Guide
How to find a sourcing agent in China
A due-diligence framework for evaluating whether a China sourcing partner fits your product, market and risk requirements.
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Practical guidance for a better sourcing decision.
Guides and comparisons built around the questions B2B buyers need to resolve before they commit to a supplier, sourcing model or quality plan.
Featured guide
What is a sourcing agent?
A practical explanation of what a sourcing agent does, what they do not do and how to define a useful engagement.
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Comparison
Sourcing agent vs trading company
Compare the two models by commercial relationship, supplier visibility, scope and decision control.
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Comparison
Alibaba vs a sourcing agent
A practical comparison between an online supplier-discovery platform and a scoped sourcing service.
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Guide
Pre-shipment inspection in China: how it works
When to book a pre-shipment inspection, what is actually checked, and how to read the report before you release the balance payment.
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Comparison
Factory audit vs product inspection
Two checks that answer different questions: whether a supplier can make your product, and whether one particular batch is acceptable.
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Guide
How to verify a Chinese supplier
The records that can be checked independently, what each one proves, and the gap between a registered company and a capable factory.
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Comparison
What an Alibaba Gold Supplier badge does and does not tell you
What the membership actually represents, what the associated checks cover, and which questions a buyer still has to answer separately.
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Comparison
FOB vs EXW vs DDP: which term should you buy on?
What each Incoterm actually transfers, why FOB is the usual default out of China, and what a DDP price hides when you compare it against an FOB one.
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Guide
How to avoid scams when sourcing from China
Where buyers actually lose money — payment redirection more often than fake factories — and the checks that can be completed before a deposit leaves your account.
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Guide
FBA labelling and prep: what your supplier has to get right
The labelling and packaging requirements that decide whether a shipment is received or charged for rework, and how to put them into a Chinese factory's specification rather than an email.
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Guide
Private tooling: when a custom mould is worth funding
What a private mould actually buys you, what it costs beyond the quotation, and the checks worth completing before the tooling payment leaves your account.
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Guide
Shipping direct from China to FBA: what to settle first
Sending goods straight from the factory to a fulfilment centre removes a handling step and removes your last chance to look at the goods. What to fix before that trade-off becomes a problem.
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Guide
Promotional product sourcing brief: what to include
Build a promotional product sourcing brief that gets comparable quotes. Use this checklist for specifications, branding, packing, market and deadlines.
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Guide
How to approve logo printing and Pantone colours
Approve logo printing and Pantone colours before production. Learn how to control artwork versions, placement, substrates and physical samples.
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Guide
Promotional product timeline: plan from the event date
Plan a promotional product production timeline from the event date. Place artwork, sample, inspection, rework and freight buffers before delivery.
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Guide
How to compare and inspect a promotional products order
Compare promotional products quotes and inspect the whole order. Learn how one item matrix controls samples, costs, cartons and quantities.
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Guide
Kitting, consolidation and blind shipping explained
Understand promotional product kitting, consolidation and blind shipping. See which tasks belong to sourcing, warehousing, freight and fulfilment.
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Comparison
OEM vs ODM vs private label manufacturing
OEM, ODM and private label differ in who owns the design, what you pay before the first unit exists, and what travels with you if you change factory.
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Guide
Product development in China: stages and timeline
How a China product development project runs from brief to first production run, organised around the payments that cannot be recovered once they are made.
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Guide
Private label MOQ: what buyers can negotiate
A private label MOQ is several separate minimums stacked together. Knowing which ones actually move is the difference between a discount and a dead end.
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Guide
Golden samples and change control in OEM production
A golden sample works only if someone holds it, a specification says what about it matters, and a defined list of changes forces re-approval before production.
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Guide
Wholesale sourcing checklist for China orders
What a wholesale sourcing brief has to contain before quotes are comparable: SKUs, specifications, carton marking, market paperwork and a reorder baseline.
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Guide
How to inspect a multi-SKU wholesale order
On a mixed order the sampling question is which lots to treat separately. How to allocate samples across SKUs so the small lines are not inspected by accident.
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Guide
Repeat-order inspection plans for importers
Which repeat orders still need inspecting, when coverage can be reduced, and what has to put it back up. A plan written in advance, not decided per shipment.
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Guide
How to qualify a backup supplier in China
A second source is only useful if it makes the same product to the same reference. How to qualify one, and where the line sits on tooling and protected designs.
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Guide
How to vet a wholesale supplier for a retail store
What to establish before the first purchase order: the legal entity, where the goods are made, whether that site can make yours, and the records you keep.
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Guide
Retail vendor onboarding checklist for China suppliers
Turn vendor onboarding into a sequence: what is collected, who owns each item, what expires, and which open points may pass through to a first order.
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Guide
Product traceability records for retail suppliers
Which batch, material and production records to ask a supplier to keep, how to mark goods so a batch can be found later, and where the retailer's duty begins.
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Guide
Witnessed sampling for independent laboratory tests
How samples for laboratory testing are drawn, sealed, labelled and handed over so the result belongs to the batch — and why you commission the lab yourself.
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Guide
Repeat-order quality control for DTC brands
The second production run is where a DTC product quietly changes. What causes the drift, and the three controls that catch it before the stock is paid for.
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Guide
Retail packaging quality inspection checklist
How to check retail packaging against the artwork, dieline, colour reference and barcode you approved — and what a factory will never infer on its own.
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Guide
First production run checklist for DTC brands
What has to be settled before a first production run starts, what to watch while it runs, and which checks belong before the balance payment is released.
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Guide
How to prevent material substitution on reorders
Unannounced material changes are the commonest cause of a reorder that looks right and feels wrong. How to specify, notify and verify what photos cannot show.
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Guide
Sourcing agent in Jinhua and Yiwu: what local access changes
What is made around Jinhua and Yiwu, why the Yiwu market is a trading layer rather than a factory belt, and what a hundred-kilometre radius changes about inspection cost and timing.
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Comparison
China sourcing services compared by scope
What five China sourcing and logistics companies publish about their own scope, which of them run warehouses or ship on your behalf, and where Linkora Source is the wrong fit.
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Guide
What to do when a pre-shipment inspection fails
How to read a failed pre-shipment inspection result, the four routes open to you, what each one costs in time and money, and why the leverage sits in your purchase order rather than in the report.
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Guide
How to pay a Chinese factory on a first order
How the deposit and balance are normally split, what each tranche should be tied to, which payment routes suit which order size, and who the payee has to be.
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Guide
Who owns the mould when a Chinese factory makes it
Why paying for tooling does not by itself transfer ownership, what the agreement has to say, and why possession of the tool matters as much as title to it.
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Each new page must answer a specific buyer question, link to a relevant service or resource, state its evidence boundary and be reviewed before publication. Country, ranking, tariff and time-sensitive pages require additional proof before they are added.