Last week I paid several factory visitations to some Shenzhen-based companies in China upon request of some foreign buyers.

All the three companies are Gold member or Trust pass members in Shenzhen, who all claimed that they were real manufacturers of electronics in China. I’m sure most of the foreign businessmen will be astonished at the result of my visitation in Shenzhen; here is the basic information from my visitation report:

Company One:
Declined my visitation on the pretext of goods shortage, but they promised to receive us before our departure to Shenzhen.

Company Two:
Received us at an office in a Hotel, there are 3 salespersons working in the office. We cannot even find a Logo on their company in the office and on the door. They are checked out to be a small offshore trading company in China.

Company Three:
This is the best one among the three. They are a registered small trading company in China, however, they do not have their own right to export ( I mean they do not have the Certificate of Import & Export issued by local government authorities ), they normally export their goods via Freight Forwarders, for which the buyer may bear some risks.

They registered only on 2005.08.26; however, they claimed themselves they registered in 1999 online. They do not have any factories at all. They cannot show me any quality control measures and after sale services in written forms; they cannot even show me a formal sales contract!!

My suggestion:

You’d better deal with larger trading companies or manufacturers directly for sake of better quality control in China. Lot of trading companies disguise to be a real manufacturer in China, so a factory visitation or inspection is very necessary for a large order in China! A factory visitation can tell you everything about the supplier and it’s one of the best way to verify your Chinese supplier!

What can a factory visitation performed by a local bring you?
As we all know, there are many false things on the web, which perplex us often when we are going to make a decision. The case is also true with buyers who are going to buy from oversea suppliers. Here I bet a factory visitation (better by a local person) is a second-to-none solution.

1.Genuine or False?
The local person can go and check the company (the potential seller) and all its factory registration information to see if it’s a genuine and serious enterprise. This is the basic thing that any buyer has to do before any sincere cooperation!

2.Production Competence (Throughput)?
The visitor can inquire about the factory’s producing ability (also known as throughput) with the director of Production Department. How much can they produce in a month or a quarter? By learning their production competence, the buyer can avoid the risk of a delayed delivery to some extent.

3.Quality Control?
The visitor can try to get to know the factory’s quality control system with the help from the director of Quality Control Department. He can also get to know more by inspecting their assembly lines or work shops. Good quality is always one of the crucial things that buyers are always pursuing.

4.After-sale Service?
After-sale service is also important for buyers. Here the visitor or inspector can make sure if the factory can offer good and effective after-sale services and also confirm if they can include after-sale services as one clause in the contract? After-sale services can keep you free from some troubles.

5.Export License?
Some suppliers do not really have export license. Here the visitor can check the supplier’s registration information with the local customs to see if it can really export directly to the buyer’s country. This is also one of the factors that can free you from being scammed. Other qualifications of the supplier can also be checked out by a local expert in this field in China.

Thank you for your attention, good luck, everybody!

Justin Yuan from Changsha, China

99% are fraud companies.

I tried with 3 different sellers (all Alibabba's Gold Suppliers).

All of them are cheaters and fake sellers

Bastards

When doing business in foreign countries. We ask for detailed presentation of factory. We provide pictures and have pictures of our plants as well. For orders that are larger than a set dollar amount. We hire a firm to due local due diligence and we feel it is important. Approx. 75% of all deals that provide order with out getting samples end up being scams, so the old saying, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

China Zhejiang Province, there are 20% overseas payment of goods lost in last year, can you imagine the amount?40000000000usd.


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I wish what your experienced were not true...

Please help I'm suspecting that this company was being use by scammers or perhaps a victim, Guangzhou Pingjiaping Trading Co., Ltd., I tried to buy laptop to their representative named Ella Wang but she refuses to show some identification to verify that she is really an employee of the said company. I ask her to chat in webcam but she said that I'ts better if we communicate in email and that she has no webcam? My point is they are from China, webcam is everywhere in China, who will beleive that she has no webcam?! When I insisted to send her picture, she send some pictures of chinese model instead. Alibaba management please make some way to really validate your GOld members, especially those with trustpass, unfortunately they are 50% inaccurate. I tried to call the company no. but nobody is answering, if they are representing a big company they should have a receptionist to answer the phone. This people prefer western union and bank transfer payment, and would just limit themselves to communicate via chat in yahoo messenger. Somebody please do something with this scammers.

i agree your opinion " src="http://img.alibaba.com/images/eng/style/icon/emoticons_great.gif">

Hi everyone ,

I am an businessman from Europe ( EU community) ...i have same kind of story like others from this forum ; i asked some golden members for quotation for mobile phones and big plasma screens , and the results was outstanding : payment without any inspection by western , no warehouse to visit , everything totally strange in business terms ( the pictures of the secretaries who chat online are fakes , even when i asked them to open the webcam they reffused , and they even coud not provided pictures with the goods and warehouse ....; i asked for COA of the phones and they told me that the boxes are sealed :))) ..... so my impression is that they deal with fakes or worst they even do not have the goods they claimed ..... So just go and verify yourself or pay an Sgs control or simmilar before purchase . For small trading affaires just pay by  paypal and they will refuse .....By the way , they even made me an 50% discount , not mentioning that they offered me gifts of 400 usd value for an order of 750 usd :))))) ..... i should be millionaire in short time with their offers . So if you do not have the possibility to touch and verify the goods , do not even bother to send a penny . Regards and best wishes to all sinceres and good will persons from the forum !

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