Sourcing show jumping whips from China

UK duty on show jumping whips

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 30 September 2026, heading 6602 covers walking sticks, seat-sticks, whips, riding-crops and the like. Show jumping whips fall within this family. Both the hand-made and other lines carry 2% duty for goods from China, with no listed anti-dumping or countervailing duty and no suspension. The table shows grip variants under these same tariff lines.

The tariff attaches CITES, seal-product and torture-goods import controls. For protected animal or plant materials, check CITES permit requirements before ordering. Seal products imported into Great Britain for trade need a seal catch certificate; confirm eligibility with your customs broker. The official import-ban list includes whips with multiple lashes or thongs. Specify the intended equestrian design and have the broker check its materials and construction.

Confirm whether manufacture supports the hand-made line using the commodity-code guide. For another whip family within the heading, see dressage whips. The tariff also lists CITES and torture-goods export controls; confirm requirements with your broker before onward export.

Specify the shaft, grip and padded end

Agree overall length, shaft material, flexibility, balance, grip shape, end-cap fixing and padded-end dimensions. Define the padding material, softness, edge finish and attachment method. Keep an approved sample showing how the shaft bends and returns, rather than accepting a photograph as the specification.

Approve the design against the buyer's intended competition specification before production. Ask for the animal species behind leather and the species behind any wooden components. Riding crops fall under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005; consumer products sold in Great Britain must be safe in normal or reasonably foreseeable use.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: 3,000 show jumping whips with moulded grips, illustrative only under 6602 00 00 90, invoiced at £9,000 free on board, with £900 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £9,900. Duty at 2% is £198. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £10,098, so it is £2,019.60. Import taxes total £2,217.60; a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting cost is the £198 of duty. The import duty and VAT guide explains each step.

Inspection checklist

Shaft: compare length, straightness and flexibility with the approved sample; flex samples and check for cracking, exposed fibres or permanent bending.

Grip: twist and pull the handle and end cap; check that wrapping stays fixed and that the grip has no sharp moulding edges.

Padded end: check softness, seams and edge finish; flex and pull the attachment and look for exposed hard cores or displaced padding.

Arrival: compare colours and markings with the order, check carton contents, and inspect for crushed ends, bent shafts or moisture damage. Use the inspection guide to agree the sampling brief.

What goes wrong

A padded end can look correct while its filling shifts and exposes a hard edge. Other failure points include loose grips, detached end caps, fraying shaft coverings and shafts that remain bent after unpacking. Compare production samples with the approved construction, including the parts hidden beneath the covering.

A supplier's claim that a whip is suitable for competition does not replace an agreed product specification. Record the intended design, reject unauthorised material substitutions, and approve protective packing that keeps shafts straight and padded ends uncompressed.

Cambridge China Bridge sources these products for UK businesses, checking the factory and the documents before shipment. See factory verification. For own-brand ranges, see sourcing for brands.