Hi, I started a limited company in Taiwan with intention of trading products from Asia to Europe. I would like to ask about the process of trading products from China directly to Europe. Are there any problems with buying products from Mainland China as a Taiwanese company and sending them directly from Mainland China to Europe? We would pay Chinese factory, European customer would pay to us and the products would be then send directly from the Chinese factory. Thanks.
No problem at all, it’s a very common way of doing business (often called a triangular transaction).
I’m not sure what kind of products you are selling but for certain types of products or high value items you might need some kind of independent company to do your “quality control” especially if you are having a product made for your specific design. Now if you are doing business with a well established factory/company with very high QC standards and a long standing product then it shouldn’t be an issue but as you know China factories can have varying degrees of what they call “good” QC.
The only problem I can think of is that taxation might be a bit complicated. As long as you have a reliable accountant, the business itself should be straightforward. Just bear in mind that, unless you are addressing an unusual niche market and provide some sort of ‘value-added’ service (eg., QC as per the above post) any European buyer can easily buy direct from China without a middleman.
I second that!
Quality Control, BTW, adds a lot of value as it may be the only way to reduce the headaches of the buyer. But that requires constant visit to the supplier on China to avoid surprises. I’ve learned a lesson: Don’t assume that a company that supplied you with good quality on last orders will keep it for the next one. It’s impressive how much the quality can drop from one month to another!