Most first-time 1688 importers check the price on the listing and hit confirm. The problems surface when stock arrives: freight cost far higher than expected, a supplier who delivered late, or a margin that disappeared once platform fees were added. This is a concrete pre-order checklist, five groups to clear before you confirm the order, so your first capital commitment does not become an expensive lesson.
Why a checklist for the first order
The first order is the one where you do not know what you do not know yet. No process experience, no reference point, so mistakes come from gaps you did not realize existed. The feeling of "this looks fine" is the most dangerous moment in an untested order.
A checklist does not replace experience. It stops you from skipping important points while you are excited about a product. Five groups: real landed cost, supplier, shipping, compliance, and margin. Run all five before confirming.
Group 1: Real landed cost
The price on 1688 is only the starting point. Real landed cost is the sum of every expense until the goods sit in your warehouse in Vietnam.
- The product price on 1688. Check the unit of sale carefully. Some suppliers list a price per set, per pack, or per small lot that looks cheap but is not the per-unit price. Confirm what you are actually buying.
- Domestic China shipping to the consolidation warehouse. This leg from the factory to the consolidation point is usually charged separately. Ask the supplier directly before assuming it is included.
- Freight to Vietnam. Air freight is faster and more expensive. Sea freight takes roughly 18 to 30 days and costs significantly less for heavier or bulkier items. Carriers charge by actual weight or volumetric weight, whichever is higher. Light but bulky goods often end up billed on volumetric weight and cost more than expected.
- Order agent service fee. If you go through a buying agent or order service, add their fee, typically a few percent of order value, to your cost.
- Tax and customs handling. This varies by product category and the import channel you use. Ask your freight forwarder or logistics service what applies to your specific goods before you order.
- Expected shrinkage. Defective, damaged, or substandard units in a small batch typically run 3 to 10 percent depending on the product type. Build it into cost rather than treating it as a surprise.
Convert everything to VND. The exchange rate runs around 3,600 VND per yuan, but it moves, so check the current rate when you do the actual math.
Group 2: The supplier
Confirming an order with a supplier you have not verified is unnecessary risk. A few points to check before you commit.
- Years in operation and transaction volume. Suppliers with under a year of history or very few transactions carry more risk even when their price is better. Prioritize suppliers with a visible track record.
- Response rate and reply speed. Send a message before ordering. A supplier who is slow or vague during the sales phase is rarely sharper when resolving a problem.
- Reviews from other buyers. Read the one- and two-star reviews, not just the average score. Repeated complaints about quality, wrong items, or late delivery are reliable signals.
- Actual MOQ. Is their minimum order quantity workable for a test batch? Some factory-direct suppliers have high MOQs that make sense once you have confirmed demand, but are poor fits for a first exploratory order.
- Lead time from order to dispatch. Ask straight: how many days from payment to goods leaving the factory? "Ready stock" and "made to order" have very different timelines.
Group 3: Shipping and timing
Goods arriving later than expected is not just inconvenient. It affects inventory, ad campaigns, and cash flow.
- Full end-to-end lead time. Add up every leg: production or packing time at the factory, domestic China transit to the consolidation warehouse, consolidation warehouse handling, and the international freight time to Vietnam. The final number is almost always longer than you expect, especially by sea.
- Right shipping route for your product type. Small, light, or time-sensitive goods: air freight. Heavy, bulky, or non-urgent goods: sea freight saves a meaningful amount. Match the route to the product, not to what is most familiar.
- Shipping restrictions on your product. Lithium batteries, liquids, and certain other categories have carrier-specific rules. Ask your freight partner before ordering to avoid a mid-transit refusal.
- Peak season customs slowdowns. Around Tet or the 11/11 shopping period, clearance times stretch noticeably. If you are importing during those windows, add buffer days to your estimate.
Group 4: Compliance and platform rules
This is the group most beginners skip, and the one with the most serious downstream consequences.
- Import restrictions and bans. Some product categories are banned from import or require special permits. Check the relevant restricted goods list before you order, not after the shipment reaches the border.
- Trademark and IP risk. Goods bearing well-known brand logos, registered designs, or copyrighted characters carry high risk on platforms. A shop can be taken down or a listing removed without notice.
- Vietnamese secondary labeling. Many product categories (food, cosmetics, household goods) require a Vietnamese secondary label before sale. Missing the label or omitting required fields is a regulatory violation.
- Platform-specific listing rules. Each platform has its own policies on product categories, image requirements, and claims. Read the relevant category policy before listing, especially for electronics, supplements, and children's products.
Group 5: Margin after every fee
This is the final check, and not the least important one. A product with good demand can still be a losing order if the math is incomplete.
Take the real landed cost from Group 1. Add the platform commission, last-mile delivery cost to the end customer, and your expected ad spend per order. Platform fees vary by platform and category, so check the current policy page directly rather than using a remembered figure.
Selling price minus all of the above is the real per-order profit. Run three checks on that number:
- Is the margin wide enough to absorb risk. A margin below around 15 to 20 percent after all fees means a small return spike or a modest price cut wipes out the profit on the whole batch. Thin margins are not automatically a no, but you need to understand clearly what is at stake.
- Is the break-even ROAS realistic. From your margin, you can calculate the minimum ROAS you need to stay profitable on paid ads. If that number is higher than what the category realistically delivers, ad spend will erode capital rather than generate returns.
- Do you have enough capital for the full cycle. Total the capital for the test batch, plus ad spend over the first two or three weeks. Make sure the first order does not exhaust your working capital. You will need reserves to reorder if it sells.
How to use this in practice
You do not need to run the groups in order. In practice, many operators do a rough margin check first. If the numbers clearly do not work, they drop the product immediately without spending more time on supplier or compliance research. Only when the margin looks viable do they go deeper on the other groups.
The most effective use of this checklist is to keep it as a short document and fill it in for each product you are seriously considering. When you have two or three candidates side by side, comparison is far easier than keeping everything in your head.
The first order does not need to be perfect. It needs to be one you understood before you confirmed it. This list does not guarantee a win, but it tells you what you are actually betting on and where the risks sit. That is a considerably better starting point than "it looks fine."
Bottom line
Five groups: real landed cost, supplier, shipping, compliance, and margin. Skip any one of them and you leave a gap that can become real money lost. The first order is exactly when every mistake costs actual capital, so it is also exactly when the checklist matters most.