Hi JonO,
Thanks for pointing the typo out to me, thats being fixed as I type this, cant belive I didnt spot it and that the bloody spell check didnt pick it up!
All the suppliers that I have catalogues and contact details for have been vetted in house, a vast majority of them I have visited at some point, some I have been introduced to but all are big players and not agents etc.
We do not use any third party information at all as even the most reliable info can be wrong and I am not the kind to promise something unless I personally know I can deliver and if I am going on someone else's word if they **** up its my reputation on the line so unless its checked in house we dont bother with it.
If we deal with a supplier then it is normal practice to go and see their operation in person, we make sure that we only ever pay small amounts in incremental stages and monitor production during the stages, regardless of if we have never traded with the supplier before or if we have traded with the supplier for the last 10 years, we do not take a chance with our money or that of our clients, its simply not worth taking the risk in our eyes.
The regions where your product is coming out of is not somewhere we have traded before, I can assist with most issues if they occur in: Shunde, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Donguan, but please bear in mind China is a massive country and getting to places is not easy at the best of times.
For a professional verification we use SGS they are known, trusted and anyone with any serious intention of doing business with china will have been to see SGS at some point in time (including myself).
You can address emails to me or you can get me direct on:
khalid@theimporter.co.uk
Glad that some of the info has been of use to you, I think you have done your homework too and fingers crossed all should go well, if it does kick off into something big it may be worth meeting up at some point and discussing shipping by the container.
Best Regards
Khalid