ADEME's SYDEREP registry and obtain a unique identifier (IDU), to be displayed in the general terms and conditions of sale; lacking an identifier carries a fine of up to 30,000 €, with a daily penalty of up to 20,000 € for failure to regularise. In Germany, any shipper of packaged goods must register with the LUCID registry, regardless of the quantity put into circulation, then sign a contract with an approved collection system.

Selling that extends to marketplaces adds their own requirements: Amazon, on its official seller page, asks brands not established in the Union that use its fulfilment service to provide the contact details of a responsible person in the Union for CE-marked products, an obligation in force since 16 July 2021.

Sorva is a trading and sourcing house between Europe and China: our team buys the goods in Guangzhou and resells them delivered, with an office in Paris. The Produce and deliver package covers supplier search, negotiation, quality control and transport through to your warehouse, for an already-defined product.

For a complete launch, the Turnkey business package adds the store's launch and its automation, an area where Sorva draws on its own SEO experience, our site being published in 24 languages. In both cases, the starting point stays the same: a file opened with our team, the merchandise negotiated on your behalf and a commission calculated on its ex-works value.