I was wondering what the easiest way to distinguish the difference between a supplier, and the original manufacturer?  I'm sure I'm not the only one who has this question.

Aside from having an agent  in the area where the company is, what is the best way of verifiying the business type?

Quoting from [Monroe]:

I was wondering what the easiest way to distinguish the difference between a supplier, and the original manufacturer?  I'm sure I'm not the only one who has this question.

Aside from having an agent  in the area where the company is, what is the best way of verifiying the business type?

Good question. I had same problem.When I asked the seller to send samples to my contact in China,that was how I got to know that,the seller was a supplier,moreso,the prices were higher.You need to have contacts in China to help.

Quoting from [Monroe]:

I was wondering what the easiest way to distinguish the difference between a supplier, and the original manufacturer?  I'm sure I'm not the only one who has this question.

Aside from having an agent  in the area where the company is, what is the best way of verifiying the business type?

The best method is to visit the company personly. If you think the cost is too high, you'd better ask some people to do this for you. You can verify this company's qualification in the local authority. etc. Hope these info are helpful for you. Any question, don't hesitate to contact me via trademanager. Mike from shenzhen, china.

Does it really matter if your supplier is a manufacturer or a trading company as in most cases I dont think that it matters too much - provided of course that you are getting the best price and the best product!

I think that too many buyers get caught up in the idea that they should only deal direct with factories when in many cases dealing through a trading company can not only get you better prices but also some stability as you have someone to help you if the factory fails to deliver.

I think that you should know who you are dealing with but dont get too caught up in the factory vs. trading company debate.

Sometimes product range, address, company name, and other information can give away that you are dealing with a trading company. But the only way to know for sure is to visit or have an agent visit on your behalf. Even then some trading companies will pretend that it is their factory.

So why do you want to know?

You were right egernia, trading company can help buyer in many ways and sometime you may get price cheaper than direct to some factories. Most of trading company should have good deal with factories and get few commission to set price lower than competitors.

a supplier means a group which sells or provide something to somebody/group,which means it can be a manufacturer .and a manufacturer is factory or a group who is producing some products.

there is basic difference in the meaning.although sometimes we can ca ll a manufacturer as supplier,or a supplier  to be manufacturer,but that depends on the situation, e.g. :when the supplier is a factory, we can use any of these two words in all the sentenses

 

www.btr-autolamp.com

Suppliers can be better than factories. Suppliers they buy in bulk from the factories.  Your items might not be necessary cheaper than suppliers if you get from factories.

One more thing, factories will pay more attention upon suppliers' request due to their buying power.

regards

Tom Law

 

Buying from manufacturers is only economical if you can move large amounts of goods. Otherwise it is better to buy from trade companies.

I tell you an example. At my former employer we imported welding machines from China directly from the manufacturer, at very good prices. A few weeks after our first shipment arrived from China, a trade company offered me the same products significantly (10-15%) cheaper than the manufacturer. The explanation is, the trade company has bought much bigger quantities from the manufacturer for a much longer period than we have and get a large discount from them so they are able to pass on the discount to their clients.


Additionally in China it is not always easy to tell. Most manufacturing companies also trade  products from other manufacturers they are in contact with. So if it is really importan for you to know, visit them or ask an inspector to do this for you.


c[]

First off it depends on what your looking for.  Something already on the market or something you want made soely for your own use and or branding. 

If its already on the market you should buy from no less than either an Authorized Value Added Reseller or an Authorized Distributor.  Trading companies never have products on hand and buy from VAR's and or Distributors.

If you need something made you need to deal with a manufacturer only!!  They may use a trading company for export purposes but you will be aprised of that company after first negotiating with the manufacturer not the other way around.

Ranger

Dealing direct with a manufacturer does seem like the sensible thing to do as you would assume that in doing so you can ensure that the job gets done right. That is not necessarily the case however.

If you can find a competant factory that has staff that speak very good English then great deal direct with them and you should have no huge problem. You may find however that they price accordingly.

The problem is that most factories in China do not fit the above outline and either have very Chinese ways of working and/or 'English speaking' staff who cannot understand English. These factories do however make great products at great prices.

So if you limit yourself to direct dealing with factories then you are also limiting yourself to certain factories at a certain level and subsequently a certain price.

If you are willing to deal with a competant trading company you may find that this opens doors to whole new possibilities.

The key to my mind is finding a competant and trustworthy supplier - not getting bogged down on whether they are a manufacturer or trading company.

Hi,

It is so simple mate if you are a buyer, you need to get more and more information about your requested product, the supplier is not able to give you all the information at once and if you see the price, these will be more higher than the manufacturer, because he wants to get more and more profits for these items, and also don't  forget to check his certificates of athorization like ISO certificate etc, and full information about his company, if possible please confirm with camber of commerece.