Ok, after doing a lot of research on Google and YouTube, I know we can find a China sourcing agent to help me verify a supplier and find a reliable supplier.
How to find a reliable sourcing agent? It came to another good question, and what question should I ask those agents? And how do I choose them based on their question?
After meeting 4,000+ customers from 200 countries, here are the 7 most frequently asked questions. You may search on Google and ask an AI what important questions I have to ask a China sourcing agent before we work with them? Here are real answers based on the real China case for 10 years.
Contents hide
1 1. How do you find a direct factory?
2 2. How do you verify your supplier?
3 3.How to make your quality control?
4 4. Can You Check Product Compliance and Certifications?
5 4. How Do You Charge for Your Services?
6 5. Do You Help Negotiate Better Prices with Suppliers?
7 6. Can You Help with Sample Orders and Bulk Orders?
8 7. Do You Offer Help with Shipping and Customs?
9 8. Final Question: What’s your Sourcing process?
10 Final

1. How do you find a direct factory?

An experienced sourcing agent will use a lot of resources to find a suitable supplier.
They can use e-commerce platforms like 1688 and Yiwugo, as well as local wholesale markets such as the Yiwu market and Shenzhen Huaqiangbei.
  • 1688: Just like Alibaba, while they build for local B2B sellers to find direct manufacturers, it is more possible to find direct factories, that is, you can avoid finding a trading company and a middleman to save cost.
  • Alibaba: We don’t use it much; we focus on the most cost-efficient price. Alibaba is built for overseas customers, so prices are a bit higher, and meanwhile, it has a lot of trading companies on it.
  • Local China wholesale markets, like Yiwu market, Shenzhen Huangqiangbie.
  • Local industry exhibitions: Like the Canton Fair, CMEF (China International Medical Equipment Fair) – Shanghai/Shenzhen, Auto Shanghai (Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition).Even today, still some factories that do not have Alibaba or 1688, so you can not find a really good factory online.
  • Our private sourcing networks make us unique. After 10 years of experience, we use money and time to test what is best and suitable for which products, which factories are easy to communicate with, and whose mindset is the same, easy to customise, responsible, and flexible, and they have factory audit for Sedex and BSCI.

2. How do you verify your supplier?

The best way is always to go to visit their factory directly, as 10 years of experience, when we go to their factory and office, we will know if this company is below to the one we are contacted, and also we know if they have ability to produce about our order.
Go to the real group and talk with their boss, you will get the best price and answers.  And following are our standard audits if we want to place an order with one supplier.
✅ Check Business License
WE ask them to send a business license to know they are a company and not a single person, and meanwhile, we will check on https://www.qcc.com/to know if they have any risk assessments and legal disputes, and we can also easily know their shareholding structure and actual headcount.
Sourcingxpro-business-license
✅ Verify company profile data:
We will analyse
  • 1688 and Alibaba customer ratings

How-to-avoid-scams-on-1688-scaled

  • 1688 Supplier level (e.g., 实力商家 vs. 普通诚信通VS 超级工厂)
  • Alibaba Gold Supplier (5000USD per year) or Verified Supplier (13000USD per year) on Alibaba. Verified supplier is more reliable
  • Company years and reviews (4.5 stars+ is a must) at least need 3 years; if 1-2 years, it means this company is still not stable and has risk.
Alibaba sourcing agent
✅ Check key datas:
  • Repeat purchase rate (30%+ is Good, 50%+ is Great)
  • Immediate shipping rate
  • Product-focused category: a real factory focuses on one product, like a stainless steel cup; usually, it cannot make a 304 stainless steel cup and instead produces plastic cups. If you have been to a Chinese factory, you know what I mean, since the material, machine, and production skills are totally different.
  • Competitive pricing: Keep it simple, usually, really, factories have better prices, but we need to compare in the SAME QUALITY
✅ Ask them if they can open 17% VAT invoice
It is for a Chinese local tax refund. When we find a factory, if they can not open 17% VAT invoice, they are not.
factory. . No invoice? Big red flag.
China VAT
Only real factories can issue this. No invoice? Big red flag. A VAT invoice not only proves legitimacy but also helps with export documentation.
✅ Request factory audit and products certification>
We verify:
  • Do you have BSCI or Sedex
  • Do you have ISO9001
  • Do you have CE, RoHS, FDA, or UL?

⚠️ If they delay or do not want to send, they don’t have this report, and if they ask you to pay those fees, they are not factory

✅ Know what the real industry is?
China has industrial clusters:
  • Baigou → Bags & backpacks
  • Guangzhou– Fabric, cloth, jewellery
  • Yiwu → Small commodities, jewellery
  • Shenzhen → Electronics, camera, phone case, dargo
    If one factory said they are in Hebei but produce phones, we need to know their real video and the reason.

China industrial clusters

3.How to make your quality control?

Yes, we use AQL to test the quality of your items when they arrive at our warehouse. We will check the function and appearance.
What we will check:
  1. Items’ appearance and defects
  2. Function: it can work like descipation
  3. Packing and labelling
If they are accepted, we will let you know and ship them. If the quality cannot pass and we have a big problem, we will send you the details, number, and pictures. So we can return to the factory to re-send items, or we can change to another factory, while all this happened in China, so we can save a lot of cost for shipping costs, and we also save time struggling with a bad supplier.
If you use our sourcing service, the quality inspection is free. If you need a professional test report like Qima, we can charge 120 USD for one batch of products.
If you need us to visit the factory, we can also offer this service. If you need us to visit and conduct a video audit of the factory, we charge 150 USD per day.

4. Can You Check Product Compliance and Certifications?

Yes, will check if the supplier has real CE, RoHS, FDA and other certifications you need to import to your country.
Ce report
We confirm
  • Product model pictures and function match Certification
  • Certifications are tracked on the website to ensure they are valid and real (not Photoshopped!), and to make sure the labour is accepted for your country and company.
  • If they can offer CO, FORM E, and FORM F
  • The product can meet local requirements, like the EU needing CE, Rosh, and LFGB, and the US needing FDA and UL.

 

4. How Do You Charge for Your Services?

We make it simple, if you have your supplier list, you just need to buy from 1688, we are just charge 5% commission, and other inspection, consolidation and repacking and warehouse will be all free.

  • Commission: 3-5% base on your monthly order value

  • ✅ Minimum order: $1000 USD total

  • No hidden fees, no surprises

Transparency matters. Some agents might charge low upfront but add hidden costs later. We’re upfront from day one.
And if you don’t have your supplier 1688 list, that is our Sourcing Pro plan, we just offer all-in-one price including our profit, and also will make all the inspection, consolidation shipping for free.

5. Do You Help Negotiate Better Prices with Suppliers?

Yes, your order is our order. We negotiate from the beginning, and when real orders are confirmed, we will compare 2-3 key verified factories and make a final offer, then talk with their bosses and key personnel one by one to make sure we are getting the best price.
We:

  • Always have more factory lists on hand to negotiate power.

  • Ask the right questions with the right person,

  • Not just for price; better payment terms, faster delivery time, more extras.

We’re not just middlemen or a trading company, we are your office in China, we help you to save cost and time, so you can sell more and buy more from us, so it is a long-term business.

6. Can You Help with Sample Orders and Bulk Orders?

Of course! Yes, that’s our process.
  1. First Sample order, we send by video and pictures for approval, if you need a real sample on hand to check, we will send it to your office to confirm
  2. Once you approve the quality and details, either via video or your check, we will start preparing the final quotation for bulk.
  3. We make the deposit and arrange a bulk order.
  4. The factory finished the products, and we inspected and arranged the shipment.
Whether you are new to importing from China or have long experience importing from China, sampling and then bulk order will always help you save time and trouble.

7. Do You Offer Help with Shipping and Customs?

Yes, we offer an all-in-one sourcing and shipping service.
What we can offer:
  • China consolidation shipping
  • International sea shipping: FCL and LCL
  • Custom clearance
  • Custom documents
  • Tax refund service
Whether you want to ship by sea, by air, or by express, we can help you ship cost-effectively. May I know which shipping method you would like to use? In order to offer you the exact shipping cost, we need to know the following in advance:
  • Product name ( with pictures will be better)
  • Weight
  • Dimension ( if you can share the packing list, it will be great)
  • How many cartons?
  • Destination and shipping method
Check our shipping agent service for more information.

8. Final Question: What’s your Sourcing process?

  • 1. The customer sends their sourcing requirements
As our sourcing agent, first, you need to know what you want to import. Usually, customers will have one sourcing list, with product names, links, and pictures.
(We can not recommend products, and we also can not source only based on single words, like I want to import cloth, or kids’ cloth from China)
The more specific your requirements are, the clearer we can provide the quotation.
China-sourcing-agent-file-template-scaled.
It would be a great help if you could send us the exact product name, product pictures, links, specifications, and the quantity and target price you want to achieve.
  • 2. Got your requirement and built a team
    We will ask to collect your email and set a professional teammate to work for you, and we will build a sourcing service team group.
  • 3. Offer the first quotation and negotiation
    After we offer the quotation, we can talk about the price and products one by one, like the target price, and if you want to increase or remove some products.

China sourcing agent quotation

  • 4. Sample Order and then Bulk Order: Once you confirm the price, we may proceed to a sample order or directly to a bulk order.
  •  5. Arrange production 
    Before we confirm the price, we will further confirm with you the exact production time, so we will monitor the production line and make sure the delivery is not delayed.
  •  6. Quality Inspection:
    After finishing the production, we will make an inspection in our warehouse or in the factory directly. We will send pictures and final finish cargo pictures for your approval.
  • 7. Shipping and Logistics:
Finally, we will repack and arrange the shipping and logistics. If you use a shipping agent, we will send the items to them.
If you use our shipping service, we will arrange different options for your choice, like shipping by sea, FCL and LCL, and by air-cargo, by DHL, UPS,
And we will also make a Commercial invoice, Packing list, and Certificate of Origin to make sure you can easily clear customs and reduce tax. We will send you the Bill of Loading or tracking code for you to track the shipments.

Final

Finding one China sourcing agent is a great strategy: you have one Office in China and one partner working for you. You are not overpaying for something, you save cost and time, and, most importantly, you reduce the risk.
Ask those questions before hiring a sourcing agent; if they answer you transparently and reliably, just work with them. If you have more questions or want to ask for a China sourcing agent, you can leave your comments below, and we will answer them one by one.
Want to talk with a real China sourcing agent to know more?