Why import from China with a purchasing agent？

The abundant information on the Internet already makes importing easier and easier. A novice can study how to import from articles and teaching videos shared by bloggers and youtubers, in addition, there are many Chinese platforms designed for foreign importers, which make contacts of supplier easily accessible. Meanwhile, in China there are purchasing agents, who do the purchasing management for importers, simply saying, search for suppliers, follow up the order and manage other necessary matters between buyer and seller in order to carry out a successful import from China. As we said in the beginning, in the age of the Internet, information is so accessible and communication is so easy, why do you still need to import from China with a purchasing agent? If we think on a deeper level, actually importing with an agent has a lot of benefits. Let's see what the benefits are.

First, working with a purchasing agent makes it easier for you to find reliable suppliers. Although it is easy to find suppliers through platforms like Alibaba, Made in China, Aliexpress, it is not an easy task for foreigners to distinguish which are reliable factories, intermediary companies, y know about the size of company. They can spend a lot of time browsing each company's profile, but in the end, they don't know from which to order. A purchasing agent knows how to distinguish a good supplier, they will give them a summary of supplier search, quotations, their professional comments.

Second, due to the time difference and language barrier, a buyer may find it difficult to communicate with Chinese suppliers: they don't use WhatsApp, they take time to reply, they don't understand each other using translator. Working with a purchasing agent who understands your native language makes communication easier and more efficient. The agent communicates with suppliers during working hours in China. They just need to tell the agent what to do with the supplier, the agent does it and reports the result to buyers. Most importantly, their ability to negotiate the price is better.

If an importer buys from several suppliers at the same time to fill a container or needs to consolidate goods. A purchasing agent plays an even more important role in coordination and communication. It really saves you a lot of time and energy.

Third, a purchasing agent draws up an import budget, checks invoices or other documents, makes quality inspection of the produced products, etc. to avoid potential problems.

In addition, a purchasing agent usually has a lot of experience and good resource of suppliers. They can give useful recommendation and comment according to certain case, keep updating better suppliers, keep getting better price during the cooperation period.