Seller of record
We buy the goods and sell them to you. Our margin is inside the price you see. Most orders work this way.
How we work
How we work
How we work and how we make money
Most suppliers publish the half of this that flatters them. Here is the other half as well: what we are, which company sends your invoice, how we get paid, and what we will not do.
Step by step
How an order runs
Four steps from your first message to the goods at your door. The rest of this page is the detail behind them.
Tell us what you need
The product, the quantity, where it is going and when it has to be there. A drawing or a photo helps.
We find the maker and quote it landed
We look for a factory that can make it to your specification, then send one landed quote with the goods, freight, customs and duty on separate lines.
Made, packed and shipped
If you want a sample first, we quote it with the order. Then we plan production, packing, export clearance and the sailing back from your date.
Cleared and delivered
Our broker files the customs entry at the tariff line on your quote, and the goods go to a port, a rail ramp or your door.
The company
What we are
ShuoStar is a trading company. We are based in China and we sell to commercial buyers. We are not a factory, and we do not pretend to be one. We find the factory that can build what you need, we contract with it, we manage the order while it is being made, and we ship it to you. We have been doing this under our own name since 2020.
We pick the orders we take on. We work with commercial buyers who order by the pallet or the container: installers and decor contractors, municipal and civic buyers, distributors and resellers, and venues and event operators. If we cannot do an order well, the first reply says so, before anyone spends time on a quote.
Two arrangements
You always know what you are paying for
Every quote we send names one of two arrangements, because the two are priced differently and you should not have to guess which one you are in.
Your buying agent
You contract with the factory directly and we run the order for a fee that is written on the quote. We use this when an order calls for it, and the rule for when is set out below rather than decided case by case.
When we work as your agent
We sell the goods ourselves unless one of these applies:
- You name the factory.
- You want us to find a factory that you will contract with and pay yourself.
- You have already bought the goods and want us to consolidate, document or store them.
One order can hold both kinds of work. When it does, the quote splits them into separate lines and marks each with its arrangement, so a margin and a fee never sit on the same line.
Invoicing
Which company invoices you
Depending on the order, the commercial invoice comes from our China company or from our US company. We tell you which one before you order. Nobody should learn the name of the company they are paying from the bottom of an invoice.
The company that will invoice you is named at the top of the quote, before the first line item. If you are a public agency and need to pay a US vendor, say so in your request and we will quote from our US company.
Margin and fees
How we are paid
When we sell you the goods
Each line on the quote has one price, and our income is the margin inside it. A line we sell never carries a service fee as well.
When we are your agent
The factory's invoice comes to you at cost, with its paperwork. Our fee goes on a separate invoice, and the amount is on the quote before we start.
Work without an order
Developing a sample, preparing documents or consolidating goods you already own is priced as a job, on its own quote.
Rates depend on the product, the quantity and the arrangement, so they appear on your quote rather than on this page.
Origin
Where the goods are made
In China. The factories we work with are there, and the containers sail from the South China ports. If a product page does not say where something is made, the answer is still China.
Duty
Duty, and what happens when the rate changes
Every quote states the tariff line we intend to file the entry under and the duty rate we quoted against. It also says which of us carries the difference if that rate changes between the quote and the day the container lands. The rate that applies is the one in force on the entry date, not the quote date. We would rather put that sentence on the quote than argue about it at the port.
We do not publish duty rates as advice. The rate on your order is the one your broker files, so check any figure with them.
Paperwork
The record
We have filed our own entries since 2020. That leaves a paper trail: ISF filings, the tariff lines we actually used, forwarders and routings, telex releases, TSCA declarations, and price lists that show the duty column moving from one year to the next. Some of it is not flattering. All of it is real, and redacted copies are available if you ask.
Quality
Quality control
Quality is agreed before production starts. The factory builds to the specification you approve and, where the product allows one, to the sample you sign off. We hold the order to both.
An American on our team is on the ground in China. We visit the factory while the order is made and check the goods against what you approved before they are packed. If something does not match, you hear it from us before anything ships.
If you want an independent inspection, book an inspector you trust. We will fit the visit around the production schedule and have the goods ready for it.
In writing
What we will not do
- We do not name the factories we buy from.
- We do not name customers without their written permission, and we do not ask customers to act as references.
- We do not publish certifications we do not hold, or prices we cannot stand behind.
- We do not sell to a wholesale customer's named accounts.
Request a quote
Tell us what you need. We'll take it from there.
Send the product, the quantity, the destination and the date. We reply within 1 business day and tell you when your landed quote will follow.
- Reply within 1 business day
- Landed cost, itemised
We take on the orders we can do well, and we will say so if yours isn't one of them.
