Importing Products from China: Customs and Tax Guide

Importing products from China looks, in most sellers’ heads, as simple as "buy it for 3 dollars, sell it for 300 liras." Yet the real difference hides not in the factory price but in everything that stacks on top before the product reaches your shelf. Freight, customs duty, VAT, broker fees, bank charges, and breakage — leave these out of the math and the "profitable" product is very often sold at a loss. This guide covers two legs: first the rule-bound side of importing — personal micro-import versus company import, the value threshold, the HS/GTIP code, restricted goods, sea versus air freight, and the customs broker; and second, turning your sourcing cost into a real landed cost and connecting it to your selling price and margin.

One warning up front: the tax, exemption, and threshold figures here are general information and change often. When you plan a concrete shipment, verify the current rate and limit from Turkey’s Ministry of Trade/customs legislation, the Revenue Administration (GİB), and your accountant; this article points you in a direction, it does not replace the official source.

Personal import or company import? Decide this first

There are two basic channels for bringing goods from China, and they follow completely different rules. Without knowing which one you are in, you can calculate neither the cost nor the legality correctly.

• Personal shipment (micro-import): Small, non-commercial shipments arriving via post or express courier, limited in value and quantity. Suitable for pulling samples, seeing the product physically, or a very small test batch. The invoice/declaration chain is simplified, but it is not a channel designed for sales at commercial scale — once the quantity and value thresholds are exceeded, either the tax gets heavy or the shipment is deemed commercial and turned back.
• Company import: A real import done as a sole proprietor or a limited/joint-stock company, with your tax number, a commercial invoice, and usually through a customs broker. Container/pallet sea freight, an official declaration, the ability to deduct the VAT you pay, and steady supply all live here. If you aim to sell on marketplaces at serious volume, this is the real address.

Short rule: Samples and testing = personal shipment. Continuous selling = company import. Using the personal channel as a "tax-avoidance route" and bringing dozens of parcels a month gets stuck at customs on both the threshold and the "commercial intent" grounds; it is not sustainable.

Personal shipments and the value threshold (micro-import)

For personal shipments arriving via post and express courier, a simplified taxation applies up to a certain value threshold; below it, non-commercial shipments are taxed at a fixed rate, and above it the normal import regime kicks in. In recent regulations this threshold has been pulled down to around 30 EUR as a reference, and the fixed rates differ by origin (the rate can differ for EU-origin shipments versus other countries). These figures are variable; confirm the current threshold and rate from the official customs source before you send the shipment.

The practical takeaway for a seller: the personal channel is no longer suitable for "cheap wholesale importing." The threshold is low, the fixed tax rate is high, and quantity is limited. So you can bring in a couple of samples under 30 EUR, but this is not the right way to bring in a 500-unit batch — that batch belongs to a company import and a real declaration.

• One or two samples, seeing the product by hand → a personal shipment makes sense.
• A first small test batch (a few units, different variants) → at the edge of personal, mind the threshold.
• Stock for selling (dozens/hundreds of units) → company import, sea freight, a broker.

The GTIP/HS code: where every calculation starts

In importing, your product’s identity is not its brand but its GTIP code (the Turkish extension of the international HS system, 12 digits). A product’s customs duty rate, additional customs duty, VAT rate, and any anti-dumping or surveillance measure all depend on this code. The wrong GTIP means the wrong tax; an understatement leads to penalties, an overstatement to needless cost.

Two goods that look like the same product can fall under different GTIP codes depending on their material or use, and that materially changes the tax rate. This is why estimating cost by "I’ll just put roughly 20% tax" is risky — the real rate is set by the code. Determining the correct GTIP is one of the most critical contributions a customs broker makes.

Short rule: The moment a price quote arrives, pin down the product’s GTIP code. Learn the tax rate from that code, then calculate the landed cost. A cost estimate without a GTIP is nothing but a guess.

Restricted and permit-bound goods: read before you ship

Not every product can be imported; some are entirely banned, others are subject to a permit or certificate. Learning this after you have paid for the batch is the most expensive lesson. The general frame is below — but always verify your specific product’s status with your broker and the relevant authority:

Things to stay away from

• Phones without IMEI registration and similar devices: Because of Turkey’s IMEI/registration requirement, bringing a phone through the personal channel ends up with a device you cannot practically sell; commercial import is also tied to separate permit and registration processes. The "I’ll bring cheap phones" idea almost always hits a wall.
• Tobacco, tobacco products, e-cigarettes and their liquids: This group is heavily regulated; most forms are banned or subject to special permit in personal imports. Do not attempt to bring them for sale.
• Counterfeit/trademark-infringing goods: Branded fakes end in destruction and penalties at customs, and the marketplace closes your store for IP infringement.
• Certain chemicals, medicine-like supplements, hazardous materials: These require permits from the health/agriculture ministries; many products arriving labeled "food supplement" or "cosmetic" actually fall into this group.

Permit- or certificate-bound goods

• Electrical/electronic devices: CE, energy efficiency, safety, and for some products TSE/conformity certificates may be required. Chargers, power banks, and wireless devices are inspected especially closely.
• Children’s products and toys: Safety standards and a mandatory conformity mark apply.
• Cosmetics, food-contact products, textiles: Labeling, content, and conformity rules vary by product.

This list is not exhaustive; its aim is to instill the awareness that "not everything can be imported." Before entering a category, clarify whether that product’s import is free, permit-bound, or banned. This is the first filter of product selection; it comes even before the profit math.

Sea freight or air freight?

There are two main ways to bring in a batch, and the choice touches cost and speed directly. Sea freight is cheap but slow; air freight is fast but expensive. The right choice depends on the balance of the product’s weight/volume (desi), value, and urgency.

A practical approach: bring the first test batch and quick trials by air, and pull the serial stock of a proven best-seller by sea. Sea freight’s cheapness only means something if the batch is large enough; on a small batch, the fixed items of freight inflate the unit cost. Whichever method you choose, do not forget to spread the freight and local charges per unit and add them to the product cost — this step is the heart of landed cost.

The customs broker: what they do, when they’re essential

In company imports, the declaration, tariff classification, paperwork, and customs processes are technical work; most sellers run this with a customs broker. For commercial imports of a certain value/nature, working with a broker effectively becomes mandatory. A broker’s main contributions:

• Determining the correct GTIP code for the product and clarifying the tax rate.
• Telling you in advance whether the import is free, permit-bound, or banned.
• Running the declaration and paperwork and clearing the shipment at customs.
• Warning you in advance about surprise items such as anti-dumping, surveillance, and additional financial levies.

The broker fee is also a cost item and falls per shipment; on a small batch its per-unit burden is large, on a big batch relatively small. This is why, when answering "is the first shipment profitable?", you must also account for brokerage, bank/transfer charges, and shipping insurance. These look small but noticeably inflate the unit cost on the first batch.

Turning the sourcing cost into a real product cost (landed cost)

This is where sellers get misled. The factory price (FOB) is only the start; the product’s real costis the total amount at the moment it lands in your warehouse/shelf. Let’s see it with a simple reference example (the figures are entirely illustrative; replace them with your own quote and current rates):

• Factory price (FOB): 3 USD/unit × 500 units = 1,500 USD
• Sea freight + local/port charges (per batch): 400 USD → 0.80 USD per unit
• Customs duty + additional taxes (per the GTIP, example): amount added on top of the batch
• VAT paid on import: on the base (deductible, but leaves as cash upfront)
• Customs broker + bank/transfer + insurance (per batch): 250 USD → 0.50 USD per unit
• Breakage/damage allowance: set aside a 2–5% share on fragile products

When you spread these items per unit and convert to TL at the current rate, the resulting figure is the product’s real unit cost — the marketplace commission and profit math are built on top of it. Saying "I bought it for 3 dollars" is misleading; in reality that product usually costs you noticeably above the factory price. Even though you can deduct the VAT you pay on import in your return, that money leaves your pocket as cash at the moment of shipment; do not forget this in your cash-flow plan.

Instead of adding up all these items by hand, enter the factory price, freight, tax, brokerage, and other charges into the product cost calculator and let the tool produce the per-unit landed cost on a single screen. If you want to see step by step which items make up the cost and what must not be forgotten, the article how to calculate product cost (COGS) is the natural continuation of this section.

Connecting landed cost to selling price and margin

Finding the real unit cost is not the end; the real question is "at what price should I sell with this cost to reach my target margin?" On a marketplace, commission, commission VAT, shipping, withholding, and the return share are also stacked on top of the selling price. So landed cost + marketplace deductions + target profit = selling price. You have to think in order:

1. Fix the landed cost: not the factory price, but the real per-unit cost that lands on your shelf.
2. Add the marketplace deductions: commission, commission VAT, shipping, withholding, return share.
3. Set the target margin: what percent net profit do you want?
4. Reverse-calculate the selling price: find the price that covers these three items.

To see your target margin against the landed cost you found, use the profit margin calculator; it separates the margin between cost and selling price as both a percentage and an amount. To immediately see the effect when you change the sourcing side, return to the product cost calculator and update the freight or exchange-rate scenario. Importing’s sneakiest risk is exactly this: the exchange rate. When you buy in USD and sell in TL, if the rate moves while the batch is in transit, the margin you calculated melts; so build the price with an exchange-rate buffer.

Short rule: Price against landed cost, not the factory price; leave an exchange-rate buffer. The sentence "I bought it for 3 dollars, I sell it for 300" is dangerous because it ignores the 6-7 hidden items in between and the currency risk.

Three frequently asked questions

Can I bring in a small amount and sell it on a marketplace?

If you sell regularly for commercial purposes, the right ground is company import and a real declaration; the personal shipment channel is for samples/testing. Starting with small volume is smart, but the sustainable way to do it is with a small-scale company import, not by "raining down personal parcels." Be sure to clarify your tax obligations with your accountant.

Where do I learn the exact customs duty rate?

From the product’s GTIP code. Because the rate depends on the code, giving "a general percentage" is misleading; confirm the correct code and the current rate through your customs broker or the official tariff source. Items such as additional customs duty, surveillance, and anti-dumping also kick in according to the code.

Can I reclaim the VAT I pay on import?

As a company, the VAT you pay on import is, as a rule, deductible VAT; you offset it against the VAT you calculate on your sales. But this is an accounting/return matter, and you pay it upfront at the moment of shipment. Clarify your own situation and the offset mechanics with your accountant; this article is not tax advice.

Summary: importing is not cheap goods, it’s correct math

Done right, importing from China provides a strong cost advantage; done wrong, it produces loss-making sales under the "I bought it cheap" illusion. Three things keep it standing: making sure the product’s import is permitted, calculating the cost from landed cost rather than the factory price, and connecting that cost to the marketplace deductions and your margin target. Verimle steps in after you bring the product in: it reads the real deductions of every order on the marketplace (commission, commission VAT, shipping, withholding) from the breakdown, combines them with the product cost you enter, derives net profit per product, and alerts you when a deduction is larger than expected. Handle the sourcing side yourself; let the system track the deductions on the selling side. And for tax, customs, and exemption figures, always rely on the current official source and your accountant.

Currency and official-source note: The import and customs duties, VAT/SCT (KDV/ÖTV), the ETGB procedure, and the value/quantity limits in this article change with legislation; the figures here are general information and do not replace current official legislation. For the official and current regulation, rely on the Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Trade as your source; for current customs/tax rates and the process itself, be sure to verify with a customs broker or accountant. To work out your own batch’s landed cost step by step, you can use the product cost calculator. This guide was reviewed on 18 July 2026.