China: how to order production or delivery

You can order anything from the Chinese: from electronic components to the case to the device or hand-made pieces. With the right approach, it is cheap, high-quality and allows you to implement any orders that are often difficult to place in the CIS.

In the topic - the basics of manufacturing outsourcing in China:

• How to choose a manufacturer and place an order
• How to make sure that you do exactly what you need
• About prepayment, documents, guarantees
• How to deliver the most profitable
• What to do with lost shipments
• Assorted rake

Yes, if you have already ordered in China, then you will not find anything shockingly new in the topic (and, perhaps, you will rejoice at how nicely we were once divorced).

Why is it advantageous to order in China?

• It is cheap. At a certain lot size, the unit cost, taking into account the delivery, will be at least 2-3 times lower than when ordering within the CIS.
• This is high quality. It seems that the Chinese are working on the innovative technology “assembly sober”, which immediately affects both the stability of the quality of the electronic component base and various other things. Of course, you will get quality only if you choose the right supplier - there are plenty of freeloaders there too.
• This is fundamentally possible. The Chinese are able to do everything: if they do not yet know how, they will learn in the order process. This concerns us on the part of creating games: almost all of the high-quality components of domestic boards are made in China. For example, just recently we ran into a magic problem: in Russia, they do not sell normal hourglasses (and under the order costs transcendental money). The Chinese solved the issue quickly and cleanly.
• When ordering 100% of the finished serial product, you can often brand the whole batch.

Cons of order

• The Chinese do as they understand, that is, they need to set the task very accurately.
• Delivery time is equal to production time plus two to three weeks.
• Customs may delay the shipment and disrupt the production schedule.
• With a random choice of supplier may be lining with quality.
• Any electronics made in China "turnkey", will soon begin to be sold by the Chinese themselves under their own brands (so do not transfer the general concept: it is better to do the final assembly at home).

How to find a supplier

There are many companies that work as intermediaries with the Chinese side. As a rule, they are needed if you order a really large batch of some products where you need very careful quality control and lengthy negotiations. When ordering amounts of about 1-3-5 thousand dollars, it is often more profitable to do it yourself.
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The easiest way to find a supplier from our country is alibaba.com . In fact, this is something like a B2B site, where different manufacturing companies and intermediaries, plus sellers of finished products offer their services. Alibaba has many third-party services, but its main task is to connect you with the supplier.

To begin with we make the list of possible contractors. It is worth paying attention to the following parameters: the speed of production of the desired batch, the minimum order quantity, the shipment period and, in fact, the issue price. All this is already on Alibaba, so it will not cause problems. After you find about 3-5 performers, you need to choose not one specific, but contact everyone to clarify.

If you need something already mastered by the Chinese industry, you can look at taobao.com - this is a B2B / B2C store, where everything is there. Such a kind of Chinese hybrid Ebay and Amazon, "budding" from Alibaba.

Negotiations with the supplier

Chinese do not need to know. The language of communication is English: as a rule, most of the companies understand it well, and the smaller one uses translator programs and the embedded brain of employees. Double translation through automatic systems, first from Russian to English, and then from them into Chinese, is not highly recommended: the letter should be immediately written in English (in this case, understanding will be achieved exactly).

For example, if we are going to order wooden figures (which is important for those who create board games ), you need to send each photograph of the samples, describe in detail all the requirements, plus request photos of examples of their work on this front.

If the item is ordered clear and simple, you can immediately proceed to the formation of an exact technical specification and order. If the thing is incomprehensible, unfamiliar or complex, then you need to do this:

• To form an exact TK (as you write, they will do the same - so it is better to spend a couple of extra days, but to be safe). In general, when the Chinese do not understand something, they always ask again. True, sometimes their own notions about aesthetics are included - and then the Chinese “for granted” can make you very happy after passing through customs.
• Send samples . Airmail sent the right thing, which the Chinese will inspect, feel, sniff and look inside, and then put next to the finished product for comparison. If the result is about the same, it is a quality criterion.
• Request more of their photos : the finished product, the finished product next to the sample, and so on.
• To make sure that the Chinese did not express themselves and did not miss something important - to receive from them several samples of products by the same airmail. It happens, of course, that the samples are made with high quality, and the series is not very good, but still this scheme gives a certain level of protection. Of course, there may be small spending on ordering samples.

After you make sure that what you want corresponds to what goes into production and comes out from there, you can proceed to ordering the entire batch.

Prepayment

All Chinese, without exception, accept transfers by Western Union: for a small party (without customs), this is the most convenient and easy way. Of course, you can try to pay with a virtual credit card, via PayPal or other systems, but usually it is not worth the trouble. Yes, another payment option is Alipay through Alibaba. If in the chosen payment method you need to send a scan of the card, then keep in mind that further the Chinese, in principle, do not interfere with withdrawing more money from it (although an employee of one bank assured me that such a fraud is quickly stopped).

Usually for the production of an advance payment, which is fixed in the contract. As a rule, nobody will take less than 30% of you (and more often they will ask for up to 70%) - but you should not agree to a 100% prepayment either. The second part of the payment insures you against the jambs of the counterparty, and the counterparty understands this very well.

Registration

An individual may pass by customs and experience fewer organizational hemorrhoids while adhering to a number of formalities. The company will be forced to collect a package of documents and, in particular, make a passport transaction, the contract in two languages, and plus your cargo will be carefully inspected by the customs authorities.

Physical person to be very convenient, but you need to remember important things:

• Delivery is not made for profit (for example, resale)
• The weight of one box upon delivery should not exceed 31 kilograms (or by total weight per month).
• In one delivery, it is better not to declare the cost of goods more than 1 thousand euros, otherwise you will have to pay customs duty (just do not carry ethyl alcohol for personal consumption, in the customs rules there is a separate item about it). Do not "recruit" more than a thousand euros per month.
• The number of items declared in the delivery should not be more than five units, otherwise it will be recognized as a consignment of goods intended for commercial needs and making a profit with all the ensuing consequences. Not “100 palm trees”, but “palm grove - 1 piece”, remember.
• If you deliver goods to one customer once a week, the total cost should not exceed more than 10,000 rubles for delivery via international mailings (the threshold below for delivery via DHL). The cost of delivery is based on the declared value of your box and the amount of delivery. UPD: They suggest that the norm is already outdated, there is only a limit of 1000 euros.

If your delivery, say, has a mass of 55 kilograms and costs 17 thousand rubles with delivery, it is better to divide it into two parts and send it to two different individuals or send one part at once, and the second one in a month.

Sometimes it is more convenient to just take a parcel with you from China: you can personally carry goods weighing up to 50 kilograms and up to the equivalent of 1,500 euros in a suitcase.

Many often "fall" on the fact that they are asking the Chinese to indicate a lower delivery cost in the documents (and the counterparties are going to meet, considering that this is a feature of interaction with Russian businessmen) - but the amount is checked at customs and can be recalculated. If you are “playing with fire”, remember the formula: “invoice for $ N” , otherwise you may have an advertising catalog with retail prices right in the delivery. And yet not everyone knows that “gift” is not “free”, but “price at the discretion of a customs official according to analogues on the market”. UPD: Warner suggests that there is still a check on the basis of similar products, also concealing surprises, Prometheus shows an example of calculations.

Delivery

Delivered by sea or airmail. With small shipments, there is no point in messing with the sea: the cost of transshipment and other expenses plus inhuman deadlines are usually not worth it. Airmail delivers for a half to two weeks, which is very, very convenient. The approximate cost of shipments (the numbers are illustrative, the specific ones will differ) - 10 kilograms for $ 250, 25 kilograms - about $ 500.

For delivery, you must pass the address and the name of the individual. In response, it is necessary to request a document about the shipment (Air Bill), which is the actual confirmation of the acceptance by the carrier of your cargo. This document has a tracing number, by which you can track the cargo at any time and understand the approximate time of his arrival in Russia. When a shipment arrives here, it is checked: if it is not subject to declaration, then the EMS, for example, will simply call and bring the delivery to the specified address. If the customs decides that you are muddling something, then you will have to fill in a heap of documents and payment in the amount of 30% of the revealed cost of departure, 18% of VAT and customs duty of 250 rubles.

Despite all the convenience of EMS, they sometimes lose the package. We had a case when one was delivered, and the other was first taken somewhere, and then sent back. Of course, the Chinese did not return it, citing an international postal convention. The only solution in this case is to sue EMS, which will not bring anything good.

DHL provides a lower threshold for customs clearance, but it provides better guarantees. It is better to carry small valuable things through them: they are not lost.

Rakes and surprises

• Parcel may delay at customs. The mentality and service does not imply a quick search and prompt resolution of the issue, so get ready. Now many young specialists are attracted, but in general they are still “kosyachat” no less than their experienced comrades. Because of this, many who do not cooperate with the EMS of our mail from foreign contractors.
• Rules may change during delivery. Naturally, the supply will stop and recalculate. At the moment, the situation seems to be more or less stable, but last year was rich in such tricks.
• The counterparty can banally throw even with full registration. Once my colleague ordered a batch of rare and useful robots. During the negotiations with third parties, it turned out that the Japanese manufacturer had long ceased to deliver them. The supplier is obliged to provide the product simply "blood from the nose." A full package of documents was signed, including the transaction passport and a detailed contract, the counterparty reacted very quickly and correctly. After payment, he committed an “expected, but sudden” betrayal and disappeared along with all the obligations. We sent letters to the Ministry of Commerce and to its embassy, ​​but we haven’t seen the answer for half a year already. Of course, it is possible that sometime they will answer, but for the time being we have just fixed the losses. In the comments there is another example from Rednaxi.
• They can send perfect samples, but ship goods of inadequate quality. This is the risk of quality control of the party: if you do not drive yourself or you do not have a person “on the other side”, then everything depends on the reputation of the counterparty.
• If you need somewhere to make an inscription - send a picture: the Chinese in most do not distinguish Russian characters from a downed encoding.
• Check the calendar of local holidays of the country of departure: for example, from January 25 to February 18, Chinese people eat fried lizards and drink vodka to celebrate their New Year.

Successful orders!