Category: Company & Industry News

Updates about our company, the sourcing industry, market trends, trade shows, and events.

  • When Your China Supplier Goes Dark: Why Your Legal Options Depend Entirely on Who Signed the Contract

    When Your China Supplier Goes Dark: Why Your Legal Options Depend Entirely on Who Signed the Contract

    We’re currently preparing to take a supplier to court in China.

    The amount in dispute is modest — around $1,000 USD. The evidence is solid: a signed contract, a complete WeChat conversation history, clear breach of delivery terms. In Chinese court, with a properly registered Chinese entity filing the claim, this is straightforward. No lawyer required. Walk in with the contract, file the claim, let the process run.

    We’ll likely win. And we’ll get our client’s money back.

    Now here’s the question worth sitting with: what would happen if our client had gone directly to this supplier themselves?

    How This Started

    A long-term client of ours ran into a supply chain problem last year. One of their suppliers — a company we had vetted and worked with for years — developed cash flow problems and couldn’t fulfill an order. We caught this early, warned the client, recovered the advance payment, and sourced several alternative products for their consideration.

    The client wanted the original product. The exact model. Nothing else.

    So they went to Alibaba themselves and found a trading company they had worked with briefly years ago. The owner — we’ll call him Mike — claimed he could supply it. The client asked us to manage the relationship and handle the order on their behalf.

    We signed a purchase contract with Mike’s company. We paid a deposit. We waited.

    The delivery date passed. Then another. Mike’s responses became evasive, circular, and then essentially meaningless — the same message repeated in different words: keep waiting.

    Out of curiosity, we contacted the actual factory we knew supplied this type of product. They confirmed Mike was sourcing from them. They also confirmed they couldn’t deliver yet. We didn’t tell Mike we knew this. We simply asked for our deposit back.

    What followed was a masterclass in bad-faith stonewalling. Non-answers. Deflection. The same instruction on repeat: wait.

    We stopped waiting. We’re going to court.

    The Math That Kills Most Claims Before They Start

    Here’s where this story becomes relevant to every overseas buyer who has ever lost money to a Chinese supplier.

    If you are a foreign company — US, UK, Australian, European — and you need to pursue legal action against a supplier in China, the process looks like this:

    Foreign lawyers cannot appear in Chinese courts. You must retain a Chinese-licensed attorney, preferably bilingual with cross-border experience. And the fees, as of 2026 in Shanghai and Beijing, start here:

    • Small claims (under 500,000 RMB / ~$70,000 USD): 15,000–30,000 RMB (~$2,100–$4,200 USD) in attorney fees
    • Standard commercial disputes: 30,000–80,000 RMB (~$4,400–$12,000 USD)
    • Complex cross-border cargo disputes: 50,000 RMB and up (~$7,400 USD)
    • Bilingual attorney with cross-border experience: 80,000 RMB and up (~$12,000 USD)
    • Hourly rates at premium firms: 2,000–5,000 RMB per hour, five-hour minimum (~$300-750 USD per hour)

    For a $1,000 dispute, the attorney fee alone would cost more than twice the claim. For a $5,000 dispute, you’re still looking at legal fees that exceed what you lost.

    This is the reality for the vast majority of overseas buyers sourcing from China. Most orders fall well below $70,000 USD. Which means most disputes, by the time legal costs are factored in, are simply not worth pursuing.

    The supplier knows this. Some of them are counting on it.

    The Structural Problem With Freelancers and Unregistered Agents

    Many overseas buyers — particularly those new to China sourcing — work with individual freelancers or informal agents. Someone they found online, recommended through a forum, or hired through a platform. Someone with good English, strong communication, and a convincing knowledge of Chinese manufacturing.

    Here’s the problem no one talks about clearly enough:

    If a dispute arises between you and a Chinese supplier, and your only representative in China is a freelancer with no legal entity, that person cannot help you in any meaningful way. They have no standing to file a claim. They cannot appear in court on your behalf. They cannot sign a purchase contract that gives you enforceable rights under Chinese law.

    They can send emails. They can make calls. They can express frustration on your behalf. That’s the limit.

    If your contract is between your overseas company and the Chinese supplier directly, you are a foreign entity pursuing a claim in a Chinese court. See the fee schedule above.

    How the Right Structure Changes Everything

    This is why the legal structure of your sourcing relationship matters as much as anything else.

    When Tom Sourcing manages a procurement engagement, the purchase contract with the Chinese supplier is signed by our Chinese registered entity — not by you, and not by an individual agent. Our Chinese company is the buyer of record. The supplier’s legal obligation runs to us.

    If a supplier breaches that contract — late delivery, quality failure, refusal to refund a deposit — we can file a claim in Chinese court directly. As a locally registered Chinese business, we have full legal standing. In clear-cut cases with documented evidence, we can do this without a lawyer. We walk in, file the paperwork, and let the process run.

    This is not theoretical. We are doing it right now.

    Your relationship is with Tom Sourcing — a US-registered company, operating under US law, with all the protections and accountability that implies. Our Chinese entity executes the supply chain on the ground: sourcing, quality control, inspection, logistics. The money and the goods flow through us. That structure — US company facing you, Chinese company facing your suppliers — is deliberate. It exists to give you a layer of legal protection that a direct relationship with a Chinese supplier, or an informal agent, simply cannot provide.

    What This Means in Practice

    Ask yourself the following question about your current China sourcing arrangement:

    If my supplier takes my deposit and stops responding tomorrow, who has the legal standing to do something about it in China?

    If the answer is “my overseas company, working through an expensive cross-border attorney” — you are exposed.

    If the answer is “nobody, because I’m working with an individual agent who has no registered entity” — you are more exposed still.

    If the answer is “a locally registered Chinese company with a signed contract, full documentation, and the ability to file a claim directly” — that is a meaningfully different position.

    We have spent years building the structure that makes the third answer possible for our clients. It is one of the reasons we insist that payments and goods flow through our company rather than directly between clients and suppliers.

    That structure costs nothing extra. It is simply how we work.

    And right now, it is working — in a Chinese courtroom, on behalf of a client who would otherwise have been told to write off a loss and move on.

    If you want to understand how our structure protects you, let’s talk.

    Tom Sourcing is a US-registered sourcing company with its own office and warehouse in China. We provide end-to-end sourcing, product development, quality control, and supply chain management for US and EU brands.

  • Why Market Intermediaries Are Essential — And How Sourcing Agents Protect Buyers

    The Misconception of “Direct Factory Access”

    It’s common to see buyer ads boasting:

    “No trading company, no middleman, need direct factory, need contact details.”

    For most small buyers, these ads are more fantasy than reality. Factory owners don’t pick up every inquiry, and in many cases, small buyers simply cannot meet the minimum order quantity or business value thresholds required.

    From the factory’s perspective, an inquiry without volume is worth very little. There’s simply no incentive to engage directly, and the real gatekeepers are the factory’s intermediaries — trading companies and agents. Ignoring this market logic is a classic case of self-deception.

    The Logic Behind Factory Intermediaries

    Factories are primarily concerned with keeping production lines running smoothly. A few operational realities explain why intermediaries are indispensable:

    • Time and capacity limitations: Factory owners have limited hours and resources. Handling every small buyer directly would disrupt production, risking worker wages, rent, and delivery schedules.
    • Order value matters: Single small orders rarely cover the cost of materials, labor, and overhead.
    • Fixed trusted channels: Factories rely on trading companies and agents to pre‑qualify buyers, manage orders, and consolidate smaller requests into economically viable batches.

    In essence, most suppliers you see on Alibaba or other platforms are trading companies, not the factories themselves. That’s not a flaw — it’s market efficiency.

    Why Buyers Need Sourcing Agents

    Here’s where a professional sourcing agent becomes indispensable. Acting as the buyer’s intermediary, a sourcing agent bridges the gap between small or mid‑size buyers and the factory ecosystem:

    1. Order consolidation: Help small buyers meet factory minimums by aggregating demand or structuring orders efficiently.
    2. Risk management: Spot potential quality, production, or logistics issues before they escalate.
    3. Expertise: Provide hands-on knowledge of production processes, QC standards, packaging, logistics, and engineering.
    4. Time savings: Handle communications, factory visits, supervision, and follow-ups — letting the buyer focus on core business.
    5. Cost and strategy optimization: Ensure pricing is realistic, quality is maintained, and orders are delivered efficiently.

    Put simply, a sourcing agent acts as the buyer’s eyes, ears, hands, and feet on the factory floor.

    Case in Point

    • Without an agent: A small buyer tries to contact the factory directly, gets rejected or quoted prohibitively high prices, and wastes valuable time.
    • With a sourcing agent: Orders are evaluated, structured to meet minimums, verified for quality, and supervised through production and logistics. The same product is delivered efficiently, on time, and within budget.

    The difference is clear: professional guidance transforms uncertainty into predictable outcomes.

    Market Lessons

    • Intermediaries are unavoidable: Both buyers and sellers benefit from professional middlemen who manage volume, quality, and risk.
    • Ignoring market logic is costly: DIY approaches often lead to wasted time, unexpected expenses, and missed opportunities.
    • Sourcing agents provide both security and leverage: They protect the buyer’s investment while streamlining the path to the factory.

    Conclusion / Call to Action

    Understanding the supply chain means understanding the essential role of intermediaries. A good sourcing agent ensures that small and medium buyers can:

    • Access reliable factories without violating operational thresholds
    • Mitigate production and quality risks
    • Optimize cost, time, and order structure

    If you want safer, faster, and smarter sourcing, contact us today. Let a professional sourcing agent handle the complexity — while you focus on growing your business.

  • Why Fake Listings and Platform Negligence Should Scare Every Buyer — A Sourcing Perspective

    A Food Safety Crackdown That Shocked the Internet

    In April 2026, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) in China issued a historic crackdown on “ghost kitchen” listings across major internet platforms — including Pinduoduo, Meituan, JD.com, Ele.me/Taobao Shangou, Douyin, Taobao, and Tmall, imposing combined penalties of 35.97 billion yuan (≈ $527 million) for violations related to unverified food vendors and fake business listings.

    According to regulators, these platforms failed to adequately vet the qualifications and licenses of food vendors, allowing large numbers of “ghost” or fake restaurants — vendors with fake addresses, no physical storefront, and falsified documentation — to operate as legitimate food providers. As a result, food safety laws were broken, consumers were put at risk, and platforms were held responsible for lax oversight.

    This penalty is one of the largest ever imposed in the food safety and e‑commerce domain in China — and it reveals something deeper about digital platforms and information trustworthiness in the internet economy.

    From Ghost Restaurants to Ghost Suppliers — What’s the Real Lesson?

    The “ghost kitchen” problem is, on the surface, about food safety: online platforms prioritized growth and convenience over credential verification, allowing fake vendors to thrive. But if we think a level deeper, this episode raises a serious question:

    If major platforms can let basic information be faked in a consumer‑facing context, how reliable is the information that buyers rely on in less obvious areas — like B2B sourcing?

    In the B2C world, a bad meal might make someone sick. In the B2B world, a bad supplier can destroy a business. A small brand placing a bulk order that fails quality checks, misses delivery, or produces substandard goods can face financial ruin — far beyond the inconvenience of a bad dinner.

    The Broader Trust Problem of Online Platforms

    Platforms like Alibaba, JD, Pinduoduo, and others have enormous traffic and influence. Just as they once failed to stop fake restaurant listings from being published as legitimate, they also cannot guarantee that every listed supplier or certification is trustworthy.

    In B2B sourcing platforms, we see parallel issues:

    • Certificates and badges can be bought without real verification, generating fake “certified” listings.
    • Images, photos, and credentials can be fabricated or misleading.
    • Small companies may present themselves as “professional factories” online without real infrastructure.

    This is the inherent danger of public search platforms: everything visible online can also be visible to competitors, scammers, or opportunists.

    Why This Matters to B2B Buyers

    For a consumer, a cheap, poor‑quality product might be disappointing. For a B2B buyer, a poorly vetted supplier can cost tens of thousands of dollars, inventory issues, client reputation, and even business continuity. The risks multiply because:

    • Orders are often large volume even it is MOQ
    • Custom specifications must be met
    • Shipping, logistics, and compliance penalties apply
    • The timeline for recovery is long and costly

    When platforms are unable — or unwilling — to guarantee the authenticity of listings and certifications, buyers bear the risk. This is where a professional sourcing agent becomes not just useful — but indispensable.

    The Value a Professional Sourcing Agent Brings

    A seasoned sourcing agent acts as your eyes, ears, and on‑the‑ground team in markets where verification and trust matter most. Specifically, a good sourcing agent provides:

    1. Deep verification beyond public data: We don’t rely on platform badges or self‑reported claims — we verify factories, certifications, and credibility through firsthand visits and documentation checks.
    2. Early risk detection: When subtle issues arise — improper production processes, unverified certifications, quality deviations — experienced agents spot them early, avoiding costly surprises.
    3. Information gap elimination: Suppliers may present positive narratives to win orders. Sourcing agents can discern what’s real vs. what’s marketing and relay the truth to buyers.
    4. Competitive confidentiality: Unlike public platforms or trading companies that might broadcast product listings, sourcing agents protect your designs, strategies, and supplier relationships — minimizing exposure to competitors.

    This combination of verification, risk mitigation, and confidentiality is precisely what small and medium B2B buyers cannot get from public online platforms alone.

    Conclusion: Trust But Verify — Especially in Sourcing

    The food safety scandal involving ghost kitchens is alarming because it highlights how unchecked information on major platforms can put consumers at risk. If this can happen in consumer food delivery, it can happen anywhere — including in B2B supply chains where the stakes are even higher.

    For overseas buyers venturing into international manufacturing and sourcing, relying solely on online platforms without verification is a gamble. In a world where certificates can be bought and listings faked, the smart buyer invests in professional sourcing support — not just to find suppliers, but to protect products, reputation, and profitability.

  • The “Factory” That Isn’t: How a TikTok Playbook Is Costing Importers Millions

    The “Factory” That Isn’t: How a TikTok Playbook Is Costing Importers Millions

    We recently came across a TikTok account teaching its followers how to pretend to be a factory.

    Not how to build one. Not how to partner with one. How to pretend to be one.

    The advice was detailed, practical, and apparently popular. Pick a company name that sounds like a manufacturer. Learn to speak like a factory owner. Visit a real factory once, film everything you can, and use that footage as your “proof” across social media. And if a buyer wants to visit — brief the actual factory in advance, show up as the “sales manager,” and let the factory play along.

    The final tip was the most telling: get the buyer to wire payment into the factory’s bank account, then collect your commission on the back end. The buyer thinks they’re paying the manufacturer directly. They’re not.

    We’ve been in this industry for over 20 years, combined. We weren’t shocked by the playbook. We were shocked that someone was teaching it openly on social media.

    This Is Not Rare. This Is the Norm.

    Here’s something most importers don’t know:

    The vast majority of suppliers you find on social media, on Alibaba, on sourcing platforms — are not factories.

    We’re not guessing. We visit factories as part of our work. In recent years, when e-commerce clients have asked us to audit a supplier they found online, the result has been consistent: almost without exception, what presents itself as a factory is a trading company. Sometimes a one-person trading company operating from a home office.

    Even among traditional trade suppliers — companies with websites, offices, and years of history — perhaps one or two in ten are actual manufacturers. The rest are intermediaries of varying quality, transparency, and reliability.

    We want to be clear: we are not saying trading companies are always bad partners. Some of our own suppliers are brand-authorized distributors. Trading companies serve legitimate functions in the supply chain.

    The problem is not what they are. The problem is when they lie about what they are.

    Why the Lie Matters

    Imagine you place an order with someone who tells you they’re the factory.

    They’re not. They’re a middleman. The actual factory is their supplier — a separate business with its own priorities, its own capacity constraints, and no contractual obligation to you whatsoever.

    Now something goes wrong. The product has a defect. The shipment is late. You go back to your “factory” contact. They go back to their actual supplier. The supplier says it’s not their problem. Your contact says it’s not their problem either. You are caught in the middle of a dispute between two parties who both have more incentive to protect themselves than to protect you.

    And here’s the part that matters most: a one-person trading company has almost nothing to lose.

    No factory equipment. No long-term workforce. No significant assets. If things get bad enough, they close the account, open a new one, and start again with a clean slate. Their cost of exit is nearly zero.

    Your cost? Potentially everything you paid.

    This is what information asymmetry looks like in practice. You don’t know who you’re actually dealing with. They know exactly what they’re doing. That gap — between what you know and what they know — is where the risk lives.

    The Foundation of Every Trade Relationship Is Identity

    We’ve been doing this long enough to have a simple rule:

    If a partner lies about who they are at the start of a relationship, everything that follows is built on that lie.

    You can negotiate a good price. You can get strong samples. You can agree on clear terms. But if the person across the table started the relationship with a fundamental deception about their own identity, you have no reliable baseline for anything they tell you afterward.

    Trust in business is built on understanding. You have to know who someone is before you can trust what they say. When that foundation is missing — when you genuinely don’t know whether you’re talking to a manufacturer or a middleman pretending to be one — you’re not building a business relationship. You’re building on sand.

    How to Break Through the Information Gap

    The good news is that this kind of deception rarely survives contact with an experienced third party.

    A trading company pretending to be a factory has constructed a story. That story holds up against buyers who don’t know what to look for. It falls apart quickly when someone who does know what to look for walks through the door.

    An experienced factory auditor can identify a trading company within minutes of an on-site visit. The tells are everywhere: the scale of the facility, the presence or absence of tooling and production equipment, the way staff respond to technical questions, the relationship between the contact person and the workers on the floor.

    The TikTok playbook we described at the start of this article specifically addresses how to handle factory visits — because the people running this scheme know that a real visit is the one thing that breaks their cover.

    So the most important thing you can do is send someone they can’t fool.

    When evaluating a third-party sourcing or inspection partner, look for:

    Registration and legal standing — Are they a registered business in China? Can they provide documentation? A legitimate operation has nothing to hide.

    A physical office — Not a virtual address. A real office with real staff. This is verifiable.

    Operational history — How long have they been running? Fly-by-night operations don’t survive long. Legitimate businesses do.

    Experienced leadership — Who founded the company? What is their background? Years of direct experience in factory auditing, quality control, and supply chain management are not easy to fake.

    Who We Are

    Tom Sourcing was founded in 2020. We are registered in both China and the United States, with physical offices and a warehouse in China.

    Our co-founder Thomas has over 20 years of experience across multinational corporations and international trade — including factory auditing, quality control, and project management across multiple industries and supply chains.

    When we visit a supplier on your behalf, we know what we’re looking at. We’ve seen the playbook. We know the tells. And we know how to find the truth before it becomes your problem.

    If you’re sourcing from China and want to know who you’re actually dealing with, let’s talk.

  • When ‘Finding Your Own Supplier in Alibaba’ Costs More Than You Think

    Sometimes the “quickest solution” turns out to be the most expensive. Here’s a story from one of our long-term clients — a small business in Oceania that has been sourcing products with TOM SOURCING for years.

    Background

    This client had been purchasing a product through us for several years. It was a custom, small-quantity order, and we had already visited the factory ourselves, confirming it was real and reliable.

    Last year, the factory faced operational challenges and could not deliver the order on time. We gave a warning to the client about this factory and provided several alternative product samples. After reviewing the new samples, the client still preferred the original style.

    The Client’s Shortcut

    So he decided to source it himself on Alibaba. Shortly after, he found several sellers offering exactly the same product he had used before. However:

    • The price was about 20% higher than our previous quote
    • The sellers claimed they could deliver before the Chinese New Year

    Following the client’s instruction, we placed the order with one of these Alibaba suppliers before Chinese New Year.

    Delivery, however, turned into a moving target:

    • Original promise: before Chinese New Year
    • Then early March
    • Then late March
    • Then early April
    • Finally: “next week”

    Curious about the repeated delays, we contacted the factory owner. It turned out that the Alibaba supplier was actually using the same factory we had previously worked with.

    The difference?

    • The client did not leverage our existing relationships
    • They trusted online promises instead of verified, on-the-ground knowledge
    • As a result, the client faced higher costs, uncertain delivery, and increased risk

    Lessons Learned

    1. Professional sourcing is more reliable than DIY
      Even when buyers think they’re saving time or money by searching themselves, experienced sourcing agents can evaluate factories for reliability, lead times, and potential risks.
    2. Long-term supplier relationships matter
      Our prior visits, ongoing communication, and established trust allowed us to manage expectations — a benefit lost when the client bypassed our expertise.
    3. “Smart shortcuts” can backfire
      Believing online claims without verification often leads to delays, higher costs, and frustration.
    4. The core value of a sourcing agent
      • Risk control: identify factory issues before they become crises
      • Cost optimization: avoid inflated prices and hidden fees
      • Process management: reduce client workload and ensure timely delivery
  • The $100K Sourcing Agent Sitting in Kyiv: Why “China-Based” Is Now the Most Important Words in Any Sourcing Job Post

    The $100K Sourcing Agent Sitting in Kyiv: Why “China-Based” Is Now the Most Important Words in Any Sourcing Job Post

    Something has shifted quietly in the sourcing world over the past year.

    The conversation that dominated 2023 and 2024 — “we need to move our supply chain out of China,” “we’re diversifying away from Chinese manufacturing,” “we need a non-China sourcing agent” — has been replaced by a different one.

    The search terms we’re seeing now: “Sourcing Agent, China-based. Must speak Chinese.”

    The market has learned something the hard way. And the lesson came at considerable cost.

    The Apple Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About

    When tariffs under the current US administration hit China at their highest levels, the pressure on large corporations to diversify supply chains became enormous. Apple — with the resources, the relationships, and the runway to actually do it — led the charge into India.

    India, as anyone who has tried to manufacture there at scale will tell you, has a well-earned reputation among multinationals. The results have been, to put it diplomatically, instructive. Apple was recently hit with a significant financial penalty in India. Whether Tim Cook, on the eve of his retirement, reflects on that decision is his business. What it signals to the rest of the market is clear.

    If Apple — with its leverage, its engineering teams, its decade-long runway — finds supply chain migration this difficult, what does that mean for the mid-size brand trying to replicate the strategy?

    The Shell Game: When “Non-China” Sourcing Still Comes From China

    Here’s what many brands discovered when they hired sourcing agents outside China to reduce their China exposure:

    The goods still came from China.

    The agents — based in Europe, Southeast Asia, or elsewhere — were sourcing from the same Chinese factories, routing through an intermediary entity, and charging significantly more for the privilege of adding a layer of distance that provided no actual supply chain benefit.

    The tariff exposure didn’t change. The factory relationships didn’t change. The quality risks didn’t change. The price went up. The accountability went down.

    The Kyiv Case Study: $100K, 3,700 Hours, and Nobody on the Ground

    We recently came across a telling example.

    A US gift company based in Gainesville hired a Ukrainian sourcing agent in early 2025. Her profile was impressive — global experience listed across China, Thailand, Turkey, Indonesia, Korea, the UK, and a dozen other markets. Conversational Mandarin from her time studying at UIBE in Beijing. Fluent English. A sophisticated international profile that suggested she could operate anywhere.

    The rate started at $35/hour. It’s now $50/hour. Over 3,700 hours billed, that’s over $100,000 in fees.

    Here’s what the client eventually figured out:

    She was sitting in Kyiv. Every day. In front of a computer.

    Using her basic Mandarin and strong English, she was emailing and calling Chinese factories remotely — the same thing a competent in-house person could do for a fraction of the cost. Her “on the ground” global experience was, on closer examination, mostly remote.

    When a promotional gift arrived with the logo printed incorrectly. When a shipment deadline started slipping and someone needed to walk into a factory and have a direct conversation with the production manager. When the situation required a physical presence — she was 8,000 kilometers away.

    The client has since posted multiple new job listings. Every single one emphasizes the same requirements: “Currently based in China.” “Physically present in China for factory visits.”

    The market has recalibrated.

    And there’s a reasonable probability that the $100K agent was herself running a margin play — taking $50/hour from the US client and farming the actual research and supplier communication to junior staff or recent graduates at $5-8/hour, while handling the English-language client relationship herself. Forty-nine active projects. One person. The math doesn’t work any other way.

    The Sourcing Agent Industry Has a Transparency Problem

    We’ll say something that might be uncomfortable coming from a sourcing company: the industry has serious quality problems.

    There are sourcing agents operating from home offices with a laptop and no physical infrastructure. Agents who have never registered a legal entity and operate in the grey zones of customs documentation. Recent graduates with no manufacturing experience who built a following on short video platforms and converted that following into clients. Agents who, when a shipment goes wrong, simply close their account and open a new one.

    The barrier to entry is nearly zero. The consequences of choosing the wrong one are potentially severe.

    So how do you tell the difference?

    Five Questions That Separate Real Sourcing Agents From the Rest

    1. Can they meet you in person?

    A sourcing agent who operates entirely behind a screen — who has never met a client face to face, who cannot arrange a meeting at their office, who deflects every request for an in-person introduction — is telling you something important about how they actually work.

    2. Do they have a documented track record?

    Experience is not a number of years. It’s a record of actual projects — products developed, suppliers vetted, quality problems caught and resolved, shipments managed from production through delivery. Ask for specifics. Vague claims about “extensive experience” across dozens of industries and countries should raise questions, not confidence.

    3. Are they a registered legal entity?

    A legitimate sourcing company is a registered business. In China, that means a properly established entity with documentation you can verify. An individual operating informally — no company registration, no business license, no legal address — has structurally limited accountability. If something goes wrong, there is no entity to hold responsible.

    4. Do they have their own office and warehouse?

    Physical infrastructure is not just a convenience. It’s evidence that the operation is real, established, and has something to lose. A warehouse means they can receive, inspect, consolidate, and ship goods on your behalf. An office means there is a team, a location, and an operation that exists independently of any single person’s laptop.

    5. Have they been operating long enough to matter?

    In an industry where operators can disappear and reappear under new names with minimal friction, tenure is meaningful. Five years of continuous operation means the business has survived real problems, real clients, and real market pressures. It means there is a reputation at stake — something worth protecting.

    How Tom Sourcing Answers Each Question

    On meeting clients: We have met every client we work with. In person. Either we travel to them, or they come to our office in China. We believe that a business relationship of this nature — where we are handling your supply chain, your product quality, and your money — should start with a real conversation in a real room.

    On track record: We have over 20 years of combined experience in cross-border trade, factory auditing, quality control, and supply chain management. Our co-founder Thomas has spent his career inside multinational corporations and international trade before founding Tom Sourcing — not building a social media following.

    On legal standing: Tom Sourcing is a registered entity in both the United States and China. We are a US-registered company with a fully operational Chinese entity. Our documentation is verifiable. Our structure is transparent.

    On physical infrastructure: We have our own office and warehouse in China. When your goods need to be received, inspected, consolidated, relabeled, or held before shipment, we can do that — physically, with our own team, in our own facility.

    On tenure: We have been operating since 2020. In an industry where new operators appear and disappear constantly, five years of continuous operation represents a track record worth examining.

    The Bottom Line

    The market is figuring out what experienced practitioners already knew.

    “China-based” is not a preference. For sourcing that actually works — where someone can walk into a factory, have a conversation in Chinese, catch a problem before it becomes your problem, and be physically present when it matters — it is a requirement.

    If you are evaluating sourcing partners and want to know how we work, let’s have that conversation. In person if possible. That’s how we prefer to start.

    Tom Sourcing is a US-registered sourcing company with its own office and warehouse in China. We provide end-to-end sourcing, product development, quality control, and supply chain management for US and EU brands.

  • A Five-Year Wait: How a Single Customer Order Can Become a Legend

    This year marks the 6th anniversary of TOM SOURCING. Over the years, we’ve learned that every client is valuable, no matter how small or infrequent their orders may seem.

    Back in the second year of our company, a French client reached out to us for some OPP bags and a few samples. That year, he only placed two actual orders; the rest were samples. After that, we didn’t hear from him again.

    Fast forward five years. In March this year, out of the blue, he contacted us again — this time to purchase the same OPP bags from back then. My first thought: “Oh my God! Five years later?”

    Fortunately, we kept all our records. Thanks to that, we quickly processed the order and shipped everything without delay.

    This story reminds us of something fundamental: we never give up on any client. Even if an order comes after five years, it’s still an opportunity. It’s a small but powerful legend in our company’s journey — proof that patience, persistence, and good record-keeping pay off.

    At TOM SOURCING, every client matters. Even a five-year wait is worth the effort.