Hey, Ethan, Welcome to Signs 101! What part of China are you from?
To answer your question, I buy rolls of reflective banner material from China, and the biggest problem is CUSTOMS! If the shipment has any interesting small items included in it, they will be stolen.
But I suspect you are asking about shipping PRINTED and FINISHED banners to american customers...
We buy everything from American vendors, where they get it, I have no idea. I try to buy as much as I can that's made in the USA just to support our own struggling country, but I'm sure most of what I use on a daily basis did not come from here. I'm not sure I'd ever even buy online from another country...every time I've seen someone asking about a deal that's too good to be true from another country, it normally was and they end up screwed.
The average sign shop is generally a mom & pop type operation, maybe a few employees, I don't think they are going to be buying the kind of volume needed to make ordering directly from china feasible.
I remember a comment like this a few years ago about a small screen printer importing containers of t-shirt blanks...Now that small screen printer is bringing in 2 containers a month....I would sure love to see the "math" on importing a container of banner vinyl.....May be way out of reach for a small shop but has me curious.....
I remember a comment like this a few years ago about a small screen printer importing containers of t-shirt blanks...Now that small screen printer is bringing in 2 containers a month....I would sure love to see the "math" on importing a container of banner vinyl.....May be way out of reach for a small shop but has me curious.....