PengLight Answers FAQ about Sourcing In China
If you have questions, PengLight has the answers you need. Please refer to our FAQ section below for more insight on how we handle the sourcing for you! If you still have questions, or need more information, just email us at info@penglight.com, we will reply you within 24 hours.
What’s different between PengLight and another sourcing company?
First of all and most importantly, we have been engaged in the lighting field for more than 10 years, with the practical experience and full knowledge in terms of LED lights and fixtures. That means we know what we are doing and how to do it, so we can offer you our services with more professionalism and efficiency. We are able to help you save cost and earn more money. Secondly, we act as your buying office in China that we will save you cost, time and remove all the hassles by taking care of your product supplies from scratch till delivering to your door. Our common principle is towards the final result for our clients; keeping the same working attitude, controlling the cost and working as a cooperative team internally. With us on the site in China, you can be more relaxed and feel secured when dealing business with Chinese manufacturers.
What kind of products can you source or produce for us?
Mostly LED products, you can check in our product page. If you need a custom product, we can do OEM/ODM and have it manufactured especially for you to your designs. What you have to do is just tell us your detailed requirements, and we will realize it for you!
Following are the products we offer but are not limited to include:
- LED Strip
- LED Batten
- LED String Light
- LED Panel Light
- LED Flood Light
- LED Down Light
- LED Tube Light
- LED Tri-proof Light
- LED High Bay
- LED Linear Trunking System
- OTHER? Simply tell us what you need! Email us today at info@penglight.com to discuss.
What if the price you offered is less competitive than the one I find on Alibaba? Or I want to buy from my own supplier but still want to use your service to coordinate between the supplier and me.
There are two different situations for service fee:
1. If you’re buying products from your current suppliers and communicating all the process with supplier by yourself, we will help check quality and arrange shipping for you. If there is quality issue, we will help you negotiate with suppliers. In this case, we charge 3% service fee.
2. If you do not have suppliers (or you have suppliers) and you want us to handle the whole process with suppliers on behalf of you, like negotiating, sampling, producing and arranging delivery. In this way, we charge 3% – 8% service fee based on product value.
When you like our quote and product, we begin to negotiate with the factory for next step. If there are quality issues or other problems happen, we will help from beginning to the end, until the problems are fixed.
Can I visit the factory in China?
Absolutely. Visiting the China factory can be beneficial and interesting, but it is by no means required. We have some customers that visit the factories annually. We have other customers that have never stepped foot in China.
If you need to come to China to visit the factories or you want to attend the light fair, like Canton Fair, Lighting Exhibition in Guangzhou or Hong Kong International Lighting Fair, we will accompany you and arrange everything, such as transportation, accommodation, etc. Make it as convenience as it is for you!
How will my goods be delivered?
Depends on your project schedule, we generally use sea freight due to the weight and volume of goods. The goods will be delivered at your local port and when it have been customs cleared, then you can arrange delivery out to your business premises. We manage the logistics for you as part of our service.
If there is ever an urgent requirement, we will arrange air freight for certain volumes if you require this. This is often done for light or high value items.
If you want the goods to be sent door to door via Express, such as Fedex, TNT, DHL, UPS etc, we can also arrange it and you can receive the goods within 7 days. This is often done for samples or for urgent project requirements.
How is quality control handled?
This process begins early on as we collect information for the RFQ, “Request for Quotation”. And for the potential suppliers, we will arrange factory audit to check their production capability, factory scale, QC standard, ensure that they are able to produce your products as per requirements.
During the production run, our QC team will check to see that these standards have been met and will return a pass/fail report with digital photos at each point of the inspection standard representing the completion of that point. For more details, you can check our Quality Inspection.
What if my orders are only small quantities and cannot meet the MOQ?
Most of our clients are Small and Medium-Sized enterprises, we aim to bring more competitiveness and flexibility to their business, so the products we source are without MOQ issue (or with reasonable MOQ that is acceptable). PengLight have worked with many suppliers in lighting field and they can support us with high quality products but do not require big quantity.
Why source direct from China when it is very easy to find factories on Alibaba?
There are a lot of all sort of factories in Alibaba, majority of them are manufacturers but also many of them who claim themselves as manufacturers to attract customers are actually Trading Companies. Although you may see that they are marked with Gold Supplier or Gold Plus Supplier, these are only have something to do with how much Membership fee they pay to Alibaba. But have nothing to do with they are manufacturers or not.
To figure out you are actually working with a true factory, you need to check on the ground. This is where we can help! If you intend to engage us as your sourcing division in China, we will identify the suppliers you want to work with and screen out all inappropriate factories, e.g. they may be too large to suit your company, or they are not specialized in the products you need, or they are just a trading company, to eliminate the incompetent from the source.
Why should I use your services and why is it different to using B2B websites like Alibaba & Made In China?
Whilst importing from overseas represents great opportunities to save a substantial amount of money, it also can be a fast way to lose a great deal of money as there is always a certain level of risk.
The B2B websites provide the contact details of suppliers but should you choose to go through this method you are still exposed to all the risks of importing without the experience and knowledge required to do this well. Sometimes you are lucky and all goes smoothly however there is a reason why there are so many stories of people being “burnt” by importing. It is not always the suppliers, but often it is the management of the process. This management is which is where PengLight adds a great deal of value and substantially reduce the risk your business is exposed to.
We are located in Shenzhen, so we can reach the supplier at any time, get a response, and get the full true picture of the real situation, to keep track of the actual situation and monitor quality. Thereby substantially reducing the risk your business is exposed to whilst still helping you achieve the many benefits and cost savings of importing.
Penglight can save you a great deal of time and stress with our structured processes and procedures, as well as often being able to avoid costly hold ups and stock level issues due to misunderstandings or receiving the incorrect information.
As a professional in lighting industry, PengLight are also better able to monitor the product quality and ensure you are getting what you have paid for, before the shipment leaves the overseas port.
Is it cheaper for me to buy from factories myself rather than use PengLight’s service?
Not necessarily. Communication with the factories yourself about your requirement will be time consuming, especially when you have to deal with several factories for different products. And when it is talking with a factory who speaks poor English, it is more annoying. Not to mention that you have to coordinate with forwarder/courier and factory to plan the shipment.
PengLight can take care all of these to give you a break, so you have time to focus on your core business and develop more sales.
I used to source from domestic, is it suitable for me to source directly from China?
Business of different sizes (Retailers, Contractors and Small Enterprises) are looking into ways to reduce product cost in order to maximize profit margin. Also, if you would like to create your own brand and sell more products under your label, it’s crucial to source directly from the source.
Many Retailers, Contractors and Small Enterprises are now following the global trend by sourcing directly from China, and they are with their own trusted sourcing partner to help them. If you do not seize this opportunity, you may lose your competitiveness compare to your competitors.
How do I get started?
Feel free to email us at info@penglight.com to either discuss your particular requirement and questions or book a face to face meeting, if you’re coming to China. We can discuss further on how you would like to start and how to cooperate with us!