Before RFQ
Clarify whether the requirement, drawings, sample evidence and supplier-facing language are ready.
Guides
China sourcing guide chapters.
Operating chapters for buyers ordering proven industrial and commercial components from China. Use this collection before supplier selection, RFQ, sampling, shipment and repeat-order decisions harden.
Guides
Operating chapters for China sourcing decisions
Each chapter turns a sourcing stage into buyer-side control points: what to clarify, what evidence to request, and what should remain provisional until checked.
Guide 01
Why Source from China — and When Not To
Use this guide before searching for suppliers: test whether China has the right volume, cost gap, capability, lead-time tolerance...
Guide 02
Finding Suppliers Beyond Alibaba — the Discovery Stack
Use this guide to build a supplier discovery stack beyond platform listings, then verify candidates against Chinese registry, tra...
Guide 03
Factory vs Trading Company — Five Public-Record Checks
Before treating a supplier as a factory, check registration scope, address evidence, production proof, export footprint and quota...
Guide 04
The RFQ for Industrial Goods — What UK Buyers Should Ask
Use this RFQ guide to make supplier quotes comparable before price review: define specification, tolerances, MOQ, Incoterms, samp...
Guide 05
Reading the First Quote — What CIF and FOB Hide
Break the first CIF or FOB quote into cost claims before comparing suppliers, so freight, duty, VAT, packaging and payment assump...
Guide 06
Negotiation and Payment Terms — T/T 30/70 vs L/C vs Trade Assurance
Set payment terms against supplier evidence and order risk, not habit: compare T/T, letters of credit and Trade Assurance before...
Guide 07
Samples and the Factory Audit — When the £600 Audit Pays Back
Use samples and factory audits as evidence gates: decide what the sample proves, when a paid audit is worth it and what still rem...
Guide 08
Pre-Shipment Inspection — SGS, TUV, or Self-Organised
Turn pre-shipment inspection into a batch-release control before final payment, with AQL, scope, photos and rework terms agreed i...
Guide 09
Incoterms Decision Tree — DDP vs FOB vs CIF for UK industrial buyers
Choose DDP, FOB or CIF by control and evidence, not by the neatest quote, then model who owns freight, customs, VAT and delay risk.
Guide 10
Freight Booking and Forwarder Selection
Before booking freight, compare forwarders on route, cut-off dates, FCL/LCL economics, documentation discipline and escalation pa...
Guide 11
UK customs clearance and PVA: the £9,000 field your forwarder may miss
Use PVA as a written customs-instruction control, then verify the forwarder used the right CDS treatment before cash leaves the b...
Guide 12
Postponed VAT accounting: the forwarder evidence check
Separate quote facts from supplier assumptions in the landed-cost stack, so CIF, duty, VAT, port fees and delivery lines can be c...
Guide 13
Post-Arrival QC, Dispute Path, and Repeat Orders
After arrival, preserve evidence quickly: inspect the batch, document defects, protect the dispute path and change the repeat-ord...
Guide 14
EU environmental and carbon evidence for China sourcing
Before EU market entry, check whether environmental, carbon or product-entry evidence is missing from the China supplier file and...
Reading path
Choose the chapter by the decision in front of you
The guide is most useful when it is read at a commitment point: before RFQ, before deposit, before shipment or before repeat order.
RFQ readiness
Before RFQ
Start with origin fit, supplier discovery and RFQ discipline before factories quote different versions of the same requirement.
Supplier evidence
Before deposit
Use supplier-claim, quote, payment and sample-gate chapters before payment terms reduce buyer leverage.
Shipment evidence
Before shipment
Use inspection, Incoterms, freight and customs chapters before a shipment or lower-duty assumption is treated as settled.
Repeat control
Before repeat order
Use post-arrival records to decide what changes before repeating production with the same supplier or specification.
Route comparison
Before choosing a route
Compare marketplaces, agents, specialists, local manufacturing and internal procurement before the sourcing route hardens.
Use guides before the commercial decision is locked
Guides are not a replacement for project work. They are preparation material for RFQ scope, supplier evidence, sample gates, landed-cost checks and repeat-order control.
Before deposit
Check whether supplier claims, payment terms, quality gates and shipment assumptions have enough evidence.
Before repeat order
Use post-arrival records to decide what must change before the next production run.