[rejoice]

A big part of the problem is that so many Chinese businesses only care about the immediate deal, and try to make as much money as possible. They do not see the potential for many, many orders to follow.

One of the biggest factors that makes this type of business practice possible is that most of Chinese business remains cash based, and as a customer sourcing something, you're going to pay 50% cash up front and 50% when the order is ready. In general, there are no terms given. You don't get to pay in sixty days. If something goes wrong, your money is gone. You will never see it again.

Communication is the biggest obstacle right now between China and the Western world. If you are fluent in Mandarin or Cantonese and can read this posting as well, go and spend time learning up on Chinese business and go there. You will become one of the most valuable pieces of business real estate, because you can communicate between two very very very different worlds. This is something both sides need.

The Chinese supply chain is driven by ladders of sales agents, who sell 'up the ladder' each adding their own markup of course. This creates tonnes of issues, your price is higher of course, but also, if something goes wrong, you're never going to get it fixed if there are six sales agents in the way.

Things go missing, and boats sink. They do not yet have the same regulations, check points and safety codes (and where they do exist, they are rarely enforced.) Boats sink.

Many of them will send you amazing quality samples but when it comes down to sending your final orders some places will ship you a mix of good quality items and a mix of items that are worthless, or close to it. I’m not saying everyone is like that, it’s around 50/50

Dealing with china or even Pakistan or other places these days is risky, so do as much homework as you can about the company you want to deal with.

I would like to say not all china suppliers are bad just like not all of them are good. Open your eyes,be cagey,then you can get what you want.

[PowerPython]

Greta advice backed up by great reasons!

[crackah]

Way to true, have you been burnt?

[funk]

I agree - I bought 2 stuff in the past from China, both from Ebay

One - "Official" BillaBong shorts

Two - Street Fighter 2 Cammy Statue - Official again

When I got them, both were of bad quality

[Unreal030]

I am more of an import from Mexico kind of guy.

[Ian]

And they're commies dontcha know...

[JackIssac109]

I think with Chinese suppliers, you have to know how to deal with them. I worked with a toy manufacturer in China; a company from Harbin in Northern China and they did wonders. Granted, we was actually on the ground there to inspect the products before they went in the shipping containers. The Chinese like to think that they can squeeze out every last drop of your hard-earned money if they try hard enough.

A couple tips I can give when dealing with them is

1) Be in China to actually talk to them; your presence is important

2) Bring a gift as a token of appreciation; trust me this helps amazingly. We brought the owner we were working with a bottle of Merlot and he was grinning like a 16 year old.

3) Don't deal with the middlemen, find someone who can speak or write Chinese, and look up the numbers for the factories directly and call them. Good electronics producers tend to be near GuangZhou, ShenZhen, and in southern China near Hong Kong. I stayed away from websites that linked you to Chinese companies and instead I found my own.

4) Safety codes. The Chinese consumer safety laws are enforced by local magistrates and these local office almost have sole discretionary control on what is acceptable and what is not. We found that in GuangSui and ShangDong provice, the codes are enforced the harshest. Also, more developed provinces also tend to enforce them stronger. Comparatively, some provinces take it as a mere piece of paper and make you post it on a wall in hope you will somehow read it and decides to follow it out of the goodness of your heart.

In the end, even though it was a good amount of work, we got an amazing deal. The quality was great and we had a good time dealing with them through our interpreter.

[Unreal030]

This is all true. I did not have the time to post such things earlier when I noticed this post as I had to go out for a bit. However China has good products and service. They just operate differently then us. While I do not have personal experience with them yet my father had to travel quite frequently to China, especially Hong Kong and GuangZhou, to speak and do business with people when he worked for Energizer batteries as they have quite a lot of people working there. He has never had any issues there and all of their meetings and arrangements were of the highest quality.

One should not stereotype an entire country due to a bad experience with a certain group or product.

[Ian]

Well yeah in all serious as an aside to my (obviously sarcastic) earlier comment, I think the Chinese economy is amazing..this one guy, he's like 26? I don't recall his name but he's a billionaire already, company makes electrical appliances.

And think of it this way, "red" china..he wasn't exactly born into his wealth now was he?

Ian

[Finandom]

I have not deal with China people in business yet but I already heard a lot of news that Chinese people are good in bluffing. Even as a tourist, we also have to be careful in shopping or what...

[Grev]

Originally Posted by rejoice

Communication is the biggest obstacle right now between China and the Western world. If you are fluent in Mandarin or Cantonese and can read this posting as well, go and spend time learning up on Chinese business and go there. You will become one of the most valuable pieces of business real estate, because you can communicate between two very very very different worlds. This is something both sides need.

I'm fluent in a few languages, English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, and over the past few months I have sensed that I could become something VERY valuble as well.

And you also have to realise that the cultural differences between Western and Eastern cultures, it can be something that's elusive yet it's fundamental.

Personally I haven't dealt with any of the actual mainland Chinese businesses since I was of Hong Kong decent and completely left for another-union-jacked country before the 1997 handover back to mainland China, although as a result, I can say that it's safe to deal with people that are in Hong Kong. The immigration from mainland China to Hong Kong is minimal so it's still relatively safe.

But yes, note on the cultural differences, it really helps.