3 Things You Must Avoid When Doing Business with a Chinese Supplier

For any buyer, to make a safe deal with a Chinese supplier is a challenge. There are many details to check in your order, such as: delivery time, pricing, other expenses, ensure that the final product is done according to the specifications you requested etc.

Even when looking at the most experienced suppliers, manufacturers and vendors in China, the language barrier and cultural differences within their partners can put to risk the whole order due to a tiny error or misunderstandings.

To improve communication and try to make the process smoother, many businessmen and professionals use the services of a Chinese translator to ensure that all the details are being negotiated correctly, but there are other issues that might go unnoticed and that can even cause further problems and frustrations.

In this article we explain 3 things you must avoid when you are doing business with a Chinese supplier, so you can keep them as a reminder for future negotiations and to improve the ordering and manufacturing process with your vendor.




1. Agreements/confirmations by mouth

One of the biggest mistakes many buyers do when dealing with manufacturers resides in confirming all the details and decisions only in conversations. Even when the supplier’s intentions are good, sometimes some information might slip away or get forgotten because of a language misunderstanding.

In order to avoid these issues you should maintain an e-mail communication with your supplier in China, at least for all the points you consider important in the product and regarding your order, do not make agreements only by mouth, assume everything will be fine and that they will understand all of your requests.

It is also ideal to fill all important details and product specifications in the: order, contract or in the proforma invoice.




2. Getting to fast into the business talk

It is very common for overseas businessmen to go straight to the point and talk about the business details with their partners or suppliers once they meet, except in China. For those buyers who are going to meet the supplier for the first time, it is very important to leave behind the business talk and focus on getting to know your supplier in China first.

Chinese businessmen tend to do business only with people they trust and who are in their circle of relationships, in order to achieve that, they expect to have long time negotiations with their counterpart.

Get to know more your supplier or vendor, observe who are the decisions makers in the organization and their working culture, join them to go for a dinner together (if you are invited), then when the time is right, bring the topic to the table.




3. Over negotiating the cheapest deal

Taking too serious the “China is cheap” argument can be troublesome the business.

Chinese suppliers do not have the word “No” in their business vocabulary and they do not tend to be negative, so when you push too much your supplier for a cheaper price, they probably will tell you they can make your product. However, in order to fulfill your request the supplier will decrease the quality of the raw material, which may result in quality problems to solve in the future.

Do not over negotiate the price, make sure that is a win-win situation and that you and your Chinese supplier are satisfied with the deal.


Do you know any other factor that might be important to avoid or to remember when negotiating with a supplier in China? Please let us know in the comments section.