How to Find Quality Manufacturers in China

Posted by kimary on July 9th, 2018

Here are 10 tips that can help you reduce your risk when choosing quality manufacturers in China to produce your private label products:

Online Directories

While sites like Alibaba, HKTDC, Global Sources, Made-In-China, DHgate, and Global Market offer convenient listings of thousands of suppliers, they rarely offer any type of assurance that the suppliers are legitimate. In fact, on many of these directories, suppliers can purchase a “star” rating or other similar badging or award status that is supposed to instill confidence in potential buyers. So instead of actually earning a good reputation, they can simply purchase that status. Overall, Global Sources tends to have the better quality manufacturers, as they do indeed perform some sort of vetting process and hold accepted suppliers to a higher standard than most.

Order Samples the RIGHT way

When you find quality manufacturers in China that meet your initial requirements, always request multiple samples from them. There are many horror stories out there that are very similar and all of them have to do with the fact that the samples the factory sent out to customers were not the same as the final product. Ordering only 1 or 2 samples gives the supplier a chance to make the perfect, high quality version of your product and pass it off as a sample of the final product. As shady as that sounds, it happens. You can minimize the chances of this happening by ordering 10-50 samples. Explain that you need samples for all of your reps or stores and make sure to try and negotiate the cost of these samples being subtracted from the product order. Factories will usually do this if it means that you will place an actual order. To recoup the sample costs, you can list them on Ebay, Amazon FBM, or other platforms, which will also provide some insight and validation if it is a new product.

Background Checks

If you find a potential quality Chinese manufacturer online, it’s a good idea to conduct at least a basic background check on them. You can obtain business credit reports, licenses, bank information and other relevant data from various public sources online. But unless you know where to find this and can read Mandarin, it’s usually a better idea to purchase a report with this information from one of the companies who specialize in this field such as Examine China. This will give you a good overview of the supplier and allow you to make an informed decision on whether or not to pursue a business relationship with them.

Discuss Subcontracting with Supplier

Many suppliers subcontract out to increase profits. Whether they have the entire product made somewhere else, or outsource certain parts or raw materials, you are taking on more risk in terms of quality. Make sure to discuss this topic with potential suppliers and find out if they will subcontract any portion of your product to another factory. Regardless of their answer, it would be prudent to add a subcontracting clause to your contract to cover any issues that should arise from this practice.

Don’t Choose Based on Price Alone

The allure of outsourcing production to China is the much lower cost of labor. But don’t make the grave mistake of trying to pick a supplier solely based on price. As we detailed in our previous post on Chinese Suppliers, a factory offering the lowest price, or a low-price guarantee is a recipe for disaster. The old adage of “you get what you pay for” is more true in China than almost anywhere else. You can be absolutely sure that if a factory is offering you the lowest price they are either going to recoup those costs in some additional charge, or far more likely, and worse, they will use cheap materials and your product quality will suffer.

Ask if They Have US Customers

Typically if a factory exports to the USA in any substantial capacity, it generally means that they are capable of producing quality products. Conversely, if the majority of a suppliers’ customers are in the Middle East, it’s usually a safe bet that their quality is less than ideal. By and large, goods sold in the Middle East are of lower quality than most western countries. We can say this with confidence based on our years of experience sourcing and finding quality manufacturers in China-and unfortunately a fair share of terrible suppliers who we add to our blacklist that we’ve maintained for almost a decade.

Become an Expert on Your Product

You absolutely need to be an expert on your product. If a supplier suspects you are just “winging it”, they will be far more likely to take advantage of you. The onus is on you to find out all of the relevant specifications and details about your product: material makeup, specs, tolerances, required certifications, manufacturing processes, etc. This is why we urge all of our customers to complete a spec sheet before seeking a supplier. Do some research and prepare questions about your product before reaching out to suppliers so that you can more effectively vet them and decide which ones are not only competent but capable.

Avoid Long Emails

When emailing a potential supplier, be cognizant of the fact that English is not their native language. In fact, many factories we deal with don’t have any English speakers on staff. So you can assume that at least some of them are going to use some sort of translation software to convert your email to Mandarin. Thus it is absolutely essential to keep communications brief and to the point. We suggest you utilize bullet points or a numbered list, as you will find that suppliers usually reply back more often to emails that are formatted as such. Why? It’s just easier to digest short sentences and reply back to each bullet/number individually.

Sourcing Fairs

One of the best ways to find quality manufacturers in China is attend any of the various industry fairs throughout the Mainland and Hong Kong. The good news is that there are many available sourcing fairs to choose from. The bad news is that you’ll need to spend the time and money to fly here to China so that you can actually attend these fairs in person. It’s also worth noting that traveling to China requires a bit more work than just getting a passport. Depending on where you are going, you will need a Chinese visa and possibly a special permit. All of these take time so be sure to check the requirements and plan at least 3 months ahead of time. Even though traveling to China is a hassle, there is no better way to evaluate potential manufacturing partners than to meet with them face-to-face.

Visit the Factory

If at all possible, you should personally visit the factory, or send a representative to do so. You would be astounded by the extent to which suppliers will go to make it seem like they are a large, legitimate factory. We’ve seen numerous examples of shady suppliers utilize fake photos to give the impression that they are a manufacturing powerhouse. And it’s even considered acceptable practice for smaller suppliers and trading companies to hold meetings and give tours of other manufacturers impressive facilities and claim is as their own! They will typically bring signage to cover up the actual factory’s name and logo so it appears as if it is, indeed, their own facility. Thus, if you decide to visit the factory, do your homework and make sure their registered address matches the address they give you for your visit.

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