First of all you need to get a quote from your sourcing agency for your product, you need to determine if it fits your budget. A good sourcing agent will be able to get you the best quality products at the cheapest possible price. If your agent is able to get you a good supplier with a good price, it can be a great indicator that your appointed person or a company is good at doing their best, which is getting the greatest suppliers with the best prices for their products with the shortest production.
Doing a meeting with your agency
After you have decided on their quote, a good practice is to get on a zoom call with your buying agent. Conducting this meeting can also give a perspective on their professionalism, professional buying agencies generally are visible from a mile away with their professional attitude towards their clients. If you are actually sourcing your products from India, there is a good chance that your agent is able to understand and converse in English, because Indian people are very familiar with the English language.
Having a referral from their previous clients
If your agent has displayed their clientele on their website, which they generally do, you can actually contact their previous clients. You can ask their previous clients about their experience with the agent. If their response is positive, then this is probably the most powerful indicator that your sourcing agency is genuine. If you still don’t have a peace of mind with your agent, then the next steps can help you solidly confirm that your agent is the best in the game. So let’s move on to the next steps, which is as follows:-
Making a note if your agent has a tie up with the suppliers
Well, we know what you’re thinking, there is no sure shot way of knowing this until your goods come in a condition that you don’t want them to be in. Many agents, well almost 95% of them have a commission from the manufacturer. A good indicator that knowing if they have a tie-up or not is when they are actually not revealing the supplier information. Other than this there is no way of knowing if they have a tie-up or not. ALthough this is not our business until we get quality products at a good price point. So don’t worry about this step.
Having a third party manufacturer check your products before delivery
After you have confirmed the order with the supplier and the goods are produced and are ready to be shipped. Now you can appoint a third party product inspection service which can check the goods and inspect them for quality on your behalf. Using a third party inspection service will help you keep peace of mind on the quality of the products. Sourcing companies like OHP Export Import actually provide third party inspection services and logistics help for your products. So good luck with your sourcing journey.
