A guide for architects and interior designers
Factory, trading company, or sourcing agent?
Compare buying from a Chinese factory, trading company, or sourcing agent, with questions about responsibility, fees, and quality checks.
A hotel fit-out might need chairs, tiles, bathroom fittings, and lighting from several manufacturers. A repeat order for one standard chair has a different buying problem. Choose your supplier arrangement around the work the order requires and the responsibility each business accepts.
The label on a website gives you a starting point. Before paying, establish who sells the goods, who manufactures them, and who must put a problem right. A business can manufacture some products and trade others, so ask about the specific items in your order.
A factory gives you a production relationship
When the manufacturer also sells and exports the product, you can discuss materials, processes, tooling, and production changes with the business doing the work. That can suit a buyer who has a clear specification and expects to reorder the same product.
For a dining chair, ask which operations happen at the factory: frame making, upholstery, finishing, assembly, and packing. Find out which components or processes are subcontracted. Request evidence for the model and materials you intend to buy. A factory visit showing wooden furniture says little about its ability to produce upholstered seating to your specification.
Direct buying also leaves coordination work with you. Someone must approve samples, resolve drawing questions, arrange inspections, track production, and connect the supplier with the freight forwarder. Decide who owns these tasks before comparing prices.
A manufacturer is not automatically the cheapest choice for every order. Ask for a written quote at your actual quantity, including packing and the agreed delivery point. A low unit price has limited value if you must buy more stock than the project can use.
A trading company sells a finished buying arrangement
A trading company generally purchases goods for resale. Its role differs from an agent who arranges a purchase on somebody else’s behalf. The International Trade Administration distinguishes these intermediary roles in its overview of China’s distribution channels.
A trader may help assemble a mixed order, communicate with manufacturers, and offer quantities that suit a smaller project. Treat those as services to verify in the quotation. Ask which products it stocks, which it orders from other businesses, and who checks goods before dispatch.
Your purchase contract should identify the seller responsible to you. If a light fitting arrives with the wrong driver, you need a clear route for a remedy. A response that the factory caused the mistake does not explain what your seller will do about it.
Ask whether you can commission an independent inspection at the actual production or storage location. If the trader will not disclose a factory’s identity, decide whether the available evidence and contractual arrangements are sufficient for your order. Keep your requirements consistent across suppliers; disclosure alone is not proof of product quality.
A sourcing agent needs a defined scope
An agent can help identify suppliers and manage agreed buying tasks. Write down exactly what the appointment includes. Supplier introductions, sample collection, production follow-up, inspection booking, and consolidation are separate pieces of work.
For each task, ask what you will receive. Examples include a supplier comparison, photographs linked to item codes, an inspection booking confirmation, or a warehouse receiving report. Agree who can approve a substitution and who can authorise a payment.
Clarify how the agent earns money. Ask about service fees, commissions, markups, supplier rebates, currency conversion, and charges paid to other businesses. A percentage fee needs a defined calculation base. Find out whether it applies to goods, freight, taxes, or the whole invoice.
If you pay the agent for goods, establish whether it buys and resells them or handles funds on your behalf. Ask whose name appears on supplier contracts, invoices, export paperwork, and any payment-protection agreement. The answer affects which business you must approach when something fails.
Compare responsibility alongside the quote
Use this table when interviewing each candidate. Record the legal company name against every responsibility rather than writing only “supplier” or “agent.”
| Question | What to record |
|---|---|
| Who sells the goods to you? | Contracting company and invoice issuer |
| Who makes each item? | Manufacturer and production location, where disclosed |
| Who approves samples and changes? | Named person and written approval process |
| Who inspects the order? | Inspector, scope, reporting, and payment responsibility |
| Who handles export and transport? | Parties, delivery rule, and exact handover point |
| Who handles defects or shortages? | Remedy process and the company that owes it |
| Who receives your money? | Verified beneficiary and reason for any different entity |
A sourcing agent should not mark its own supplier-selection work as independent quality verification without explaining the relationship. Consider commissioning a separate inspector when the order value, product risk, or specification justifies it.
Check the business behind each role
Request registration details, relevant experience, references, and evidence that the company can handle your requirement. Verify references through contact details you establish independently. Where the exposure warrants it, commission business checks or a site visit. These follow the general due-diligence approach described in the International Trade Administration’s guide to evaluating foreign representatives.
Ask for a sample set of working documents with confidential customer data removed. A company offering consolidation should be able to explain how it records deliveries. A business offering quality coordination should explain how it handles a failed inspection. Discuss a problem scenario before a problem involves your deposit.
Match the arrangement to your next order
For a repeat order of one well-specified product, compare direct factory buying with any additional coordination you would need to purchase. For a mixed interiors shipment, compare a trader’s complete offer with an agent’s itemised scope and the underlying supplier costs available to you.
Start with a manageable order after completing supplier checks and sample approval. Keep a record of response times, specification changes, defects, and document accuracy. Use that evidence when deciding whether the same arrangement deserves a larger order.
Before appointing anyone, put the responsibility table beside the final quotation. Resolve every blank that would leave you unsure who to call if production, payment, or delivery goes wrong.
For destination requirements and the full buying sequence, use the China sourcing guide for architects and interior designers.