Sourcing from China is not difficult. Sourcing well is. The difference usually shows up three months later as a container of devices that draw badly, leak at 30% capacity, or cannot legally be notified in your market. Here is the process we recommend to buyers — including the questions that are uncomfortable for a supplier to answer.
Step 1 — Define the market before the product
The product decision follows the regulatory decision, not the other way round. Nicotine strength caps, capacity limits, flavour restrictions and outright disposable bans vary enormously between the EU, the UK, the US, Canada and the Gulf. Two identical devices can be entirely legal in one market and unlistable in another.
Write down your target countries, then the constraints that apply. Only then choose puff count and nicotine strength. Buyers who get this wrong end up with stock that is physically fine and commercially dead.
Step 2 — Factory or trading company?
Roughly half of the suppliers listed on B2B marketplaces are trading companies, not plants. That is not automatically bad — some add real value in consolidation and quality control — but it changes what you can negotiate and how fast you can react.
| Factory-direct | Trading company | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Factory cost plus margin | Factory cost plus trading margin |
| Spec changes | Made before production | Relayed, sometimes refused |
| Tooling ownership | In-house | Usually outsourced |
| Quality control | On their own lines | Depends on the third party |
| Technical file | Prepared in-house | Requested from the plant |
| Best for | OEM, repeat programmes | Small mixed orders, sourcing breadth |
Step 3 — Verify, don't trust
Five checks that take less than a week and eliminate most of the risk:
- Business licence and export rights. Confirm the entity name matches the bank account name on the proforma invoice.
- Production capability. Ask for a live video walkthrough of the filling line, assembly area and packing station. A supplier who cannot show you the floor is not running one.
- Certification set. CE, RoHS, UN38.3, MSDS and any emissions testing relevant to your market — dated, and matching the exact SKU.
- Reference customers. At least one buyer in a market comparable to yours. Ask what went wrong first, not what went well.
- NDA before specification. Any serious manufacturer signs one. A refusal is a signal.
Step 4 — Sample like you mean it
Most buyers test a sample for ten minutes and order a container. Test it the way your end consumer will use it:
- Vape the full rated puff count and note where performance drops off.
- Assess flavour consistency at the start, middle and end of device life — not just at first puff.
- Check for leakage once the chamber falls below roughly a quarter full, which is when weak sealing shows up.
- On dual-flavour devices, switch back and forth repeatedly and count the puffs it takes to clear.
- Note the batch number and confirm the production run you receive carries the same one.
Sample cost is the cheapest insurance you will buy
Five to ten units at sample pricing costs less than one hour of a lawyer's time. It is the single highest-return step in the entire sourcing process.
Step 5 — Understand how landed cost is built
Unit price is only the first line. Landed cost is unit price plus freight, insurance, duty, documentation, and any local compliance or notification fees. Ask every supplier for the same Incoterm so the quotes are comparable — an EXW quote and a DDP quote can differ by 25% on identical goods.
- EXW — you arrange everything from the factory gate. Cheapest quote, most work.
- FOB — supplier clears export, you book freight. The usual middle ground.
- CIF — supplier covers freight and insurance to your port.
- DDP — supplier delivers to your door with duty paid. Highest quote, least admin.
Step 6 — Protect the payment
Standard terms in the category are 30% deposit and 70% before shipment. For a first order with a new supplier, tie the balance to something verifiable: a pre-shipment inspection report, a loading video, or a bill of lading copy. For larger orders, an irrevocable letter of credit moves the risk to the banks for a modest fee.
Step 7 — Plan the documentation before production
Notification, artwork and labelling are not afterthoughts. Warning text must be in the right language and occupy the right surface share; batch numbers must be printed on the device; the technical file must exist before you can notify. Approve all of it while the tooling is still adjustable.
Summary
Define the market, choose a factory over a reseller where possible, verify rather than trust, test the sample properly, compare landed cost on the same Incoterm, protect the payment, and settle documentation before production. Do those seven things and sourcing stops being a gamble.
If you want to run this process with us, the wholesale terms page lists MOQ, lead times and the documentation we supply, and the OEM page covers custom programmes.