per unit at 1,000 units — goods, agent fee, freight, US import fees and delivery. Duty is not included; see below.
Basis: Aggregated from 44 current wholesale listings in this category, costed with our standard import model. volume and weight assume a typical export carton for this category, not one supplier's packing list — 52 × 36 × 30 cm, 40 per carton, 17 kg gross, giving 0.00140 CBM and 0.43 kg per unit; your own carton will move the freight line. duty excluded, because the rate depends on how your product classifies — the table below shows what any rate adds. figures as of 1 September 2026. individual figures are not attributable to any one supplier.
What duty adds
We do not publish a single duty rate for this category, because classification depends on the product's construction and materials rather than on what it is called. Rather than print a number that would be wrong for some readers, here is what any given rate does to the figures above.
| Duty rate | Landed per unit | Versus no duty |
|---|---|---|
| No duty | $2.32 | — |
| 5% | $2.41 | +4.1% |
| 12% | $2.54 | +9.7% |
| 25% | $2.79 | +20.2% |
| 37% | $3.01 | +29.9% |
Establishing your own rate is your responsibility as importer rather than your supplier's — our guide to classification sets out how, including requesting a binding ruling if you intend to import repeatedly.
This is the most heavily regulated category on this site, and the one where we most often advise buyers to slow down. A power strip sits permanently connected to mains electricity in someone's home, usually behind furniture, unattended. The failure mode is not a refund.
Treat the certification question as the first question rather than a formality after price agreement. If the compliance path does not work, the rest of the project does not matter.
Where the money goes
Testing and certification is a fixed cost per model per market and it is substantial relative to a first order. Tooling for a custom housing is a second fixed cost. Together they mean that a small first order in this category carries a per-unit burden that has nothing to do with the product itself.
After that, the largest variable cost is the conductor. This is the component where a cheaper quotation almost always means a specific, identifiable substitution rather than better efficiency.
What drives cost in this category
Certification per market
Requirements differ between North America, the EU, the UK and elsewhere, and a report issued for one market does not carry to another. It is charged per model.
Conductor material and gauge
Solid copper versus copper-clad aluminium, and the cross-sectional area. This is the substitution with real safety consequences and it is invisible without cutting the cable.
Housing material
Flame-retardant plastics cost more than ordinary ones and look the same. The rating should be stated and verified, not assumed from the appearance.
Protection circuitry
Surge protection and overload cut-outs vary enormously in whether they do anything. A claim printed on the housing is not a specification.
Minimum order quantities
| Existing certified model, your branding | Lowest floor and by far the fastest route, because the certification already exists for that exact configuration. |
| Existing model, changed cable length | May affect the certification. Confirm before assuming it is a trivial change. |
| Existing housing, changed internals | Generally requires re-testing, which resets the fixed cost. |
| New housing tooling | Highest floor, plus mould and full certification for the new model. |
Where these are made
Production sits inside the Guangdong electrical supply chain, with Shenzhen the usual entry point for sourcing and for verifying that a supplier holds the certification they claim. Because housings, cables, sockets and protection modules come from different specialists, establishing who actually holds the test report matters more here than in most categories.
What goes wrong
- Copper-clad aluminium sold as copper. The defining risk. It carries less current, heats more, and is invisible until the cable is cut open. Verify by physical inspection of production samples.
- Undersized conductor. A thinner cable than specified, for the same reason and with the same consequence.
- Certificates that belong to a different model. Test reports are issued against a specific configuration. Verify with the issuing laboratory rather than accepting a PDF.
- Non-flame-retardant housing. Cheaper, identical in appearance, and precisely the wrong place to save money in a product that lives plugged into a wall.
This is a category where verifying the supplier and the provenance of every certificate is not optional, and where inspection must include destructively opening units from the production run. We would rather lose the order than ship this one on trust.
