How to evaluate wholesale suppliers and understand which ones are reliable
Do you want to buy goods from China for resale in your own country? The first thing we advise you to do is to find the right Chinese Wholesale suppliers among the many wholesale suppliers available, and in this article we try to understand what is the fastest way to do it.
One of the solutions could be to go to China and get to know them in person: suppose you can go to China and visit a Chinese factory, from a first inspection you could already get this useful information and understand if the supplier is reliable and suitable for your business needs, namely:
- what type of products are made and based on what processes (you can therefore understand if the supplier uses subcontractors to make components, in this case you could not ask him, during production, to make technical changes that he cannot make directly);
- how many pieces that factory is capable of producing in a given period;
- which customers already work with the supplier (you can deduce it from logos, labels, certifications and understand if he is used to trading with Western customers);
- if there are employees who speak English with whom you can relate in case of problems.
In any case, the ideal Chinese supplier is the one who is informed about the regulations in force in Italy and in Europe and who will therefore produce products that can be sold in your reference markets.
Tips for visiting factories in China
When you make this visit, you must give the impression that you are sure of yourself and what you are looking for, otherwise the supplier may try to take advantage of it.
In addition, carefully observe the samples present in the factory and try to understand if they may have been produced in another facility: if any sample attracts your attention, know how much it costs and who commissioned it. If the supplier offers to sell you, you have to be careful because, in the same way, they would be able to sell your personalized products to other customers. If you have this doubt, you can still conclude an agreement with him by having him sign a contract in which he undertakes not to sell your products to others.
Chinese Wholesale suppliers: when to visit the factory?
If you make sporadic purchases, you do not need to make factory visits: in this case, you do not even want to negotiate too much on the price of the goods. What we recommend is to try to keep the deposit to a minimum, approve the samples, and only if your budget allows you to send an inspector to check production.
If, on the other hand, you have to place a large order and would like to find a supplier with whom to establish a relationship that lasts over time, it is absolutely appropriate to pay a visit to the factory.
In this case, then you will have to:
- select a supplier among the many (maybe you could have met him at a fair);
- ask him for a quote;
- search for information about him such as business license, company data, customer references and opinions also on search engines;
- if it convinces you, place a purchase order;
- ask him to prepare a sample;
- make a visit to the factory;
- approve the sample and start production;
- pay a down payment, which is generally 20-30%;
- At this point, raw materials and components will be ordered and production will begin.
In this sequence of events, the factory visit could also be entered a few points before, for example if the production process must necessarily comply with some standards.
Before embarking on a trip to China, confirm with the supplier on the day of your arrival and collect all the information that may be useful to you, such as address, telephone number, and make sure you have them at hand in both English and Chinese. Specify that you want to visit the factory and are not interested in an office meeting. Book your own flight and hotel, in this way you will be free, if you want to visit factories of other wholesale suppliers otherwise your stay in China could be monopolized by the supplier who has planned the trip for you. Before leaving:
- ask the supplier to prepare a letter of invitation that you need to obtain a work visa;
- get ready by watching videos on Youtube about how factories similar to yours work;
- ask the supplier to find you a product sample to make your changes.
Chinese Wholesale Suppliers: Tips for Newbies
If you have never visited Chinese factories, we recommend that you:
- go to the warehouse where the arriving materials are stored. Ask if you can see the inspectors, maybe while they are checking materials. If it is not possible, choose one of the materials that you think could be useful for the products you would like to order and ask to see the report that the inspectors have made about the quality. If you are denied, it is likely that the material in question has never been checked;
- visit the main plant to observe the production process and try to understand if there is a figure that performs quality control;
- go to where the products are packed, check the samples to see if they can work for you.
How to evaluate suppliers if you can’t go to China
If you can’t take a trip to China, the easiest thing is to hire an on-site agent to visit the factory for you. There are several types of inspections that can be done:
- standard inspection, i.e., based on objective facts. It is ideal if you visit multiple factories because you can compare the data collected during inspections. It collects Information on the main problems that can be solved by asking for corrective actions. In this case, the visit is repeated months later to verify the correct progress of things;
- The inspection regarding the project is the one in which the agent representing the buyer goes to the factory to explain the project and understand the reaction of the supplier. It is a more subjective approach in which the counterpart is studied and impressions are drawn. Information is then requested on similar projects already carried out, on production and so on;
- The inspection before starting production is the one that is carried out when the order has already been placed, the samples have been confirmed and the down payment has been paid. This inspection puts pressure on the supplier to start production without wasting time and also serves to evaluate the quality of the products and then decide whether to request changes or not.
How to Find Serious and Reliable Wholesale Suppliers
Finding reliable Chinese wholesale suppliers that give you the guarantee that the production of the goods will go smoothly is not easy. Moreover, a delay or problem in the production of the goods could mean a considerable economic loss for your business.
To be sure and solve the underlying problem, it is good to turn to a commercial reality that works constantly with Chinese suppliers, and Yakkyofy, in this sense, is the answer to problems of this type. Yakkyofy is the only platform that only collaborates with serious and reliable Chinese suppliers, capable of producing goods in line with Italian and EU regulations. It also deals with the quality control of products, shipping, and the documents necessary to pass customs.
And that’s not all! We also offer the following services:
- Personalization of your products;
- Custom Packaging;
- Evaluation of Merchandise Samples;
- Production of high quality Images, Videos, AR Files, and 360° Rendering;
- Warehouse space
- and more!
By relying on Yakkyofy, you don’t have to worry about anything: the Yakkyofy team will find the wholesale supplier that best suits the type of product you want to buy.