Reject “scam” suppliers and protect your wallet!

In foreign trade, consistently developing clients and maintaining order volume is certainly important. But more crucial than the number of orders is having a reliable supplier—because a trustworthy supplier often determines the lower limit of your business.
 
An excellent supplier not only helps you save on costs, but also saves you a great deal of time and energy. At critical moments, they can even help you retain key clients.
 
This article will explore a key question: What are the common red flags of "nightmare" suppliers?


 
1. Poor cooperation: You’re in a hurry, they’re not—no matter how good the deal, it falls apart
 
Whether it’s a large or small factory, cooperation should always come first.
 
We once found a factory through a platform that seemed quite promising: 10 years of experience, great reviews, and smooth communication in the early stages. We quickly signed the contract and paid the deposit.
 
But as the delivery date approached, problems started showing up. The customer service rep stopped replying, and phone calls were met with “still in production, please wait a bit longer.” Sensing trouble, we visited the factory in person.
 
What we found was shocking—the products had just started production, with only three days left before the delivery deadline. There was no way they'd make it in time. It turned out they had taken on a large U.S. order at the last minute and pushed ours to the back of the line.
 
To make things worse, the factory manager even said confidently: “Your order isn’t that big, and the deadline hasn’t arrived yet. As long as we deliver on time, what’s the problem?”
We had to scramble to find another small factory to help complete the order, barely making the delivery deadline.
 
Bottom line: A factory with poor cooperation, no matter how big or seemingly reliable, can ghost you at any moment.
 
2. Lack of integrity: The boss’s character is the factory’s baseline
 
Whether a factory is reliable often comes down to the boss. If the boss is honest and takes responsibility, the factory is usually decent.
 
We once worked with a factory that started out fine—the product quality was decent and things ran smoothly. But one time, a major client reported that one-third of the goods were defective and requested compensation. When we confronted the factory, they completely denied responsibility until we sent them the client's inspection video.
 
Only then did they admit the truth: in order to cut costs, they had secretly swapped out the raw materials.
 
What made it worse was that during our inspection, they deliberately only showed us samples of the good products while hiding the defective ones.
 
After a month of back-and-forth, they finally agreed to cover 60% of the losses.
 
Takeaway: A truly reliable supplier proactively controls product quality instead of playing the blame game when things go wrong.
 
3. Messy internal structure, slow decisions, rigid thinking
 
Some factories don’t necessarily lack willingness to cooperate—they’re just bogged down by overly “family-style” operations:
 
 The accountant is the boss’s wife
 The workshop manager is the boss’s brother-in-law
 The warehouse manager is the boss’s nephew
 
You ask the boss, and he says, “You’ll need to check with my wife.”
The wife says, “I don’t know production. Ask the workshop manager.”
The workshop manager says, “Wait, let me check with the warehouse.”
A simple question ends up bouncing around endlessly. Efficiency is shockingly low.
 
Even worse, these types of factories often have a rigid mindset:
 
They only know how to compete on price, without valuing quality or innovation. When customers say the price is too high, their first reaction isn’t to improve the product or service—it’s to slash the price further. But the lower the price, the higher the quality risk.
 
For foreign trade professionals, quality is the true bottom line—price is just a tactic.
 
A good supplier is your most dependable backup in the foreign trade game.
 
At the beginning of any partnership, observe carefully and communicate frequently. Don’t be blinded by scale or good reviews. A truly great supplier is someone who will stand by you when things get tough—not push you into a deeper hole.