Are you want to find real factory suppliers? and it should not any middlemen or trading companies. Maybe somebody told you they are a factory, but at last, you found it just a trader, or you still think he is a factory, so this is not an easy task.
The topic “how to find a factory in China” is discussed frequently in many Facebook/LinkedIn groups, or trading forums that related to “import from China”. But unfortunately after you spend much time to try, you find most answers are useless, such as visit China in person, or search Gold Supplier on Alibaba, you will find most of the Gold suppliers are traders, and you will find they just spend money to Alibaba to buy gold supplier. Do you know most of the Chinese customers do not buy goods from Alibaba? because they think they sale false goods. There is no solution that can really work after me searching all related topics on the Internet.
Why I write this article to reveal what reasons buyers cannot find China factories?
However, I found that there is nobody thinking about “Why we are can’t find factories”, which I think it’ll make more sense than just asking “How to find factories”. And only you knew the real reasons for failing, then you can find the best way to contact the factory that you are looking for.
In this article, I will explain why Chinese factories in certain industries are so hard to find on the internet or another B2B platform like Alibaba, Global sources, Made in China, and what kind of factories are more likely to be discovered.
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1. Some Special Products Are More Likely Made by Small Factories, Which Are Not Easy to Be Found
What kind of products you are importing usually is the essential reason for whether you can search for the real factory? I think this is the main reason why foreign importers fail to find factories. I think you still have doubt in heart about the reason, let me take an example for it.
For example: If you want to source some stamping parts tooling, or just 200pcs screws, nuts or other Deep drawing, progressive stamping, metal stamping, sheet metal parts, you will find there are lots of trading companies after searching on Alibaba and Google.
But it’s still difficult to find a real factory supplier in China, because in China most of these small stamping parts factory is established by the generation after the 70s or 60s, and they are even do not learn from universities before, so they are do not know English or E-business, although a few of them have found an English website, but they do not know how to get the traffic from the internet. So you can’t find the stamping parts, screws or nuts and other CNC machining parts factories in China
1.1 What kind of industries can be easy found factories on B2B platforms?
But the situation will be totally different if you are source some special products, for example, such as a T-shirt, or socks, you can find many factories in China on the internet, what the reason? Because only fashion model can be sold out for these goods, and their manufacture machines much cheaper than machinery factories, the quality control easier, so many of the generations of the 80s or 90s have the ability to establish a factory. They know how important e-commerce, almost these bosses was graduated from universities, with a good education, so you can find many factories on the internet.
Root reason why you can not find factories in some industries:
China recovers college entrance examination in the year of 1979, the China history results in this. Then you know what kinds of people in China can communicate with English or know E-commerce, and why the 70s and 60s boss do not have interesting to set an English website
In addition, there are several other reasons why small factories are difficult to find, which I’ll explain in the following paragraphs.
2. Factories Didn’t Publish Their Information on English Website
All Euro and North importers all are sourcing stamping parts or CNC machining parts on B2B platforms, such as Alibaba or Global Sources. If a factory doesn’t have any killed staff knows English, it is impossible for them to optimize their products on the first few pages of B2B platforms. So for foreign importers or procurement is very important to find real factories in China.
It’s very common in China that no one can use English as a communication tool in machinery manufacture factory. Although many of them are graduated from universities, but their works are related to production and design, dealing with domestic businesses. They think China is the biggest market in the world, they only should do better in the domestic is enough.
2.1 The inside information about China’s biggest B2B platform – Alibaba “Gold supplier”
Alibaba “Gold Supplier”. A Chinese company only need to pay RMB: 59800 (USD8794), then they will get the “gold supplier” authority. Many trading companies are paying the fees to Alibaba to get what they want, in fact, most trading companies have to pay more to get a more good ranking page on Alibaba, because if they do not like this, they can’t get a good ranking, and no RFQ. but other real China factories are completely different, their core business is to do domestic business, international trading just a supplement for their business, so they do not urgently need to spend much money on the internet.
2.2 China factories how to cooperate with trading companies.
One of my friend’s supplier–a small CNC machining factory, which has no English-speaking salesman and only works with domestic trading companies
Their targeted customers of these factories is Chinese trading companies, in fact, some times I am also giving some orders to them when our own factory very busy, meanwhile some of them also publish products on 1688.com – (Chinese Alibaba website, belongs to Alibaba Group), which is the largest Chinese B2B platform in China and has more suppliers than Alibaba.com. but among them, there also many traders, One interesting thing is that many suppliers on Alibaba usually go to 1688.com to find their suppliers. But it’s only useful for international importers who can speak Chinese to source suppliers directly on 1688.com. Second, you should familiar with all kinds of Chinese suppliers. Because as above said many trading companies among them on 1688.com, maybe even more than factories.
In my other article introduced how to distinguish a trader and factory: “3+6” Ways to verify China supplier, not a trading company
PS: Many trading companies buy screws, stamping parts or CNC machining parts on 1688.com, so they can not control the quality of these parts after they find the quality problem. The worst thing is they can not take back what they have paid, if they did not check the quality before they pay.
Home page of 1688.com
3. Factories Don’t Know Online Marketing
Trading companies know more about network techniques than factories, it will help them to be easily found by international customers.
Even though some stamping factories or CNC machining parts factories in China are Alibaba members. But It doesn’t mean international procurement can find them. Because their product optimizes to the first page of Alibaba very difficult, it has many skills, such as keywords settings and Pay for Per Click, in Alibaba they called P4P. Now in Alibaba, if you do not buy P4P, no matter how to optimize your products, products pictures can’t appear on the first few pages, which is similar to Google AdWords. But it is different from Google AdWords, what the different with AdWords? On google more consider people UE(user experience).
3.1 Why you feel even more difficult to find Chinese factories? and what barriers for factories to find international customers?
3.1.1: Factories must have their own English website, and skilled at SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) to get traffic from the internet.
3.1.2: Chinese government prohibits users use Google engine, we called that “great firewall”, you can search the detailed information about “China great firewall functions” on google.
That’s why most buyers cannot find China factories, even they are published products on Alibaba. Besides, some small factories reply to Alibaba’s inquiries very slow, and they have not been specially trained, you will feel these factories are not reliable.
So there one tip for you: those suppliers who are replying you slow, or difficult to communicate with, maybe they are factories. But sometimes this will invalidation, because some traders also will reply to you very slow or refuse to reply to you, because they do not have stable cooperation factories in China.
4. Factory Keeps All Information in Secret If Product Has Patent or Copyright Issue
A China bushing factory with patent who do not have english website on internet
It’s universally acknowledged that China is copying all kinds of products and sell to every corner of the world. Once there’s a hot-selling product on the internet, maybe electronics or baby carriage, Chinese factories will start to copy it and sell cheap price. In lots of circumstances, buyers don’t know the fact.
How China factories avoid patent risks?
It’s usually quite difficult for international buyers to find real factories of these kinds of products, which have patent or copyright issues. These factories in China often work with different trading companies, and they do not have their own brand or website, so they sell this kind of products to different countries, and most international purchasers are buying from trading companies, rather than from real factories.
PS: Most of these trading companies are in Shenzhen, but most products copying factories are located in Chongqing, because Chongqing is far from the sea, and patent holder difficult to find them.
I knew one of my friends help an American customer to find an aluminum chair factory at Chongqing, he chose the best price among more than 20 suppliers. He also claimed that he can’t take any customers to visit the producing workshop as it needs to be kept as secrecy.
Conclusion
Most buyers want to bypass the middlemen or trading companies and purchase directly from factories, but not every purchaser can actually make it. In this case, you’d better find more suppliers and compare them to select the most suitable one.
Cheapest is not the best, most suitable is what you looking for, or you can attend some fairs, which are the best ways to find factories. Such as Canton Fair, Global Sources Fair, but many Chinese factories do not have interesting to attend fairs, because these fairs charge really expensive, meanwhile they feel worse year after year, if you want to know more, please send me an email.
My another article about how to find the real factories in China, I assume you have interesting, please read it: