My Two Yuan on China and Supplier Verification
China is the world's leading manufacturer of consumer goods, with a large pool of cheap labour. The average worker earns a mere £1000 a year. Many factory workers will earn much less.
Similar to Indian this has encouraged many Chinese, to be entrepreneurial making their money by working hard and by offering cheap, good-quality goods to the Western World.
99% of the world's top Brand names will have providers in China. Many British companies have had to close their factory doors - they just can't compete with the cheap labour China provides.
However, there is a price to pay. For every successful businessman, there is a 'Scammer'.
China has more scammers than any other country in the world. China is a vast country; and it is very people to hide their indentity and become anonymous.
Scammers tend to be very cunning. They will lure in potential customers offering cheap Brand name goods. Many consumers are greedy; if they see a good deal, they will pounce upon it. They will play on the greed of the consumer and offer a certain product at a 'great' price. They may also tell the customer that the 'offer' ends very soon. This puts a subtle pressure on the consumer - they will feel compelled to buy the product.
The Scammer will encourage the customer to pay via Western Union; as it is very hard to track money via Western Union.Once the customer has paid his money, he will never here from the scammer again. He will disappear and do 'business' under another name. In many respects, he is completely untouchable.
Having a reputation for the manufacture of products is both a blessing and a curse for China. Consumers think
''Oh, the Iphone is made in China, so surely I can contact the manufacturer and buy them direct at a very cheap price ?''. This is a popular misconception. The reality is, you cannot buy branded goods from China.
Ask yourself - ''Do you think Sony would allow some dodgy bloke to sell their products for half the legitimate value ? Do you think they would trust a small wholesaler in China to distribute their products to consumers ?'' In short,
no.
To buy Branded goods at wholesale prices, you must contact an authorised distributor of the products you're after.
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Finding potential suppliers is relatively easy these days. You have hundreds of suppliers at your fingertips in the form of the Internet. Alibaba.com, Made-In-China.com, and Globalsources.com are three of the largest B2B (Business-to-Business) sites.
Alibaba is the biggest; Globalsources is the safest.
For example you were looking to buy 100,000 drinking straws, you would undertake the following steps.
To begin with, you would visit one of the B2B sites as shown above, and type
drinking straws into the searchbox.
(There are, at present 639 suppliers offering drinking straws on Alibaba.) From there, you would browse through the suppliers and make a decision as to which suppliers are best for you
(N.B. The vast majority of suppliers will not quote the actual price of the products they're selling in the listing; you will have to contact them to receive a quote).
It is best to contact several different suppliers, and decide which one you wish to deal with
after they provide a quotation.
The next step, is to undertake relative checks on the suppliers. This can be progressed in several different ways. If you were searching for (verified) suppliers on Globalsources, the checks you would have to do would be minimal. The great thing about Globalsources is that all the checks are done for you. Unfortunately, this means that Globalsources doesn't have the same volume of suppliers as Alibaba.
If you were buying through Alibaba or Made-In-China, there are several checks I would recommend:
You should cross-reference the details given on the page. If they have a website, this is relatively easy. You just enter the webpage name into a Whois site and see if it matches the address given on the website. If it doesn't match, I would advise you to terminate any possible dealings with the company. An example of a Whois site would be raynette.fr.
Ask for proof of stock photos (with a picture of todays Newspaper and your name on a piece of card). You have to be careful though; these can potentially be faked.
You can also ask for references from other buyers. Always speak to the 'referees' via the phone, as email addresses are not always reliable.
You can send a 'scout' to view their factory. This service is offered by Cbeebies (a member here). You would send her a small fee and she would send somebody out to check the factory and the legitimacy of the supplier.
You can potentially visit China and view the factory for yourself. I would advise you only do this if it is a very profitable product, and if you wish to have an on-going supply.
If you are still worried; create a thread on the forum questioning the legitimacy of the supplier. There are some members who could advise you as to whether the company is legitimate or not. Canada (Scott) for one is a budding detective . !!!
Above all, you have to use your common sense. If something doesn't seem right, it's to best move on.
If something looks too good to be true, it probably is.
China offers vast potential if used properly. Use it to your advantage, and you can make a lot of money.
Good luck, and remember my golden rule:
''You cannot buy Branded goods from China''.
My Two Yaun on China and Supplier Verification
Linear Mode
November 2008
