Serious B2B sourcing from China fails less often on price than on missing paper. A factory can quote a drawing. It cannot quote a slogan. Buyers who send a complete brief get comparable offers; buyers who send a category name get a catalogue.
Capella Star still wants those documents inside a Trade Desk file, not scattered across WeChat screenshots. You do not need every customs form on day one. You do need the items that let us classify goods, origin and destination.
From the buyer, before the first factory conversation
- Destination country and, if known, port or project site
- Quantity or annual volume, and whether this is a trial order
- Drawings, spec sheets, photos of a reference sample, or a named model
- Required certificates for the destination (CE, food, electrical, and so on)
- Packing, labelling and any approved-vendor or brand constraints
- Target Incoterms and a decision window — not “urgent” alone
From the supplier, once the brief is readable
- Company name, address and a contact who can speak for the factory
- Product data: materials, dimensions, capacity, photos of the actual item
- MOQ, lead time, packing method, carton or crate weights
- Available certificates and test reports, with validity dates if they have them
- Commercial offer with currency, validity and origin stated
HS codes, inspection and what can wait
HS codes help later with customs. They are useful, not mandatory, to open a Capella file. Third-party inspection (AQL, loading photos, factory audit) belongs in the file when the destination or the buyer’s internal rules require it — usually after a shortlist, not before the first classification.
Attach what you have. We will tell you what is still missing. Restricted goods, unclear end-use and counterparties we cannot identify are declined. A complete brief does not guarantee a deal. It does guarantee that the first reply is about the goods, not about the questionnaire you forgot to fill.