How to Buy Garden Machinery Direct From a Chinese Factory

Establish Whether You Are Talking to a Factory

The first question is not price, it is who makes the machine. A trading company can quote anything because it commits to nothing, and the problem surfaces in the second season when spare parts have no traceable source. Ask what the supplier makes in their own plant and what they buy in. We build snow and tillage machinery in Yongkang and have done since 2014, and our spare parts range exists because the machines are ours.

Get a Sample Before a Container

No buyer should approve a container from photographs. Sample orders of one piece are accepted here and ship in 1 to 7 days. The cost of a sample is trivial against the cost of a container of the wrong product, and handling the sample answers questions a specification sheet never will.

Ask for Loading Quantities in the Quotation

A unit price without a container loading quantity cannot be turned into a landed cost. Ask for the 20ft, 40ft and 40HQ loading for each model you are quoting, and do the freight per unit calculation before you negotiate the unit price. It frequently changes which model you should be buying.

Be Specific About Certification

If you are importing into the EU, CE marking is not optional and it is not something to discover at the port. Some models here are produced to CE standard and say so on their own product page. Where a page does not state a certification, none is claimed. Get the answer in writing for the specific model before you order.

Agree the Packing Before the Artwork

Retail programmes need colour box packing, barcodes and manuals in the destination language. Export bulk cartons are cheaper and land on a wholesale shelf badly. Decide the channel first; it changes unit cost, carton dimensions and container loading all at once.

Understand the After Sales Position

Ask two questions: what happens inside the warranty, and what parts cost outside it. Our answer is that in warranty parts for a quality fault are free and out of warranty parts are sold at cost price. Whatever a supplier's answer is, get it in writing at quotation stage rather than at failure stage.

Plan the Calendar Backwards

Production runs 25 to 35 days for a 40HQ container, shipping from Ningbo or Shanghai. Add your sailing time and your own inbound handling, then work backwards from your on shelf or in service date. Seasonal equipment that lands late is not a late sale, it is a year of stock.