It’s a good way to find a sourcing agent to help you for importing from China, especially when you are new to your importing business. What can a sourcing agent do for you? What is China sourcing agent fees? Below are some key aspects:

1. Services

Sourcing agents offer a catalog of services for you. Agents and traders charge you for just the facilitation of a manufacturer relationship. Sourcing agent fees is charged with a more holistic, service-based approach to your procurement.

2. Cost-Efficient

Sourcing agent fees is usually not a percentage based on unit quantity. Rather, sourcing agents usually cost a flat fee per product (not per unit). These flat fees help you better calculate your monthly costs for sourcing with little variation. This flat fee is also a lower-cost option overall, allowing you to maintain your margins and revenue.

3. Transparency

You have control over your own supply chain. You are the final decision-maker and you have visibility to every process, cost, and partner. This transparency helps maintain seller security and control.

Only through supply chain transparency can you ensure consistently streamlined operations towards

scalability. Procurement transparency is the best way to protect your business.

4. Resources

Sourcing agents spend day-in and day-out working on procurement. They have access to credible, quality suppliers and shipping partners. They know the industry regulations, and they have the skills for negotiation and contracting.

Firms also have more individuals at their disposal. This means you have a team of experienced

professionals in a variety of areas to give you advice and information. There’s no greater asset for your Amazon business than a crew of knowledgeable sourcing partners.

5. Time-Efficient

This sourcing agent team not only provides you with top-notch procurement partners, but it also frees up time for you to focus on marketing and selling. You can hire the firm to take care of sourcing from A to Z, and they have the resources to get the process done quickly and efficiently. You don’t have to learn the industry yourself or build your own networks and connections.

They can source and handle the back-end logistics swiftly and effectively, while you have more time to focus on growing the front-end of your business.

6. Product Consultation

One of the greatest services of a sourcing firm is product consultation. You don’t have to select a product all on your own and hope that the inventory you purchase will sell. Sourcing firms usually offer a catalog of potential products that are trending or high sell-through. This can be a great starting point if you don’t have customer data or product analysis.

7. Supplier Assessment

Agents can help you find suppliers, but those suppliers often pay them to get business. Agents get

commissions from the factory to bring them clients. Agents are, in a way, salespeople for the

manufacturer.

8. Disputes

This also means that agent is responsible to you for contract agreements, price negotiations, and claims disputes. A sourcing agent is on your side to create win-win-win solutions throughout the procurement process.

9. In-Person Inspection

Sourcing firms are often global, so they’ll have a team on the ground overseas. This helps build face-to-face relationships with suppliers to avoid scams and promote quality control processes. This allows for in-person inspections and ensures social compliance.

Plus, the greater your relationship with your manufacturer, the better your chance of reduced costs and speedy lead times. A sourcing agent is the simplest, strongest way to build these vital seller-supplier relationships across seas and borders.

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Elksourcing：How to Overcome Language Barriers in Global Sourcing?

Apr 11, 2021 Elksourcing, language by 露露

Globally sourcing your company’s products can improve your productivity, efficiency and bottom line, but sometimes language barriers can get in the way. From simple miscommunications to cultural gaffes, language barriers can cause international business relationships to grind to a halt.

It’s important to have a strategy in place to mitigate language issues before they cause serious problems. So, here’s a closer look at strategies that can help overcome language barriers with your global sourcing partners:

1. Translate all critical documents into the local language.
Before embarking on a business partnership, it’s important to consider the basic documents that will outline and guide the relationship. Examples of critical documents include legal contracts, sourcing guidelines, company and background information, and operating agreements. Translate these documents into the local language to ensure that both members of a partnership get off to a good start. It gives everyone involved a clear frame of reference. Any point of confusion or disagreement can refer back to these original core documents.

2. Utilize multiple channels for communication.
One of the most effective strategies for overcoming language barriers is creating redundant systems. Don’t rely on a single source of communication to handle important conversations. Follow up conference calls or Skype discussions with summary emails that outline the major takeaways. Email exchanges are easier to track than phone and in-person meetings, but written communications also should be supplemented with other points of contact. Even simply hearing a colleague’s voice helps to build strong relationships.

3. Partner with sourcing firms that have language capabilities.
When you’re selecting your global sourcing partner, choose a firm that has language and translation capabilities. The right partner will be able to navigate your sourcing market with conversational fluency, but also be able to translate written documents as part of the process. The best firms offer this support to clients as part of the ongoing relationship, and can provide premium support at a reasonable price when special translation needs arise.

If you’re contemplating launching a global sourcing initiative, we can help. Contact us to discuss your business, your sourcing goals and how our services can make it easier to navigate the process today.

How To Import From China

Elksourcing：How to Communicate with Potential Suppliers?

Apr 11, 2021 Elksourcing, supplier by 露露

If properly managed, sourcing from China can bring good profits, however, it’s crucial to work with good suppliers, or the whole business could be a disaster. This is a tricky process. In this article, we will advise you how to identify and communicate with potential suppliers.

1. Drawing your ideal supplier profile

Ask yourself a few questions:

Do you need a supplier with strong engineering capabilities (to develop new products)?

Do you need them to have a wide range of designs that you can choose from?

Do you want them to focus on low cost? Or on high quality?

How big should they be? This is a very important criterion. If your orders are not big enough (over 20K pcs per order), you might need to work with a sourcing company that will place your orders in a medium sized factory and follow production closely.

2. Go to online B2B directories and/or trade shows

If you can get the opportunity to go to a trade show (Canton Fair, HK Sourcing Fairs, and so on) that deals with your product category, go there. Ask a few open questions, the objective here is to eliminate any supplier that doesn’t fit with your ideal profile.

If you can’t physically get to a trade show, you will need to use B2B directories. Beware! They function like the yellow pages (suppliers who pay more, get their products featured more prominently). There is not as much effort to avoid listing bad apples as you might think.

Make sure you look at the information inside the profiles, to target only those suppliers that correspond to your ideal profile.

3. Motivate potential suppliers to respond to you

Most suppliers get too many inquiries and need to choose which ones they respond to. Here are a few tips to get their attention.

The first message should be short, less than 8 lines if possible (including the product description), and with a VERY CLEAR call to action (“get back to me if you want more information about our needs”).

If you have a product specification sheet, share it with them and get their feedback. You should expect them to ask questions about manufacturing, like material specification or, if they don’t accept your tolerances, etc., if they say, “it’s fine”, this is not always a good sign.

And then… Follow up fast in responding to their questions, and finalize your screening process within 5 days. After that, your inquiry, in their eyes, will have gone cold.

If possible, call them (most of them have a Skype account — it allows you to make calls for free if both parties are connected). Show that you are a real businessman and that you are investing your time to get to know them.

How To Import From China

Elksourcing：Managing Risks on Importing Goods from China

Apr 11, 2021 Elksourcing, importing goods by 露露

As China becomes more and more as “manufacturing hub of the world”, its manufacturing costs are low in comparison to other places in the world. This has attracted a large number of business people get into the Chinese markets as they opt to import goods and reduce their productions costs, hence gain a competitive advantage over other businesses.

Another advantage has been obtaining high quality products especially for businesses dealing with suppliers who are keen on quality control. While this can be a highly profitable, it may not always be rosy as your business may face a number of challenges and risks that may inversely affect your Return on Investment.

As a business owner while importing goods from China, you may run into a risk of receiving poor quality goods with limited options of sending them back to the seller or improving them locally. This results in financial losses due to costs associated with shipping them back. Sending them back also becomes complicated since you have to make payments before the goods are shipped out. Just like any other shipping business, your products could get damaged or lost while in transit. This results in losses and inconveniences as you place new orders and get your insurance to deal with the associated costs.

In addition, it could also lead to credibility issues with your buyer’s due to promises made on availability of these products based on your shipping schedule. You also run the risk of dealing with spam sellers who are only interested in receiving your money and not shipping your merchandise. Other than these risks there are also other issues that one needs to be aware of such as litigation issues and choosing the right suppliers.

While these risks and issues are real and could appear complicated, there are many success stories on importing goods from China. Yours can become one too if you understand a number of things that can help you to avoid falling into pitfalls associated with all the horror stories you may have heard.

Here are 8 tips on importing goods, that can save your business time and money.

1. Plan your import objectives

2. Familiarize with all rules and regulations

3. Choose reputable Chinese suppliers

4. Negotiate the right deal

5. Have a clear contract in place

6. Understand all commodity codes

7. Acquire an import license

8. Be conversant with taxes and duties on imports.

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Elksourcing：Common Mistakes Many Exporters Make

Apr 11, 2021 Elksourcing, exporters by 露露

Below are some of the common mistakes many exporters make, as well as ways in which you should avoid them.

1. Expanding to too large of a geographic area

Every country has its unique personality, and those personalities are comprised from millions of people in that country. However, every country is comprised of smaller communities, whether they’re states, provinces, villages, towns, and neighborhoods. Each of these subsets represent a microcosm of the whole. Failure to understand that each region of a country has its own tastes and needs is a surefire way to exporting failure.

2. Selecting the Wrong Overseas Partners and Distributors

Just as you need to be careful not to grow too quickly and too “generically” when first starting out your export business, it is critical to your future and continued success that you find overseas partners and distributors that align with your company’s goals and values. This is where many organizations fail before they have even really begun.

You need to be on the ground and meeting potential partners and distributors. Do they understand your product or service? How do they see your product or service succeeding locally? Interview them like you would for any important position in your domestic office. Once you have found the right fit, treat them well. This means both financially as well as staying in touch, answering any questions, and letting them know that they have your support and trust.

3. Not Giving it 100% commitment

If you or anyone in a position of leadership on your team is not ready and willing to give your expanding export business 100% support, you will fail. You need complete buy-in from key stakeholders if this is going to work. Why? Because if your CFO isn’t on board, they won’t want to pay your carefully selected overseas partner the wage they need to be successful or they won’t support paying a bit more for a quality supplier overseas.

4. Not Adapting things from “Home”

One of the reasons you may be looking to begin exporting internationally is because business is good at home, and, naturally, you’d like to replicate that success elsewhere. This is one area, however, where many people fall far short of their expectations. It is important at this moment to consider the things that have made your operations successful up to this point. Where are you located? What’s the geography? The socioeconomic situation of your clients? What are their values? You probably know the answer to these questions, and that is great. However, what is the market like in the market you’re looking to expand to?

5. Not Meeting Local Regulations

Nothing can shut down operations faster than operating outside the boundaries of local rules and regulations. Research the barriers to entry, permits, licenses, etc. that you may need in your new locality before you set up shop. Local municipalities may levy significant fines until you come up to compliance, may shut you down until you comply, or both.

If you’re not sure what regulations need to be followed, find someone in your target market who is well-versed in the local business culture. They often know what rules need to be followed and can put you in touch with the necessary departments and bureaus.

6. Ignoring New Market when Things are good (or bad) at Home

It is very common for companies to ignore their international wings of the business when things are going well at home. Increased revenues and increased profits lead many business leaders to reinvest that capital back into the domestic business. While this is being necessarily a bad thing, doing so at the cost of ignoring your international offices can have serious effects. You can lose foothold in a key location; officers in your export market may feel underappreciated and leave; or the business will completely dry up.

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Elksourcing：Steps to Prevent Product Defects with A New Supplier

Apr 11, 2021 Elksourcing, sourcing by 露露

The best defense against quality defects is prevention. And the most crucial time to prevent product defects is when beginning your sourcing journey, as you filter potential suppliers. Let’s look at the various steps you can take at the start of your relationship with a new supplier to limit your chances of finding unacceptable quality defects later.

1. How to prevent product defects when negotiating with suppliers?

Nearly every importer has had to deal with product defects in their shipments at one time or another. Defects are an inescapable reality of manufacturing—no factory is perfect of the time. But that doesn’t mean you should resign yourself to poor quality products from your suppliers. Preventing a quality defect when first beginning the supplier relationship is almost always far easier and cheaper than trying to correct it after it appears.

When it comes to factories’ production capabilities in Asia, not all factories are created equal. Some factories are high-tech powerhouses on par with innovative manufacturers in Germany or the United States. Others are small and simple operations that may rely on sub-suppliers to manufacture most parts of your product. Every importer’s manufacturing needs are different. But regardless of your own quality standards, it’s essential to begin the conversation about your expectations before choosing to work with any particular supplier.

2. Be upfront about order volume

Importers sometimes promise large and frequent orders when searching for prospective suppliers, even when they have no intention of following through on that promise. They often think this overpromising will convince suppliers to work with them, offer more competitive pricing or pay more attention to their product quality over that of other buyers.

But in truth, this kind of misleading doesn’t set a good foundation for a strong relationship between the factory and buyer. Suppliers hear overpromising all the time. Most receive countless requests from importers who paint an optimistic picture of a steady flow of business for them. And for the suppliers who believe you, your early dishonesty will likely hurt your supplier relationship. That supplier is more likely to deceive you about their own deliverables and their willingness and ability to meet your quality requirements.

Rather than just telling the factory what you suspect they want to hear, suppliers usually appreciate it if you’re upfront about your order volume from the. Honesty tends to be reciprocated in supplier relationships, and this honesty typically extends to the quality of your product.

3. Don’t haggle too hard on price with suppliers

One of the main deciding factors for most importers’ in choosing a supplier to manufacture their product abroad is cost. They want lower production costs offering higher profit margins. And importers have come to expect lower costs, especially lower wages, in many Asian countries. But if you expect higher quality products, you have to be willing to pay for them.

When haggling on pricing with your supplier, tunnel vision can be your worst enemy. Focusing on getting the lowest price can have severe implications for your order’s overall quality. Suppliers need to make money too. And your supplier needs a decent profit margin to continue operating. If you push for a low price, they’ll need to make cuts somewhere to ensure those margins are healthy enough.

4. Offer suppliers a target price to set your standards early

One way you can avoid the challenges posed by trying to balance quality and price is by offering suppliers a target price directly. Some importers think this will hinder their opportunities to reach a lower price. But a target price actually helps you to set expectations from the very beginning regarding product quality and requirements. The price you mention should reflect the quality of input materials and components you want and will helps prevent suppliers from cutting corners with product quality.

If you’re unsure of the appropriate price for your order, you can use several methods to get an idea as to what is acceptable to pay.

When you’re honest about your order volume and desired price, you might actually find a supplier that refuses your business. This might seem like a huge step back in your sourcing process, but it could actually be a sign of an honest supplier that knows they probably can’t meet your standards. And that allows you to find another supplier that can actually provide what you want at your desired price and quality level.

5. Auditing a prospective supplier’s factory to avoid quality problems

Auditing a prospective supplier’s factory is often the final step in deciding on a sourcing partner. There are many types of audits that provide the importer with a variety of insights into a factory’s operations. For example, factory quality audits ensure quality system are well managed for the production. And social compliance audits help you confirm whether a factory complies with local labor laws.

Conclusion

Preventing product defects through negotiating with suppliers saves importers a tremendous amount of time and money in trying to fix these issues after production. But preventing defects shouldn’t be a one-time process you only consider when first choosing a supplier.

In following these steps during the sourcing process, you can also avoid mistakes that are damaging to your relationship with your supplier. You can continuously build on a strong supplier relationship to set high quality standards for your product and minimize quality defects over time. And with higher product quality, you can boost your reputation with your customers and set your business apart from manufacturers who fail to comprehensively monitor product quality.

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Elksourcing：How to Minimize Quality Fade during China Sourcing?

Apr 11, 2021 Elksourcing, quality by 露露

When you’re manufacturing in China, it’s easy to turn your attention away from suppliers and settle into complacency. But the eventual consequence is often product returns, due to what’s called quality fade. From critical issues to small and innocuous ones, quality fade can lead to problems in any importer’s supply chain.

What is “quality fade”?

Quality fade is a gradual decline in product quality over time. In most cases, for any given product, customers aren’t likely to notice a small decline in quality from one shipment to the next. But when comparing units over a longer stretch of time, like from one year to the next, the drop in quality is more obvious.

Many experienced importers have their own horror stories about frustrating instances of quality fade. Maybe you’re a long-time dress shoe importer who starts receiving more and more reports of your shoes creasing or showing other signs of wear after minimal use. Or maybe you import jewelry and find the purity of silver in your charm bracelets has diminished over time.

Typically, quality fade starts when an immediate supplier or sub-supplier deliberately uses a lower quality material or component than initially agreed upon. The overall product might look generally the same, but suddenly you start noticing issues with a particular aspect of the product.

Why does quality fade happen to importers?

As in any business, suppliers are always looking for ways to grow margins. Many suppliers would rather cut internal costs than raise their prices and risk losing customers. Using lower-cost components and materials in production is a common way they can cut costs. Not surprisingly, trading premium components and materials for cheaper ones often comes with an equal tradeoff in quality.

What you can do to minimize quality fade in your products

Quality fade can seem like an ironic cruel twist of fate. Setting quality standards for your products can be hard enough when first vetting suppliers.

1. Maintain a current QC checklist for your product

A well maintained and up-to-date QC checklist for your product is one of the key documents for any importer in preventing quality fade. A QC checklist serves two primary purposes, including: outlining the quality standards and product requirements that the supplier needs to meet during production; and providing an objective standard for QC staff to check your product during inspection.

2. Routinely inspect goods before shipment

Routine inspections are one of the best ways to catch defects ahead of shipment and verify product quality. Whether you’re using a third-party QC company, full time inspection personnel or you’re traveling to inspect personally, pre-shipment inspections safeguard you and your customers against receiving substandard products.

3. Check raw materials with incoming quality control

If you’ve had issues with raw materials or components in prior shipments, you might want to consider incoming quality control (IQC). During incoming quality control, inspectors check raw materials or components prior to mass production through pre-production inspection or lab testing.

4. Lab testing to check composition, performance and safety of product

Lab testing is sometimes the only definite way to verify the composition, safety and performance of materials and parts used in your product. Product inspectors can check materials by sight and feel on-site at your factory.

5. Establish accountability for failure to meet quality expectations

Lastly, the link that holds together all of the systems set up to catch potential quality fade is accountability. It’s vital to establish accountability for quality issues to encourage factories to meet your standards, as well as protect your business if issues arise.

Conclusion

No importer is safe from quality issues in their product, nor disagreements with their supplier. No matter how long you’ve been importing, you should always provide clear and objective specifications for your product and continually compare your supplier’s production to that standard.

Always remember that you usually receive the quality you pay for. It’s very difficult to get high product quality at a dirt-cheap price. So, it could be worthwhile to pay a slightly higher price if it will safeguard your relationship with a supplier and dissuade them from taking quality short cuts.

When quality fade hits you, it can catch your business and your customers off guard and cause mass product returns and recalls. However, with continual attention to detail, you can stay ahead of your supplier and catch quality issues before they reach your customers. And with clear communication on accountability, hopefully, you can incentivize your supplier against cutting corners again without your consent.

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Elksourcing：Quality Mistakes for Importers of Consumer Products

Apr 11, 2021 Elksourcing, quality by 露露

As an importer, quality issues with your product can be the downfall of your business, even if you have a great product idea, a competitive marketing strategy and an enthusiastic customer base. They can lead to product returns, product recalls, bad product reviews and a damaged reputation for your brand. Any of these issues can lead customers to look to your competitors for a similar product instead of buying from you.

1. Omitting quality expectations from supplier negotiations

Would you wait until Christmas Eve to tell your friend you expect them to cook the main course for a Christmas dinner for 10 people? Probably not. So why should you wait to tell your factory about your quality standards until production is already underway for an order of hundreds or even thousands of units? The most successful importers outline their quality standards in the negotiation phase when they’re choosing suppliers. This means before they set a price, place their order and issue a purchase order.

1). Set a price that reflects your desired quality level

The old saying, “you get what you pay for” applies to working with overseas factories just as it does any other situation. A low price usually corresponds with lower product quality.

2). Ensure quality requirements are reasonable and feasible for your supplier

Setting an unreasonably low price for your order is one concern. Another is setting unreasonably high standards for your supplier. For example, a rookie furniture importer might expect their finished goods to have zero quality defects, which is virtually unheard of for consumer products, let alone furniture.

3). Set expectations for accountability to pre-shipment inspection results

Some importers place an order with a supplier and then announce later during production that they want pre-shipment inspection. This can create problems if the supplier resists your requests for inspection, which is more likely when hiring an independent third party to inspect.

2. Proceeding with mass production without first reviewing and approving a product sample

Product samples, sometimes referred to as “golden” samples, can be invaluable in ensuring your supplier understands your requirements. They reflect your supplier’s understanding of what you want, so they’re a great way to ensure your product requirements are clear.

1). Identify quality defects in product samples before production

Ideally, there should be zero quality issues in your golden sample. Golden samples are intended to be near-perfect representations of your desired product. They should be comparison models that factory staff and inspectors can check against production units for conformance to your requirements.

2). Clarify product requirements with a product sample to avoid further misunderstandings

Don’t assume factory staff will immediately understand your written specifications in a PO or quality document. Sometimes a misunderstanding can pop up where you never expected due to a language or cultural barrier.

3. Forgoing quality inspection before shipment

Quality inspection is one of your best options for catching quality issues before your products are loaded onto a ship. If you wait to address product defects after receiving your shipment, you could be stuck with thousands of dollars’ worth of unsellable goods. Whereas you can save significant money in wasted product by inspecting your goods and finding and addressing any problems before shipping.

Hire inspectors that put your interests first. A pre-shipment inspection is the bare minimum for importers in the consumer goods industry who want to compete in their market with quality goods. In contrast to internal QC, external inspectors can use your QC documents to check your products according to your standards and report on all quality issues found in the inspected sample.

4. Using outdated QC documents as a guide for production and inspection

Have you ever heard the popular saying, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”?

When quality problems repeatedly slip through inspection, it’s often because factory and inspection staff continue to refer to the same outdated QC documents. You can’t just assume your supplier will adjust production processes or quality standards based on previous orders. Instead, you’ll need to continually update QC documents to reflect any known quality issues and changes to your product.

Conclusion

If you’re waiting to discuss your quality standards with your suppliers until production begins, you might already be fighting a losing battle. And if you wait to fix issues when you find quality defects after production is finished, you’re already playing catch up. But worst of all, if you wait to address quality issues after you receive defective goods, any corrective actions will likely be difficult and very expensive.

Elksourcing：What Can a Sourcing Agent Do for You?