Buying toilets, basins and baths from China

What to spec

• Toilet pan type (floor-mounted, wall-faced, wall-hung), set-out from the wall, and the cistern: concealed frame, in-wall or close-coupled.
• Basin type and dimensions, overflow or not, tap hole or not.
• Bath: freestanding or built-in, material (acrylic, stone resin, cast iron), and whether the filler is floor- or wall-mounted.
• Glaze finish and colour, with a sample.

What it costs landed

On the house we fitted out, the floor-mounted toilets were quoted at $86 USD each, concealed cisterns at $68 USD and cistern panels at $32 USD, at the factory gate.

Elje estimate, October 2026. Not yet from a delivered job; replaced with real landed numbers as jobs land.

What to check

• WaterMark on pans, cisterns and wastes; WELS on the toilet suite.
• The pan and cistern certified together where the certificate requires it.
• Crating: each piece boxed and blocked; check ISPM 15 on any timber in the crate.
• Inspection: glaze defects, flatness of the base, flush test where the inspector can run one.

Mistakes we have seen

• A pan whose set-out does not match the waste already in the slab.
• Cistern buttons that are not available locally when one breaks. Ask for spares.
• A floor-mounted bath filler with no position fixed before the floor is poured.

Questions