You were emailing with your overseas suppliers about the new orders. The supplier was replying with their bank information. You were arranging the payment via wire transfer…

It is said there are hundreds of inspection service providers in China nowadays. Some of them, as big as SGS, Intertek or Bureau Veritas, are multi-national giants with more than 100 years history. Some of them, as small as self-employed inspectors, that have only 2 or 3 staff all together.

How to find your ideal quality control partner in China?

Did you ever imagine that your business partner who you have contacted for a long time can turn out to be an email hacker that wants to steal your payment?

We would like to share a story about exposing a hacker, which happened recently to one of our clients (overseas buyer), his Chinese supplier and us, V-Trust. This story has a happy ending, since we helped the customer to reveal the hacker before the customer transferred a large-sum payment to him, and thus would like to keep you alert when settling payments for your overseas purchases.

Do you realize? You may be putting yourself at a higher risk of losing money to fraud when you decide to buy products like A4 copy paper, aluminum or copper wire scrap. In China, most of such trade scams take place in the areas of Hebei and Tianjin.

Walking around the markets of cities in China, amidst the whizzing of motorcycles and the haze of smoke from street barbeque, you may be surprised to find shops and stalls selling high end products.  Of course, a large sum of these items is low quality counterfeits, but you can occasionally stumble upon a hidden gem that sells real pieces, which are often leftovers, samples, or defects from the factories.  These items were not intended for the market and could act as a poor representation of the brand.

If you’re buying from China, you must have received lots of e-mails in the past year from your Chinese suppliers informing they would have to raise their products’ prices due to the rising cost of raw materials.

A smart device is an electronic device, generally connected to other devices or networks via different protocols such as Bluetooth, NFC, WiFi, 3G, etc., that can operate to some extent interactively and autonomously.

In 2010 China overtook the United States and became the world’s largest manufacturer and in the same year China also surpassed Japan and became the world’s second largest economy. China’s incredibly short journey from agricultural and command economy to global superpower status is just the beginning. The coastal areas of China have played a major role in the country’s economic development. It is estimated that over 80% of China’s exports are manufactured in costal China, and that over half of China’s 1.3 billion populations live in these coastal areas.

Are you worrying about whether the new supplier you are going to cooperate with is a cheater? Everything might seem to be going on quite well and smoothly from the order confirmation to the shipment. But after you settle the balance payment, the supplier disappears but then you get nothing from them.

If you have ever had the opportunity to negotiate with Chinese suppliers, you would know that the word “impossible” does not exist on this market. It is enough to look around in Chinese streets full of well known trademarks or products that really look like famous brands. So when you think about it, there should be nothing easier than finding a manufacturer who created those.