Category: Shopify Tutorial

Shopify Tutorial

Elksourcing：I Found a Supplier Online, Is This Supplier Legit?

Apr 5, 2021 , by 露露

I found a supplier online. They look good. But how can I be sure the supplier is legit and will meet my needs? That is by far the most common type of questions asked by your business people who intend to import from China. In this article I will give our readers simple, effective and affordable strategies to answer that essential question.

Verify

Assume the worst until proven otherwise. Must do due diligence.

In the China sourcing industry, when we talk about verifying the legitimacy of a factory we are generally looking at two aspects:

Quality Audit: Does the supplier have the ability to product the products I want to buy?

Due Diligence: Is the company a legitimate business with good reputation and not a scam or business on the verge of bankruptcy?

While Quality Audits and Due Diligence both fall under the category of supplier verification, they are two distinct professions which require radically different skill sets.

Quality Audits require auditors who are trained in ISO and familiar with the tricks of the trade on the production lines of Chinese factories. These auditors go out in the field to visit the factory.

Due Diligence on the other hand requires researchers who are skilled at desk research, data analysis and accounting tricks in China. They conduct interviews by telephone with the company and collect documents & data from the court systems, the real estate manager where the company is located, the media, business associates, banks and the local government office where the factory is based. The subject company is not even aware that they are being investigated, rather they believe they are participating in a general survey on companies in China.

In essence, field research and desk research are two complementary methods. When combined they give the buyer a comprehensive answer to the question “is this supplier legit?”

I sleep better at night when the feedback I get from my Due Diligence (desk research) matches what it coming back from the Quality Audit (field visit to factory). If there are discrepancies, I look a little harder until I am satisfied with the answers.

Factory Quality Audit

This service is designed to ensure the supplier has the equipment and experience to make a given product. Audits can be conducted by the buyer, but usually 3rd party experts are hired to do the audit as it is a specialized skill.

There are various types of QC audits, but most buyers need not spend more than a 300 USD to have a proper assessment done on-site at the factory by a professional 3rd party.

A typical factory quality audit covers the following:

Quality System: on-site visit to confirm if there is a QC system in place. If yes, we’ll give you our general impression of the system.

Factory Profile: official business name, ownership, organization chart, contact details, production line status, production capability and capacity.

Employees and Workforce: overview of HR policies, management style and workers’ situation.

Experience: trade history, client information, available samples, product certificates.

Verification of Documentation: review of licenses and company certificates.

Due Diligence

Due Diligence is an investigation of a business prior to signing a contract to ensure the supplier is who they say they are. There are various levels of due diligence a buyer can conduct. Here are four options:

It doesn’t cost any money for you to ask for references from the seller and contact those references. It’s a very bad sign if the seller can’t give you at least one happy customer to talk to!

www.SupplierBlacklist.com is also free and lists bad suppliers.

For a few 1000 USD, investigators can go undercover to investigate the seller’s business.

For under 500 USD, there are research firms who can access corporate filings, conduct interviews and check the factory for any red flags in China. The reports are in English and easy to follow. A due diligence report should cover the following:

Reputation: How do customers, employees and suppliers view the factory?

Financials: Are the company in sound shape and not likely to close their doors in the middle of your order?

Legal: Do they have any court cases, past or present?

Confirmation of Factory Profile: Does the picture of their business given to you by their sales team and website match the information on record with the local government? This could include: scope of business (trading vs. manufacturing), ownership, size, history, export experience, registered capital and so on.

Due Diligence “Freshness”

Things change fast in China. If key managers leave or the product line is changed, good suppliers can go bad overnight. For example, I met a handbag factory boss who tried to get into electronics with no prior experiences simply because they thought the margin would be better!

Speaking of margins, as a rule they are very tight in China. This means most businesses cannot withstand a downturn if it lasts more than a few months.

Several months after the global financial crash in 2008, some Chinese companies just sent their workers home and closed their gates, but were still accepting deposits on new POs with their clients.

Last year a chemical company in Shandong suffered such a debilitating explosion and it was forced to close down – but they were still communicating with clients as if they could complete the orders and happy to accept payment. So make sure your factory audits and due diligence is as fresh as possible.

Managing Expectations

The tools and techniques outlined above will significantly reduce the risks of entering into business with a bad supplier. However, audits and due diligence are just a few of the tools buyers should have in their sourcing toolbox. As buyers, we need to be vigilant and keep an eye on our suppliers at all phases of production, not just the initial supplier selection phase.

In my opinion, doing both the due diligence and QC audit is an essential step when sourcing from China. Perhaps I am jaded after dealing with China factories for almost 20 years, but I assume the worst unless proven otherwise. Trust BUT verify.

Shopify Tutorial

Elksourcing：Customers Buy from People They Trust, not They Like

Apr 5, 2021 , by 露露

It is often said that customers buy from people they like. While we don’t usually buy from people we dislike, there is one more dimension to this old saying: Customers buy from people they trust.

To illustrate this point further, let’s look at how typical prospective customers react to new sales people making the first contact with them (otherwise known as cold-calling):
1. They find an excuse to hang up the phone as soon as possible.
2. They make themselves very busy during appointments with sales people.
3. They keep their mouths shut as much as possible when sales people ask questions.
4. They will not refer the sales people to a higher authority even when such a need is clear.
5. They often use delay tactics such as “If there is a need, we will call you” to appease sales people, etc.

These are, just a few examples, of customer’s behaviours when they distrust the sales person. As such, to get customers interested and excited about what you have to offer, you first have to win their trust.

The reasons that customers don’t trust sales people is very simple: they feel that the only thing that sales people care about is getting their money. Sadly, this “lust for the customers’ money” is quite true with many sales people out there, and customers can smell them from miles away.

When customers make purchases, what they really want in exchange for the money they spend, is substantiated value. That is, can the products or services they buy bring better productivity, reduce wastages or simply improve their quality of life.

Hence, the first step to build trust is this: you have to be perceived as being on the customers’ side and pro-actively help solve customers’ problems.

Here’s a simple example. When most sales approach their prospective customers, they will say something like, “Hello, my name is xyz, and I’m from abc company. How are you today? I would like to show you a demo of our latest productivity-enhancing gadget. As I will be around your vicinity on Tuesday afternoon, can I come and see you around 2 p.m. or 4 p.m.?”

The problem with this way of approach lie in how these intended customers respond. They will either just say “not interested”, or say yes and then get their secretaries to tell you “the boss has an urgent meeting, please leave your materials on the front desk, and we will call you when we have a need”.

The reason for such responses from customers is that they don’t trust what you said. They probably have seen just too many “productivity-enhancing gadgets”, and hear too many “I happen to be just in your neighbourhood” stories and certainly will be too busy to meet just another peddler of gadgets. Furthermore, they don’t trust you enough to tell you their “productivity” challenges, if that is what your product will solve.

To overcome such trust issues at initial contact, both sales people and their managers will have to work together to build trust and allay customers’ fears that they will be rip off, or that they will be wasting their time.

From the sales person perspective, he/she will have to provide the customer what Miller Heiman calls a Valid Business Reason into her opening call, e.g. “Hi, my name is xyz. I understand that many companies in your industry are facing serious challenges due to the sharp increases in raw material costs. I’d like to explore with you if we can help improve your productivity, and thereby reducing your costs.”

From the sales managers’ perspectives, trust will have to be built beyond the initial cold-call. Customers are likely to increase their trust if they had seen testimonies and case studies of past successes, PRIOR to the initial phone calls from sales people.

Build Credibility, NOT Benefits.

Traditionally, many companies focus merely on the “Features, Advantages and Benefits”, none of which will work IF the customer does not trust you enough. Hence, sales people would have to build credibility during the course of the sales process, namely:
* Listen.
* Do your homework and ask intelligent questions.
* Provide Assurance to your customers.

Many sales people tend to put too much emphasis on their company, and the products they offer, that they forgot to listen to their customers’ needs, wants and concerns.

To ensure that customers spend more time talking, sales people would have to ask intelligent questions. Typically, customers expect sales people to have done some basic research on the customers’ websites. Sales people can improve on this by going through customers’ annual reports (if they are listed companies) or source for news reports about these customers. If a prospective customer is a competitor of a current customer, you can find out more information from the latter. Web 2.0 social networking sites are also a great source of information.

While some sales managers may argue that spending too much time on the Internet will eat into selling time and hence, is detrimental to sales. However, going to a customer and not knowing what are the right questions to ask will make the customer feel you are unprofessional and incompetent, which is worse. Sales managers will have to get the balance right by allocating sufficient time for research as well as for selling.

Ultimately, customers will often have niggling concerns about buying from you. Rather than avoiding those concerns for the fear that addressing them will hurt your sale, the opposite is likely to be true. If customers have got any unanswered questions or concerns about your products and services, they will be:
* Less likely to buy.
* Buy less.
* Drive a hard bargain on your price.

Hence, when you are approaching the closing stages of your sale, look out for symptoms that show the customer is nervous or uneasy. Then seek to address such concerns and provide the relevant assurances.

The Policy of Truth

Perhaps the biggest destroyer of trust is to “over-promise and under-deliver”. The causes of this destruction are two-fold:
* Sales people make promises to customers on things that they cannot (or unsure if they can) deliver.
* Companies who deliver less-than-expected levels of product qualities to their customers.

For the former, sales managers would have to ensure sales people do not over-promise their customers just to get the sale or to reach their sales target. Doing so will severely damage the trust between buyer and seller, and will make it really difficult for future sales efforts to succeed.

For the latter, nothing de-motivates sales people more than having to answer customers’ questions that they don’t have answers to. No amount of sales effort will succeed if the company does not invest enough in quality to make sure customers get the value they pay for. When companies deliver shoddy quality, not only will there be decreases in sales, there will also be an immediate increase in sales staff turnover. It’s not a question of “if”, it’s just a question of time. After all, who wants to to sell for a company that they can’t even trust?

Shopify Tutorial

Elksourcing：Top 7 Tips about Global Sourcing

Apr 5, 2021 , by 露露

As you may know, global sourcing can offer enormous financial benefits to your supply chain. But, as you’d expect, typical savings of between 40% and 70% don’t come with a snap of the fingers.

A few new processes must be considered, and a few new skills must be learned to ensure you stay on track and realize the full benefit of global sourcing.

1. Quality, Quality and Quality!

Studies show that at the front and center of people’s concerns when looking into global sourcing surround the issue of quality. And rightly so. 

The concept of “quality fade” is the deliberate and slow degradation of quality that happens when manufacturers replace materials with cheaper alternatives to reduce cost and increase profits. Fortunately, there’s a simple weapon for the discerning supply chain manager to tackle quality-orientated issues when sourcing globally. And that is the third party inspection. To sign a “golden sample” and give to the third party inspection company, so for every new batch, the inspector will carefully check the products against golden sample, to notice any possible quality fade.

Once my client had a project of kitchen knives, after many repeated orders for two years, one day, the boss happened to have a returned product from a customer on hand, he was astonished as he found the knives are significantly narrower and thinner than he remembered at initial production, although all shapes kept the same. Unfortunately, his company did not keep golden samples so it’s difficult to argue with supplier.

After this case, the client came to us. We helped to source another factory and remade the moulds. After the client was happy with the initial samples, he signed off 3 sets of golden samples, one kept in his office, one at factory, and one at my company. Since that, my inspector always brought the golden samples to do inspection. It’s not only a concern of honesty, Chinese factories will regularly think about “cost reduction”, if no strict control and monitor, some will manage to reduce material usage or find a cheaper alternative. But they cannot do it if they know you are taking serious actions to monitor the quality.

An investment in a qualified, reputable third party inspection company ensures that you get what you pay for and can pay serious dividends in the long term.

2. Costs and time associated with travel to suppliers

When calculating the savings from a global sourcing initiative, it’s easy to look at the cash difference between your old supplier and your new supplier and ignore the rest. However, it’s important to realistically assess how much money you’re saving by including expenses such as time and travel costs to suppliers.

It might make your balance sheet look more attractive without considering these, but fail to do so at your peril.

3. Language barriers

It’s often worth spending just a little time learning one or two basic phrases of your new supplier’s language. When building a relationship with a foreign business, taking just a little initiative to learn common greetings in their mother tongue can have an enormously powerful effect on rapport.

Also, it’s important for you to be ultra-concise with your order, ensuring that every aspect of it is spelt out, leaving no room for ambiguity or misinterpretation.

4. Cultural differences

Embarrassing and relationship-damaging faux pas must be avoided at all costs in order to properly maximize the benefits of sourcing equipment or manufacturing globally. Take the time to learn the cultural differences in the nationality of your individual suppliers in addition to one or two nifty local phrases.

5. Tariffs and taxes on imported goods

Tariffs in this context refer to international trade tariffs, or the taxes placed on imported goods. To avoid nasty surprises that eat into your savings later on, ensure you work with qualified customs brokers who will not only give you the heads-up about what (if any) costs you’ll incur, but also about any necessary licenses or permits you might need.

6. Transportation costs and geographic distances

When it comes to the logistics, know your numbers. It’s worth having a handle on geographical distances in addition to how much the different transportation costs are. Typically, it’s cheaper and slower to use sea freight, although air freight is an option if you need something faster and are willing to pay extra for a speedy delivery.

7. Do your sums before you commit to the shipment

Ultimately, it boils down to properly doing your sums.

Don’t commit to anything until you’ve properly and realistically calculated any and all expenses associated with the additional distance for goods to travel through the supply chain now that you’ve taken it global.

Shopify Tutorial

Elksourcing：10 things you should and should not say to factories

Apr 4, 2021 , by 露露

The key responsibility for buyers is to purchase goods at the appropriate quality, within a given time frame and at suitable price. First of all, you should make a factory database and establish strategic partnerships with the right factories.

How should you establish a favorable relationship with the factory? Proper communication is the most important factor, it can help develop a good supplier system and solidify cooperation. Let’s discuss the

things you should and should not say to the factories when communicating.

THINGS YOU SHOULD SAY TO FACTORIES.

1. Prepare a professional company presentation to share.

A company presentation is an important part of ‘selling’ yourself to the prospective factories. In many cases, this will be the first meeting with the factory, and first impressions are critical. A proper presentation is vital to help the factory to get to know you better in a short time.

When meeting with the factory, do remember to bring a paper or electronic catalog with detailed company information like company background, staffing levels, turnover, product range, major markets, sales strategy, etc. The objective of the presentation can be different depending upon the target factories and the presentation should be adjusted accordingly. It is important for the factory to have a good impression of your company and see your potential as a buyer so that they will cooperate with you more closely and place your shipments as a high priority.

2. Describe your company’s advantages.

Show that your company has many advantages compared to other rivals’, e.g. accredited enterprise, selling through different distribution channels, dealing with famous chain stores, paying on time, being able to communicate easily as you have Chinese speaking staff or agent, etc….

3. You have focused on this product area for years.

Besides the company introduction, another main part is to introduce your product and mention the product area you focus on. If you have focused on this product for many years, it is a good opportunity to mention how many years’ experience you have in this product and share some of your experience. Also you should bring samples if possible, which would more easily convince the factory that you are a high potential buyer.

4. You will have many orders in the near future.

This will be most attractive to the factory. It is a customer oriented market, factories can only survive with orders and if they produce what customers want. Don’t forget to mention your order prospect and market requirements, try to get the factory’s confirmation for production plans, or at least get their commitment to support you.

5. You are cooperating with several suppliers simultaneously.

As business expansion is needed, you would like to find more suppliers to support your order capacity. You are looking for more qualified and cooperative partners. Let the factory feel that you are a serious buyer and looking for the factory’s active support.

THINGS YOU SHOULD NOT SAY TO FACTORIES.

1. You are a small company.

Don’t mention that you are a small company, you only have a few staff, your office is small, and you don’t have enough resources and so on. Otherwise, the factory would feel that there is no chance to get big orders from you, and will not be willing to provide necessary support, instead they will wait until the last minute to produce your goods. And they would not accept your payment terms to pay less deposit, but only start production after they receive the whole payment as they may worry about the financial ability of a small company.

2. You are new to this market.

Don’t mention you are a new company, or a new buyer for this product. Avoid passing the feeling that you don’t know the industrial materials, factories may use different (cheap, low quality, impure, etc.) materials to produce your order; or give higher quotation to you.

3. You are suffering financial difficulties.

Don’t mention you have financial difficulties when talking with the factory. It will put you in an embarrassing situation. The factory will be scared to cooperate with you and would have no interests in communicating with you. If you have paid some deposit, the production will be put on hold and it will be difficult to get the deposit back.

4. The factory’s price is low.

Even if the factory’s price is very low, don’t mention that it is cheap, but you can ask more detail like what kind of material are used, minimum order quantity, payment terms, delivery time, etc. You may find some differences compared to other companies. If it is the same but really with low price, you may ask the factory to make samples for reference first. If you find that the sample is not ideal, you can have a chance to ask the factory how much an improved product will cost.

5. Don’t threaten the factories.

If some factories are not cooperative, for example, they don’t answer phone calls or reply to e-mails timely, do not provide good quotations, and so on, you can contact their manager instead of quarrelling with them or threatening them. Due to some cultural differences or language barriers, sometimes people may not understand your requirements well. So, keep communicating in a patient and friendly way.

Generally, in order to get the support from factories and get their utmost attention for your orders, it is better to express yourself positively, explain that you are a good potential buyer and look forward to a long term business relationship based on mutual benefit. Take care of what you say and express yourself well.

Shopify Tutorial

Elksourcing：Why a Supplier Might Refuse Your Business?

Apr 4, 2021 , by 露露

Importers are often careful about which suppliers they trust with order fulfillment. But many neglect to consider why a potential supplier might refuse their business. Fortunately, if you’re aware of the kinds of factors that tend to give suppliers “cold feet”, you’re in a better position to avoid that resistance and get to working together.

Here are three reasons a supplier might refuse your business:

1. Small order quantities

If someone asked you to choose between working an hour for $100 or an hour for $15, which would you choose? Most people would prefer the first option. And although this is a highly simplified example, factory owners and trading companies tend to have a similar mindset. A supplier might refuse your business if the order quantity is insignificant.

Any order that a supplier accepts comes at an opportunity cost. The factory producing the goods will have to allocate various resources for:

Creating, and typically revising, product samples;
Working with any sub-suppliers to acquire necessary raw materials, parts and packaging for production;
Preparing and calibrating any equipment needed for production;
Mass production of the goods;
Any product rework or repairs requested by the importer; and
Working with a shipping company to safely load the finished goods

A trading company or vendor has to factor in these plus their own resources needed to coordinate everything and any QC staff they might hire to inspect the products before shipping.

Understandably, most suppliers would prefer to go through this process once on a larger scale than to take on many smaller orders. You can try to assure a potential supplier that you intend to increase volume in the future and work with them long-term. But it can be difficult to persuade a supplier that has plenty of better offers elsewhere.

Consider working with a smaller supplier

A larger supplier might reject an order if they find the quantity too insignificant. But you might find success working with a small to medium-sized supplier that isn’t yet well-established or equipped to handle larger orders.

A smaller factory typically has less developed quality management systems. But managers of smaller factories are more likely to want to work with customers long-term. They’re also known to be more cooperative in meeting product requirements and deadlines because their success depends more upon retaining existing customers than looking for larger ones.

You may want to seek out a smaller supplier if you find larger suppliers are refusing your business because of low quantities.

2. High costs & low margins

High costs can deter potential suppliers just as much as small order quantities. The difference here usually involves the cost of materials or components needed to manufacture the goods an importer orders.

A factory that manufactures low-margin items usually relies on production of a large enough scale in order to bring costs down and turn a profit. A supplier might refuse your business if high costs can’t be justified by high margins or large order quantities.

For example, imagine the following scenario:

You approach a bag manufacturer about an order of 1,200 leather bags.
You’re very particular about using a high quality, expensive leather hide for your product.
The supplier will need to order a quantity of leather much greater than that needed in order to get a reasonable price.
And since this supplier normally manufactures bag with other materials, they’re not likely to use the excess material on production for other customers.

In short, the high cost of materials and waste created are going to push the factory’s margin very low. And believe it or not, refusing this order is actually in both parties’ best interests. Less ethical suppliers are likely to accept the order and agree to your expectations only to disappoint when you receive finished goods made with low quality materials.

Be reasonable in negotiations with a supplier

It’s worth stressing here that many importers make mistakes when negotiating with suppliers. They’ll often push too hard on lowering the price. And the supplier is forced to compensate for the price cut by—you guessed it—cutting costs elsewhere, often by using lower quality materials or parts.

Consider the cost of raw materials and parts in your dealings with prospective suppliers. It’s often helpful to ask multiple suppliers for price quotes for an order or request a sample bill of materials (BOM) to get an idea of the supplier’s costs. Just remember the old proverb, “you get what you pay for”. It’s as true here as it is anywhere else

3. Insufficient production capability or capacity

You can’t expect a factory that specializes in wall-mounted LED signs to also be capable of manufacturing the larger signs installed in a professional sports stadium. Nor could you expect a small, 20-worker facility to be able to supply hamburger patties for all the McDonald’s stores in California.

Some suppliers simply aren’t able to fulfill orders of certain products or quantities.

Investing in new technology or equipment

A supplier might refuse your business if it means needing to seriously upgrade their facility orequipment. Giant companies like Adidas are moving ahead with plans to make “speed factories” capable of producing shoes with lightning-fast speed and remarkable efficiency. But you shouldn’t expect that your new supplier is ready and willing to do the same.

Upgrades to a factory can come at a major expense. A supplier may need to purchase a lot of new machinery, invest in new training or even outsource major processes of production. In their eyes, such a major investment isn’t worth making if it doesn’t lead to more business. And those suppliers who are short-sighted will see even less sense in upgrading their facility.

Of course, there are some suppliers that will claim they can do everything for you, even when they can’t. What often results is heavy use of sub-contractors, problems, production and other undesirable outcomes.

So what’s the best way to know if you’re supplier is telling the truth about their capabilities?

Verify a potential supplier with an audit

The best way to be sure about a potential supplier’s production capability and capacity is to visit the factory. Few methods offer more insight than taking a walk through a facility to see production and other areas first hand.

You can avoid the confusion that many importers experience when trying to communicate by back and forth emails and phone calls alone. Visiting the factory also gives you the opportunity to clarify your product specifications and requirements face-to-face. Instant feedback from the factory manager or representative will give you a better indication of whether or not they can meet your needs.

Lastly, if you’re unable to personally travel to the supplier’s facility, you may find it helpful to hire a third-party to conduct an audit for you. Such an audit typically looks at most areas of a factory and issues a rating based on compliance with the internationally accepted ISO 9001 standard.

An audit doesn’t just help you decide if a supplier might refuse your business. It can also help you determine if a supplier is right for you. It’s recommended that you avoid any supplier that refuses to allow access to you or a professional third-party auditor.

Conclusion

Suppliers are aplenty. And just because one supplier might refuse your business, doesn’t mean others will refuse it as well.

But always consider their perspective with regard to order size and price. And remember that an honest supplier will not agree to undertake fulfillment of an order with requirements they cannot meet. It rarely hurts to do some digging and verify whether a potential supplier really can deliver on their promises.

And when you do find a supplier that meets your expectations, you’re much more likely to experienced long-term success and growth.

Shopify Tutorial

Elksourcing：6 Tips About Doing Business Internationally

Apr 4, 2021 , by 露露

Here are 6 Tips About Doing Business Internationally I have learned from my 20-year work in China sourcing business:

1.) Be patient:
It is critical to understand and appreciate cultural differences when you are doing business in a foreign country. This approach will be deeply appreciated by senior executives and members of large organizations such as governments.

2.) Socialize and enjoy:
One of the best ways to earn trust and understand a foreign culture is to take the time to go to events with your foreign colleagues and associates. Not only will you meet other people that could open new doors, but also you will build a reputation in their community.

3.) Respect customs and try new things:
When getting to know people and earning their trust it can be a great sign of respect to learn about their culture, and try things your new colleagues share with you. This can be anything from the banal, to the outright thrilling and dangerous. Food and the way in which people dine is one good example.

4.) Reciprocate:
Its a wise idea is to invite your colleagues from abroad back to your home city and show them a good time. Give them a chance to get to know your culture, both locally and generally. You will find your hospitality and personal background will not be lost on them.

5.) Stay in touch:
Take advantage of how easy it is with modern technology to stay in routine touch with your contacts abroad.

6.) Travel well:
There are many detailed tips you can find on the internet about how to travel long distances well. If you have had little experience on long haul flights it can make very big difference in your health, your timing and performance when you arrive at your destination.

Understanding the culture is vital. If trading with a country appearing to be very different to your own, such as China, my advice would be to initially work through a Sourcing Agent.

Shopify Tutorial

Elksourcing：Is It Possible to Get Good Quality Products in China?

Apr 4, 2021 , by 露露

Products with the “Made in China” label have always been perceived as having one meaning: “Price, good! Quality, Not good!”. A quote from a piece of wide-published news in July clearly states the embarrassing status of “Made in China” in the eyes of people overseas. Even though they still continue to buy Chinese-made products.

Is it possible to get good quality products from China?

In reality, due to the increasing cost of production in western countries, most of big brands like: Apple, Samsung, BMW, Nike etc. have already turned to China for their manufacturing needs.

These companies usually open their own factory in China or setup joint venture with local factories, or OEM to China factories, and no matter which method they adopt, their products are still produced to the same quality standard as before. In fact, no matter where the products are made, be it China, America or Europe, as long as they undergo a strict quality control, they will meet same high standards.

So, it is possible to get good quality products from China.

What is good quality control?

As a professional third party inspection company, we suggest that clients make use of quality control throughout the production process, from the very beginning to the end.

The priority of every order is to select a good supplier, who is qualified and reliable. Signing an official contract is also important, as it should cover all potential risks and solutions, especially regarding quality control during production. You should carefully check the samples before production starts and arrange inspections throughout the manufacturing process; during production inspection, pre-shipment inspection and container loading supervision.

Having quality control will increase your expenditure compared to having no quality control. However, the benefits by far outstrip the costs. It is common for people to skip the inspection process for a repeat order to try and save money. But it happens a lot that after a few good shipments, one batch of goods arrive at the customer’s warehouse with serious defects.

What does pricing have to do with quality?

Another important factor to take into account is fairness. By being fair with your supplier and by paying a reasonable price for the product, which is mutually beneficial for you both, the factory will be more likely to take better care with your order. Hence you are more likely to receive good quality products.

All in all, it is highly advisable that people buying from China should arrange quality control, even if the factory they are using, has been their long term partner. It is also important to reach a contractual agreement that takes into account the quality control aspect. As always, last but not least, be fair with your supplier, the more you push down the price, the more chances of the supplier taking less care with your order. Doing these three things can help you assure that your products are good quality, so that your “made in China” products can mean “well made in China”.

Shopify Tutorial

Elksourcing：10 Easy Steps to Filter Potential Scammers

Apr 1, 2021 , by 露露

I have heard of so many scams on the web that for me it usually takes just few seconds to spot the signs of a scam operation. However, there are some pointers, which could help you to determine whether the supplier is legit or not. Here goes my easy 10-step filter system:

1. Domain Name

This is a small one. If you see a popular brand name in the websites domain name, it’s almost a guarantee that it’s a scam. Scammers widely use domain names containing Brand names to build trust. Domains like Nike666.com or iPhone333.com and similar ones are clear signs that a website is a scam and won’t be online for a long time.

Also, try to avoid cheap domains like .info, because they could be used to build a large network of sites to save money on domain registration.

2. Who Is database

Who Is data base simply gathers and archives domain registration information. You can go to WhoIs.net and find out when a particular domain name was registered and who registered it. There are two things you’re interested in:

a. When the domain name was registered. Common sense dictates that the longer domain name has been registered, the better are chances of the company being legit. Of course, this is not always the case as there are hundreds of new companies registering their domain names on a weekly basis. Just be cautious when dealing with recently registered websites.

b. Domain name’s registrar name – Who Is data base will show you the person’s name or the company who registered the domain name.

3. Alexa Rank

What is Alexa rank? To cut a long story short, it shows how many visitors visit the particular website. The figure shown by Alexa isn’t the number of visitors but the website’s place in Alexa’s rank, 1 being the Most visited site in the World. So if a website has Alexa rank of 100 000 – it’s the 100 000th most visited site in the World.

These numbers ARE NOT very accurate but generally can be used as a good guideline. If Alexa rank is below 1000 000, website is consider to be fairly active. And same time, I can check reputation and other details shown on Alexa website, such as Top Search Queries.

Some websites can have Alexa rank of only 10 million and still be legit suppliers, though. Especially in tight niche markets where the demand is much lower. That’s why you want to look at the reputation and other details.  

4. Contact Email

This one is very simple – if the contact e-mails on suppliers website are hosted on FREE online service websites (Hotmail, Yahoo etc.), it’s a sure warning sign of a possible scam operation. Why? There are two reasons behind it:

a. Serious companies will always use their own e-mails.

b. There are lots of scammers on the Internet who copy other companies’ websites and just change the contact details and the websites’ names. This way they instantly get nice looking websites with a full product catalog for free. They just use their own e-mails for the contact page.

Now, when you contact a person who uses Hotmail e-mail address you’ll never know whether the person actually works in this company. It could be just a clone website! 

5. Payment Options

What payment options are available?

If they accept Western Union or Money Gram – it’s most likely a scam. But keep in mind that when dealing with suppliers from China, in most cases you won’t be able to pay by credit card.

Wire transfer, although totally un-safe, is commonly used payment option. Some companies accept PayPal for regular customers.

6. Company Information

What kind of company’s information can be found on the website? Is there a full address with the company’s registration number, phone number and fax number? Sure, this all information may be made up, BUT if the website doesn’t have any information apart from a weird contact e-mail, it’s most likely a scam.

7. Google Search

Why not enter the company’s name or the website’s name in Google’s search and see what comes up? Do not underestimate other people’s opinion & experience – if there are bad, negative reviews, leave that supplier alone and move forward. Also, if you can’t find any Google search results for the particular company’s name, it could be a sign that something dodgy is going on.

8. Products for Sale

Just wanted to remind you – if there are branded electronics, designer clothing, shoes & handbags, DVD Box Sets for sale on the Chinese website, it’s a clear scam – stay away!

9. Pricing

If you’re serious about what you’re doing, you should have a pretty good idea on how much the products might cost. Once you’re looking for a particular product you should definitely know the retail and wholesale pricing.

There still will be a lot of products you can source dirt cheap from China, no doubt about that – sometimes you’ll be amazed how cheaply the products can be bought directly from the manufacturers. But as an industry expert, you’ll know that some products, product categories and models will be more expensive than others.

Why is this important? Because in many cases the pricing on the scammer websites is very odd – for example, products from completely different quality categories are priced very similarly.

Another warning sign is that on scammer websites large groups of products usually will have the same price which won’t be the case with a legit supplier. Also, if free shipping is offered for large, heavy products (like LCD TVs, for example) it’s most likely to be a scam.

10. Use Common Sense

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is! It’s very important to get the right mindset when looking for a new supplier – you should look at every new company you find with 100% skepticism!

This is especially important when dealing with suppliers from China – as you know; websites like Alibaba, TradeKey, Made in China and similar ones are overloaded with scammers. Always take that extra mile to double check everything before dealing with anyone.