DHport.com, a manufacturer-to-business Chinese e-marketplace operated by DHgate, is scheduled to launch from beta test mode by the end of September, says T.T. Wang, vice president of operations at DHport.

The new marketplace will connect more than 100 Chinese manufacturers—primarily original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, that make components used in other companies’ products or items that others rebrand and sell to end users—with businesses in North America, Europe and other markets interested in buying products directly from Chinese factories. Unlike DHgate.com, where roughly 65% of the transactions are to businesses and 35% to consumers, DHport handles transactions only from manufacturers to businesses, a spokesman says.

DHgate began discussing the possibility of a manufacturer-to-business, or M2B, site in January 2014, and the company’s in-house developers began working to build DHport.com in the middle of last year, Wang says. DHport.com will go live September 25, at the end of the company’s third fiscal quarter, he adds.

“Our goal is to connect Chinese manufacturers that don’t have a very well-known brand and who don’t understand any kind of e-commerce business, but who have very good prices, high quality and would like to be able to sell online globally,” he says.

Company representatives travelled to four major manufacturing areas in China—southern Shenzhen, northeastern Ningbo, central Yiwu, and southern Guangzhou—to meet face to face with manufacturers, discuss their sales expectations and recruit them to sell on DHport.com, Wang says. DHport has so far selected companies  including a major electronics manufacturer, a provider of Tonze cookware and kitchen supplies, and a manufacturer and Amaze electronic cigarettes manufacturer, Wang says. He declined to name the companies.

DHport will earn its revenue in commissions charged to sellers. Commissions can vary by product category, but generally sellers pay a commission on sales ranging from 4.5% to 12%, depending on transaction value, says Noah Herschman, chief operating officer of DHgate.com. As transaction value increases, the commission rate decreases, he adds. DHport will collect the payment from buyers, then forward the proceeds minus its commission to sellers.

Shipping to the United States will typically takes three to 15 working days, Wang says, depending on product category and availability. DHgate and its suppliers work with several shipping carriers, including ChinaPost, Hongkong Post, the U.S. Postal Service and DHL. Through an ePack service available through China Post and the USPS, the USPS handles the local delivery to U.S. addresses.

In an effort to cut delivery times to buyers in the United States, DHport recently opened two warehouses in the U.S.—one in New York, the other in Texas—where sellers can store their products for a small fee until a customer’s order is processed. Sellers storing their products in these warehouses can deliver orders to U.S. customers within two days, Wang says. The company also plans to open warehouses in the United Kingdom and France later this year to cut delivery times in Western Europe.

DHgate also operates DHLink.com, which provides logistics services for businesses shipping between China and international markets.   

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