Should I buy from a factory or a trading company?

Either can work. Trading companies aggregate several factories, often handle export documentation better, and will accept orders below a factory's minimum. What matters is knowing which you are dealing with, because it determines who controls quality and who you escalate to. Ask directly, ask to see your product category being made, and check the business scope on the business licence.

When should certification happen — before or after production?

Before. Testing after a production run means that a failure costs you a container rather than a design change. For Saudi Arabia the product certificate through SABER precedes the shipment certificate, and it is tied to a specific product from a specific manufacturer. Certification decided late is the single most expensive sequencing error in importing.

Who is responsible for getting the HS code right?

You are, as importer. A code copied from a supplier's proforma invoice is a guess you have adopted, and the consequences of a wrong one — duty adjustment, penalty, delay — fall on you. For composite goods or anything containing a battery, request a binding ruling from the destination customs authority before shipping at volume.

Is duty in the Gulf charged on the goods value alone?

No. The Gulf assesses duty on a CIF basis — goods plus freight plus insurance — as do the EU and UK. Expensive freight therefore raises your duty bill as well as your shipping bill, and VAT is then applied to the duty-inclusive value. This is why a cheap factory price with costly air freight can land dearer than a higher price shipped by sea.

If I agree DDP terms, does my supplier take on the certification obligation?

No. Incoterms allocate cost and risk within the sale contract; they do not transfer a regulatory obligation. In Gulf markets the conformity obligation and the certificate normally sit with the importer of record, and a Chinese supplier is rarely able to act in that capacity. Agreeing DDP with a supplier who cannot be importer of record is a common and expensive assumption.

When should I pay the balance of an order?

After inspection, not before. Paying in full against a bill of lading copy proves only that goods were loaded, and it removes your only real leverage at exactly the moment you might need it. Structure the terms so that the pre-shipment inspection happens while money is still outstanding.

Importing from China: an end-to-end guide for Gulf importers

From finding a factory that actually exists to getting the goods cleared at your port — the full sequence, in the order it has to happen, with the failure points marked. Written for first and second-time importers into the Gulf.