How can you find a reliable agent that can source goods from the Yiwu wholesale market... one that can consolidate a variety of goods from
the different sellers at the Yiwu Market... also check for quality and prepare all documents for shipment to the US and Canada...

well, first off you can try google "yiwu agents"..We have been
using USGT, check out their website www.yachian.com it's an American
company with sourcing office in yiwu..So far we've got nothing but good words for their service.

David, i living near the Yiwu market, and now i also buy some body light for an American Company from that market and also the factories near the market. maybe also i can help you in this field, any details pls feel free to contact me at yingst0725@gmail.com

Not easy to find a non-specialist agent than can handle a wide
variety of goods and still be expert enough to control quality. It depends on the commission level you can afford to pay and the volume of your purchasing.

There are many agents running around claiming to be reliable (you can find many in alibaba.com and in the tdc trade pages), but you really have to be careful in trusting any of these.

First concern is that they will not check the quality carefully. Second concern is that they will eventually bypass you and try to sell directly to your customer. Third concern is that they will arrange hidden kickbacks from the suppliers for your products.

Sorry for the pessimistic outlook, but I think this area of "purchasing agents" is rife with unprofessional companies and false promises.

thomas at innovatize.com

In the TDC China Trade website readers of this Forum will be interested to read a feature on the Yiwu wholesale market. Please check here for the story (text in Chinese). Also the website of the Zhejiang China Commodity City Group Co may contain some interesting information.

I think the website philip was talking about was yachina.com right?

sorry trade dude, yes you're correct. Their web address is www.yachina.com Innovatize has got a very good point there. It's really hard to find a reliable agent in yiwu, or in China for that matter. After a lot of trial and error(hell it was lot of hard lessons and price to pay too), we finally settled with a U.S. company. I wouldn't worry about purchasing agents selling directly to MY customers -- you really should never ever hand over your customer info to your suppliers, period. Now, agents taking hidden kickbacks, that's a real concern though. So far we've found these guys at yachina to be very honest.(fingers crossed) I actually hired 4 different agents for my 5 containers on my first trip to yiwu and all except one agents seem to be taking kickbacks from the vendors in the market. I pretended that I didn't speak Chinese at all just to see how honest these people could be. Well,as you might have imagined, some of the agents just lied to me and quoted me a much higher prices than the seller actually asked for. Only the yachina gal (her name is Lee) was honest enough to get me real good prices..I have since ditched all other agents and have never looked back. I'm sure there's a few trustworthy agents out there, just as there are far more unprofessional ones. You just need to do your homework.I'll be in yiwu this coming October for the yiwu fair. I'd love to see you guys there. Maybe we can all meet and have a beer or 2.

Hi, David, I come from Hong Kong. I have various handbags, cloth bags (Thai, India, Chinese, Nepal..style) if you have feel interested, just contact me at info@antonya.com.hk Looking for a long term business partner.

We are a professional foreign trade company specializing in export various products of China Yiwu International Trade Market. As you know, Yiwu city is the biggest commodity market in the world, famous for its low price and high quality. You can easily find anything you want at low prices. Yiwu is located in the center of Zhejiang province, near to Shanghai. We can provide as following service: 1. Issue formal business invitation for you. 2. Hotel reservation service. 3. Pick up you from airport or train station when you are coming to Yiwu. 4. Accompany you to visit the market and factories. 5. Purchasing We will be available to assist and interpret during all your stay in YIWU and make order according to your requirement. 6. Quality control Collect and Check your goods for quality and correctness. 7. Customs declaration&issue documents. 8. Shipping We can ship your goods in 3 days after your goods are collected. Our main exporting products such as general merchandise, hardware ,craft & art, jewelry, cosmetics, toy, and more...

In my experience, Yiwu is famous for its low price and LOW quality. Rarely does anything high quality ever come anywhere near Yiwu. That's not to say that you should not buy there, but just be aware what you are getting, i.e. the lowest price and 100% unreliable quality. A good agent can help "smooth" some of the peaks and valleys of bad quality, but it will be very difficult to avoid all of the problems. thomas at innovatize.com

Hey Innovatize, Yiwu may be cheap, but its products are good enough for my clients --I sell to dollar stores and discount stores. I know most top US dollar chains and wholesalers, as well as many other big players like walmart buy from yiwu too. Suppose yiwu products ain't too shabby for them either. The perception of low quality probably dates back to ages ago when yiwu was still mostly selling counterfeit goods.

Yo Philip, thanks for the tip. I was so used to my agent dealing behind my back that I didn't think it would worth my while to change the routine. I was told that they were all the same and you just had to live with that, right? Well, thanks to you, I've switched to yachina and they give me much better prices AND lower commission too. I didn't get to meet the Lee girl you mentioned yet, instead, their boss Oliver helped me with my very first container with them. No complaints. Only wish I could find more straight agents like these people. I'll be in yiwu in a few days, you wanna meet me up, Phil? Oh, hotel prices in yiwu have gone up quite a bit for the yiwu fair week. Oliver gave me a discount code for the Best Western hotel before and I only had to pay like 370 something Chinese RMB, but I'm paying over 1,000 even with the code. How about that.

I am so happy to hear good things about yachina. Last weeks I have been going around internet and email, trying to get a good agent from Yiwu. I was really scared about all these stories of Yiwu agents. Finally, I found feedback from Oliver ( yachina ),and I don´t know but as this is an American company, I trusted more in him. Anyway everything looked professional with him. After these comments here, I am sure, I’ll deal with him. I am going to visit Yiwu at the end of this month. I’ll let you know guys my experiences over there. Someone knows Creative Counter? They look like goods too? This is only if for any reason I could not find Oliver or something happen. Just like back up.

I am agent working for export company in yiwu. I can tell you not only our agents but also our company take money from seller. My boss mostly take 10%, but our translators sometimes take only 5%. We think we total deserve it. you ask why? because your foreigners keep want lower commission, 2%, 3%? do you think you company can only want to have 2% profit? We have a chinese saying if tiger not feed full, it eat people! we take money because we have to make living also. I and my friends in work paid only 1100 yuan monthly. most buyer still buy the price after we add 15% because you know you make much more sell in your country！ I am not shameful to admit.

Would the quality of DOLLAR ITEMS from the Yiwu Market be a higher quality for the USA and a lower quality for Africa.. Are there different grades of quality for different countries!

Hi everyone, could anyone tell what's the nearest international airport to Yiwu market.Thanks

Yiwu has an airport - Hangzhou's Xiaoshan airport is a 70mns drive from Yiwu with regular car service - Shanghai's airports also have easy switching facilities to road transportation to Yiwu, approx 4 to 5 hours.

we are Swiss managed and can serve your needs from Yiwu and from across China www.xingtrade.com

for David: We believe the goods wholesaled from the Yiwu market in China are suitable for all dollar items markets in the world.

there is really some difference in price, some booth charges higher and some charges lower, just like when you walk in the Wal-Mart, there is a lot of product, same items inside, with different package, but the price changes a lot. that's same here, as i know, most of the product in the market, the quality is the same, and the package only have little difference. you know, i also help the client to source the goods from the market, and often go from this booth to another, i think i understand it well. if you want to have further talk with me for this business, maybe we can chat with Yahoo messager, mine is yingst0725@yahoo.com.cn.

The TDC website has provided a special list of the main wholesale markets in China, with features on the sizes, and activities and importance. Please click here for reference.