Everybody knows that Chinese are good at PingPong, but do you know they have another national sport?
TRADING, Yes indeed.
Sourcing a product, for most Chinese traders seems to be actually translated this way :
“find & sell-with-substantial-margin”.
In China, good factories are not easy to dig up, language barrier and culture differences are of course some of the reasons why. But more than anything the complete lack of company database makes it really difficult.
Indeed, Alibaba is gathering a little number of Chinese manufacturers, let’s say, a few percent. But there are many more out there! And those many can only be found through traders.
There are 2 traders' profiles:
1. “The expert”
This first one not only, has a network of factories working in the same field but, he also brings higher knowledge about the product. (Sometimes even higher than the manufacturers themselves!)
Assuming you follow their recommendations, those belonging to this type can more likely guaranty the positive outcome of your projects.
2. “The parasite”
Their added value is related to their knowledge of some factories.
In many cases, they will just add extra margin to the same conditions as the the manufacturer: MOQ, warranty, options,…
Here, difficult to say who is in charge, you or the trader… He is the one dealing face to face with the manufacturer.
The negative impacts on the projects are multiple:
– poor quality improvement
– poor communication
At the end, your project will loose in time and money.
From our sourcing experience, dealing with traders in China, brings more troubles than dealing directly with factories. Not to mention the additional cost of taking a third man in the game.
Traders need fast profit and their first interest is to invest and get your business. If they estimate that the profit would not be enough or the process is taking too much time, they simply stop supporting the project and let you no other option than to look for another supplier.
