What can a factory inspection service bring you in China?

Last week I paid several factory visitations to some Shenzhen-based companies in China upon request of some foreign buyers. All the three companies are Gold member or Trust pass members in Shenzhen, who all claimed that they were real manufacturers of electronics in China. I am sure most of the foreign businessmen will be astonished at the result of my inspection in Shenzhen; here is the basic information from my visitation report: 

Company One: 
Decline my visitation on the pretext of goods shortage, but they promised to receive us before our departure to Shenzhen. 

Company Two: 
Received us at an office in a Hotel, there are 3 salespersons working in the office. We cannot even find a Logo on their company in the office and on the door. They are checked out to be a small offshore trading company in China. 

Company Three: 
This is the best one among the three. They are a registered small trading company in China, however, they do not have their own right to export ( I mean they do not have the Certificate of Import & Export issued by local government authorities ), they normally export their goods via Freight Forwarders, for which the buyer may bear some risks. They registered only on 2005.08.26; however, they claimed themselves they were registered in 1999 online. They do not have any factories at all. They cannot show me any quality control measures and after sale services in written forms; they cannot even show me a formal sales contract ! 

My suggestion: You had better deal with larger trading companies or manufacturers directly for sake of better quality control in China. Lot of trading companies disguise to be a real manufacturer in China, so a factory visitation or inspection is very necessary for a large order in China! A factory inspection can tell you everything about the supplier and it is one of the best wayd to verify your Chinese supplier! 

What can a factory visitation performed by a local inspector bring you ? 
As we all know, there are many false things on the web, which perplex us often when we are going to make a decision. The case is also true with buyers who are going to buy from oversea suppliers. Here I bet a factory visitation (better by a local person) is a second-to-none solution.
1.Genuine or False? 
The local person can go and check the company (the potential seller) and all its factory registration information to see if it is a genuine and serious enterprise. This is the basic thing that any buyer has to do before any sincere cooperation!

2.Production Competence (Throughput)? 
The inspector can inquire about the factory’s production capacity (also known as throughput) with the director of Production Department. How much can they produce in a month or a quarter? By learning their production competence, the buyer can avoid the risk of a delayed delivery to some extent.

3.Quality Control? 
The visitor can try to get to know the factory’s quality control system with the help from the director of Quality Control Department. He can also get to know more by inspecting their assembly lines or work shops. Good quality is always one of the crucial things that buyers are always pursuing.

4.After-sale Service? 
After-sale service is also important for buyers. Here the visitor or inspector can make sure if the factory can offer good and effective after-sale services and also confirm if they can include after-sale services as one clause in the contract? After-sale services can keep you free from some troubles.

5.Export License? 
Some suppliers do not really have an export license. Here the inspector can check the supplier’s registration information with the local customs to see if it can really export directly to the buyer’s country. This is also one of the factors that can free you from being scammed. Other qualifications of the supplier can also be checked out by a local expert in this field in China.

STIN (CHINA) BUSINESS SERVICE CAN OFFER professional Factory Inspection and Auditing service for clients worldwide in China: www.chinabizservices.com or

  www.bizinchina.cc 

Tips for you to verify Chinese companies and stop you from professional biz scammers in China

We have checked out countless Chinese companies for our clients or friends worldwide this year. Some of the companies, even the Gold members of Alibaba turned out to be a business scammer in China. Your business cannot be legally protected by Chinese government authorities if you're dealing with illegal Chinese companies. Hence, it's very important to verify your business partner as there are more and more business frauds coming forth in China. Here are my tips for you to verify a Chinese company:

Generally speaking, there are some links online for you to check out companies in China:
www.yp.net.cn
www.chinaeall.com
www.cnaic.org.cn
www.114win.com
etc
However, there is no English version of above services so far in China, you have to know a little Chinese to check it all by yourself. Also lot of the companies did not register themselves with above yellow pages. So yellow page is not the key way to judge a business scammer in China! The best way to check out a supplier in China is to visit them in person or check them out with local government authorities in China.

If you don't know Chinese, still you can pre-verify your business partners from following aspects:

1. Contact information
Please note that whether their contact information is right or not, most of the scammers don't offer a right address, tel and fax number online. Some of the tel numbers are empty and some add and tel don't exist at all, they don't offer a company tel number, a private number or mobile phone number instead.

2. Registered corporate number
Every legal company in China has to register itself with Chinese government authortities and obtain an unique company number. If your business partner cannot offer you a unique registered corporate number, definitely he is a scammer, of course, he may submit you a fake number, so you have to check it out with local administrative government organs with the number he offered. There is a Chinese government organ called Bureau of Industry & Commerce ( have branches at all levels ), which is the only government organ responsible for the registration of legitimate companies or enterprises in China. For example, for any legitimate companies from Changsha of Hunan province, you can contact the local administrative organ for confirmation: http://www.csaic.gov.cn/ Tel: 86-731-2891606 or http://www.hunancom.gov.cn/ Tel: 86-731-2287058 , the problem is you have to report your case in Chinese sometimes because most of the local officials do not know too much English in China.

3. Incredibly low prices, esp for international brands
Most of Chinese scammers usually attract foreigners with a very low price. If the prices they offered is too low to be true, you may have a further investigation on your partner to know why their prices are so low. Most of the scammers in China profit a lot by selling replicas or fakes of some branded goods to the overseas market, this is very risky because the goods shall be confiscated or detained by Chinese customs houses in case it considered illegal in China. By the way, please remember that the price for authentic /original brands like Sony, Apple, Nokia, Dell etc should be almost the same at anywhere on the globe. You cannot import from the unthorized brands distributors with cheaper price in China. They must be selling relicas, fake ones or copies of brands etc ! Please simply forget such suppliers in China !

4. Payment and shipment terms
The scammers never accept L/C as their payment terms, they prefer Western Union, Paypal and T/T etc. Also they never deliver goods through formal channels in China, they prefer to deliver samples by Express like Fedex, TNT, EMS to avoid more examinations from Chinese customs house. Most of the scammers use Private Bank Accounts in China!

5. Warranty and after sale services
Scammers never take some measures to guarantee their quality and after-sale services after your payment, they may promise you a lot before payment. It's lip-services only!!!

Be careful with some of the Chinese suppliers!
By the way, I have to mention that, it does not mean the manufacturer has the right to sell or buy in case he has obtained a legitimate unique company number from local BIC in China. In China, all the enterprises with the right to import and export has to apply and obtain a certificate called Certificate of Import & Export from Ministry of Commerce of PRC and its authorized local organs in China after their registration at local BIC. Also a formal trade company has to register with Chinese Customs House and its branches before his formal business with foreign counterparts in China. Then he has to register himself with local Bureau of Inspection & Quarantine in case his products are in need of quality control. Without the registration from above local government authorities from China, no company can deal with you in formal channels in China.
If your order is very big, you'd better book an On-site Factory Inspection & Auditing Service from us to avoid future trouble. Please contact us for any question related: bizinchina1@gmail.com   or Skype: momochong1   Our mission is to save you more and reduce the risks in your business in China!