Hello,everyone .To those new start-up business friends and small online sellers or offline wholesalers, sourcing products from China and particularly Guangzhou is not easy unless they have enough resources and enough time to compare different suppliers and products and communicate with them. Actually, it is kind of headache for sellers. That’s why people need sourcing agent. That’s why there are lots of sourcing agents in China. In this case, what sellers should do is to find a good sourcing agent. From my experience, I have summarized some essential quality that a good sourcing agent should arm with.
Quality number one: A good sourcing agent in Guangzhou must be a company not individual. On one hand, a company is officially recorded by Chinese government and it has business license. Its financial status is checked by the government too, which means the company has much more economic strength to provide good service or face emergency while individual can disappear quickly and sellers cannot find them. On the other hand, company has more resources than individual. Company has bigger database of clients and suppliers. It has better understanding of foreign markets and know what product sells well so that it can recommend enough good products for sellers.
Quality number two: The Guangzhou sourcing agent should have enough experience in sourcing. The agent who has more than ten years experience is much more trustworthy and resourceful than the agent who has just three years experience. An experienced sourcing agent has gone through many different situations so the agent can handle problems very smoothly. Sellers won’t feel worried working with that agent. As for the supplier database, more years the agent works in sourcing, much richer the supplier database the agent absolutely has.
Quality number three: If the Guangzhou sourcing agent specializes in certain products that seller interested in, that agent is good. The agent who is good at sourcing furniture may not be expert in building material products. Working with that professional agent, sellers can get the best quotation very soon.
Quality number four: The Guangzhou sourcing agent who is confident enough and can provide other clients’ contacts for sellers to get some information like background of the agent and feedback as reference will be a good business partner. Other clients’ real experience in working with the agent and their thought are treasure for sellers. Sellers can asks those people whether they have happy working experience with the agent or not and how do they think about the agent. If the answer is positive, it’s good idea to take this agent into consideration.
Quality number five: Good Guangzhou sourcing agent have to have good suppliers and have excellent bargain skill to get the most competitive price of the product. Sellers have lots of competitors. Therefore, only good agent who is responsible for getting good products in good price can help the seller occupy the market. This agent should have different resources from exhibition, wholesale offline markets and online suppliers. Many years’ experience help the agent to be VIP client of suppliers. So suppliers will offer better price to the agent. Even foreign client cannot get that price from suppliers.
Quality number six: Good Guangzhou agent should follow up the whole process of the production, make sure the delivery date is on schedule and keep in touch with seller. Seller is far from China and spend much money in products. He should know what happen with products. So the agent is the only person that the seller can rely on. Agent must prepare checklist showing the production situation during different period. If there are problems, agent should give feedback and advice to the seller for solving problems.
Quality number seven: Good Guangzhou sourcing agent have QC experience with certain equipment. Some sourcing agents only do sourcing work not QC. Finding sourcing agent who can do QC professionally saves cost and time. If the agent also has QC equipment like caliper, measuring tape and camera for taking pictures and videos, that’s better choice.
Quality number eight: Good Guangzhou sourcing agent has flexible charge standard. They can accept one time flat fee or charging by percentage based on seller’s order value. Which way is suitable depends on seller’s need and the relationship with the agent. If it’s just one time deal, flat fee is acceptable. If the agent is reliable and seller wants to build long term relationship with the agent, charging by percentage may be the consideration.
Quality number night: The Guangzhou agent who can provide enough good shipping solutions is good agent. There are several types of shipping including shipping by sea, shipping by air or express and road transport. Some sellers may order special products or sensitive products. As a good sourcing agent, he should advise the most suitable way of shipping based on the product type and the quantity and prepare other solutions as substitute. In addition, knowing how to avoid paying high tax and provide documents for reducing import tariff legally is a great advantage.
Quality number ten: Honesty is a vital quality for a good sourcing agent. If the agent promises he offers sellers original quotation from factory and everything is transparent to sellers, then it’s worth regarding him as good business partner.
Above are the top ten quality that the Top Guangzhou market guide should have from my perspective. Thanks for reading and hope you can find a good sourcing agent to help boost your business growth.