Your First Buying Trip to China, Handled on the Ground
You land in Guangzhou and we’re already at arrivals. Factory appointments are booked before your flight takes off, someone who speaks the language sits beside you in every meeting, and there’s no trip package to buy first. We’re paid a commission on the orders you place, agreed in writing before production starts.
No Package Price. A Commission on What You Order.
There’s no fixed trip fee here and no day rate for the airport run, the interpreter or the factory visits. We earn when you buy. The rate is agreed in writing before production starts, and you pay the factories directly, so nothing of ours is buried in your supplier invoices.
Three ways to structure it
Most first-time buyers pick the first one. We’ll tell you which fits your order size when we talk.
A set percentage of the order value, agreed before production. It scales with what you actually buy, so a small trial order costs you a small fee.
A defined amount for managing one specific order. Useful when you’d rather fix the number in advance than tie it to order value.
One fee covering a full scope: sourcing, product development, quality control and logistics co-ordination on a bigger project.
This is an example, not a price list. Your rate depends on product, order size and how much of the work sits with us, and it goes in writing before anything is produced.
- You pay the factory directly. We never take a cut on their side of the invoice.
- Airport pickup, factory visits, interpreting and on-site quality checks are part of working with us, not line items you buy up front.
- Costs we book on your behalf, like a hired car for a factory day or an exhibition entry, are quoted to you before anything is booked.
- Your flights, hotel and personal spending stay yours to arrange and pay.
- If the trip ends and you decide not to order, you don’t owe us a commission.
Everything You Need, Zero Stress
China is complex and it moves fast. Our team in Guangzhou clears the logistics out of the way so your days go on suppliers instead of on taxis and translation apps.
Airport to hotel, sorted
Private car, a driver who speaks English, hotel check-in and your trip briefing, all arranged before you land.
Factory visit planning
We screen and book factories that actually match your product. No cold visits, no days lost driving to the wrong place.
Interpreting in the room
A Mandarin and Cantonese interpreter with you at every meeting, factory tour and negotiation.
Quality checks on site
We check samples at the factory against your specification before you commit to an order or a payment.
Shipping and freight
We compare sea, air and express for your first shipment and put you in front of forwarders we’ve used before.
Negotiation support
We explain what local pricing normally looks like and help you work on MOQ, unit price and lead time.
Hotels and scheduling
Business-friendly hotels near the trade zones, and a day-by-day plan that’s realistic about Guangzhou traffic.
Contract guidance
We read the supplier paperwork with you, check the business registration and flag anything that looks unclear.
A 7 Day Trip, Roughly How It Runs
This is the usual shape of a first sourcing trip. Yours gets built around your product, your dates and the supplier list you arrive with.
Land, settle, brief
Airport pickup, hotel check-in, then an evening sit-down to go through your shortlist, your goals and the week ahead.
Trade shows and wholesale markets
A guided run through the relevant show or the Guangzhou wholesale markets. You spot products, we collect contacts and build the factory shortlist.
First two factory visits
Morning at factory A for the production walkthrough, MOQ and samples. Afternoon at factory B to compare price, capacity and the people you’d be dealing with.
A third factory and the deeper questions
One more visit, then the afternoon on comparisons, custom packaging or OEM requirements, and getting payment terms clear.
Documents and order preparation
We go through supplier documents and contracts with the interpreter, verify the business registration, and prepare a trial order.
Shipping and setting up for later
Meet freight forwarders, get real numbers on cost and transit time, and set you up to place repeat orders from home.
Debrief and airport transfer
A morning debrief with your supplier summary, every contact you made and what we’d do next. Then the ride back to the airport.
How a Factory Visit Actually Works
Every visit follows the same structure, so your time goes on deciding rather than on working out where to stand.
Research before you fly
We look into factories in your category, check their registration status and put a shortlist together for your visit days.
Appointments booked
Every visit has a confirmed time and a named contact. Nobody turns up unannounced and gets sent away.
Walk the production line
You see how the product is actually made and ask questions while you’re standing in front of the machine.
Samples reviewed on site
We check the samples against what you asked for: material, finish, dimensions, and anything that looks off.
Negotiation with help
The interpreter takes you through MOQ, price, payment terms, packaging and lead time with the factory team.
Comparison afterwards
Once the visits are done we write up each factory with our notes on price, capacity and whether we’d use them.
What we check at every factory
The same checklist runs every time, because a first-time buyer shouldn’t have to know what to ask.
- Production capacity against your expected volume
- Where raw materials come from and how they’re stored
- In-house quality control procedures
- Sample availability and the approval process
- Packaging and labelling capability
- Payment terms and accepted methods
- A realistic lead time for your order size
- Who your contact is and how fast they reply
- Shipping and logistics arrangements
The Small Things That Trip People Up
First-timers rarely get caught out by the sourcing. It’s the payment app that won’t accept a foreign card, or a dinner where nobody explained the seating.
Currency and payments
Getting Alipay working on a foreign card, where to change money, and how much cash you actually need to carry.
Where to stay
Hotels near the trade zones that suit business travellers, sit in your budget and don’t add an hour to every morning.
Eating and hosting
Restaurants that work for a business dinner, and what’s expected of you at the table when the supplier is paying.
Getting around
DiDi set up on your phone, a metro card in your pocket, and a car booked for the factory days. No airport taxi queue.
Business etiquette
A short briefing before you go on card exchange, gifts, and how negotiation tends to run here.
Support while you’re here
Your agent is on WhatsApp for the whole trip, for the questions and for the days the schedule falls apart.
Exhibitions and Wholesale Markets
Show days work the same way as the rest of the trip. There’s no separate day rate to buy: it’s part of the arrangement, and any entry or registration cost is quoted to you before we book it.
A day at the show
Registration and badges handled, a shortlist of stands prepared in advance, and your agent and interpreter walking the floor with you. You leave with samples and a contact list, not a bag of business cards you can’t read.
Several days, several halls
For back-to-back shows we build the schedule around the show calendar, co-ordinate the market visits around it, and write up a supplier summary at the end.
Show plus factory audit
Meet a supplier at the show, then go and see the facility later the same week. One itinerary, one interpreter, one consolidated report with everything in it.
Feedback We Hear
“Coming to China the first time felt like a lot. Having someone on the ground who dealt with the logistics meant I spent the week on suppliers. The factory visits were organised and I flew home confident enough to place a first order.”
“The interpreter changed the whole thing. I could have a real conversation with the factory manager instead of nodding along. On my own I’d have missed half of what was said in that negotiation.”
“The research before the trip saved me time I didn’t have. Every visit was to a factory that was genuinely relevant. The write-up afterwards made it obvious which supplier to go with.”
These are illustrative of the feedback we get rather than quotes from named clients. What you get out of a trip depends on your product and your goals. We’re happy to put you in touch with references on request.
Tell Us Your Dates
Send us your travel dates and what you’re looking to buy. You’ll get an answer within one business day, with the commission rate we’d propose and a draft plan for the week. Asking costs nothing.