Product Sourcing Agent in China

Who product sourcing is for

Importers, brands, Amazon and e-commerce sellers, wholesalers and procurement teams who know what they want to buy, but not which factory should make it. It is most useful when you have no supplier in China yet, when your current supplier has become too expensive or unreliable, or when you have a pile of marketplace quotes and cannot tell which of them come from real manufacturers.

If you already have a factory you trust and only need someone to check it or its goods, our factory audit or pre-shipment inspection services are a better fit.

How we search for suppliers

1. Brief. We confirm your specification: material, dimensions, finish, colours, packaging, the certifications your market requires, target price, quantity and deadline. A clear written brief is the biggest single factor in getting quotes you can compare.
2. Search. We look beyond the first page of Alibaba: the industrial clusters that specialise in your product, Chinese-language platforms such as 1688, trade-fair exhibitor lists, and factories we already know.
3. Screen. We check each candidate's business registration and scope, ask whether they make the product in-house, and drop trading companies posing as factories, unless a trader is genuinely the better option for your quantity.
4. Quote. We request quotes in Chinese against the same specification, so the prices are comparable: unit price, MOQ, tooling or mould costs, sample cost, lead time and payment terms.
5. Shortlist. We send you a comparison of the best options with our notes on each and a recommendation. You choose which suppliers to take to the sample stage.

Factory or trading company?

Many suppliers on international marketplaces are trading companies. That is not automatically bad: a good trader can combine several products or handle quantities that factories turn down. But you should know which one you are dealing with, because it affects the price, who controls quality and who is responsible when something goes wrong.

Signs we look for: whether the business-licence scope includes manufacturing, whether the address is in an industrial zone or an office tower, whether the supplier can show the production line on a video call, and whether the product range is narrow and deep (typical of a factory) or wide and shallow (typical of a trader).

What your supplier shortlist contains

Common sourcing mistakes we help you avoid

• Quotes that look cheap because the supplier assumed a cheaper material, a thinner gauge or a smaller size.
• Tooling, packaging or labelling costs that only appear after you have paid a deposit.
• A supplier who wins the order and then subcontracts it to a factory you have never seen.
• MOQs or prices that change once the supplier knows you are serious.
• Specifications agreed by chat message that nobody wrote into the purchase order.

Comparing quotes against one written specification, and asking these questions in Chinese before any deposit is paid, avoids most of them. Our guide to sourcing agent costs and red flags covers the warning signs in more detail.

Timing and how sourcing is charged

A first shortlist usually takes one to two weeks for standard products, and longer for custom or technical items that need drawings reviewed. We give you an expected timeline when we confirm your brief.

Sourcing is normally charged as part of our commission on the order value. The rate depends on the product and order size and is confirmed in writing in your quote before any work starts.

Example