Who writes this
Brandy Yang · based in Shenzhen
I live in Shenzhen. I am not a tour operator and I am not a clinic — I am a resident who can walk to the market, ask the price in Chinese, and film the answer. That is the only advantage this site has, and it is the one thing a guide written from abroad cannot fake.
Everything here started as a question I could not answer from a laptop: what does a Zeiss set actually cost in Henggang, will a clinic in Futian see a foreign patient without an appointment, what does the receipt actually say. So I go and ask, then I write down what I was told — with the date, and with the rate. When I have not been somewhere yet, the slot stays empty, and the gaps are listed on this page rather than quietly filled in.
I write in English because the people who most need this are the ones who cannot read the signage. If you find a price here that is wrong, email me with the receipt and I will correct the page and say that I did.
What this site is for
Shenzhen is a manufacturing city that happens to be open to tourists. That combination is rare, and it is the entire reason this site exists. You can stand in the market where a product is made, pay something close to the factory-adjacent price, and be home within a 10-day visa window — but only if four separate things are true at once.
Which market, not which mall
The discount is not spread evenly across the city. Eyewear is in Henggang, electronics in Huaqiangbei, toys in three separate wholesale clusters. Going to the wrong district costs you the entire saving.
A number, with a date on it
Every price on this site carries the date it was checked and the exchange rate used. A price without a date is a guess, and there are already enough of those online.
One trip, or genuinely two
The question is never how long a treatment takes. It is which step needs your body in the room. Scans, reports, manufacturing and follow-up stages can all travel without you, which is why five of the six categories in the full guide fit inside a 10-day stay.
The customs bill, before you buy
The discount is not final until it clears your own border. A drone that saves you US$200 in Shenzhen can cost you more than that in duty in the United States. The customs and refund rules are the last step, not an afterthought.
The three jobs it does
- Correct the record. When a widely repeated claim is wrong, I say what is wrong, cite what replaced it, and give the date the rule changed. Corrections travel further than lists, and a wrong rule costs a reader real money.
- Make it checkable. A claim you can recompute yourself is worth more than a claim you have to trust. That is why you get thresholds, dates and formulas instead of adjectives.
- Keep it current. Policy in this area changed in April 2025, July 2026 and September 2026. Anything published without a date is already stale.
How I verify things
- Prices come from an in-person quote, a published price list, or a shop's own written quote — never from a roundup article. Each one carries the date it was seen.
- Rules and policy are taken from the issuing authority: the State Taxation Administration for refunds, the National Immigration Administration for visa-free entry, and US Customs and Border Protection regulations for American duty. Where a figure is widely quoted but I have not traced it to source, I say it is unverified rather than repeating it.
- Exchange rates are the mid-market USD/CNY reference rate shown in the badge at the top of each page, refreshed daily and stated with the date it was set. Every dollar figure is converted from a yuan figure that was actually quoted.
- Medical providers are only named after a physical visit. A wrong medical referral costs far more than an empty slot, so the slots stay empty until they are verified.
- Conflicts with other guides are handled in the open. If a common claim is wrong, I name the confusion and show the underlying rule.
What is deliberately blank
These gaps are intentional. Each one will be filled only by someone standing in the place, and the page will say when it was filled.
| Blank slot | Why it is blank | What fills it |
|---|---|---|
| Shop phone numbers and WeChat IDs | A wrong number sends a traveller to the wrong counter, and market tenancy changes fast | An in-person visit with the counter open |
| Named dental clinics | Medical referrals carry real risk; the four must-have checks have to be seen, not assumed | Three clinic visits, checking imaging, language, itemised quotes and record release |
| Wig studio addresses | Custom work depends on the fitter, not the shopfront | A fitting appointment and a measurement run |
| Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam allowances | Figures change and I have not traced a reliable current source | A citation from the national customs authority |
Topics this site covers
These are the searches that brought the 2026 wave of visitors here, and each one is covered on this site.
China Haul
Travellers filming what they bought and how little it cost. What began as a hashtag is now a stable content category on TikTok and Instagram — and Shenzhen is the city it works best in.
Bring an empty suitcase
The 2026 packing habit. Overseas visitors spent 263.6 billion yuan in China in the first seven months of 2026, up 27.8% year on year, and refund claims more than tripled.
Departure tax refund 2.0
Paperless processing and random spot-checks from 1 July 2026, then nationwide recognition of instant in-store refunds from 1 September 2026. Most guides still describe the old process. Current rules.
Huaqiangbei AI glasses
The breakout product of the year: live translation, displays and camera in a pair of frames, sold a few metres from the factories that make them. Around 8,000 foreign visitors a day pass through the district. What is worth buying.
240-hour visa-free transit
Ten days, no visa, for transit to a third country. It covers 57 countries as of August 2026, with separate unilateral visa-free entry for 50 more. Check the current list for your passport before booking.
The must-buy list
Accessories, audio, mechanical keyboards, AI glasses, prescription eyewear and toys by the lot are genuinely cheaper. Global-brand phones and laptops usually are not. The full comparison.
How prices are shown, and why there is a rate in the corner
Every price on this site is quoted in US dollars, with the RMB figure a shop would actually quote sitting beside it in small type. Shops in Shenzhen price in yuan; the dollar is a conversion, not a second price — the yuan is what the counter will ask you for.
The badge, top-left of every page
It shows the USD/CNY reference rate and the day it was set. The rate is a mid-market rate refreshed once a day, and every dollar figure on the page is recalculated from it each time the page loads. Nothing here is converted by hand.
A 1% drift is still real money
One percent changes a $1,000 shopping list by about $10. Small on its own — but over a year it is the difference between a guide that is roughly right and one that has quietly gone stale, which is why the date always sits next to the rate.
Budget a little above these figures
Cards and exchange counters apply a spread, typically 0.5–2% off the mid-market rate, plus sometimes a flat fee. Treat the dollar figures here as the honest middle, and the yuan figure as the one to check against the receipt.
It falls back rather than guesses
The dot on the badge turns amber and the page uses the last saved rate instead of inventing one. No price on this site is ever silently wrong by more than a day.
On the official fixing: the PBOC mid-rate on 26 October 2026 was 1 USD = 6.7162 CNY. This site converts at the mid-market reference rate shown in the badge, which sits closer to what a visitor's card actually clears at.
Data snapshot, October 2026
| Number | What it is | As of |
|---|---|---|
| 1 USD = 6.68 CNY | Mid-market reference rate used to convert every price on this site (PBOC fixing the same day: 6.7162) | 26 Oct 2026 |
| $30¥200 | Tax refund minimum, one store, same day (down from $75¥500) | Since Apr 2025 |
| $2,995¥20,000 | Cash refund ceiling, raised from $1,498¥10,000 | Since Apr 2025 |
| 11% / 8% | Departure VAT refund rate by product tax rate | Current |
| 28 days | Unified departure deadline for instant in-store refunds | 1 Sep 2026 |
| US$800 | US personal duty-free exemption per person | Current |
| 3% flat | US duty on the band between US$800 and US$1,800 | Current |
| 57 countries | Eligible for 240-hour visa-free transit | 20 Aug 2026 |
| 50 countries | Eligible for unilateral visa-free entry up to 30 days | 11 Mar 2026 |
| 1.45 km² | Huaqiangbei, holding about 115,000 businesses and 35 electronics markets | Aug 2026 |
| 125 million | Pairs of glasses produced in Henggang per year, over half the world's mid-to-high-end frames | Industry figure |
Compiled 26 October 2026 from the State Taxation Administration, the National Immigration Administration, China Foreign Exchange Trade System and US Customs regulations. Confirm anything that affects money with the issuing authority before you rely on it.
Get in touch
Questions, corrections, or a price you found that contradicts what is published here: hello@shenzhenhaul.com. A correction with a receipt or a photo attached gets fixed the same week.
The line I hold: this is a travel reference, not tax or medical advice. Rules change, and published prices are a starting point for a conversation at the counter, not a quote. Always ask for a written, itemised quote and confirm what it excludes.