How to Find and Vet Chinese Suppliers
Every order starts with the same two decisions: who makes it, and who stands between you and the factory. The guides below cover both sides of that decision, written from live sourcing work rather than theory.
We audited suppliers, worked trade fairs and negotiated quotations for clients across five continents. The guides in this topic collect the checks and scripts we actually use, so you can apply them to your own shortlist before any money moves.
Start with these three
- How to Verify a Chinese Supplier: 7 Steps to Avoid Scams
- Sourcing Agent, Trading Company or Factory: Which to Pick?
- How to Get the Best Price from Chinese Suppliers: 7 Tips
If you read only three: the legitimacy check keeps scams out, the partner comparison picks the right channel, and the negotiation guide moves price without burning the relationship.
All guides in this topic
- What Is a China Sourcing Agent? A Complete Beginner’s Guide: Start here if the model is new to you: what an agent does day to day, and where the value sits.
- How to Find a Reliable Sourcing Agent in China: 7 Pro Tips: Seven checks we use ourselves to tell a real agent from a middleman with a website.
- How to Verify a Chinese Supplier: 7 Steps to Avoid Scams: A seven step legitimacy check you can run before sending any deposit.
- Auditing Chinese Suppliers: How to Spot a Reliable Factory: The audit criteria that predict whether a factory can hold your quality across a full run.
- Sourcing Agent, Trading Company or Factory: Which to Pick?: Three different partners with three cost structures, and how to pick the right one per product.
- Sourcing Agent vs. Trading Company: What Makes Them Different?: Where the agent model and the trading model diverge once an order goes wrong.
- Why Buyers Use a Procurement Agency, Not the Factory: When buying direct beats using an agency, and when it quietly costs you more.
- How to Get the Best Price from Chinese Suppliers: 7 Tips: Seven negotiation moves that get real price movement without damaging the relationship.
- What’s Included in a Product Quotation?: How to read a quotation line by line, and which missing items signal trouble later.
- How a Sourcing Agent Handles Tough Suppliers: Scripts and escalation paths for the difficult conversations an agent absorbs for clients.
- How Do Sourcing Agents Charge? Commission Models Explained: Commission models explained: percentage, flat fee and hybrid, and what each one incentivises.
- How Foreigners Can Find Ideal Factories at the Canton Fair: How to work the Canton Fair floors so three days produce a shortlist worth auditing.
- How Foreigners Can Refer to the Canton Fair: A first timer orientation to the fair: phases, districts and what to prepare before landing.
- 2026 Trade Shows in China for Foreign Buyers: The Schedule: The full 2026 trade show calendar for buyers planning a sourcing trip to China.
How we can help
Shortlisting suppliers is work we run daily. Send us your product and target market and we will come back with factory options, honest price bands and a realistic minimum order, starting from one piece on our side.
