Why China Sourcing Agent?

Jack, who lives in Los Angeles, U.S., found a niche product recently. He checked listings of this item on Amazon and got an exciting result: few sellers, but the sales are rising. So he decided to start his own business. But a trouble in front of him is where to source this item. With the introduction of a friend, Jack realized that he can turn to a professional sourcing agent.

Generally speaking, a sourcing agent (also called purchasing agent) is an individual, employed by a company or working as a freelancer, helping companies overseas to import from China. Here list some works of what a sourcing agent can do:
1.) Finding new products and suppliers.
2.) Suppliers audit.
3.) Negotiations.
4.) Factory inspections and quality control.
5.) Arrange shipments.

You may say: why should I pay money to get a sourcing agent while I can get so many suppliers from Google, Alibaba and Global Sources? This is a common question in the mind of many people. In fact, a good agent can be an extremely valuable asset in your overall product procurement strategy:

1. Save time & cost

“Save time” is easy to understand: it is no doubt that a sourcing agent should spend time to find good suppliers. But people pay extra to hire agent, then where does “save cost” come?

A local sourcing agent has the full access to local markets, which are out of the range of those buyers who use internet tools. What’s more, many medium and small Chinese factories may never show their existence on internet or trade shows.

2. Save trouble

A local agent is familiar with Chinese culture, so that he can make communications with suppliers without any trouble. A professional agent will also make full use of this knowledges of products & manufacturing procedure to make the difference between a successful business transaction and complete disaster. Take electronic products for example, EU market only import CE, RoHS and CPSIA compliant ones. If a business man lacks such safety regulations knowledge, he may lose all his money when import unqualified electronic products.