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Looking To Source USB Memory Sticks From China?

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Not All USB Memory Sticks Are The Same.

Would You Like Your Own Logo On Your USB?

Would You Like Your Own Logo On Your USB?

There are more than one kind of USB on the market, as perhaps you’ve noticed, they come in all shapes, colours, and sizes, and some of them even have extra functions.

Your China Trading Partner can bring you into contact with a wide range of suppliers of USB Memory Stcicks, able to meet all your price and quality criteria, whilst ensuring you’re trading with a safe company.

Whether you’re looking for 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB, we can find you what you need amongst our list of suppliers here in China.

Additionally, if you want a corporate logo on your USB sticks we can help you with that too.

You can have single colour, as in the image to the right, or multi-colour, the choice is yours.

You may discover that having your own logo on your USBs is a lot cheaper than you at first thought.

How about aluminium or steel cased USBs?

How about aluminium or steel cased USBs?

How about aluminium or steel cased USBs for that extra look of class and style?

What about biometric fingerprinting technology in your USB sticks?

Would your clients such as lawyers, accountants, hospitals, insurance companies, and government departments find the extra security of fingerprint scanning technology built into their USB memory stick of value?

Biometric fingerprint USB systems are extremely quick and accurate, and can hold several thumb prints, so that in the event of an emergency, another person with predefined permission may access the data on the stick.

What about biometric fingerprinting technology in your USB sticks?

What about biometric fingerprinting technology in your USB sticks?

In this day and age, security is of vital importance. Have we not often heard of times when sensitive data has been lost, and suddenly turns up in the press, after an ordinary USB stick has been found on the train where it was first lost. Your company and your clients could be saved from a lot of embarrassment if they utilised such excellent technology.

Again Your China Trading Partner can provide you with all you want in that area too.

If you’re interested in knowing more then just drop us an email to discuss your needs.

Trade Safely!

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Originally posted 2009-08-24 15:59:18. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Popularity: 20%

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China – The New Electronic Goods Workshop Of The World

Monday, March 1st, 2010

China has rapidly become known as the world’s largest manufacturer of consumer electronics. Currently China produces more MP3 and 4 players, digital video cameras, digital photographic cameras, DVD and other video players, a vast array of electronic gadgets, and an extremely wide array of other high tech products, than can be found being produced in any other country in the world today.

Indeed, it wouldn’t be going too far to call China the “New Workshop of the World”, a role once filled by the UK during the industrial revolution, and now being successfully filled by China in it’s modernisation and technological revolution.

To that end there should be a question on the lips of every business person operating in any field which necessitates the need to purchase and sell any of the above listed product types.

What is that question?

It is this: How can I successfully and safely source these products from China to benefit my business by lower costs, and simultaneously increasing my profits?

If you haven’t asked yourself this question, then you are seriously missing out on a great opportunity.

Never The Leader, Always The Follower

China currently produces products of which you are seriously unaware, and which others will lead into Western markets in the future, due in large part to their foresight, and your failure to participate in the search for new products for your market.

You, along with the vast majority of SMEs, will have the unenviable task of jumping on another bandwagon, and playing catch-up.

Get ahead of the competition, and stop riding on other peoples’ coat tails.

What has happened to the world of sales in the past 30 years?

Honestly, it’s like everybody simply waits for a new occurrence in the market, and then jumps on it, rides it till they’ve ridden it to death, and then sit on their hands and wait for the next trend to come along.

Wimps!

There seem to be very few gutsy people in sales today. However, those there are, those who start the trends, are the ones who profit most, whilst the rest of you come and pick and fight over the scraps.

Get a grip people!

Use your brain, and a sourcing agent, and find yourself the next hottest thing to hit the market, before it hits the market!

Product sourcing agents in China speak English, and very often are native English speakers who’ve been living and working in China for a number of years, such as myself, and we can help you find what you need. Having us look for you costs nothing. When you choose to order you’ll find the same standard of service you’re used to at home in Europe or the US.

But What About Shipping?

And? What about it? UPS and DHL can handle all the logistics of bringing your goods to your door. Open a company account with them, give the account number to your agent, your agent passes it on to the supplier, the supplier contacts the courier, the courier arrives and picks up the goods, and you pay the shipping costs.

Of course, if you’re ordering in volume, then we can assist you in finding a suitable shipping company (air or sea) to handle your goods for you.

That’s it. Done and dusted!

What about MOQs?

What about them? Yes, there is often a minimum order quantity, but many companies have brought down their MOQs to levels that are very acceptable for SMEs; particularly in the fields of electronic goods – many as low as 20 pieces or even less.

What About Payment?

Well, I certainly don’t advocate the use of PayPal or Western Union, as these are the tools of the devil (scammers).

No, you can use a Letter of Credit (L/C), or a TT; the former will be agreed to by any good business of sound standing, whilst the latter may be used only after having the company visited, and having due diligence performed on them, to ensure that they’re actually who they say they are.

Of course, the obvious point is never to pay money into a personal account when dealing with a manufacturing business. That’s just silly.

As your relationship with your agent and suppliers develops, you can rest easy and know that you are in the hands of people whose business relies heavily on your goodwill and peace of mind.

Now, stop sitting on your hands like a baby, and get out there and source the market for something new and innovative, and which will allow you to start a trend, set a fashion, break a market, and lead the way to wider profits and renown for yourself and your company.

Trade Safely!

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 02:10:24. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Popularity: 26%

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What Can Happen If You Lose On A Deal In China?

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

What Can You Expect To Pay For CIETAC To Arbitrate For You, Should You Lose On A Deal In China?.

So, you lost out, and were skinned and scammed by a company in China, and now you want to go to arbitration to get back what you’ve lost, as well as getting some justice from the “evil doers“, as Mr. Bush might say. So, what’s it going to cost you?

Well, the following is the CIETAC fee schedule for their arbitration services, which I’ve converted, as near as possible, to the corresponding USD values.

Now, remember, when you choose to go into arbitration you agree to abide by the arbitral outcome. That is to say, that should the judgement go against you then all of the following monies tabulated below, will be lost to you on-top of your actual current losses. And don’t go confusing Western Jurisprudence with that of China; it may very well go against you. Remember, this is another risk.

As clearly stated beyond the main table, there may be further “…arbitration fee(s) according to this Arbitration Fee Schedule, the CIETAC or its Sub-commission may collect other extra, reasonable and actual expenses pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Arbitration Rules.” Meaning, that whatever you’re charged in the initial schedule may also include further fees levied to your account to the value of 1,500 USD per additional charge, per additional “…reasonable and actual expenses pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Arbitration Rules.”

Of course, even should you win, the defendant may still hold you up by delaying payment for a variety of reasons, and causing you to resort to CIETAC again, at further expense, which you will then have to get CIETAC to levy back against the defendant. Or, of course, they may just shut up shop and disappear. This kind of tactic wouldn’t necessarily be unusual.

Now, let’s just take a look at a bare-bones example, without the extra fees, and see what we’re talking about here.

We’ll take the lowest level in the schedule as an example, and this is just waving the stick a little, to get an idea of how things could go.

So, you lost $150,000 to a company somewhere in some province, in China.

You go to CIETAC, and before anything happens (and at this point I think it only fitting to mention that there is about a 9 month backlog with CIETAC) you are charged a fee of $5,250, plus the $1,500 registration fee, which is charged at all levels. Therefore, you’re current total is now $6,750, and you’ve just finished the registration process alone.

Then there will be charges for phone calls, letters, and transport costs for an examiner to visit the defendant or their place of business, hotel costs, living cost etc.

So, let’s just consider transport, living, interview, and visitation costs.

Let’s just call that another $3,000, and remain in the conservative area of things. That would bring you up to around the $9,750 mark. Then there’ll be the weeks and months of back and forth, hither and thither, as nothing in this vein happens either quickly or directly in China.

In the meantime, you may see your charges rise by another $3,000, before you even get close to an arbitral decision; and by which time you will have shelled out, on top of your $150,000 loss, another $12,750, and you’ll be sweating and hoping it all goes your way, or else you’ve lost your initial loss of $150,000 plus another $12,750.

So, are you shaking in your boots? Quivering with anger and frustration?

You should be!

Before I present you with the CIETAC arbitration fee schedule, allow me to tell you that there’s another way around this, and that is – PREVENTION.

Your China Trading Partner

Your China Trading Partner

Very simply, you can contact us at Your China Trading Partner, and we’ll make a factory visit, do your Due Diligence, and arrange for your goods to be checked before leaving port.

For us to go visit the factory, and to have your goods checked at port before shipping, will cost you approximately another $850 to $1,000 on top of your costs; whilst of course, on our factory visit we’ll get your supplier to agree to the insertion of the CIETAC Arbitration Clause in your joint contract, and which states:

“Any dispute arising from or in connection with this Contract shall be submitted to China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission for arbitration which shall be conducted in accordance with the Commission’s arbitration rules in effect at the time of applying for arbitration. The arbitral award is final and binding upon both parties.”

And thereby, offer you a little extra protection; additionally, of course, you can include in the terms of your L/C, that monies will not be released until goods have passed random quality checking, at their exit port prior to shipping.

Now, here’s a final question for you, before I introduce you to that fee schedule.

Doesn’t it make a lot more sense to spend another $850 to $1,000 on top of your costs, as insurance against the nightmare of losing your investment, and then having to go to arbitration with CIETAC?

I’m a little tired of hearing about all these losses, when I know that even if they can’t be completely dissolved, they can, at the very least, be seriously mitigated.

But, we live in a cost-cutting global mentality, and have done since the Thatcher and Reagan years; and people are silly enough to even cut costs on their insurance and investment security.

This is precisely the kind of mentality that makes dollars for the scammers, and no cents to me? Does it make cents to you?

Get the pun?

Now Here’s That Fee Schedule for you.

China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission

ARBITRATION FEE SCHEDULE

(This fee schedule applies to the arbitration cases accepted under Item 1 and 2 of Article 3 of the Arbitration Rules, and becomes effective on May 1, 2005)

Amount of Claim (USD).

Amount of Fee (USD).

150,000 USD or less.

 3.5% of the Claimed Amount, minimum 1,500 USD.

150,000 USD to 750,000 USD.

5,000 USD plus 2.5% of the amount above 150,000 USD.

750,000 USD to 1,500,000 USD.

19,750 USD plus 1.5% of the amount above 750,000 USD.

1,500,00 USD to 7,500,000 USD.

30,700 USD plus 1% of the amount above 1,500,000 USD.

7,500,000 USD or more.

90,000 USD plus 0.5% of the amount above 7,500,000 USD.

Each case, when being accepted, shall be charged an additional amount of $1,500 as a Registration Fee which includes the expenses for examining the application for arbitration, initiating the arbitration proceedings, computerizing management and filing the documents.

Where the amount of the claim is not ascertained at the time when application for arbitration is handed in, or there exists special circumstances, the amount of arbitration fee shall be determined by the secretariat of the CIETAC or its Sub-Commission.

Apart from charging arbitration fee according to this Arbitration Fee Schedule, the CIETAC or its Sub-commission may collect other extra, reasonable and actual expenses pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Arbitration Rules.

Safe Trading!

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 05:48:30. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Safely Sourcing China Open New Business Directory

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Join The Safely Sourcing China Business Directory.

The Safely Sourcing China Business Directory

The Safely Sourcing China Business Directory

The Safely Sourcing China blog has opened a new service, and which is designed to assist those companies in the West wishing to trade with China, and those companies in China wishing to trade with the West, with a forum for coming together to assist and meet each others’ business needs and requirements.

Since membership is free, it costs you and your business nothing, except a minute of your time to complete the data input, to have your admission reviewed and included in the Safely Sourcing China Business Directory, providing you  and prospective clients with a link  back to your company website, email address, and telephone number .

The basic idea behind the Safely Sourcing China Business Directory is to bring entrepreneurs, and small, medium, and large businesses, with a specific interest in China Trade and Sourcing, a means of advertising themselves, and their services for free, in contrast to the many paid inclusion services available on the internet today.

Moreover, it also provides those companies who register in the Safely Sourcing China Business Directory the opportunity to generate a healthy, non-black-hat, back-link to their respective business or corporate websites, and which will assist them in raising their web presence, and consequently their Google page ranking.

The Safely Sourcing China Business Directory is not a free for all, and will be moderated; therefore, if you have the idea of spamming the directory with your inapplicable or non-relevant data and links, your IP will simply be blocked from further access to the blog, and your listing request deleted without ever being posted in the first instance.

That being said, we look forward to the many genuine Chinese and foreign companies wishing to post their details with us in the spirit of co-operation.

Links:

Registration Page.

Directory Page.

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 01:50:05. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Posted in Being In Beijing, Company News, General Information, OEM And ODM | No Comments »

Quick Checklist – How To Spot A Scam

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Quick Checklist For How To Spot A Chinese Scam Site.

The following six red rags are simply a list of indicators, which in isolated terms, may or may not mean anything; however, when found all together, should ring some alarm bells. As with anything in business or life, the whole is greater than the sum of its’ parts.

1. The Site.

The website has an absence of any Chinese version for its’ own pages.

This means they’re targeting only one group of prospects – foreigners.

That is to say, people who will not stand a hope in hell’s chance of chasing them up after the bolt is shot.

In my experience, companies in China that have Chinese and English versions of their pages are usually genuine, as they’re making themselves accessible to the home market too; particularly for companies dealing in electronics, phones, and computers.

An absence of such, may, but not always, indicate a potential scam site.

O.K. our website only has English, but we deal with requests from foreigners, and we seek-out suppliers. Suppliers seldom seek us out; although, we occasionally have a Chinese company approach us with an offer and  an introduction.

2. Contact Information.

All the email addresses are ‘Hotmail‘ or ‘Yahoo‘; there is a distinct absence of a company email address.

This in and of itself doesn’t carry too much weight, as many genuine Chinese companies operate with private email addresses.

However, it is a common enough marker amongst the scammers.

You can also try running a quick check on the company’s name and address, via the online English language page of the Yellow Pages for China, found at: www.yp.net.cn/english/.

If they have no listing, then there’s a good chance they aren’t a genuine company; either that, or they’re a SOHO (Small Office Home Office), and use their home as an office, as they usually never come face-to-face with clients, and have no need of an office as such.

However, this wouldn’t usually be the case for a technology company, as they’d normally have to have an official office, and storage facilities out of mere necessity.

3. Company Registration Number.

Of course, as a legally registered business entity, they’d need to have a business registration number.

When once you have that number, you can go to the following Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) page, for contact details of the Local Administrations office, and try to get the data for the government business registration office in the city, and the province where they claim to be registered. You can then email, fax, or phone requesting to know if this number matches a genuine business.

MOFCOM Local Administration Contact Page: http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/aarticle/topic/chinainvest/localguide/200702/20070204378447.html.

Sadly however, the Ministry’s own website is very poorly put together, as you yourself will note upon visiting it, and a search for the contact data for the appropriate office may not actually work; neither does the page display correctly. I have informed the Ministry of this fault, as have others, but to no avail.

This is something I’m in the process of changing by putting together my own listing, and which I shall make available to registered users of Safely Sourcing China, and collated on a provincial, and city level.

The inaction of the Ministry to properly display this data, and its’ accompanying suspicion which is cast upon the Ministry itself, seems to have escaped them.

4. Unbeatable Offer.

This one is a complete no-brainer; if the price seems to good to be true – then it’s a scam.

5. Payment.

Ask if the company will accept an L/C (Letter of Credit); if they only take Western Union, PayPal, and the likes, then they’re more than likely a scammer.

6. IP Check.

Run an IP address check on the company and see how many other web addresses they have registered to them.

Personally I’ve come across guys with upwards of 2 or 3 hundred websites connected to them as the registrant.

Go here and type the web address, MINUS the WWW bit, into the box: whois.domaintools.com/.

This last one is a definite NO-NO. If you see they’re registered to a cartload of websites, just turn your back, shake the dust from your sandals, and leave.

And that’s about it for your basic checks; more to come in the future.

Trade Safely!

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 01:20:19. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Posted in Scams And Scammers | 2 Comments »

China’s Money Mules – And Why You’ve Lost It For Good

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

China Scam – Money Mules – And Why You Will Never See Your Money Again.

I’d like to point out to you, in very clear and marked terms, just why it is you will never see your money again, should you happen to lose to a scam in China; particularly those of you who lose money to companies whilst trying to buy iPhones, Nintendo, etc.

Last week, I wrote about Mr. Stefano Carboni’s apparent involvement in the money mule scam; that is, getting other people to transfer funds through their personal bank accounts, as a means of laundering it to a final destination.

Then only this week, I discover, through certain of my contacts here in China, the reason you won’t ever see your money again is based on similar grounds.

Here is how it works:

There are approximately 300 million agricultural workers in China, and approximately 40 million migrant workers travelling from city to city in attempts to find some kind of living. So, no shortage of potential mules!

A quick review of salaries in China may provide you with a glimpse at the motivation behind the actions I’m about to describe.

A Chinese Farmer

A Chinese Farmer

In 2007 the average farmer in China earned around 4,140 RMB (Yuan) or approximately $605 USD per annum; the average salary for a construction worker in China is approximately 1, 064 RMB (Yuan) or $122 USD per month; whilst the average factory worker is earning around 1,100 RMB (Yuan) or $ 160 USD per month.

As can be seen, by the above figures, the 300 million farmers in the agricultural sector earn less than 30% of what construction and factory workers can earn in a year.

This fact is widely known in China, and it is to this sector of the community that the scammers go with their offer.

So, what is their offer?

It’s very simple, actually.

They say to the peasant farmer, something along the lines of, “Look we have all these foreign clients, but we don’t want to pay tax and stuff, and so we need an alternative account for the funds to be transferred to, as a means of avoiding the tax. You open a bank account for us using your ID, our foreign clients transfer funds to it, and then move the funds on to another account, the details of which we’ll give you (usually Taiwan); and we’ll pay you a nice fat commission, and you and your family will be much better off. Your child will be able to go to a better school, and then on to university, and the whole future of your family will be changed for the better – forever.”

Of course, from Taiwan, the money is then transferred to other destinations.

So, the peasant, knowing a good thing when he or she sees or hears one; and who is always willing to make extra money for the family, says, “HaoDe!” or “HaoLe!” (Good! or Fine with me!).

I mean, why wouldn’t they? People in the West do exactly this when they get involved in fake cheque scams, and act as money mules for a variety of mafias.

In actuality, the Chinese peasant farmer, quite probably has a better excuse than the greedy money-grabbing buggers in the West, who regularly sign up for this kind of business, as their lifestyles are a millennia apart, and is clearly documented and attested by many more than myself.

So, personally speaking, I can’t really blame them; you make your own decision on that.

Anyway, of course, eventually the whole thing gets tumbled, and the account closes, and the scammers recruit another peasant farmer, and start the whole operation again, with barely a blip in their action.

The previous peasant farmer account holder is questioned by the police, and the police learn nothing, as the peasant farmer was him or herself duped anyway, and has absolutely no idea of the true identities of the people they’ve been dealing with.

And, naturally, a physical description isn’t going to help much.

I understand that to many foreigners, everyone may look the same here, but, that isn’t true, of course. People here do have very distinct personal physical attributes.

However, without wishing to sound racist, and by sticking to reality, whether it pleases us to do so or not, the general physical characteristics are certainly much of a muchness; in as much as hair, skin, and eye colour, or whether he or she looked like an East European, had a certain Latino appearance, or shocking red hair and green eyes.

I mean, can you imagine the interrogation of the peasant?

Policeman 1: So, what did this man look like?

Peasant: Well, he was maybe 30 years old, about 5 feet 6 inches, had short black hair, yellow skin, slanted dark brown eyes, and a wide or flat nose.

Policeman 1: O.K., So we can rule out all the women and men under 30 years of age in the country. That just leaves the rest of the population. Hold on! What Kind of accent did he have?

Peasant: He sounded like he came from Henan Province to me.

Policeman 1: Ah ha! From Henan you say. Well, that’s a lucky break for us, as there are only 100 million people in Henan. So, if we discount all the women, that brings us to about 70 million males.

O.K. that’s god, that’s good… Then we discount those under 30 years of age. and those above 40 years of age… Let me see… Yes…, that leaves us with only… Great Scott! Only 21,000,000 men to search through; By George! We’re on to them now. You can tell Mr. Stupid Bugger in England, that we’ll soon have his $300 dollars back for him.

Policeman 2: But, Sir. What if the perpetrator doesn’t live in Henan anymore, and is living… well… …somewhere else in China?

Policeman 1: Damn it, Caruthers, you’re right! Stop that telegram to Mr. Stupid bugger in England. Now, (He paces the room thoughtfully, clenched fist, arms folded and thumb to top teeth, looking into nothingness on the floor before him) Mmmm… yes… Yes, this really puts the cat amongst the pigeons. I think this may take a little longer than I at first thought.

And that’s it basically.

A Submarine In Your Bathtub

A Submarine In Your Bathtub

That’s why, if you lose your money here, the chances of you  ever seeing it again, are about the same as you taking a bath, and a nuclear submarine surfacing in it, raking you with machine-gun fire, stealing your rubber duck, submerging, and then going back to base for debriefing, a plate of hot and crispy cod and chips (fries) with brown sauce, washed down with a warm cup of  hot cocoa, and all before bed-time.

Now, if you’re sensible, then you’ll go back to the OLD FASHIONED WAY of doing things, and hire an agent, like me, to protect your interests, and to ensure that you don’t find yourself taking a bath with a submarine.

The choice is yours. You’ve been warned. Again!

Safe Trading!

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China Sourcing Concerns

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Some Concerns About Sourcing From China.

The following are a list of some of the more common questions people seem to have regarding trading with China. I have sought to answer them as directly and frankly as I can.

Why am I worried about sourcing from or manufacturing in China?

Firstly, if you aren’t concerned, you might as well open your window, set fire to your money, and start shoveling it out of the window into the street.

There is risk in anything we do in the world of business, and to think otherwise is to fool oneself into a false sense of security.

Moreover, to believe that one can safely self-source from China is equally as absurd and dangerous.

Your concerns are valid, as they would be even if you were sourcing from Israel, Portugal, or any other country; and trading or dealing with China is no different.

China has its’ own set of cultural and business subtleties and values, to which you as a foreigner or someone unaccustomed to dealing with China, may be totally oblivious to; but to someone such as myself, having lived here for 8 years, are not lost to me.

And it is precisely for these reasons that you need someone here you can trust, who is culturally familiar with those nuances of business and social culture, and who can operate in and on your behalf.

What about quality? Isn’t China famous for producing poor quality goods?

That may well have been true at one time. However, you need to ask your self whether you’re happy with the quality of your iPhone? Because Apple have been producing in China for a number of years, along with a plethora of other famous High Street brands.

Of course, that isn’t to say that quality doesn’t or can’t suffer. It does, as with anywhere else in the world. However, if you ensure that random quality checking is employed before the goods leave port, then one can drastically mitigate this risk.

Furthermore, when once you develop a successful long-term relationship with a manufacturer, they will understand the benefits of not cutting their own throats.

To my mind, one of the reasons China has gained its’ reputation for poor quality, is also in part due to a failure of buyers to perform the necessary due diligence and oversight that they should.

However, allow me to reiterate a point I’ve just made: Sound partners, and a representative presence in Mainland China, able to perform your due diligence, and maintain an oversight of quality, plus developing your long-term relationship with the producer, will go a long way towards drastically mitigating the issue of poor quality to a level acceptable in the West.

So, how many people will have their fingers in my, production and purchasing, pie in China?

Well, the people, or groups involved could be as few as one, if your goods are coming from one of the larger companies, such as TsingHua TongFang, whom I represent as Agent to Africa, Europe, and North America; or they could be several, for one of the smaller companies. Of course, the amount of fingers in the pie will play a very definite role in the cost of your goods, and sometimes even the quality.

However, the role of ‘GuanXi’, or what we would term ‘relationships’, plays a significant role in Chinese society at all levels, and particularly in business; as it has done for several thousand years, and the power of which shouldn’t be ignored or underestimated, and which is an unavoidable necessity and phenomena.

This is a deeply ingrained and necessary interpersonal skill, and which is tightly bound and woven into the fabric of the Chinese psyche. I’m sure that should you check your own embassy websites in China you will come across the term ‘GuanXi’ several times.

No ‘GuanXi’, no help!

It is precisely for this reason, that should you intend doing business in, or with, China, you need a mediator to act as a conduit to facilitate smooth and safe trading.

Your conduit can form relationships on your behalf, that you are unable to form due to geographical distance, language, and cultural distance.

You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours; is precisely how it works in China.

What if my goods aren’t delivered on time or the quality isn’t what I requested?


Well, in that case we incorporate into the contract CIETAC’s model arbitration clause.

NOTE: CIETAC (China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (A government department and Part of MOFCOM - The Chinese Ministry of Commerce).

Here’s the clause:

“Any dispute arising from or in connection with this Contract shall be submitted to China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission for arbitration which shall be conducted in accordance with the Commission’s arbitration rules in effect at the time of applying for arbitration. The arbitral award is final and binding upon both parties.”

The same clause can be used for the safety of your financial transaction, in addition to opening a Letter of Credit (L/C) rather than a Telegraphic Transfer (TT) of funds.

Of course your letter of credit can dictate additional terms before funds are released; these terms can be specifically directed at shipping windows and parameters, levels of acceptable quality, processing of any and all necessary certificates and forms, proper and correct carton and packaging markings, and any necessary Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Standards compliance. Consequent to which, should the terms not be met as defined in the terms of the contract and in the letter of credit, then it will be up to you to decide or determine whether the funds be made available to the seller.

So, that’s it for today.

Safe Trading!

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 01:10:36. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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More Anti-Scam Tips

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Further Tips On Dealing With China.

Here are a few extra notes on safely sourcing products in China, from the Safely Sourcing China blog.

Learn what you can from your prospective ‘supplier’s’ website, or lack thereof.

Web Presence.

Firstly, if they don’t have their own website, drop them like a hot rock.

That includes those “companies” in possession of the rubbish little “pages” on Alibaba, etc.

No Domain – No Hope!

Although, personally I do know of companies in China who are real, but their marketing sucks so badly they haven’t managed to organise a web presence.

But, I’m a graduate of the ‘better-safe-than-sorry’ school, when it comes to this particular aspect of doing business in China.

If your prospective “supplier” owns a website, then check that the area code, given in the contact section, matches the postcode, or town or city name, given in the address. You can check postcodes here.

If they don’t match, drop them like a hot rock.

The following mobile telephone prefixes will allow you to determine which mobile telephone network is being used by your “supplier”, in case you need to connect with the service provider, to check if the number is still working, when calls fail to be answered  by the person you’ve gone sent your money to, whilst failing to perform any of the checks given here. The service provider name follows the prefix number.

130/1/2 . - China Unicom, 133 . – China Telecom , 1340 -1348 – China Mobile, 1349. – ChinaSat, 135/6/7/8/9. - China Mobile, 150. – China Mobile, 151. – China Mobile, 152. - China Mobile, 153. -China Telecom, 155. – China Unicom, 156. – China Unicom, 157. – China Mobile, 158. -China Mobile, 159. – China Mobile, 185. - China Unicom, 186. – China Unicom, 188. – China Mobile, 189. – China Telecom.

You can visit this very nice page on WikiPedia for a more complete listing of area codes by major municipality and province.

If they don’t have an address on their contact page, forget them.

After all, if they aren’t willing to disclose their address, then you must ask yourself a one word question -

“Why?”.

On The Subject Of Addresses.

My business is registered in a residential property, as we are a Small Office Home Office (SOHO), as we neither manufacture, store, stock, and we very rarely have business visitors; due to the fact we supply nothing more than ‘information’, we go out to visit Chinese companies, and our foreign clients are just that – foreign, and live abroad, and so we needn’t waste money on having an actual office. My computer is my office.

However, someone claiming to manufacture, stock, or supply must have an office, for the same reasons I don’t need one.

An office will normally be in a building with a name, for example:

Room 602, Floor 5, Great Dragon Bldg., Haidian District, Beijing.

Whilst a SOHO, like us, will run as above, but minus the building name, and is indicative of a residential area.

About Us.

If they haven’t included and about us page in their website, or it is very sparse, then drop them.

Obviously, if they have little to say about themselves, there’s a reason.

Google Them.

The next thing to do is Google their company name + scam, and also their company URL + scam.

That alone should give enough of a heads-up on who you’re dealing with.

Mono-Lingual Websites.

Finally, as mentioned in my previous article Quick Checklist For How To Spot A Chinese Scam Site, if the website is devoid of Chinese, and only has an English language page, the chances are they’re scammers.

Well, that’s it for today.

Trade Safely!

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Fighting Cyber-Crime

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

YCTP – Fighting Cyber-Crime And Online-Fraud In China

Due to the increase in claims by small, medium, and even some quite large foreign firms, complaining of having been the victims of cyber-crime or cyber-fraud, Your China Trading Partner – Beijing (YCTP) have decided to open a new area of service for foreign clients, as a means of minimising or eliminating such risk.

YCTP Fighting Fraud

YCTP Fighting Fraud

YCTP is a small product sourcing company based in Beijing, China, and predominantly servicing small to medium sized foreign enterprises seeking to source products, or to have a representative presence in China.

As far back as November, 2006, the 17th Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum, held in Busan, South Korea, China endorsed the APEC Privacy Framework along with representatives of the other 20 member countries and territories, as a means of combating threats in the form of a then growing gang of highly-organized cyber-criminals.

Since then the government of the Peoples’ Republic of China has taken proactive steps in a targeted and co-ordinated approach, by bringing together a group of the World’s most practiced IT experts to devise and discover ways and means of mitigating cyber-crime. Yet still this form of crime is still prevalent on the mainland today.

In 2009 the Internet Crime Complaint Centre released its latest annual report on victims’ complaints received and referred to law enforcement departments in the US.

YCTP Fighting Cyber-Fraud

YCTP Fighting Cyber-Fraud

Between January 1st, 2008 and December 31st, 2008, the IC3 website was in receipt of 275,284 complaint submissions. This being a 33.1% increase on those of 2007 when only 206,884 complaints were received. The greater part of these submissions was composed of complaints primarily related to fraudulent activities perpetrated via the Internet.

Non-delivery of merchandise was the most predominantly reported offence, and which comprised a total of 32.9% of the total referred complaints.

To meet the necessity for security in trade, and its’ accompanying growth in demand from foreign businesses, YCTP have now incorporated a new background checking and referencing function into their business, as a means of assisting foreign buyers, private or B2B, in protecting their investments, or purchases, against cyber-fraud; this being achieved through on-the-spot face-to-face due diligence services.

Queries or information requests may be directed to Mr. Ken Stone via the YCTP company website on: www.yourchinatradingpartner.com

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New Forum For China Trading News And Advice

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

Your China Trading Partner (Beijing) Open New Forum For News, Advice, And Reviews Relating To Safe Trading With China.

Your China Trading Partner, Beijing, have recently added a new open forum to their website on www.yourchinatradingpartner.com, offering a wide variety of interactive news, advice, and views on how to go about  trading safely with China, whilst offering the public a place to air their own views on China trading.

Your China Trading Partner Forum For News, Advice, and Views on How to Trade Safely with China.

Your China Trading Partner Forum For News, Advice, and Views on How to Trade Safely with China.

There are a growing number of people complaining of having lost money in their China trade dealings; but Your China Trading Partner are offering this free service in an attempt to counter and minimise risk for entrepreneurs, small and medium businesses, by giving them the chance to air their views, opinions, and experiences, whilst at the same time reading enlightening articles on the subject of trade with China, written by the owner Mr. Ken Stone, who has now been a working resident of China since 2001.

Membership is free and you can choose to be emailed and kept up-to-date with forum segments which you find of specific interest.

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 03:25:12. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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