How to choose a China import consultancy: the question that separates them all is who answers when things go wrong

Consultancy, agent, trading company and inspector: who is who

Before comparing companies, it pays to compare roles. The four players below appear mixed together on websites, in adverts and in lists of the “best”, and many companies do more than one thing. What matters is knowing which one you are hiring at each stage, because that is what tells you who answers when something goes wrong.

In practice, one company can combine two or three of these roles. There is nothing wrong with that, as long as it is written down which role it plays at each stage. To understand the difference between importing in your own name and through a trading company, the guide to importing on a third-party account explains the three arrangements.

The question that separates them all: who answers when things go wrong

If you take only one question to the first conversation, take this one. Price, friendliness and portfolio matter less than knowing what happens on the day the batch arrives with defects. The answer has three parts:

• Who goes to the factory. An employee of the intermediary, a contracted partner or nobody. Someone who has never been to the factory only passes on what the supplier says, and cannot hold the supplier to what they never saw.
• What is put in writing. The product specification, the approval criteria for the sample and the batch, the lead time and what is left out. Without that there is nothing to hold anyone to, neither the supplier nor the intermediary.
• Who answers for it. If the batch fails, who negotiates the fix or the discount, who pays for the new inspection and how fast. A good answer is a name and a procedure, not a “we will sort it out”.

In conversation, every intermediary says they take responsibility. What separates them is agreeing to put all three answers in the contract, and having shown you, before you sign, a real inspection report. In Yiwu, where the market agent is part of the system, this is the first filter of all.

There is also the fixed price: the intermediary buys and resells to you, and in that case they are your supplier, not your representative. It is a legitimate arrangement when declared, and it changes who you hold to account: the guarantee on the goods becomes theirs, as with any seller.

Seven criteria for comparing import consultancies

01 A presence in China you can verify

A consultancy that operates only from Brazil depends on third parties for everything that happens at the factory. Ask who goes to the factory, whether they are an employee or a contracted partner, and which cities they work in. If the company says it has an office in China, ask for its business licence (营业执照): every Chinese company has one, with an 18-character unified social credit code that can be checked on the public enterprise credit information system (国家企业信用信息公示系统). Those who work with partners rather than their own office should say who they are.

02 A Brazilian company and a Brazilian contract

On the Brazilian side, the minimum is an active company registration (CNPJ) with activities that match the service, and a contract in Portuguese with jurisdiction in Brazil. The CNPJ registration certificate is public on the Brazilian tax authority's website and shows the registration status and the declared activities. An intermediary that exists only as a foreign company, or as an individual, leaves you with no one to turn to in Brazil.

03 Scope in writing, stage by stage

“Import consultancy” is a broad label. One company only searches for suppliers; another follows the order until the container arrives. Ask for the proposal by stage: supplier search and qualification, negotiation, samples, inspection, compliance, logistics and customs clearance. For each one, what is delivered, by when and what is not included. What is not written down was not hired.

04 A sample of real work

Ask for a factory audit or batch inspection report already delivered to another client, with the client's details blanked out. A serious report has dated photos, measurements, the sampling criterion used (normally the AQL table of the ISO 2859-1 standard) and a clear pass or fail conclusion. Anyone who cannot show a single example probably has no standard. The guide to pre-shipment inspection shows what a report should contain.

05 Knowledge of Brazil's regulatory wall

The Chinese supplier does not know what Inmetro, Anatel or Anvisa are, and has no obligation to know. The one who has to know is your intermediary. A simple test: describe your product and ask which certification it requires in Brazil and who obtains it. If the answer is vague, or if the conversation only covers price and freight, the risk of cargo held at customs is yours. The guides to products requiring Inmetro and to Anatel and Inmetro approval give a sense of the scale of the subject.

06 The supplier is yours, not the intermediary's

At the end of the work, you should know the factory's legal name, its address and a direct contact. Some intermediaries hide the supplier so that the client cannot buy without them, and that leaves you hostage: if the relationship ends, the supply chain goes with it. It is worth agreeing in the contract that the details of the qualified suppliers belong to you, and whether there will be exclusivity or a waiting period before you can buy direct.

07 References who pick up the phone

A testimonial on the website is not a reference. Ask for two or three clients willing to have a short conversation, ideally from your sector. Also look the company up on Reclame Aqui, and the people who run it on LinkedIn: the professional track record of whoever will handle your imports says more than the corporate page.

The questions for the first meeting

Each question below has a good answer and one that should set off the alarm. It is worth asking them of every company you are comparing, and noting down the answers.

1. Have you worked with my type of product? In which region of China is it made?
2. Who goes to the factory: one of your employees or a partner?
3. Can I see an inspection report already delivered, without the client's details?
4. Which certification does my product require in Brazil, and who obtains it?
5. Will I know the factory's name and address? Can I buy direct later?
6. Does the payment go to the factory's account or to yours?
7. If the batch fails the inspection, what happens, and who pays for the re-inspection?
8. Which import arrangement will be used, and who appears as the importer on the declaration?
9. What is not included in the price you quoted me?
10. What was the last serious problem with a client, and how did you solve it?

The last question is the most revealing. Every company that has been importing from China for a while has had a bad batch, a supplier who vanished or a stranded shipment. Anyone who says they have never had a problem is either not being frank or has done few imports.

Warning signs: when to walk away on the spot

What must be in the contract

A short, clear contract protects more than a long, generic one. These are the points that are missed when something goes wrong:

• Scope by stage, with what is delivered at each one and what is left out.
• Remuneration: the amount, how it is calculated and what triggers each payment.
• Inspection criterion: the AQL level, the critical defects that fail the batch and who decides on re-inspection.
• Ownership of the suppliers: the details of the qualified factories are yours, and it is stated on what terms you can buy direct.
• Confidentiality: your product, your design and your brand cannot be offered to other clients. With the factory, a separate non-use, non-disclosure and non-circumvention agreement (the NNN) is worth having, drafted to be enforceable in China.
• Liability and response time: what happens if the intermediary fails at a stage, and how quickly they respond.
• Jurisdiction in Brazil and a contract in Portuguese.

Why lists of the “best consultancies” do not settle it

Anyone who searches for the “best import consultancy companies” finds lists, and a good share of them were written by one of the companies listed, or paid for by them. Import consultancy is not a regulated profession in Brazil (the customs broker is, and is registered with the Brazilian tax authority), and there is no official ranking. That is no reason to distrust all of them, but it is a reason to use any list only as a starting point.

What you can check yourself, in an afternoon:

• The CNPJ with the tax authority: registration status and activities.
• The profile on Reclame Aqui, and above all how the company responds to complaints.
• The LinkedIn of whoever runs the company and of whoever will serve you.
• The Chinese company's licence, if it says it has an office in China.
• Two reference clients, by phone.

A company that passes all five is a serious candidate, whether or not it appears on any list.

Hiring the whole operation or just one stage

Not every import needs a consultancy from start to finish. The choice depends on what you already have in place:

Hiring by stage is also the best way to test a partner: a well-run inspection says a great deal about what the whole operation would be like. The guide to how to verify a Chinese supplier covers the other half of the choice, which is the factory.

Where BCVN fits in

BCVN is an import consultancy headquartered in Joinville (Santa Catarina, Brazil), operating since 2008, which serves companies and resellers, not individuals or one-off purchases. It covers these stages: supplier search and qualification, negotiation in Mandarin, factory audits, pre-shipment inspection, compliance advice and support at fairs such as the Canton Fair and Yiwu. The services can be hired together or separately, and the import consultancy page describes each one.

Ask BCVN the same questions as in this guide. That is how to choose any consultancy well, this one included.

BCVN — Brasil China Viagens e Negócios has connected Brazilian companies to the best suppliers in China and Asia since 2008. Find out about our services in commercial intermediation, quality inspection, factory audits and guided business trips to China's main trade fairs.

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