Tell you about China Sourcing Agent
The local purchasing team, helps buyers who have never been to China to purchase products from Chinese manufacturers easily and efficiently.
1.What is a sourcing agent in China?
A China sourcing agent is an individual or a company. Usually, they are Chinese and have lived in China for a long time. They are familiar with Chinese products and the latest company information. They can find many Chinese products and Chinese suppliers in a short time, and quickly screen high-quality products and reliable suppliers, just like you familiar with your own country.
China sourcing agent helps purchasing companies in various countries purchase goods from China. Usually, a purchasing agent is the purchasing representative of the purchaser in China, and its main task is to be responsible for the designated/all purchasing work of the purchaser in China. It allows a person or company who has no experience in purchasing from Chinese factories, does not understand Chinese, and has never been to China to easily find so many Chinese manufacturers/Chinese suppliers.
2.How They Work? What services do sourcing agents provide mostly?
First, let’s look at the operation mode of the purchasing agent. As shown below:
China Sourcing Agent Purchasing Process:
Step 1: Buyers and Sourcing agent start cooperation
Step 2: Buyer sends the purchasing requirements to the sourcing agent: product name, photo, specification, quantity, purpose, etc.
Step 3: Sourcing agent looks for corresponding Chinese suppliers/Chinese manufacturers and obtain basic information on pre-purchased products.
Step 4: Buyer confirms whether the product the sourcing agent is looking for meets the needs. If confirmed, the sourcing agent obtains the quotation, transaction model, stocking cycle, etc. from the supplier.
Step 5: After negotiation, the sourcing agent helps the buyer to purchase products and arrange logistics, transportation, etc.
As you can see, sourcing agent finds suitable suppliers for buyers and evaluate them to ensure that the supplier’s quality, reputation, price and delivery capabilities meet customer needs. After purchasing, sourcing agent manage the order to ensure that the order is accurate and delivered you country on time. Before shipping, conduct quality inspection and control of the products produced by the supplier to ensure that the product quality meets customer requirements.
Sourcing agent can also coordinate transportation and logistics to ensure that the products are safely and on time transported to the destination specified by the customer. When exporting from China, they handle import and export related affairs. They handle the procedures and documents related to import and export, such as customs declaration, inspection, taxation, licenses, etc., to ensure smooth customs clearance of goods.
After buyers receiving the goods, sourcing agent help buyers with after-sales service, such as handling returns, refunds, exchanges, etc., and promptly solve problems encountered by customers during the procurement process.
3. How do you buy directly from China suppliers?
If you are familiar with China, have been stay there many times, and are fluent in Chinese, you can also try to contact Chinese manufacturers yourself. You can use online websites to find information about Chinese suppliers, such as google.com, bing.com, Alibaba.com, tradepast.com, or you can fly to China to find factories. Chinese factories usually work from 8 am to 5 pm, or from 9 am to 6 pm, and are closed on weekends and holidays. If you need to purchase directly from Chinese suppliers, you need to clearly express your product requirements, including product name, product use, specifications, etc. Some factories have sales staff who know English, French, Portuguese, Thai and other languages, but many factories have sales staff who only know Chinese. You can try to communicate with them using translation software.
4. Who needs a sourcing agent? Do you need an agent to buy from China?
①who have multiple product categories to deal with, Large retailers, supermarkets
If you need to purchase a variety of goods, it is almost impossible to spend a lot of energy looking for Chinese factories. If the purchase quantity is small, the Chinese factory will not pay attention to your order, but it will pay attention to the Chinese purchasing agent, because their communication is smoother and the cooperation is long-term. He can integrate many small orders into large orders to purchase from the factory.
②Buyers who need customized products
If the order volume is large, the product is complex, custom production or quality control is required, a purchasing agent would be a better choice. As a foreigner who is not familiar with Chinese culture, it will be difficult for Chinese factories to communicate with you, especially when your requirements are not very clear. Chinese factories also prefer to communicate their requirements with Chinese people.
We provide customized solutions to enhance your brand, like logo printing, personalized packaging, and product upgrades for a better look and performance. We also bring your ideas to life with a cost-effective production plan, covering everything from prototyping to final production.
The agency can provide customized solutions to enhance your brand, achieve better appearance and performance. For example, printing your logo, personalized packaging and more. It also turns your ideas into reality through cost-effective production plans, covering everything from product design to final R&D and production.
③ Sellers on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, eBay, and Shopify.
Sellers on these platforms are good at sales. They can focus their work on sales to make more money, rather than spending a lot of energy but not saving too much cost.
④ Small wholesalers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
These companies do not have a dedicated procurement team and are unfamiliar with the Chinese market. They need agents to help find suppliers, negotiate prices, and handle logistics.
⑤ Purchasing managers of large brands or companies
Although some large companies have procurement teams, they may still use procurement agents to reduce costs and improve supply chain efficiency. If large companies build procurement teams locally in China, the cost is very high. China’s office space costs, employee salary costs, travel expenses, etc. are very high, and it is very likely that they will violate Chinese laws due to unfamiliarity with Chinese labor laws, company laws, etc., and the risks and benefits are not proportional. Therefore, large companies are also willing to let Chinese procurement agents help purchase goods.
⑥ Buyers importing from China for the first time
Novice buyers are not familiar with China’s supply chain, language, culture, and regulations, and are more willing to rely on procurement agents to handle all processes. In the history of international trade, there are many cases where novices lost both money and goods because they did not understand the law and did not know the suppliers. In the mildest case, it would lead to the purchaser breaching the contract to its downstream customers and paying compensation. In the worst case, it would even lead to the company going bankrupt or suffering a large number of complaints and lawsuits.
5. How much does a sourcing agent charge in China? How much is a sourcing fee?
Usually, there are two charging modes for sourcing agents. One is to charge a small basic fee first, and then charge a service fee of 5%-10% of the total purchase amount. The other is to charge a service fee of only 5%-10% of the total purchase amount. Each sourcing agent has its own charging standard. Some buyers prefer the first mode, which can get better service. Some buyers prefer the second mode, which can get some sourcing information without spending money even if they have not purchased. But because the second mode does not require buyers to pay fees, agents in the second mode will face a lot of inquiries, and the service quality usually declines seriously.
6. What is the best China sourcing agency?
There are many companies that be agents. If you want to learn about Chinese products and Chinese corporate information, you can go to the Tradepast website, which is a website created by local young people in China to help people from various countries do business with China. Tradepast provides foreign trade agency procurement services, which can help you purchase goods quickly and efficiently. You can contact Tradepast via email, WhatsApp, website, etc.
