Sourcing Consumer Electronics From China, on the Ground Experience with Attila

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Thanks everyone for tuning into another episode of Global From Asia! I’m getting settled back into my home in Asia – getting over jet lag from the 1 month roadshow in USA and back to my cross border routine jumping between Hong Kong and Shenzhen on a regular basis.

So today’s episode, #22 here – is the 2nd part of a 2 part series with my friend Attila while we were traveling through Dallas, Texas. He has tons of experience doing business buying electronics accessories and components in China and in the first episode covered the cash-flow and management of the business – today he goes through his experience and recommendations for those buying electronics accessories from China.

Again, this is his firsthand experience, and everyone may have different methods and strategies – I’ll try to get other interviews with different methods and strategies – but I hope listeners, like me, learn best by hearing first hand, on the ground experience!

Topics Covered in this Episode

• Intro
• the manufacturing in China mindset
• Accepting dinners from Chinese factories
• Its not about “Anti-China”, its about cutting out the middleman and finding the source
• Discussing the electronics industry vs home and gifts industry
• finding and verifying suppliers
• Is it about finding the components, or the finished goods final factory?
• Electronics market in Shenzhen, components breakdown, quality.
• Various warranty offers small to larger factories offer
• dealing with engineers to design the product
• The basic flow to designing your own product in China
• pricing – tactics for negotiating and calculating the price
• MOQ – is it true?
• Differences in negotiating when the factory has pre-existing inventory (stock)
• ordering samples
• Testing samples and production runs, tactics for maximizing time for quality.
• Different contracts used for purchasing from the factory
• payment methods used – for different order sizes
• Tips for smaller orders
• buying when not able to go to the factory or able to visit China
• the 2nd and 3rd orders, dealing with the ongoing process
• Dealing with price increases as time progresses
• Treating the factory as your long term partner to make win-win cooperation

People / Companies / Resources Mentioned in this Episode

• MOQ = Minimum order quantity
• BOM = bill of materials (what components are inside the finished product)
• LC = letter of credit (payment method, rather complex and for larger sized orders)
• BL = Bill of Lading (document of ownership when a shipment is in transit internationally)
• Western Union
• Paypal
• Contacting Attila – attila @ attila.com

Episode Length: 23:41

So there you have it guys! Attila was very kind to share his real, deep experience and knowledge – and while some of it may seem “raw” – this is the kind of juicy interviews I hope we can keep releasing on this show! Working on getting Chris Gormley back next week to do an episode about how to get a Hong Kong based credit card – so stay tuned!

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