China Sourcing Scams are something that every entrepreneur is afraid of. With decades of manufacturing experience, China is the leading market for sourcing products. While there are many good suppliers that can provide you excellent quality for a more than fair price, like always, there also exist black sheep that want to make profit from unsuspecting buyers. Of course the best victims are the uninformed buyers, so make sure to do research and follow some guidelines, to avoid getting scammed yourself. Here are 5 steps listed for you to circumvent China sourcing scams.
Verify the manufacturer
Looking for a supplier through online platforms is a potential way of sourcing. Those platforms will provide you with a list of thousands of possible suppliers to choose from. It’s important to therefore look for an official platform that is trustworthy and provides you with reliable information. The difficulty now is to find a verified, legitimate supplier that matches your expectations.
Fly to China
Deciding for a supplier from thousands of miles away is not impossible, but definitely not the smartest thing to do. While a flight to China may not be the cheapest option, we can say from our experience at China 2 West, that this will pay off in the end. To increase cost-effectiveness, you can choose several suppliers to visit during your time in China, to be able to make the right choice of supplier.
Visit sourcing trade shows
There are events for buyers willing to source from China that function as platforms for bringing supplier and buyer together. The advantages of these trade shows are the compressed amount of suppliers in one spot and the possibility to get to know the supplier face to face before investing time and money in anything. It’s also a great opportunity for networking, which is an important part of doing business in China.
Choose an official payment gateway
Something that should set alarm bells ringing is the supplier’s use of a private or individual bank account. You want to make sure that the manufacturer’s business is legitimate and that he’s not somehow trying to get around tax restrictions. To avoid any illegal deals, make sure to check if the payment gateway is official and that the supplier is properly following the procedures.
Conduct quality control
Be aware that quality’s not automatically staying constant. The quality should be checked regularly, while production, as well as afterwards. It makes sense to have somebody on site to control the consistency of quality. This representative should of course be selected carefully and be selected by yourself and not the supplier. An agency is a good option for ensuring quality control.