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Deciphering Your Chinese PCB Supplier
November 20, 2014 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Being an American market manager in China can be challenging at times. Not because of the work load, or the many questions that are asked everyday, or even the patience I must have when communicating with staff members whose English level is average at best. Rather, it’s dealing with the Eastern culture selling to the western world. Now, as with every country, there are some good, ethical suppliers and there are some unscrupulous suppliers who will do and say whatever you need to hear to buy their product. Finding yourself in the latter with a supplier located on the other side of the world can have a costly and negative blow to your business. A good example came from a potential customer who recently visited our organization.
Upon meeting this customer, he immediately began telling me how he had been in China for few weeks and the overall experience left him feeling “discouraged and frustrated.” You see, early in the trip he visited a factory he had done business with in the past. When he arrived, he thought he was in the wrong place.Outside he saw workers washing PCB’s on the street side. Inside, the small, cramped office was nothing like the huge factory pictured on the supplier’s website. After much probing, he learned that the supplier was simply a trading company and not the big factory shown. In fact, the factory pictures were actually copied and pasted from a competitor’s site; this was one of a few similar stories shared by this customer.
This left me a little shocked,but not surprised because I have experienced similar situations first hand. Here in China, business is done this way more often than not. What you see is not always what you get. Even the Chinese must be cautious and negotiate well when buying local goods.
Not knowing who you are buying from can present a host of problems that will end up coming out of your pocket and have a direct impact on your clients’ satisfaction. Faulty boards, suppliers refusing to refund money, upfront payment made for boards that never arrive, and delivery issues are the most popular problems I hear about.
To avoid these problems, it is so important to probe potential suppliers, ask for references, ask for free board samples, get a copy of their business license/certifications, and spend the money to visit their factory. Most importantly, don’t jump on the first low offer that comes along, as you never know what materials are being used to make those “cheap” boards.
So, the next time you receive that low-ball quote, practice your due diligence and remember the adage, “If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is!”