Finding suppliers in China?

[NM2016]

Hello.


I am looking for some advice regarding importing from China/Taiwan.

At present my company is primarily an import based company, mainly from with in the EU but on occasions USA and China once or twice.
I am looking at a new venture within my current company and struggling to find a good site to find suppliers for sports based goods, basically catalogue products rather than custom designed and built. However I will want them changing but mainly just visually, paint/decals and so on.

I have looked through Alibaba, Made in China etc but I know how they work and I want to cut the middle man out. Would I be best looking for a broker over there who might be able to point me in the right direction then looking at getting a flight over to seal the deal rather than doing it all online?

Of course I would like to see samples first before flying over but that is further down the line for now. My main focus is finding a good factory knocking out these goods who can help and I am not paying over the odds unnecessarily (Alibaba etc).

PM me for further info, I dont want to give too much away on here as I dont want my company name being brought in to it just yet, I like to keep things separate.

Any replies much appreciated and this is a genuine post, I know there is always things popping up about 'importing from China' but I know the procedure.

Cheers!

[DSLiverpool]

To get to the actual factories you have to "press the flesh" get to the shows and sleuth it out - I have noticed the factories are retreating from the myriad of smaller buyers wasting time and more and more agencies are pretending to be factories. This is one of the hardest parts of sourcing but its easier to the established importer thus generating a nice barrier to market entry of sorts.

[foliedouce]

DSLiverpool said:

To get to the actual factories you have to "press the flesh" get to the shows and sleuth it out - I have noticed the factories are retreating from the myriad of smaller buyers wasting time and more and more agencies are pretending to be factories. This is one of the hardest parts of sourcing but its easier to the established importer thus generating a nice barrier to market entry of sorts.

This

We just sourced several new products from China. We got to the same factories that the biggest brand in our sector use and have done a deal with them with unbelievable pricing for the relatively low quantities we are ordering. We only managed this through hiring a native Mandarin speaking who went out to China with one of our other guys to visit the factories.

As has been said, watch for agents pretending to be factories, hard to tell unless you go and visit.

[nsa]

Your account doesn't permit emails. I'm based in Hong Kong and have some spare time on my hands at the moment. I'm no expert, but I will help if I can.