If you purchase products in China, you have noticed that price increases are often presented as a law of nature. This is one of greatest frustrations of importers. Fortunately, there are solutions. If you need lower costs, you can follow … [Read more...]
Helping Chinese factories Get Production Right
I always like seeing an importer being very "hands on" when it comes to helping a Chinese manufacturer develop a custom-made product. These are our best clients, and the relationship with the supplier tend to be balanced and … [Read more...]
Negotiating for Slower Price Increases from Chinese Factories
So, your Chinese manufacturers ask for price increases in the 10-20% range. Are you unsure of what to answer? Here are few tips. First, tell them you don't understand You might have a few arguments in your favor: Maybe your volumes … [Read more...]
7 Tips to Prevent the “Different Bank Account” Scam
More and more buyers are being scammed into wiring tens -- sometimes hundreds -- of thousands of dollars to the wrong bank account. I helped Global Sources prepare an infographic on how to reduce this risk: This scam comes … [Read more...]
What to Do When A Supplier Can’t Provide Product Certifications?
As I wrote in How to Check Lab Test Certificates/Reports?, I guess that 10-30% of the product certifications given by Chinese suppliers to their customers are fake. A "fake" certification is often a real certificate that was issued … [Read more...]
Developing new Product Designs for China: Q&A with an expert
I asked Herve Hy Meng, design director at Hintside, to share his experience and suggest some best practices. His company helps importers as well as startups/inventors avoid the traps of China production. They have an interesting approach … [Read more...]
China manufacturers should look at the example of South Korea
As I wrote several times before, I think many Chinese manufacturers -- probably 50% -- will go out of business in the coming 10 years. I usually point to historical parallels (other Asian countries like Japan or Taiwan that went through … [Read more...]
Scams related to email system hacking are on the rise
The first time I heard about this type of scam was about 2 years ago. An importer noticed that he received emails from "marc0@..." (with a zero at the end) instead of the usual "marco@...". A hacker has penetrated the supplier's email … [Read more...]
My HOW TO Guide to Buying in China
Over the past couple of months, I have written a guide for companies that import from China. It is delivered in 15 emails, as below: Sourcing: Go on Your Own, or Use an Agent? Sourcing: how to Identify Potential … [Read more...]
How to stay on top of your production in China
Many importers negotiate a shipment date (ETD) with their Chinese suppliers before orders are issued, and then fail to follow up on the production schedule. I think they would avoid a lot of bad surprises if they asked for regular … [Read more...]
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