Stin Purchasing Agent Service -- Your Own Sourcing Office, Assitants and Eyes in China!

Stin Purchasing Agent or Buying Office Service means Stin company shall work as the clients' own buying office in China and cope with all the issues regarding the procurement and import of their goods in person.

  Why do you need a Purchasing Agent service in China?
  On the one hand most of the small and mid-scale factories do not have a direct Export License at present and the buyer cannot purchase legally and directly from them. Those factories will use their own Export Agent in China to protect their interests.The buyers are suggested to use their own export or import agent to protect their own interests in China in such cases. On the other hand, a qualified sourcing agent will act as your own assistants and eyes, they will help you keep sourcing better qualified factories, control the busines risks, control the quality,check the documents, arrange shipment and even offer after-sale services etc here in China, by this way the client can save much more time and cost.

 What can Stin Purchasing Agent Service bring you in China?
 Stin purchasing agent service can offer at least following work or services for their clients worldwide on the ground:
Sourcing new suppliers or factories;
Sampling or prototyping;
Verification or Inspection of your suppliers
Management of suppliers in China
Project management
Price negotiation
Delivery support (Shipping and Logistic Support)
Customs clearance
Formal contract documentation support
Quality control management
Loading process supervision
After-sale service support
Other services may be available upon request

   What the clients have to do is simply to tell STIN their detailed buying information (product name, descriptions, specifications, applications, package, quantity and quality requirements etc) and then receive and sell the goods at their end. This service is catered for project procurement and large orders. STIN staff shall work for the clients formally after they sign a Cooperation Agreement with them by fax or email. STIN is simply acting as your own eyes, assistants and office and her mission is to save you more and reduce the risks in your business in China !

How to Source Chinese Suppliers

As an experienced sourcing specialist here in China, I'd like to share some experience in sourcing qualified suppliers or partners at our end. Currently we have following major ways to source qualified suppliers or partners in China:

1).Industry Fair or Show
In China almost every industry has their own trade show or fair. So industry fair is one of the best ways for you to source and meet some qualified suppliers and exporters. Here is an example, if you are looking for Chinese fruits, you can simply attend IFRESH FAIR or Asia Fruit Logistica (www.asiafruitlogistica.cn), you will find out many qualified suppliers there.

Click here to find out more than 100 different industry fairs in China.

2).Industry Association
The next way to source qualified suppliers is through industry association, every big industry has their own industry association as well. Take CIMA (China Instrument Manufacturers Association: http://www.cima.org.cn ) as an example, founded in 1988, the China Instrument Manufacturer Association (CIMA) is a nationwide, industry-backed and non-profit social organization integrating a myriad of leading renowned enterprises and research institutions. It has 1079 members and among which there are 987 manufacturers, 44 research institutions, 21 colleges and universities, and 27 relevant societies. The total member's production capacity accounts for more than 85% of China market. This is nearly the same case in other industry associations in China, each one must have some well-known factories or brands in their field.

Here is the list of a top industry associations in China for your reference.
China Vegetable Association: www.cva128.org
China Fruit Association: www.china-fruit.com.cn
China Grain Association: www.chinagrains.org.cn
China Animal Agriculture Association: www.caaa.cn
China Cotton Association: www.china-cotton.org   
China Agricultural Machinery Distribution Association: www.camda.cn
China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Association: www.cappma.org
China Crop Protection Industry Association: www.ccpia.org.cn
China Fisheries Association: www.china-cfa.org
Please click here to know more about China industry associations.

3).Internet Platform
①.Search Engine -- Google and Baidu 
Google accounts for 92% of the global searching market. Baidu accounts for 80% of China searching market. Incorporated on January 18, 2000, With the world’s largest Internet user population—829 million as of December 2018—and a long way to go to reach Internet penetration levels of developed countries, Baidu has been the largest Chinese search engine on the globe, with a daily click record of 6 billion in 2018. You can find out hundreds of suppliers via Baidu with the right key words.

②.B2B platforms -- Alibaba, 1688, Made-in-China 
1688 is the largest wholesale market on the globe, with more than 10 million registered companies or factories online, covering more than 1709 different industries in China. Hundreds of industry clusters or manufacturing bases can be found on 1688.com.

③.Social Media -- Webo, QQ, Wechat
https://weibo.com/, As of January 2019, The number of Weibo users is 337 million, among them 1.5 million are registered companies or factories in China. Currently there 1.04 billion weichat users, among them more than 30 million are corporate users, covering 50 different industries. 

4).Manufacturing Bases / Industry Clusters/ Industry Market
In China, almost each industry has her own industry market, where the buyers, sellers, factories and distributors can meet each other. Industry Market is the best place for businessmen to do market survey, source factories and look for qualified distributors etc in China. The industry market is normally located at the real manufacturing bases, for example, if you’re buying 'fireworks', you can go and source some qualified suppliers at Liuyang International Fireworks Market in Liuyang city, China, where there are hundreds of factories located.

Here is a list of some TOP and best industry markets in China:
Food Industry -- Jiangsu Jiangyin Food Market 
Website: www.jiangyinshipin.com
Food Industry -- Cixi Zhouxiang Food and Groceries Wholesale Market 
Website: www.cixishipin.com
Food Industry -- Zhejiang Jiashan Business Centre
Website: www.jssc.zj.cn
Seafood Industry -- Zhoushan International Aquatic Products City
Website: www.cfm.com.cn
Vegetable Industry -- Shandong Shouguang Vegetable Market
Website: www.sgvbot.com  or www.vegnet.com.cn
Agricultural Product Industry -- Changzhou Lingjiatang Market
Website: www.ljt.cn
Fruit Industry  -- China Fruit Wholesale Market
Website: www.cnfruit.com  or  www.guo68.com  www.agrosg.com
Agricultural Product Industry -- Zhangjiagang Qingcaoxiang Market
Website: www.zjgqcx.com
Foodstuff Industry -- Jiangxi Jiujiang South China Cereal Trade Market
Website: www.cereal.com.cn  or  www.chinagrain.gov.cn
Foodstuff Industry -- Zhengzhou Grain Wholesale Market
Website: www.czgm.com

For more China industry market information, please contact STIN sourcing team for details.
5).Customs Data
The suppliers sourced at 'Customs Data’are mostly very qualified as they already did the right business with their clients worldwide. Say, with a right keyword, you can easily find out the top 100 exporters for agricultural-products in China. You have to buy 'customs data' in China sometimes. NO free data is available at my end.

Copyright: STIN Sourcing Team (www.chinabizservices.com) 

How to Find a Good China Buying Office, Sourcing Agent or Purchasing Agent

A good Buying Office, Sourcing Agent or Purchasing Agent plays a very important role in doing safe and smooth business in China, especially when you're placing a large order: Sourcing and Verifying qualified suppliers, Quality Control, Loading Process Supervision, Warehousing, Shipping Support, Business Risk Control, Legal Contract Support and After-sale service etc. However, It is NOT easy to find a right one. If you don’t make an informed decision when selecting a buying office or purchasing agent you might end up losing a lot more than the commission or service fee.

What is a purchasing agent and why do I need one?

A purchasing agent could be an individual, a group of team or a company, helping companies overseas to import from China. So sometimes buying office service can also refer to 'purchasing agent', Buying Office service will be supported by a team of experts in each field: sourcing, verification, procurement, quality control, business risk control etc. A good agent can be an extremely valuable asset in your overall product procurement strategy. Here are the main services offered by your qualified ‘buying office’ or ‘purchasing agent’ in China:  

I. Keeping finding new products and suppliers.

II. Verify, inspect or audit existing suppliers.

III. Price negotiations and Supply Chain Management

IV. Draft formal Purchase Contract (Business Risk Control)

V. Quality Control Management

VI. Shipping Supp ort and Loading Process Supervision

VII.Customs Clearance Support

VIII.Offer After-sale Service

Dealing with Chinese suppliers is very time consuming. Working with a qualified Buying Office or Purchasing Agent can save you much time, cost and energy etc in China. For example, 90% of the suppliers you met online or at local trade fairs might be a typical trade company while the local sourcing specialists can go to the real manufacturing bases to find out some qualified factories for you in person. Apparently the factory price is much more competitive than that of the trader’s anywhere on the globe, by this way you can save more cost in the business. 

How to choose a right buying office or purchasing agent from China?

I. Ask them for at least 3 client references from your country or area.
Check them out before any cooperation. Trust is very important, especially for long term cooperation. 

II.Choose a right buying office or purchasing agent who is near to the manufacturing base ( industry cluster) of your industry. 

In China, almost every city has their pillar industry and each product has one or several manufacturing bases. Say, if you're buying Fireworks, you can simply go to Liuyang city, which is called 'Home of Fireworks' or 'Capital of Fireworks', where there are more than 400,000 people directly or indirectly engaging in this business in China. 'Liuyang-made' fireworks account for 70% of China market and 50% of global market at present. Another two famous manufacturing bases for this product is Liling, Hunan and Wanzai, Jiangxi, these three manufacturing bases are near to each other. This is the same situation to most of the products in China. Your agent’s proximity to a certain industrial cluster can certainly help out when things go wrong during production. It may also cut traveling and transportation costs.

III.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. 

IV. Ask them for the measures on how to avoid ‘kickbacks’ from the suppliers. 

When you are working with a small buying office, especially for individual purchasing agent, they may choose the supplier based on the kickback amount and will not protect the client’s interests in China. This is a problem of management issue. It is very hard to eradicate ‘kickback’ but if some well-known ‘buying office’ may have lot of experience in avoiding it. 

V. Ask them enough professional questions regarding the coming orders in China.

Many sourcing agents are also lacking expertise about product safety regulations in overseas markets. Working with a buying office or procurement agent lacking such knowledge is a serious liability. Keep in mind that in the end, you are going to be held financially responsible if your products turn out to be non-compliant with the relevant standards. Importing from China can be a completely different story depending on the product. Certain products are very complicated (i.e. machinery ) while others a fairly easy to get right (i.e. indoor furniture). Hiring the a purchasing and procurement agent with the right product knowledge is critical and can make the difference between a successful business transaction and complete disaster.

If they are able to satisfy you from above five aspects and if they are familiar with the manufacturing bases in China, then you can feel assured to work with them in China. STIN Buying Office service has served more than 2000 clients from over 80 countries and areas on the globe so far. You can have a look at their website for details:  www.chinabizservices.com   You can also watch their services online:  http://youtu.be/IaoSngoycIo