As a wholesaler shall I source in China by myself or shall I trust a trading/sourcing company?

China is extremely different in a lot of ways than other countries in the world. The language, the customs, the tradition and the eastern way of doing things is a lot different from what most westerners are used to. The socio-political climate of China is also very different which makes it difficult to easily source in China. In case this is not your first time doing business in China, then you might try to source yourself in China. But on the other hand, if this is your first venture in China, then using a trading/sourcing company would be essential.

It is always wise to use a trading/sourcing company when starting new in China. If you try to source in China by yourself, you might face a lot of difficulty. A trading/sourcing company would help you avoid most of these problems. Since China is not very transparent, the trading/sourcing company would help to get things done quickly in tricky situations. The trading/sourcing company would also help you source from reputed firms in China. To source a good trading/sourcing company, you might need to search around in China. But once you locate a good trading/sourcing company in China, they would help you to source your products from reputed firms in China.

It is never advisable to source by yourself in China because you may not know the various intricacies of doing business there. But a good trading/sourcing company would know much of the situation there and help you source products from reputed firms. A reputed trading/sourcing company would have a lot of business connections in China. You can effectively use their contacts to source your products. In fact most new companies find it difficult to find good contacts to source from in China. A trading/sourcing company would be the best solution for their problem.

Locating good companies in China to source from is just the beginning. You then need to draft an effective legal contract with them that is profitable for you. Here again, a reputed trading/sourcing company would help you with all the legalities involved. Since the trading/sourcing company would know much of the technicalities of such a business partnership, they would help you source from the best companies in China. The trading/sourcing company would also go a long way in helping you avoid many of the loopholes that you might otherwise encounter if you try to source products by yourself in China.