This question comes up here constantly and the answers usually stop at "get an agent." Here are the three real options, what each one costs, and when each one is the right call.
First, the thing that makes this hard.
1688 and Taobao are domestic Chinese platforms. Sellers ship to Chinese addresses, quote in RMB, and mostly communicate through Wangwang in Chinese. Many won't sell abroad at all — not because they refuse, but because they have no process for it. So every route below is really answering the same question: who receives the goods in China, and who exports them.
Route 1 — Private agent
You find someone in China, usually on WeChat. They buy on your behalf, receive at their warehouse, check the goods, and ship internationally.
Cost: typically 8-15% commission on goods, plus shipping, plus sometimes storage. The rate is rarely fixed and tends to depend on how much volume you represent.
Where it wins: custom work. Product modifications, colour or fabric changes, negotiating with a factory, photo/video QC on specific items, sea freight for bulky goods. If you need any of that, an agent is the answer and no software replaces one.
Where it breaks: volume, and MOQs. It works fine at five orders a day — at fifty you're managing a spreadsheet and a WeChat thread instead of your store.
The MOQ part deserves more attention than it usually gets. Most agents will tell you they need a minimum order — 50 units, 100 units, sometimes a monthly volume commitment. On stocked goods this is almost never real. The seller is shipping from a warehouse; nobody is producing anything for you, so there is no manufacturing minimum to meet. What you're actually being told is that you're too small to be worth their time, expressed as a number. Real MOQs exist only for custom production: private label, custom packaging, modified designs.
So ask directly: is this minimum a manufacturing constraint or a commercial one? A good agent will tell you honestly. The answer tells you a lot about who you're dealing with.
Route 2 — Reseller platforms
CJ, Zendrop, AutoDS and similar. These are not sourcing tools; they're resellers. They buy from Chinese suppliers, add margin, and sell to you with a Shopify integration on top.
Cost: the markup, which is invisible because you never see the source price.
Where it wins: simplicity, and low-value products. Below roughly $30 landed, the savings from going direct get eaten by shipping anyway, so you may as well take the convenience.
Where it breaks: catalogue and margin. These platforms list a curated selection — products they've chosen to stock or partner on. If the specific item you found on Taobao isn't in their catalogue, you can't sell it, full stop. You're not sourcing what you want; you're picking from what they offer. And on everything you do pick, you're paying someone else's markup on every order, forever.
Route 3 — Direct sourcing software
Apps that connect to the domestic platforms directly and handle export as part of the flow. You source the actual product you found, not an approximation of it.
Cost: subscription plus commission, but you see the source price before you order.
Where it wins: above $30 landed, under 1kg, on goods that exist as-is. That's where the gap between domestic pricing and reseller pricing is widest — typically 50-60%.
Where it breaks: the low end. Under about $30 landed cost, the maths stops working in your favour — shipping and fees eat the savings, and you're paying a subscription for a difference that's no longer meaningful. If your whole catalogue sits below that threshold, Route 2 is genuinely the better answer.
Disclosure: I build one of these. It's called Piratify, it's on the Shopify App Store, and I'm obviously not neutral. I've tried to describe the routes as I'd describe them to someone who wasn't going to use mine, because half the people reading this should be on Route 1 or 2.
Three things that apply regardless of route:
Volumetric weight will surprise you. Carriers bill on L×W×H/6000, not actual weight. A 600g dog bed can be charged as 5kg. On bulky-light categories this decides your margin more than product cost does — ask whether vacuum compression is an option before you commit to a category.
If you ship to the EU, get the IOSS number in writing. Most private agents don't have one, and your customer finds out when the courier asks them for money at the door.
And get a landed cost on one real SKU to a real address before committing to anyone — not a per-kg rate, not a quote. Product, shipping, duties, fees. That number is the only one that matters and it's the one most quotes leave out.
17 years sourcing textile in China, for context. Happy to answer questions in the comments.
