How to best protect yourself and source good products
Post 1 of 12
You cannot just sell products on good faith, unless you wanna end up wife/house/penny less from getting sued. To ensure a manufacturer conform to standards. DO NOT just ask them to send you certificates and base you purchase descisions on that. I can send you many fakes. They are a dime a dozzen.
First get familiar with what standards that apply to your product in your country.Bare in mind that each certification contains many directives.
e.g. Car DVD Player in EU requires CE(EMC and Low Voltage directive), WEEE, RoHs and possibly Annex 3C.
Next you need to test a sample. You can get one from the supplier and send to a test lab in your country (These test are not cheap. Car Radio about $5,000). or you can negotiate with your supplier to get the required tests done for you. If you choose the latter, again don't just blindly trust what they tell you or certificates they send you - find out from the authorities in your country, in UK it is UKAS, if there are any approved labs in china.
Intertek and RFi are the only two UKAS approved labs in China, that I have found.
Once you get these certificates, AGAIN do not trust them, check the certicate numbers yourself with the authorised labs.Now if you got this far... congrats ... you are half way there.
Next you need to be sure the suppliers will produce your bulk order accordingly . This is a tough, but if the factory has ISO9001:2000 certification, it means their QC is audited yearly and you stand a better chance. Companies like SGS, again be sure they are accredited. SGS is also UKAS accredited.Again ask for certificates and double checlk them yourself.You can check an SGS certificate number on SGS website at http://www.sgs.com/clients/certified_clients.htm
If all check out, at this stage you may want to instruct a factory audit by one of the Chinese helper companies like bizinchina and tonyinspection. Maybe even both, depends on how SURE you really need to be ... I guess
GOT HERE, congratulations ... hard part over ... except have your inspection company spot check and test some of the products from you bulk order at a pre-shipment inspection.
So now you should be pretty well comfortable that you will get conforming and good quality goods.
But this does stil not mean that you will not get some duds and faulty goods ... SO GET INSURANCE. Because when you sell anything you will be first in-line to get sued when things go wrong.
Insurance companies are more concerned with subrogation than with certification. But beware that if you are insured but the products you sold are not certified in compliance with your countries laws, they will leave you out to dry! Subrogation means that if you get sued and your insurer has to cover you, they will want to recoup the costs from the 3rd party that was responsible for the malfunction, the manufacturer. So another point you may want to consider is whether the manufaturer has sufficient liability insurance, usually in excess of $4,000,000. Otherwiese you have to get insured as if you are the manufacturer, which will be more expensive.
First get familiar with what standards that apply to your product in your country.Bare in mind that each certification contains many directives.
e.g. Car DVD Player in EU requires CE(EMC and Low Voltage directive), WEEE, RoHs and possibly Annex 3C.
Next you need to test a sample. You can get one from the supplier and send to a test lab in your country (These test are not cheap. Car Radio about $5,000). or you can negotiate with your supplier to get the required tests done for you. If you choose the latter, again don't just blindly trust what they tell you or certificates they send you - find out from the authorities in your country, in UK it is UKAS, if there are any approved labs in china.
Intertek and RFi are the only two UKAS approved labs in China, that I have found.
Once you get these certificates, AGAIN do not trust them, check the certicate numbers yourself with the authorised labs.Now if you got this far... congrats ... you are half way there.
Next you need to be sure the suppliers will produce your bulk order accordingly . This is a tough, but if the factory has ISO9001:2000 certification, it means their QC is audited yearly and you stand a better chance. Companies like SGS, again be sure they are accredited. SGS is also UKAS accredited.Again ask for certificates and double checlk them yourself.You can check an SGS certificate number on SGS website at http://www.sgs.com/clients/certified_clients.htm
If all check out, at this stage you may want to instruct a factory audit by one of the Chinese helper companies like bizinchina and tonyinspection. Maybe even both, depends on how SURE you really need to be ... I guess
GOT HERE, congratulations ... hard part over ... except have your inspection company spot check and test some of the products from you bulk order at a pre-shipment inspection.
So now you should be pretty well comfortable that you will get conforming and good quality goods.
But this does stil not mean that you will not get some duds and faulty goods ... SO GET INSURANCE. Because when you sell anything you will be first in-line to get sued when things go wrong.
Insurance companies are more concerned with subrogation than with certification. But beware that if you are insured but the products you sold are not certified in compliance with your countries laws, they will leave you out to dry! Subrogation means that if you get sued and your insurer has to cover you, they will want to recoup the costs from the 3rd party that was responsible for the malfunction, the manufacturer. So another point you may want to consider is whether the manufaturer has sufficient liability insurance, usually in excess of $4,000,000. Otherwiese you have to get insured as if you are the manufacturer, which will be more expensive.
15 Feb 2008 02:22
Post 2 of 12
:-) Makes me quiet reading all this. Waw, what a country... China. You know, i ve been residing in Guangzhou, mainland, for the last 4 years or so... and uh... ive heard these stories a lot. And it makes me wonder how to prevent all that stuff from happening.
I mean, is it like necessary to have campers staying at the factory for like months just to ensure your products will look like the ones you ordered?
I mean, is it like necessary to have campers staying at the factory for like months just to ensure your products will look like the ones you ordered?
28 Jul 2008 01:30