Tips for you to do safe and smooth business in China....

Doing business in China is profitable but also a challenge for some businessmen worldwide as there are too much trouble involved without enough Due Diligence work. 90% of the Chinese suppliers require 30% deposit before production and 70% of rest balance before delivery in China. Also sometimes the supplier use high-quality samples to attract the order but use worse materials for bulk production, we have witnessed countless trade disputes every year in China and sometimes it is quite risky for a foreign enterprise to purchase directly from a Chinese supplier. Here are the right steps for you to do safe and smooth business in China: 

 

First, if you have not found any reliable suppliers, then you’d better book an On-site Professional Sourcing service from a third-party local service company like:

http://www.chinabizservices.com/service/Suppliers/On_Site_Sourcing_Service/

Sometimes only local experts can find out the truth for you in China. 

 

Second, if you have sourced some suppliers by yourself, before you pay any deposit, you'd better book a third-party Basic Verification or Factory Inspection service like below to fully check out your suppliers.

http://www.chinabizservices.com/service/Verification_and_Investigation/Basic_Verif/ 

Or 

http://www.chinabizservices.com/service/Verification_and_Investigation/Factory_Ins/

The purpose of any verification service is to discover their real registered information and export qualifications etc in order to avoid future trouble. 

Third, if your order is very big, sign a formal Purchase Contract with them before paying the deposit. A formal Purchase Contract both in Chinese and English is very important as China is NOT an English speaking country, local courts only regard Chinese version of contracts as the official ones. 

Fourth, if your order is very big, book a third-party During-production or Pre-shipment QC Inspection service like below before paying them the rest balance.

http://www.chinabizservices.com/service/Management/Pre_shipment_QC_Inspection_Serv/ 

Fifth, book a third-party Loading Process Supervision service to protect your interests after you pay them the rest balance in China.

http://www.chinabizservices.com/service/Management/Loading_Process_Supervision_Ser/ 

Sixth, try to use your own 'shipping forwarder' like STIN in China ( STIN can contact a shipping agent, arrange shipment and clear the customs for you for FREE if you use STIN 'purchasing agent' service in China, by this way you will control everything at your end.)

 

Of course if you need a ONE-STOP business solution service from China, you can simply book a third-party ‘purchasing agent’ service, then they shall act as your own buying office and all above services can be covered in this service. 

http://www.chinabizservices.com/service/Purchasing_Agent_Service/ 

A qualified professional purchasing agent service may help you smooth every step in following aspects in China in person: 

Sourcing new suppliers or factories; 

Sampling; 

Supplier verification and auditing; 

Management of suppliers; Price negotiation; 

Delivery support (Logistics); 

Formal contract documentation support; 

Quality Control management; 

Loading process supervision; 

After-sale Service support; 

Other services may be available upon request. 

A good purchasing agent service is different from a trade company and they can benefit you much more from following two points: 

1. A trade company will protect their own interests at any time during the business in China. They will not allow the clients to buy directly from their verified factories. They will 'buy' from the factories and add their own profit, then 'resell' the products to the clients worldwide, the profit of trade companies is normally 10-50% against invoice value in China, varied in different products. While a purchasing agent service, take STIN (www.chinabizservices.com) for example, will simply act as their own 'assistants, office and eyes 'etc in China, STIN service will protect the customers' interests from the beginning to the end during any business activities in China. All the service charges are fixed and transparent and the commission for STIN service is only around 5%. They only charge a small amount of service fee order by order or case by case, apparently the customer can profit more as they can buy directly from any qualified factory sourced and verified by STIN in China. The client is free to contact the factories for any question related. 

2. Trade companies normally do not have their own team of quality control inspectors, factory auditors and lawyers etc. STIN has a team of professional quality control inspectors, auditors, buyers and lawyers etc in China and apparently STIN can offer better ONE-STOP business solution services for their clients worldwide.

How to carry out a professional sourcing service in China?

 What is a Professional Sourcing service?
Professional Sourcing refers to the sourcing service carried out in a very professional way. Some buyers only search online or simply attend a general commodity trade fair, which is regarded NOT professional enough sometimes.

How to conduct a Professional Sourcing service?

First of all, Professional Sourcing means product proficiency; you have to be very proficient with the product itself, covering the product name, specifications, descriptions, application and market price etc. You have to try to be an expert in this field.

Second, Professional Sourcing indicates the proficiency of related manufacturing bases. In China, almost every city or province has their own pillar industries, esp for some special items, say, ceramics, chemicals, fireworks etc.

Actually Canton Fair is not the best place for you to meet and find out some qualified suppliers in China. There are 90% of them are trade companies, individuals or even scammers.

The best place for you to meet and find out some qualified suppliers is the manufacturing bases. For example, if you're looking for 'fireworks', you have to go to Liuyang city, which is called 'home of fireworks', where there are 400000 people directly or indirectly engaging in this business in China. 'Liuyang -- made' fireworks account for more than 60% global market at present. This is the same to other products; almost every product has their unique manufacturing bases in China. This is why there are more and more clients booking our 'professional sourcing' service in China.

This is the same situation to other products, say, Zhuji for socks, Yiwu for general commodities, Xintang for jeans, Wenzhou for ties and shoes, Anji for bamboo products, Liling for ceramics etc, Yongkang for hardwares, Shenzhen for electronics, Guangzhou for clothes, Xuchang for hair products, Changzhou for floorings etc. Of course some products may have more than two or three manufacturing bases as China is too big. For example, in North China people to go to Tianjin to buy steel banquet chairs while in South China, Shunde is the largest manufacturing base for those items. 

Third, Professional Sourcing means that you have to attend professional trade fair instead of the general trade fairs. Say, if you’re buying furniture you can have a try on Furniture China (www.furniture-china.cn), and this is the same for other product sourcing,

Door industry -- www.door-expo.com, Lock industry -- www.lock-china.net and Tube industry -- www.tubechina.net etc. More professional fair information, please have a look at: http://www.chinabizservices.com/news/2013/0701/41.html

Lastly, Professional Sourcing needs professional verification skills, you have to be able to check out their export or import qualifications and obtain their full registered information in order to avoid future business scams in China. Some professional sourcing service company like STIN offers FREE basic verification service on their suppliers after the client books their sourcing service in China.

Why do you need a professional sourcing service in China?

STIN sourcing service is becoming more and more popular among our clients worldwide due to following reasons:
First we can save you lot of time, cost and energy etc in China.
Second we are able to find out the truth and check out any of your suppliers with local officials in person.
Third we are local experts and we are very familiar with the industry clusters or manufacturing bases all over China.
STIN professional sourcing service is one of the best in China:www.chinabizservices.com

 

Chinabizservices: Tips for you to verify your Chinese suppliers onli...

Chinabizservices: Tips for you to verify your Chinese suppliers onli...: We have checked out hundredss of Chinese companies for clients worldwide this year. Some of the companies, even the Gold members of Alibaba ...

Tips for you to verify your Chinese suppliers online...

We have checked out hundredss of Chinese companies for clients 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 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 some 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 or you can book a Basic Verification or Supplier Inspection service from a third-party service company like STIN: www.chinabizservices.com

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 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 or 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 entice foreigners with a very low price. If the prices they offered is too low to believe, you may have a further investigationon your partner to know why their prices are so low. Most of the scammers in China profit a lot by selling  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,  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. STIN verification or auditing service (www.bizinchina.cc or www.chinabizservices.com ) can help you out if you know nothing about Chinese!

Chinabizservices: Why do you need a purchasing agent in China?

Chinabizservices: Why do you need a purchasing agent in China?: It is not easy for a foreigner to work directly with a qualified factory in China due to the language culture and MOQ barriers etc sometimes...

Some important Government Organs (official websites) regarding doing safe business in China

When you’re doing business in China, you might need help from local officials, say, verification of business licenses and export licenses, you can contact SAIC (www.saic.gov.cn) for help, when you have trade disputes with your Chinese suppliers, you can obtain help from Ministry of Commerce of P.R.China (China Mofcom: www.mofcom.gov.cn), here is the list of some important government organs for your reference:
China IPO: www.sipo.gov.cn ( to register your Patent in China)
SAIC: www.saic.gov.cn (to check out your suppliers in China)
China Trade Mark Office: www.ctmo.gov.cn ( to register your trade mark in China)
CHINA CUSTOMS: www.customs.gov.cn (to check customs data from China )
AQSIQ: www.aqsiq.gov.cn ( to apply quality certificate in China)
CHINA MOFCOM: www.mofcom.gov.cn ( to solve trade dispute issues )
CHINA FOREIGN AFFAIRS: www.fmprc.gov.cn ( to solve foreign affairs )
CIFA: http://210.51.174.103:801/ywb/ (www.cifa.gov.cn) ( to source a good shipper or shipping agent in China)
China Quality Certificate Centre: www.cqc.com.cn ( to apply CCC certificate in China )
CFDA: www.cfda.gov.cn (www.sda.gov.cn) China
MPS: www.mps.gov.cn (to report your case to local police station)
China Commodity Net: http://ccne.mofcom.gov.cn (suppliers officially verified from China)
CCPIT : www.ccpit.org (China Council for the Promotion of International Trade)
China Arbitration Commission: http://www.cietac.org.cn or www.cietac.org ( to obtain arbitration service)
ACLA: www.acla.org.cn ( to find out enough qualified lawyers from China)
China Court: www.court.gov.cn ( to take legal actions against your suppliers in China when necessary) We are consultants from local markets in China, any question is welcome. Verification (safety), Price, Quality and After-sale service play nearly the same role in doing business in China.

Why do you need a purchasing agent in China?

Why do you need a purchasing agent service in China?
It is not easy for a foreigner to work directly with a qualified factory in China due to the language culture and MOQ barriers etc sometimes. There are lots of ‘fake’ factories online, 90% of the suppliers you met online or at local trade fairs might be a typical trade company in China but you’re never aware of it. The reason is very simple, on the one hand, more than 80% of real factories still do not have their own Export License, on the other hand, there are NOT enough good English speaking staff working with small-mid scale factories in China. According to the verification results from STIN client data, 90% of the suppliers they verified turned to be a trade company in China but online they pretended to be a real factory and the clients cannot tell them from the fake information online.

STIN purchasing agent (buying office) service is becoming more and more popular among our clients worldwide this year. A good one-stop purchasing agent service can not only reduce the risks in their business in China but also save them lot of time, cost and energy etc in sourcing, verification, quality control and after-sale services etc. A well-qualified purchasing agent can act as your own Office, Assistants and Eyes etc in China and they can solve all the issues regarding your import. They may help you smooth every step in following aspects in China in person:
Sourcing new suppliers or factories;
Sampling;
Supplier verification and auditing;
Management of suppliers;
Price negotiation;
Delivery support (Logistics);
Formal contract documentation support;
Quality Control management;
Loading process supervision;
After-sale Service support;
Other services may be available upon request.

What is the difference between ' purchasing agent' service and trade company service ?

A good purchasing agent service can benefit you much more from following two points: 1. A trade company will protect their own interests at any time during the business in China. They will not allow the clients to buy directly from their verified factories. They will 'buy' from the factories and add their own profit, then 'resell' the products to the clients worldwide, the profit of trade companies is normally 10 – 50% against invoice value in China, varied in different products. While STIN (www.chinabizservices.com) purchasing agent service will simply act as their own 'assistants, office and eyes 'etc in China, STIN service will protect the customers' interests from the beginning to the end during any business activities in China. All the service charges are fixed and transparent and the commission for STIN service is only around 5%. They only charge a small amount of service fee order by order or case by case, apparently the customer can profit more as they can buy directly from any qualified factory sourced and verified by STIN in China. The client is free to contact the factories for any question related. 2. Trade companies normally do not have their own team of quality control inspectors, factory auditors and lawyers etc. STIN has a team of professional quality control inspectors, auditors, buyers and lawyers etc in China and apparently STIN can offer better ONE-STOP business solution services for their clients worldwide. If you’re now still working with a trade company, you're suggeted to work with a professional buying office now in China.

How to choose a right purchasing agent from China?
1. Ask them for at least 3 references from your country or area. Check them out before any cooperation.
2. Ask them for their Business License and Export License in China, check them out with local officials or third-party verification service company first before formal cooperation.
3. Ask them enough professional questions regarding the coming orders in China. If they are able to satisfy you from above three aspects and if they are familiar with the manufacturing bases in China, then you can feel assured to work with them in China. Please note that 99.99% of Chinese businessmen are honest and reliable enough on the globe.