How to Import Toys from China: A Step-by-Step Guide (2026)

Importing toys from China can be very profitable, but toys are among the most regulated products you can bring into the US, and their tariffs have changed several times since 2025. An educational toy maker, Learning Resources, was among the companies that challenged those tariffs at the Supreme Court, which ruled in February 2026 that the IEEPA law didn’t authorize them.

Finding a factory is easy. What costs first-time importers money is a missing lab test, an outdated duty rate, or a container that lands after the holiday rush.

So this guide from HiSourcing follows one rule: with toys, start with the rules, not the supplier. It shows US sellers — Amazon and Shopify brands, toy shops, small wholesalers — how to buy toys from China in eight steps, with real numbers along the way.

Quick Answer: How to Import Toys from China in 8 Steps

1. Decide what toys to import, how many, and where you’ll sell them.
2. Check the safety rules for your market (in the US: ASTM F963, CPSIA, third-party testing and a Children’s Product Certificate, or CPC).
3. Check the current tariff for your HTS code before you source.
4. Find suppliers in China’s toy hubs, on B2B sites, at trade fairs or through an agent.
5. Vet the supplier and verify its test reports.
6. Order samples, negotiate MOQ, run your landed cost with real quotes, and place your order.
7. Test and inspect the goods before shipment.
8. Ship the toys and clear customs.

At a glance

Step 1: Decide What Toys to Import, How Many, and Where You’ll Sell

Three decisions shape every later step: the type of toy sets your safety tests, the order size sets your sourcing channel and shipping method, and the target market sets the rules you must follow. Make all three before you contact a factory.

Which Toys Are Easiest to Import?

Which tests apply depends on the toy’s age grade, materials and design, and some categories carry far more rules than others. For a first order, stay in the top half of this table.

Licensed characters are the riskiest: unlicensed Paw Patrol, Disney or Pokémon toys can be seized by US Customs and pulled from Amazon, whatever the factory claims.

Trial Order or Full Container?

One detail changes how you plan a trial order: lab testing is priced by test scope and materials, and most new styles need their own test evidence — budget about $150 to $800 for a simple plush toy. A 30-style first order can spend more on testing than on product, so go deep on three to five SKUs instead.

Step 2: Check US Toy Safety Rules Before You Contact Suppliers

Every toy made for children 12 and under and sold in the US must meet ASTM F963 and CPSIA limits, pass testing at a CPSC-accepted lab, and be covered by a Children’s Product Certificate (CPC) that you, the importer, issue. Learn these requirements first — they become your checklist for screening suppliers.

US Toy Compliance Checklist

ASTM F963 covers toys for children under 14, and anything designed mainly for children 12 or younger also needs a CPC backed by third-party testing. The toy’s age grade decides which tests and warnings apply.

Keep your certificates, test reports, and related records for five years.

Who Issues the CPC? (Not Your Supplier)

Many new importers assume the factory’s certificate covers them. It doesn’t: under US law the importer certifies the product, so the CPC must name your company. It identifies the toy, lists every safety rule it was tested to, names the CPSC-accepted lab, gives the date and place of manufacture and testing, and names a records contact.

Since July 8, 2026, you also eFile that data in CBP’s ACE system at entry — which doesn’t mean CPSC has approved your toy.

Your supplier’s test report can support your CPC, but only if it covers your exact product and is still current. Step 5 shows how to check.

Extra Rules for Battery-Powered, RC and Magnetic Toys

• Radio-controlled toys and their remotes need FCC equipment authorization.
• Battery compartments must meet ASTM F963’s battery rules. Toys for children under 14 that meet them are exempt from Reese’s Law‘s button-battery product standard, though spare button or coin batteries packed with the toy can still need their own warnings.
• Magnets, long cords, projectiles, slime and chemistry sets each have their own requirements — check them before you commit to a design.

Common mistake: Printing “3+” on a toy that’s clearly designed for babies. CPSC judges the age grade by the product itself, not the label, so a rattle marked “3+” is still treated as an under-3 toy.

Step 3: Check Toy Tariffs Before You Source

Most toys enter the US under HTS 9503.00.00 at a 0% general duty rate, but toys made in China also pay a 12.5% additional duty as of October 22, 2026. Check this before you source, so you know how much of your landed cost will go to duty.

What HTS Code Do Toys Use?

Most toys fall under 9503; games and consoles under 9504, festive items under 9505 and sports equipment under 9506.

Within 9503, many ordinary toys are split by age group: 9503.00.0071 (under 3), 9503.00.0073 (ages 3–12) or 9503.00.0090 (other) — so a plush bear and a building set for ages 3–12 can share a code.

Some items, such as balloons, have codes of their own. For edge cases, such as a camera drone sold as a toy, ask your broker or search CBP’s CROSS rulings.

Import Duty on Toys from China: Current US Rate (October 2026)

Tariff check — October 22, 2026

Sources:

• USTR final action, 91 FR 47318 (July 28, 2026);
• CBP CSMS #67844987;
• USITC HTS 2026 Revision 21.

MPF and HMF are fees, not duty — see below.

Paid IEEPA tariffs on toys in 2025 or early 2026? The importer of record can request a refund through CBP’s CAPE process in the ACE Portal, open since April 20, 2026. Eligibility depends on each entry’s liquidation status, so check with your broker — refunds aren’t automatic.

How to check the rate yourself:

1. Look up your 10-digit code on hts.usitc.gov and note the general rate.
2. Check Chapter 99 for additional duties that apply to that code or to Chinese-origin goods.
3. Read the latest CBP CSMS messages, or ask your broker to confirm the rate for your entry date.

Other Import Fees to Budget For

• Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF): 0.3464% of the goods’ value on formal entries, with a minimum of $34.58 and a maximum of $670.86 in fiscal year 2027 (from October 1, 2026)
• Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF): 0.125% of the goods’ value, ocean shipments only
• Customs broker fee, customs bond and ISF filing fee for ocean freight
• Small parcels: the $800 de minimis exemption no longer applies to commercial shipments from China, so even small express orders pay duty and fees

Step 6 shows how they add up; price your own order with your own quotes.

Step 4: Where to Source Wholesale Toys from China

Most toys made in China come from a few clusters: Chenghai in Shantou for plastic, RC and building-block toys; Yangzhou for plush; Dongguan and Shenzhen for electronic and OEM toys; and Yiwu for small-quantity wholesale. Pick the cluster that matches your category, then the channel that matches your order size.

China’s Toy Manufacturing Hubs

5 Ways to Find Toy Suppliers, Compared

Retail platforms such as AliExpress, DHgate and Temu are handy for buying samples, but sellers there usually can’t provide test reports that support your CPC, so don’t buy resale stock there.

Chenghai’s permanent toy showrooms are worth a trip: you walk floors of samples from many factories, compare prices side by side, and ask for the factory that owns the mold. For a mixed order, a day or two there can replace weeks of messaging.

The main trade fairs for toy buyers:

• Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair: January 11–14, 2027
• Shenzhen International Toy & Hobby Fair: March 31–April 2, 2027
• Canton Fair (Guangzhou): spring and autumn sessions; toys are in Phase 3
• China Toy Expo (Shanghai): every October (October 21–23 in 2026)
• Chenghai toy and gift fair (Shantou): October 29–November 1, 2026

Do You Need a Sourcing Agent?

• Under ~$3,000, one or two simple SKUs: probably not — Alibaba, samples, and Trade Assurance are enough.
• ~$3,000–5,000: it depends on how many factories you use and whether you can travel.
• ~$5,000 and up, or several factories: an agent usually pays for itself in pricing, inspections, and consolidated shipping. Fees run 3–10% of order value, sometimes plus inspection or warehousing charges.

Step 5: Vet Your Supplier and Its Test Reports

Before you pay a deposit, confirm the supplier is a real, licensed business that has made your type of toy for your market, and that its test reports cover your exact product, come from a CPSC-accepted lab and are recent.

How to Check a Supplier’s Background

Also walk away if a price is far below every other quote — it often means cheaper materials or a test that was never done.

How to Verify a Toy Test Report

A report only counts if it’s about your toy. Check five things:

1. The product matches. Photos, materials and colors on the report match your SKU.
2. The lab is accepted. It’s on CPSC’s accepted-lab list for those tests.
3. The report is real. Verify the report number on the lab’s website or QR code.
4. It’s current. Nothing that could affect compliance has changed since — a new dye, trim or sub-supplier usually means retesting the affected parts.
5. It’s complete. All required tests for your toy’s age grade are included.

Supplier reports often cover a similar product or an old production run. If one fails any check, order a new test (Step 7).

Common mistake: Sending custom design files to every supplier you’re talking to before any of them has signed an NNN (non-disclosure, non-use, non-circumvention) agreement. Shortlist first, sign, then share.

Step 6: Order Samples, Calculate Landed Cost and Place Your Order

Buying toys from China safely takes four moves: sample two or three suppliers, approve a golden sample, run your landed cost with real quotes, then sign a purchase order. Expect MOQs of about 50–200 pieces per style for stock toys and 500–1,000 for custom plush designs.

Samples and the Golden Sample

Order samples from your top two or three suppliers. Stock samples usually cost little more than the shipping; a custom plush sample runs $100–200 per design plus express, and many factories credit it against your first order. Compare materials, smell, seams, small parts, paint and packaging side by side.

Then approve a pre-production sample made with the final materials and packaging. Sign and seal it, keep one and leave one at the factory. That’s your golden sample: the reference for production and inspection.

What MOQ to Expect (and How to Lower It)

MOQs vary widely: some smaller plush factories accept 100 pieces per design, while custom plastic toys that need new molds often start at 3,000. To get below a factory’s MOQ:

• Say it’s a trial order and offer a reorder if it sells
• Buy styles the factory already has in stock
• Mix colors or styles within one order
• Use the factory’s existing molds instead of paying for new tooling
• Combine items from several factories through a showroom or agent

One trap: custom printed packaging has its own MOQ, often higher than the toy’s. For a trial order, use a standard box with your own compliant labels and save custom boxes for the reorder.

Calculate Your Landed Cost Before You Sign

Here’s what 1,000 plush toys (two styles, 500 each) cost to land in Los Angeles, shipped LCL from Shanghai:

Freight rates move every week, so get a live quote from your forwarder before you order.

Two points matter here. First, US duty is charged on the goods’ transaction value — usually the FOB price — not on freight and insurance (the EU charges duty on CIF). Second, testing, samples and inspection add $1.55 to every toy on a 1,000-piece order, which is why a first order lands at roughly double the FOB price. On a 5,000-piece reorder, those costs spread over five times as many toys.

Purchase Order and Payment Terms

Your purchase order should spell out:

• Specifications, materials and colors (with Pantone references)
• Packaging and labels: tracking label, warnings, “Made in China”, barcodes or Amazon FNSKU
• Compliance: the standards the goods must pass, and who pays for retesting if a test fails
• Incoterm (usually FOB), delivery date and late-delivery penalties
• IP: who owns custom designs and molds, with an NNN agreement for custom work

Standard terms are a 30% deposit and 70% before shipment, with the balance released only after inspection passes. Use Alibaba Trade Assurance or, for larger orders, a letter of credit — never a personal account.

Step 7: Test and Inspect Before Shipment

Lab testing and quality inspection do different jobs. Testing proves your toy meets ASTM F963 and CPSIA; inspection proves the bulk order matches your approved sample. Book both before you pay the balance.

Lab Testing: When, Where and How Much

Send production samples, or pre-production samples made with final materials, to a CPSC-accepted lab; SGS, Intertek, Bureau Veritas and TÜV all have accepted labs in China.

A basic US package for a plush toy starts at about $150, and multi-material, coated or electronic toys cost several times more. Results take about 5–7 working days. Retest the affected parts whenever a material or sub-supplier change could affect compliance, keep up with periodic testing, and issue your CPC only after the toy passes.

Are toys made in China safe? They can be as safe as toys made anywhere — safety depends on the factory and your testing, not the country. The CPSIA lead limits were written in 2008 after a wave of toy recalls in 2007, and passing them on every SKU is the baseline for selling a toy in the US.

Quality Inspection: 3 Stages and a Toy Checklist

Most toy buyers use AQL General Level II (2.5 for major defects, 4.0 for minor). Also ask the inspector to check:

• Small parts and pull tests on eyes, noses and attachments
• Sharp edges and points
• Seam strength on plush
• Screws on battery compartments
• Function tests
• Labels, warnings and barcodes
• Carton drop test

A pre-shipment inspection costs about $270 per man-day in China at published rates, and one man-day covers most small orders.

Step 8: Ship Your Toys and Clear US Customs

Use express for samples, air freight for small urgent orders, and sea freight for most bulk orders. For a formal US entry you need an importer of record number, a customs bond, an ISF filing for ocean cargo, and your CPC data on file.

Express, Air or Sea?

Toys with lithium batteries ship under dangerous-goods rules: the batteries must pass UN 38.3 testing, your supplier should give you the test summary, and many carriers also ask for a safety data sheet. Tell your forwarder before booking — some carriers refuse them or charge extra.

FOB, EXW or DDP?

For most first-time importers, FOB is right: the supplier handles Chinese export clearance and you control the freight. EXW leaves Chinese export paperwork to you. DDP looks simple, but ask who is importer of record and who carries compliance responsibility — a shipment held for missing certificates is still your inventory.

US Customs Clearance Checklist

• Importer of record number (usually your EIN) — the US doesn’t require a general import license for toys. Most importers hire a licensed customs broker to file the entry, though it isn’t mandatory
• Customs bond for formal entries — single-entry or continuous
• ISF (10+2) — your eight data elements at least 24 hours before the container is loaded in China, and the last two (stuffing location and consolidator) no later than 24 hours before it arrives in the US
• Commercial invoice, packing list and bill of lading (or air waybill)
• CPC and test reports on file, with the certificate data eFiled in ACE
• “Made in China” marked on the toy itself; marking only the packaging is allowed only under specific exceptions

CPSC staff work alongside CBP at major ports. Toys without valid certificates or required labels can be held, re-exported or destroyed — at your cost.

Selling Imported Toys on Amazon

Amazon treats children’s toys as regulated children’s products, so expect to provide a CPC, test reports from a CPSC-accepted lab, and product and label photos when asked. Since September 3, 2025, Amazon has required every children’s toy to go through annual testing or document verification with an Amazon-approved testing, inspection and certification (TIC) provider; follow the deadlines Seller Central shows for your ASINs. Match your listing’s age grade and warnings to the packaging, have FNSKU labels applied in China, and check Seller Central’s Q4 inbound cut-offs and holiday rules for toys before you book freight.

How Long Does It Take to Import Toys from China?

A first order usually takes about 10–16 weeks from first inquiry to stock in a US warehouse by sea, or a few weeks less by air. For Q4 sales, start sourcing by June and plan around Chinese New Year factory closures.

The 1,000-piece plush order in Step 6 takes about 15 weeks end to end: three weeks of sampling, the PO and lab tests in weeks 4–5, production and inspection through week 9, then LCL freight, clearance and delivery in weeks 10–15.

Working back from Q4: to be live on Amazon by early November, your goods should leave China by mid-September. That means starting production in mid-August, finishing samples and testing in July, and starting your supplier search in June.

Chinese New Year falls on February 6 in 2027. Many factories close for two to four weeks, and capacity is tight before and after. Avoid placing a new order in January.

Importing Toys from China to Other Countries

The eight steps work for any market; what changes is the safety law, the mark on the box, and how duty is calculated.

FAQs About Importing Toys from China

What is the current tariff rate for toys from China?

As of October 22, 2026, tariffs on toys from China total 12.5% for a typical toy: a 0% base rate under HTS 9503.00.00 plus the 12.5% Section 301 forced-labor tariff (9903.05.31) in effect since July 24, 2026. Ordinary toys aren’t on that tariff’s exclusion list. The older List 4B tariffs are suspended, and the IEEPA tariffs ended in February 2026. Rates change, so check the date on our tariff box.

Do I have to pay tax or tariffs on toys from China?

Yes. A typical China-made toy pays 12.5% duty as of October 22, 2026, plus MPF and, by sea, HMF. There’s no federal VAT or sales tax at the border — state sales tax applies when you sell — and with the de minimis exemption gone, even small orders pay duty.

How much does it cost to import toys from China to the US?

On a first order, expect landed cost to run about double the factory price. In Step 6, 1,000 plush toys at $3.50 FOB land in a Los Angeles warehouse at $6.96 each, after freight, 12.5% duty, fees, lab testing, inspection and samples. Reorders cost less per unit.

Do I need a license to import toys from China?

No. The US doesn’t require a general import license for toys. You do need an importer of record number (usually your EIN), a customs bond for formal entries, and a Children’s Product Certificate backed by tests from a CPSC-accepted lab. A customs broker can handle the bond and entry.

How can I order toys from China?

Get samples from two or three suppliers — on Alibaba, at a trade fair or through an agent — approve a golden sample, then sign a purchase order and pay a 30% deposit. For small quantities, buy in-stock styles from Yiwu or Shantou showrooms, or use an agent who combines orders from several factories. Keep the SKU count low, since most new styles need their own test evidence.

What is the best website for buying Chinese toys wholesale?

For factory-direct wholesale, start with Alibaba, then Made-in-China and Global Sources for verified manufacturers, or 1688 through an agent for the lowest prices. AliExpress, DHgate and Temu work for buying samples, but you usually can’t get CPC-ready test reports from them, so avoid them for resale stock.

Conclusion

Importing toys from China works best in this order: learn the safety rules, check the tariff, then find factories. Get those right, and the rest is logistics.

We’re HiSourcing, a China sourcing agent based in Yiwu. If you’d rather have a team in China handle sourcing, testing coordination and inspection, talk to our sourcing team and get a free quote.