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.

With strict virus-preventive actions and quarantine measures in China already within a month, every element of the supply chain industry is trying its hardest to get back on track within the shortest time possible. Being a part of this is both thrilling and uneasy, but crucial for recovery.

As of today, when writing this article (5 March 2020), the COVID-19 outbreak has sickened over 80,000 in Mainland China and spread to over 79 countries. Let’s see how is the situation in Vietnam with some Q&A:

Chinese government has implemented effective measures to contain the spread of the CoVid-19 and these measures have already shown positive results as there has been lower increase rate of new cases outside Hubei province in the past two weeks.

Authorities from the Health Department have forecasted that the outbreak will peak sometime this month and will be over by April. With the outbreak now being under control as a result of the efforts Chinese government has made to reduce the impact of the CoVid-19 epidemic, importers worldwide are more optimistic and factories started to resume its operations with the majority of them at a slower pace, and some even at its full capacity.

Using your phone to pay is now a daily gesture and the main mean of payment for most Chinese. In 2018, around 83% of all payments were made via mobile payment modes.

This is definitely very convenient, you practically don’t need cash anymore in the Middle Kingdom.

The trade war between the US and China is still ongoing. But more than that, labor cost is rising tremendously in China and many importers are considering (or have even started) importing from other Asian Countries.

As a reader of our blog, you are probably a skillful importer in China with many years of experience in the Middle Kingdom. However Vietnamese customs and Vietnamese business culture are still very different. This article will help you better understanding these differences.

Shipping marks are normally used by factories, logistics companies, customs and warehouses to identify the content of export cartons as well as its origin and destination. They are essential to ensure proper handling of cargoes and smooth transportation through borders. Misspelled marks and labels, however, can cause, in worst case scenario, huge transit delays that could badly affect the profitability of a product, also resulting in a negative impact on an entire supply chain.

It is not very uncommon for us in the quality control industry to come across situations which importers (mostly unexperienced) do not fully understand cross-border regulations on care labels and its importance to consumers’ satisfaction with the product they are buying.

Chinese New Year is approaching, and as you may already know, factories are going to be totally closed for at least two weeks. When the workers start to return, it will take a few more weeks for them to get back up to full capacity. With that in mind, there are certain things importers should be cautious about in order to manage well their supply chain and have the level of 

quality they expect whether they choose to ship before the holiday or after.

Did you ever have difficulty in explaining your product requirements to supplier? Setting up a quality level for your production is not always easy.

Turn your attention to the tools you can use to assure quality and communicate it right even if you are based on the other side of the world!