Almost everyone importing from China gets a bad order at some point. The difference between people who keep importing and people who stop is usually not luck — it is a handful of checks made before any money moved.
Know whether you are talking to a factory or a trader
Neither is bad. A trader can be genuinely useful for small orders across several products. But you should know which you are dealing with, because a trader quoting factory prices is quoting somebody else's prices and will make the difference back somewhere you cannot see.
Ask what else they make. A factory makes a narrow range extremely well. A trader will offer you shoes, kettles and phone cases from the same catalogue.
Always buy a sample first
A sample costs a fraction of an order and tells you what photographs cannot: the weight of the fabric, the smell of the plastic, whether the stitching survives being pulled. If a supplier will not send one, that is your answer.
Three warning signs
- A price far below everyone else. In a market as competitive as Guangzhou, a price nobody else can match usually means goods nobody else would sell.
- Pressure to pay to a personal account rather than a company one. Payment outside the platform is payment with no recourse.
- Answers that do not match the question. Ask about material composition; if you get pictures back, ask again.
Have someone look before it ships
We inspect cargo at our Guangzhou warehouse and photograph it. It is far cheaper to reject something in China than to discover it in Dar es Salaam, where your options are to accept it or to have paid freight on goods you cannot sell.
