Launching a Brand With Products Made in China: Steps and Costs

Before looking for a product or a factory, two steps depend on no official procedure: validating that the product meets real demand, and estimating a selling price consistent with the target market.

Setting up the legal structure, however, is regulated. In France, a micro-entreprise is registered exclusively online through the Guichet unique des formalités des entreprises (the business formalities one-stop shop), at the earliest one month before starting activity and at the latest fifteen days after, free of charge except for commercial agents, who pay 23.21 euros. Failure to register: a fine of up to 7,500 euros; a false declaration: up to 4,500 euros and six months' imprisonment.

Sourcing a product made in China most often starts with a supplier search on B2B platforms, then ordering paid samples before any volume commitment. This due-diligence cost is generally not refunded, even if the order does not go ahead in the end.

The minimum order quantity, the MOQ, is negotiated more than it is imposed. An already paid sample, a credible reorder prospect and fewer colour or size variants are the levers that bring down an MOQ announced too high for a first launch.

A product made in China cannot be placed on the European market without a responsible economic operator established in the Union. Under Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety, in force since 13 December 2024, this role falls to the manufacturer, an authorised representative, the importer, the distributor or a fulfilment service provider established in the Union, tasked with the obligations under Article 4(3) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020.

Two further obligations often apply, depending on the product and the target market. In France, any product subject to extended producer responsibility requires a unique identifier, the IDU, a code starting with FR, obtained through ADEME's SYDEREP register or via an approved eco-organisation, since 1 January 2022. In Germany, any packaged product placed on the market for the first time requires free registration with the LUCID register, with no minimum quantity threshold.

Once the sample is approved, production starts based on a written specification sheet and a reference sample kept by both parties. A pre-shipment inspection, carried out at the factory before loading, remains the most effective check before the container sets sail.

Transport and customs clearance follow. Any shipment from a third country to the Union has been subject to VAT since 1 July 2021, regardless of value, with a mandatory electronic customs declaration via the Delta H7 service for shipments of 150 euros or less. The Import One-Stop Shop, the IOSS, an optional scheme in force since the same date, simplifies the declaration and payment of this VAT for distance sales of imported goods of low value.

Two sales channels coexist, and the choice carries different obligations. An independent online store, on Shopify for example, places the entire commercial and regulatory responsibility on the company. Shopify's entry-level plan depends on the billing country and the currency applied; as a rough guide, it sits between 25 and 40 euros a month excluding transaction fees, to be checked on the official page before signing up.

Selling on a marketplace adds rules specific to each platform, on top of the GPSR. Amazon has collected, for non-European brands using its fulfilment service, the contact details of a responsible person established in the Union since 16 July 2021. Other marketplaces require an entity and a VAT registration in the Union for sellers not already established there, as well as stock located within the Union.

Dropshipping changes nothing about this responsibility. Under Article L. 221-15 of the French Consumer Code, the trader remains automatically liable for the proper performance of the contract, including when delivery is handled by a partner supplier: product compliance and announced deadlines remain its responsibility, whether the goods leave a European warehouse or ship directly from China.

A serious launch adds up several items that are calculated separately: sample then production, compliance depending on the target markets, transport and customs clearance, online store, and stock to finance before the first sale. None of these items is optional once the goods cross the European border.

Sorva offers a Business turnkey package at 2,490 euros excl. VAT, with a 790-euro deposit paid online when the case opens, then milestone payments at delivery of the recommendation, at approval of the pre-production sample and at delivery. It covers finding the product and the factory, samples, the compliance study, production oversight, the pre-shipment inspection, transport to the warehouse, and launching a store with its automation.

Two items are deliberately left to the client: financing the stock ordered from the factory, and the marketing that will bring the first customers to the store once it is live. For a project still unsure about its product, the technical feasibility study, at 690 euros excl. VAT, helps decide before committing to the full package. For a narrower scope, without a store or automation, the Produce and Deliver package, at 1,590 euros excl. VAT, covers production, inspection and delivery to the warehouse.

Sorva is a brokerage and trading house active between Europe and China, with a Chinese-speaking team based in Guangzhou and a team in Paris. We buy the goods in China and resell them delivered, from product sourcing through to launching the store.

In most cases, you do not pay fees on sourcing alone: you open a case, we negotiate the goods for you, and we take a commission on their value ex-factory. For a complete launch, the Business turnkey package structures the whole project into a single contract.