You see what the factory charged. Every order.
We send you the original factory invoice for every purchase, so the price the factory set and the fee you pay us stay two separate, visible numbers. Our fee is the only money we take on your order. Nothing reaches us from the factory side, and that is written into the contract you sign.
What a visible factory price lets you do.
When you hold the factory invoice, you can do three things you otherwise cannot. You can see whether a price change came from the factory or from somewhere else. You can compare suppliers on the numbers they actually quoted. And you can build a landed cost model where the cost of goods is a figure you have seen rather than one you were told.
How open-book actually works.
We take no payment from any factory, on any order. Not a commission, not a referral fee, not a volume rebate. It is a term of the contract you sign, and the original factory invoice is the evidence.
That means you can audit us. Compare the factory invoice against what we billed you, on any order, at any time.
You also keep the relationship. Supplier contacts, factory details, negotiated terms and production records are yours during the engagement and after it. Ending the engagement costs you nothing but us.
What sourcing actually involves.
Find
Shortlist and verify factories: business license, export record, capability match, production capacity
Price
Negotiate in Mandarin with real market context, and collect competing quotes so the number has a benchmark
Prove
Coordinate samples, then inspect production before it ships rather than after it arrives
Ship
Supervise container loading, coordinate freight at cost, and hand you a full landed cost breakdown
Published pricing. Three ways in, and they overlap on purpose.
- Verifying a supplier and getting a real quote, before you commit to volume. Order values up to $8,000
- Supplier identification and vetting
- Business license verification, export record check
- Sample coordination
- Negotiation in Mandarin
- The original factory quote
- Sourcing with inspection, production monitoring and logistics included. Order values from $2,000
- Three or more competitive factory quotes per product
- Pre-shipment QC inspection, production monitoring with milestone updates
- Freight coordination at cost with no markup
- Container loading supervision, milestone-based payment structure
- A full landed cost breakdown before you commit
- Recurring volume needing continuous presence in China. From $5,000 per month in ongoing order value
- Unlimited supplier searches
- In-line as well as pre-shipment QC, multi-supplier consolidation
- Settlement in CNY on request
- A four-hour response commitment during Guangzhou business hours
- A monthly factory visit where the factory is in Guangdong province; visits elsewhere in China are arranged on request with travel billed at cost
What actually separates them is scope. First Order Sourcing verifies a supplier and gets you a real quote. Full Sourcing Management runs the order through inspection, monitoring and shipping. Tell us the product and the volume and we will tell you which scope your order needs, including when that answer is the smaller one.
Who does what.
You approve every commercial decision: final price, supplier selection, order quantity, payment terms, and shipping method. We negotiate, verify, inspect and coordinate, and we bring you the evidence to decide on. Nothing is committed to a factory without your written approval.
Payment for goods goes to the factory, not through us, unless you specifically ask us to handle settlement in CNY under the On-the-Ground package. Freight is billed at cost, with the carrier invoice attached.
Frequently asked questions.
How should I compare sourcing fees? +
Compare total landed cost rather than the headline rate. A fee percentage only describes the thing it names, so the number that decides your margin is what you pay the factory plus what you pay your agent, taken together. With the factory invoice in hand you can calculate that exactly. Our 5% is the entire fee, verifiable line by line on every order.
What if the product turns out not to be viable? +
We say so, in the free audit, before you pay anything. An honest read on feasibility and cost range within 24 hours, including "this isn't a good fit for China" or "this isn't a good fit for us."
Do I own the supplier relationship afterwards? +
Yes, completely, during the engagement and after it. Factory contacts, negotiated terms, production records and inspection reports are yours. We don't hold supplier details hostage to keep you subscribed.
What happens if a shipment has quality problems? +
Pre-shipment inspection exists to catch that before it ships, and inspection reports are shared with you before you release final payment. If defects appear after shipping, we run the claim with the factory on your behalf. We can't promise a factory will always agree; we can promise you won't be arguing with them alone in a language you don't speak.
Does sourcing work with your Amazon program? +
It's the same engagement when the destination is your own marketplace brand: sourced in Guangzhou, launched in the USA, one accountable person across both.
Not included, stated up front:
the cost of goods, freight and duties, third-party lab testing and certification fees, customs brokerage, factory visit travel outside Guangdong province, and any guarantee of a specific unit price. We don't quote a fixed unit price a year out, because factory pricing moves with materials, capacity and season, and we would be quoting a number we don't control.
You talk to the person doing the work.
The person walking your factory floor, reading your inspection reports and negotiating your price is the founder, based in Guangzhou since 2013, working in English, Chinese and Arabic. No account managers, no handoffs, no message passed through three people before it reaches someone who can decide.
Start with the number, not the pitch.
Send us the product and the volume. Within 24 hours you get a free sourcing audit: feasibility, a realistic cost range, which fee model applies to your situation, and an honest answer if the answer is no.