Frequently asked questions

A transparent service fee agreed in advance — usually a percentage of order value, or a flat project fee for one-off sourcing. You always see the factory's price and our fee listed separately. Nothing is padded into the unit cost.

This is the right question to ask any agent. Some factories do offer a referral payment. Our rule: if we ever receive one, it is disclosed to you and deducted from your cost. You get the factory's real number either way.

There is no fixed minimum on our side. What matters is whether the factory's MOQ works for you. For small trial orders we often consolidate several buyers into one production run to reach a sensible MOQ, or point you to stock-supported suppliers.

Yes, and we encourage it. We arrange the itinerary, interpretation and transport, and we will take you to more than one candidate so you can compare. If you cannot travel, our live video audit shows the line running in real time.

We sign an NDA before contacting any factory, and tooling is registered under your name so it cannot be reused for another buyer. For genuinely sensitive products we recommend a Chinese-language contract governed by Chinese law and registering your trademark in China — we will walk you through it.

Balance payment is not released until you approve the inspection report. If a batch fails, the factory reworks or remakes at their own cost and we re-inspect before shipping. You are never pushed to accept a shipment you are not happy with.

Yes — consolidation, export packing, freight booking by sea (FCL/LCL), air, rail to Europe and express, plus the full export document set. We can work with your freight forwarder or ours. Import customs clearance in your country is handled by your broker; we supply every document they need.

Typically 30% deposit and 70% balance against a copy of the bill of lading, or after inspection approval for new relationships. We push to tie the balance to your approval of the QC report rather than to the shipping date.

Roughly 4–8 weeks door to door: 48 hours for the shortlist, 1–2 weeks for sampling, 3–5 days for audit and contract, 3–5 weeks production, then transit. Repeat orders with a locked specification drop to production plus transit only.

Sometimes. About one in five inquiries sits outside our core categories — we will tell you honestly whether we have a route or whether you should look elsewhere. We would rather lose an inquiry than take on something we cannot do well.

You are, as the importer of record. That is the case with any agent. What we do is coordinate testing, collect certificates from accredited labs and make sure documentation matches your market — but we will never sign a declaration of conformity for you.