it is clear that you have deep understanding about  trade regarding Chinese factory . i would like to say , many of American guests,  committed to the long-term cooperation with China and has steadfast order most of them ,prefer choosing intermediary company principal-agent their business, even system order to directly contact with Chinese factories. But because there is no direct link to the factory, produced some after-sales problems and it is certain hysteresis.....

Actually, Chinese people are not very hard to deal with. But it is true that we sometimes misunderstand them, and them us. The reason for this is because we are all culturally different. There are times when these differences can be misread and sadly, we conclude them to be difficult to deal with. The truth is, Chinese people are one of the most diligent and committed people I ever dealt with. But like every nation, there are fakes and scammers. Steer clear from those. Importing from China is the way to go these days. Just be sure to find the right product and the right supplier. Research, research and research. Here are some tips: Climbing the Great Wall of Differences: 1. Language Barrier - Most factories have a person who speaks very good English. But when a problem with the product will arise, they usually forget how to speak in English. To avoid this, hire an interpreter or at least a virtual interpreter who can translate all correspondence into mandarin or cantonese. This includes email, phone conversation, actual conversation and so on. 2. Cultural Differences - Take an effort to build relationships with the suppliers. As simple as bringing a gift or taking them out to dinner can be of help. It should not always be about dollars and cents. There should be a connection or connectedness involved. 3. Law Differences - Get an Interpreter for this and try to brush up and study up on the most basic import and export laws of China. This way, you won't be caught off guard if anything arises. Learn more from this site: http://bit.ly/chiNOWtw Make sure to subscribe to the free videos as I got most of my knowledge from Brendan. Good Luck!

I will tell ya wots goin on m8.

You got it right about most of the stuff you said but I think you need another fact to balance the story, and in short provide you with the answer to your delema. The win win principle will ,at this level of human development will be mostly confined to a narrow band of the businessman profile.This band will only contain ladies and gentlemen with all or any of the following traits or attributes :

Young with a high level of education
Older with still a new education
creative intelligent independent thinkers

This group of people will slowly affect those they contact and slowly spread these logical ideals. but wot slows it down is greed.

hoped that clarafied something for somebody
cheers

You were just unlucky probably. The suppliers i deal with actually care more for establishing relationship than selling anything to me.
And not only establishing relationship but also keeping it alive. I have ordered really small quantities of mechanical parts from big factory. I wasnt ignored, or forced to place a big order. Also the person who took care of my order was with me from the beginning to the end. And after a long time that i havent ordered anything from him, i am coming back and he still remembers me and notes that prices have not changed and that i can place small orders whenever i want. They dont mind, even though their main source of income are big companies making big orders from them. So... i think you have to find someone like that to deal with. There are plenty of such suppliers. People are generally good.(This is what i believe)

there are some user-reviews on tradesparency.com but not many suppliers listed

Dear Bigbadlarry111

 My name is Levi,I'm working at GRGT(GUANGZHOU GRG METROLOGY & TEST CO.,LTD),I think our company could help to deal with the suppliers in China.On behalf of GRGT; we would like to take this opportunity to offer our service to you. We want to maintain and to improve the reputation and quality of our services and hope that we may work with your company in the future.

Our company provides insepction services in China,Our main services include:

1.Factory assessment

2.Pre-production check

3.Initial production check

4.During production check

5.Expediting inspection

6.Final random inspection

 7.Loading supervision

8.Resident insepction

 Why GRGT inspection

a, A team of profesional engineers

 b, High customer orientation

c, Trad promotion

d, Timely inspection arrangement

e, Domestic prces based on international standards and first-class service You may also visit our online company introduction at

http://www.grgtest.com/english/profile.asp

We look forward to hearing from you,

Sincerely,

Best regards!

bigbadlarry111 wrote:

Why is it so frustrating trying to deal with chinese suppliers?

Everyone of them acts like they are going to get rich on the first order and don't seem to understand the concepts of creating a relationship that is a win-win and starting with lower quantities until trust, service level and quality have been proven.

It seem also that all of them speak some english but none speak good english and the level of english speaking ability or desire changes on a daily basis with the same person.

The common thread seems to be they want money but don't want to create awin-win relationship.

Can anyone provide me with some perspective from the trenches that maybe I'm just not getting my mind wrapped around?

It is not they are going to get rich on the first order or the don't want the long term relationships with the customers. Sometimes, it is simply the MOQ standard and also the transportaion freight is too high if the purchase quantity is too small.

I agree that lots of sales people need to improve their English concerning with listening and speaking. Even the Roman cannont built in one night, the English cannot be improved in one night either. It realy takes a long time before everyone can speak very good english.

By the way, i think Chinese is get popular in the World. Maybe people should get to learn Chinese while Chinese are learning English.

Best wishes,

Zoe

actually. current situation

If you can speak good chinese, then they can speak good english.