31 Employees . Reynold Li is the co-founder of Fami Sourcing who specializes in the field of supply chain management in China. Outsourcing agents are particularly helpful if your manufacturer is overseas. Read More. The manufacturing ability of these manufacturers could enhance your supply chain. products may be made from the manufacturing location or a storage or warehouse facility that is located within a ten-mile radius of the manufacturing location. Phone: (408) 205-1319 - Fax: (408) 866-5150, Die Cast Components for the Renewable Energy Industry. Relying on someone else to find you the best deal and the best quality, while also handling logistic management, saves you valuable time, energy and money. The following are just some of the real world examples of companies that got in trouble by using third-party sourcing agents without contracts to protect them. Distributors offer a limited range of products. For those of you who are looking for a sourcing agent via the Internet, whois.com can help you know when the domain name of the sourcing agents website was registered. The way the business model is supposed to work is for the agent to receive a commission based on what you pay the factory. 11) Top 20 Best China Wholesale Websites 12) Difference between Sourcing Agents in Different Cities in China 13) How to Source Products from China? These numbers represent the median, which is the midpoint of the ranges from our proprietary Total Pay Estimate model and based on salaries collected from our users. They have knowledge of culture, language, and different business practices with international companies, which ultimately saves you time and research. They know the customs and speak the native language. As a result, when things go wrong, they often tend to defend the factory, writes, . Remember, your purchasing agent represents you, and they are paid to take responsibility for finding the right suppliers, ensuring product quality, and ensuring you are charged competitive prices. Ecommerce Product sourcing agents arent always as altruistic as they seem. . These questions will give you an idea of how different sourcing agents will handle a problem when it arises; after all, its when the problem arises that you need their help the most. Below I will explain how different types of sourcing agents charge for their services. When your order quantity is more than $1000, consider working with a sourcing agent to find the original factory and reduce supply chain risk. Distributors can raise prices to profit from their wholesale purchases, which often happens. Be frank and straightforward and ask pointed questions. The best way to get to know them is to talk to the clients theyve worked with. But why are there still many buyers working with sourcing agents even though alibaba.com is so convenient? A sourcing agent can smoothly help a retailer start an overseas ecommerce product sourcing business. What Is a Sourcing Agent and How to Choose | MatchSourcing But there is a downside to this fee model for sourcing agents, as the free quote model attracts many buyers who are not yet ready to import. For one the finished goods requirements aren't the same nor is the timing. Typically freelance sourcing agents in China have an hourly rate of $10-25 and a monthly salary of around $700-1500. Some purchasing agents quote their clients a fixed price for each of their services before working together. An unscrupulous sourcing agent may find a supplier that cuts corners and can do the work for $7 per part. Finding a Good Sourcing Agent When Outsourcing Manufacturing Manufacturing Contracts When Using a Sourcing Agent 6. What if I told you that the following companies also work with sourcing agents? Air and sea freight charges are usually not counted as part of the order amount and your payment amount is calculated as follows. info@uniway-sourcing.com . So what products do sourcing agents in different cities specialize in? How do you navigate through these? Your email address will not be published. Thats why some Western management sourcing companies have pioneered the upfront fee + percentage model to attract buyers who are 100% committed to starting their import business. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Many people choose to work with a sourcing agent, but that doesnt mean you should do the same. This article explores the value of working with a sourcing agent in a retailers bottom line. If you are planning to import from China and considering getting help from a sourcing company, you must have tons of questions. This is a very important step. Its not hard to find Chinese suppliers or list factories in Hong Kong, Mexico, or Vietnam. Knowledge of Culture & Developed Relationships-Whether you are outsourcing domestically or overseas, sourcing agents know where and who to work with. A sourcing agent may represent an e-commerce company or choose to contract with multiple suppliers. Many cities in China are famous for their wholesale markets, such as Guangzhou and Yiwu. Nobodys good at everything, but everybody is good at something. They have expertise to handle transportation activities. Epic Sourcing | The sourcing agent for small business Sourcing agents maintain relationships with quality manufacturers across a variety of industries to find the most compatible fit for your company. Both sourcing agents and freight forwarders can arrange the logistics for you, and none of them own ships. Why is this information important? Steel and aluminum experts for the automotive industry 4. We offer a wide range of parts for Open End (AutoCoro) spinning machines as well as for Winding (AutoConer) machines. Salary: Sourcing Agent (March, 2023) | Glassdoor You can look up any domain name directly by using the following URL: If you have a candidate sourcing agent, you want to know what products they specialize in. They work to vet potential manufacturers and determine the needs of both companies. The major sourcing agent they work with is Li & Fung Group, a trading company established in Guangzhou in 1906. Saves Time & Money-Outsourcing agents serve as representatives for your company. Working with this type of sourcing company gives you little control and has higher long-term costs. Thats why buyers usually hire sourcing companies to consolidate shipments, check the quality of goods, and supervise the container loading. Sourcing agents commonly take advantage of uninformed entrepreneurs by manipulating the pricing in the factorys favor and, since they get a percentage, their own commission. In that case, I suggest you try working directly with the factory. Sourcing specialists are experts in manufacturing and know the ins and outs of their industry. Buying agents held important positions in southern China, buying and selling tea, silk, cotton, and yarn for foreign companies. What is a Product Sourcing Agent and Where to Find One? Fiverr, Upwork, etc. Some buyers already have experience importing from overseas, but most of their suppliers are actually trading companies. Transparency in the supply chain can be seen in the following questions: If the answer to all three of these questions is no, then your sourcing agent is actually operating as a trading company. In addition to our proven technology-based solutions, we can help you connect with a reputable and reliable supplier. Sourcing agents who charge an hourly or monthly fee are usually individual freelancers or one-person companies. We promise to deliver your goods, at the right place, at the . A partner is someone who works with you, shares information, and is always looking after your best interests. 2. The way how a sourcing agent charge is closely related to the cost you end up paying. Get a quote in as little as 24 hours and sail dates that can ship within 5 days of booking. What if I receive goods that are damaged in transit? They handle everything then charge you for the final product. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. Sourcing and procurement are vastly different. Before you work with a sourcing agent, confirm not only where they are located, but also what products they have sourced. Working with a sourcing agent is the most cost-effective option for sourcing inventory. The sourcing agent is a popular solution because you may not have the experience or internal resources to work directly with the factory. Not only do you end up paying that commission in higher costs, it also divides the agents loyalty. Can the product sourcing agent provide at least two references from companies similar to yours? A sourcing agent is an individual or company representing a buyer in finding a suitable product or supplier in an overseas country where the goods are manufactured. A reliable sourcing agent can reduce your sourcing costs and allow you to focus on growing your business, but how do you find a sourcing agent you can trust? Transactions involve many moving parts and processes, and requirements vary by jurisdiction. Do you have any experience importing from overseas? The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". It also helps to monitor the buying agent and assess their legal priorities. Before working together, you need to make sure that you understand how your sourcing agent will handle any problems that arise. One option, using a sourcing agent, can make finding and managing a manufacturing partner much easier. View the latest ebooks, webinars, blogs, and case studies from Gembahs Experts. Sourcing Agent China - Successful Manufacturing in China Do you want a successful import business? Risks such as supplier fraud, low-quality goods, delivery delays, non-compliant goods, etc. Offers clients a wide range of services. Because this would compromise the privacy of the original customer, you can ask the sourcing agent to provide a customer case from the same country like yours, but deals with a different product category. Sourcing specialists also serve as a purchasing manager to help handle tariffs, taxes, importing, and exporting. For more information about sourcing agents, we recommend that you read our guide, What is a Sourcing Agent?. Sourcing agents connect to suppliers and manufacturers. For example, importing wood furniture from China to the United States will be subject to anti-dumping duties, and an experienced sourcing agent will know how to avoid them. A quick online search of off-shore suppliers will pull up hundreds of results. If youre a startup and havent decided what products you want to deal with, you can contact some trading companies to find out more about the product category youre interested in. They are an excellent investment, especially for e-commerce operations that want to stand out from the competition. Scammers, product quality, shipping risks, etc., any one of these can wipe out a small business owners life savings. Dont worry. Do you have any employee who speak the local language of the country where the product is manufactured? Trading Company or Manufacturer: What is the Best Choice? Buyers often find a local agent to act as their eyes and ears to verify what the supplier claims and keep a close eye on new product trends from the manufacturing side. Communication is known to be the key to building strong relationships. To find the best price for a product, you may need to contact more than 20 suppliers: It does take time, but that sounds like a plan, doesnt it? For most parts of the supply chain, getting expert help can help secure items. Product sourcing agents play a pivotal role in the international supply chain. If goods are concentrated at one supplier and then loaded into containers, there is a risk of missing cargo. A good product sourcing agent will always keep you updated on the progress of the process. Bad sourcing agents get kickbacks from suppliers. Unlike a fee structure based on a percentage of the order value, customers with large orders will not be charged more for the service. In shipping arrangements, a freight forwarders solution is not necessarily better than a sourcing agents solution. These are details that prove they have experience in exporting to your country. Wholesale market guides are individual sourcing agents or sourcing companies that provide services to foreign buyers such as interpreting, placing orders, and shipping from China to other countries. Thats a good question. Samatex - Overview, News & Competitors | ZoomInfo.com A reliable sourcing agent will save you much cost, time, and hassles down the supply chain. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Sourcing consultants know where to find different suppliers and have prior connections with manufacturing companies. Copyright 2023 Supplyia All Rights Reserved. Get a custom quote from us today and get to work. Lets take a look at the highlights of these three cities. Your email address will not be published. However, building quality products in a global economy has its fair share of challenges. Our partners are experts in a variety of metal forming processes from closed die forging to investment casting and everything in between. In short, they are your representative in the country you have chosen to work in and they are getting paid to solve problems, find resources, and advocate for your best interest. You are pouring your heart and soul, and probably your savings and financial future, into bringing your idea for a product to market. For starters, risks with regulations, customs, logistics, and prominent cultural differences are just a few other considerations. They work to find your factory, assist in negotiations, and help fix problems when they come up. It is difficult to separate customs declarations from several suppliers. PRODUCTION SOURCING/FACTORY AGENTS - Fashiondex Vetting a product sourcing agent in China or any other country/region requires asking the right questions and getting recommendations from companies that have undergone the same process. Others are completely incompetent or, even worse, flat-out crooks. Sourcing Agents: How do They Work? Should You Hire One? This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Vietnam & India Sourcing Manufacturing Agent - AASA Partners The Risks of Working with a Product Sourcing Agent, Top 11 Affiliate Programs in China Made in China affiliate program. Some of the questions you should ask potential product sourcing agent partners include: You should be the only person paying for procurement services. View Martin Ngugi's business profile as Technical Director at PROTEC Technologies. Working on your behalf, the agent will negotiate and dedicate their time to finding quality products, manufacturing factories, and prices for you and your company. Locating the best sourcing agent is about more than finding the best price or identifying someone who speaks English. A product sourcing agent can lay the groundwork for the retailer. Entrepreneurs struggle to find and vet a manufacturing partner overseas because there are so many options. Do you want a better price on product or shipping? Lets look at the advantages and disadvantages of sourcing agents vs. alibaba.com from a buyers perspective. A sourcing agent assists global buyers in sourcing product suppliers. However, there are several risks involved in using a product sourcing agent. While working with domestic customers, product sourcing agents are critical in the international supply chain. Finding the right supplier for the buyer is one of the main services of a sourcing agent. Not only do you end up paying that commission at a higher cost, you also reduce agent loyalty. While it can be difficult for entrepreneurs to verify that a product sourcing agent is transparent about their role in a transaction, the following steps can help you find a sourcing agent who can be a valuable partner. How do they work, and how much do they charge? Product images are not always trustworthy, as they can be downloaded anywhere online, but product inspection images with their staff faces or company logos are usually the best proof that they have solid experience. Some sourcing agents operate as trading companies, and they hide information about real manufacturers and use various excuses to prevent buyers from visiting factories. As a result, when things go wrong, they often tend to defend the factory, writes one expert. Definitive Guide: How to Source from China? Advantages of working directly with a factory without a sourcing agent: Disadvantages of working directly with the factory without a sourcing agent: Conclusion of the factory vs. sourcing agent. 1. Why You Should Use a Manufacturing Sourcing Agent, How to Choose the Right Sheet Metal for Your Custom Parts and Components. How to Find a Good Sourcing Agent (and Avoid the Terrible Ones) - Gembah In fact, you may get contacted by potential partners on LinkedIn all the time. A sourcing agent who has only worked with industrial products may not be a good fit for seasonal products such as gifts or Christmas trees. Others are completely incompetent, or worse, outright liars. He likes to work with clients who are super serious about their businesses. They often act as virtual assistants to buyers and handle day-to-day communication with suppliers. Are you at the point in your product development journey where you need to find your manufacturing partner? Your purchasing agent is your representative in the country where the goods are produced, and the qualifications of the suppliers they find are directly related to the quality of the product. Problems arise because they may also get paid by suppliers. Suppose a retailer is looking for ten items; they need to contact 100 suppliers. Sourcing Agent China Guide to Finding the Right One for You If a buyer purchases goods from several different suppliers and ships them in one container. Sourcing agents are relevant to all types of companies, regardless of size. As a buyer, there is no standard answer as to whether you should ship your goods with a freight forwarder or a sourcing agent. On the one hand, product sourcing agents can provide access to a network of high-quality, vetted factories and have the potential to save entrepreneurs time and money. Product sourcing agents often use unwitting entrepreneurs to manipulate prices to the factorys advantage, and because they receive a percentage of the commission, they can themselves. As with every company, you must work with a licensed product sourcing agent. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. They are working to save you time and money. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. According to reliable sources, 90% of product sourcing agents receive hidden commissions from factories. You want someone with years of experience and the systems in place to efficiently represent your interests with the supplier. A sourcing agent is an individual or company that helps businesses source products in another country. Identifying suppliers. What systems and processes does the product sourcing agent have in place to manage the manufacturer? Its not a good idea for buyers to blindly walk away from a sourcing agent that charges an upfront fee, as they may be able to offer you a better price than a free-quote agent. Your email address will not be published. Have you ever visited the country where you plan to outsource the production of your product? The estimated total pay for a Sourcing Agent is $64,157 per year in the United States area, with an average salary of $58,303 per year. What is hard is finding the right one. Where Can I Find a Product Sourcing Agent? Additional Reading on Overseas Product Sourcing The benefits of a fixed fee structure for buyers are: The downsides of fixed fee structures for buyers, Charge a percentage of the order amount (Free Quote). Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. At Supplyia, we believe our clients deserve the best. Because of the advantages of Made in China come from industrial clusters. Knowing the limitations of the internal resources you have as a young, small business, you need to choose wisely from, The sourcing agent is a popular solution because you may not have the experience or internal resources to work directly with the factory. If you are the main person in charge of the company, do you plan to spend more time on the supply chain than marketing, If you are importing for profit, is it acceptable for you that the project does not. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. They can negotiate and deliver information more effectively without being mistranslated. There are many reasons why importers use sourcing agents, and the needs of different importers vary. This article is some of our views as a sourcing agent on how buyers can choose a sourcing company, we hope you find it helpful. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Gembah is here to help wherever we can at every step of that journey. Our goal is to simplify the parts sourcing process for you. Some of you may think that usually, only small and medium-sized companies need a sourcing agent and that large companies deal directly with the factory. Obviously not, there are some services that a sourcing agent is simply not good at, such as product photography. There is never a one-size-fits-all approach to negotiating with suppliers, and even harder to deal with overseas suppliers. USEFULL Completes Production Run of Eco-Friendly Steel Containers. Why Get a Product Sourcing Agent? - Supply Chain Game Changer The following methods will help you find out if the candidate sourcing agent has experience in an industry: If there are many articles on their website about the same type of product, it proves that the sourcing agent is quite knowledgeable about the product. They can assist in finding the best manufacturer and perform quality control and checks on the prototypes created. View our customer testimonials to see how weve helped companies across multiple industries. How should you choose between sourcing agencies in different countries? We have years of relationship development and industry networking with metal forming manufacturers. When youre building a supply chain that includes manufacturing in Mexico, China, or another foreign country, you need to find someone to make the product, negotiate prices, manage the actual production, handle quality control, and get your products shipped. The more products a retailer intends to offer in its e-commerce store, the more complex the sourcing process becomes. Finding your manufacturing partner is a critical step in the product development process, so devote as much enthusiasm and attention to research, design, and prototyping as you do. Lets take a look at the pros and cons of sourcing agents and trading companies. Problems arise because they may also get paid by the supplier. Your garments from concept to delivery. This results in a lot of wasted manpower for the sourcing company, especially for those who spend a lot of time and are serious about finding suppliers for their buyers. The advantage of freelance sourcing agents is that they can take care of the buyers tedious tasks, such as calling suppliers, translating product descriptions, and so on. (7 Steps). Some agents do not charge a flat fee for their services, nor do they charge a percentage of the order value. Sourcing agents act as procurement managers and manufacturing representatives. If a sourcing agent has exported to your country, they will likely have a better understanding of your countrys customs and product certification requirements. Do you have contacts in the countries where your products are manufactured that you can trust 100%? Outsourcing agents typically have a broad range of skills from coordination and good business sense to knowing different languages and negotiating with both on and offshore manufacturers. Its about choosing a cost-effective representative of your best interests who also knows the local ecosystem everything from where to get raw materials to the most reliable manufacturers to how to ship items and how to generally get things done. This is a clear indication that any company that is energy conscious has a high chance of investing in Vietnam or partnering with other Vietnam companies that adhere to the sustainable manufacturing practices set out by Vietnam environmental laws. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, a sourcing agent can provide access to a network of high-quality, vetted factories and have the potential of saving entrepreneurs time and money.
Where Is Battery Junction Located,
Levi's Men's Carrier Cargo Shorts,
Corinthia Budapest Ballroom,
C-mount To F-mount Adapter,
Articles M