Buying consumer electronics from China: laptops, phones, TV & appliances

The old marketplace's "consumer electrics" department covered laptops and office electronics, phones and accessories, TV and audio, air-conditioners and fridges. Electronics is the category where the specification you were sold and the product you receive diverge most often — and where the paperwork for importing legally is heaviest.

Nothing here is for sale; the storefront is offline (see marketplace status). This is a buying guide for sourcing this equipment directly.

Laptops and notebooks

The archive's most-requested electronics listings were budget notebooks — 14 to 16 inch machines quoting an Intel Core chip, 16 GB of RAM and a 2.5K screen at a price no brand can match. Some are genuinely good value. Here is how to tell them apart:

• Read the full CPU part number, not the family. "Core i7" means nothing on its own — an i7-1165G7 and an i7 from 2013 are a decade apart, and N-series/Celeron parts are often marketed with borrowed language. The exact string (e.g. i5-1240P) is the only honest spec.
• Ask whether RAM is soldered or in a slot, and whether the "16 GB" is single- or dual-channel. Same for storage: an M.2 slot you can upgrade is worth more than a soldered eMMC.
• Screen claims — "2.5K IPS" is a resolution claim, not a colour or brightness claim. Ask for nits and panel model if it matters.
• Windows licensing. Machines often arrive activated with keys you cannot legally resell. If you are selling on, you need a legitimate OEM licence per unit — a re-activation failure in the customer's hands is your return.
• Battery capacity in Wh (not "big battery"), and remember the battery makes every laptop shipment a lithium shipment — see the dangerous-goods note below.
• Keyboard layout, charger plug and voltage for your market, and a realistic answer on warranty service: for most of these brands there is none locally, so you are the service channel. Price spares and a DOA allowance in.

Phones and accessories

• Bands decide whether the phone works at all. Check the exact LTE/5G band list against your country's networks; a "global version" listing is a claim, not a guarantee. VoLTE support matters now that 2G/3G networks are being switched off.
• China ROM vs global ROM — China-market firmware ships without Google services and cannot always be converted cleanly. Insist on the global build if your customers expect Play Services.
• Refurbished stock needs a grading standard in the contract: cosmetic grade, minimum battery health percentage, original vs aftermarket screens, and whether IMEIs are clean and not carrier-blocklisted. Ask for IMEIs in advance and check them.
• Clone flagships exist — a housing that looks like a famous phone, with unrelated internals. That is counterfeiting, and customs treats it accordingly.
• Chargers, cables and power banks are the accessory volume, and they are also the family most likely to fail safety rules. Wattage and "fast charge" claims should be measured, not believed.

TV, audio and projectors

• Tuner standards are regional: DVB-T2, ATSC and ISDB-T are not interchangeable. A TV with the wrong tuner is a monitor.
• Audio power figures are routinely inflated. Ask for RMS output into a stated impedance; "PMPO" numbers are marketing arithmetic.
• Projector "lumens" are often quoted as light-source lumens rather than ANSI lumens — the difference can be three-fold.
• Large screens are a freight and breakage problem before they are a sourcing problem: crated, insured, and inspected on arrival.

Air-conditioners, fridges and other white goods

• Voltage, frequency and plug type first — a 220 V/50 Hz appliance on a 110 V/60 Hz supply is scrap. Compressor motors care about frequency.
• Refrigerant type decides both legality and shipping. R32 and R290 are flammable (dangerous goods for freight); R410A is being phased down under F-gas and equivalent rules in several markets, with quota systems that a new importer may not have access to. Confirm the refrigerant before you confirm the order.
• Energy labelling is mandatory in most markets and must be based on testing to the local standard — a Chinese energy label does not transfer.
• Installation and servicing are local, licensed work for split systems. If you cannot arrange that, you are selling a problem.

Batteries and dangerous goods

Anything with a lithium cell — laptops, phones, power banks, wireless speakers — needs a UN38.3 test report and a proper dangerous-goods declaration, and airlines restrict state of charge and cell/pack quantities. Loose cells and power banks are the strictest category. The solar guide covers the lithium shipping rules in detail; they apply here identically.

Certification: the part that decides whether you can sell it

• Safety and EMC — CE (and UKCA), FCC for the US, plus an NRTL listing (UL, ETL) where retailers require it. A "CE certificate" from a factory is often a self-declaration with a test report attached; read the report and check the standards cited match the product.
• Radio — anything with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or cellular also needs radio approval (EU RED, FCC Part 15/22/24 with an FCC ID, and national schemes elsewhere). The FCC ID should be verifiable in the FCC database, on the actual model.
• RoHS for materials, plus WEEE and battery registration in the EU/UK: as importer you register, report volumes and fund recycling. This is an ongoing obligation, not a one-off certificate.
• Plugs and cords need approval for your market too (BS 1363 fused plugs in the UK, for instance) — a shipment of otherwise-fine appliances with the wrong cord is a re-work job.

Quality control that fits electronics

• Electronics deserve 100% functional testing before shipment, not just an AQL sample — power on, screen, ports, radio, battery charge cycle.
• Agree a DOA/defect allowance and how it is settled (credit on the next order is the usual answer), plus a spares kit shipped with the batch.
• Check firmware language and region settings on production units, not on the sample the supplier prepared for you.

Quick answers

• Is the price too good to be true? For laptops and phones, compare the CPU/SoC part number and the battery Wh against a known brand model. If the silicon is a generation or three old, the price is honest and the description isn't.
• Can I ship electronics by air? Yes, with lithium documentation, and expect airline-specific limits per package.
• Who is liable for a fire or a shock? The importer. Keep the test reports, the FCC ID and the declaration of conformity on file.
• Where did the old listings go? See marketplace status.

For freight, incoterms and supplier vetting see the shipping & sourcing guide; for the electronics wholesale district itself, Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei is covered in the wholesale markets guide. Other category guides: solar, machines & equipment, vehicle spare parts, clothing, shoes & bags, jewelry & watches, general retail goods.