Who signs the contract, whose name is on the export declaration, which account your money lands in, who answers when the goods are wrong. Same question, four different answers. The last column is us — a China sourcing company that exports under its own name. The first three are not competitors — they are the options you already have.
| What you need to ask | Buy direct yourself | Through a trading company | On a marketplace | Through XILINK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who signs the contract with the factory | You do — in English, under Chinese law you cannot easily enforce | The trading company does. You never see that contract | The platform does. Terms are the platform's, not yours | XILINK does — in Chinese. You get the countersigned copy |
| Whose name is on the export declaration | You need a registered entity in China | Theirs | The platform's or a forwarder's | Ours. Registered 2012, with an export record you can check |
| Who receives your money | The factory's account — you verify it yourself | Their account. You never see the factory price | Platform escrow, 3–5% on top | Our corporate account. You see the original factory invoice |
| Where their margin comes from | — | A spread inside the goods price you cannot calculate | Commission plus payment fees | The 9–13% export VAT rebate. Nothing added to the goods |
| Can you buy from a factory that never exports | No — they do not answer overseas enquiries | Only if they happen to be willing | Those factories are not on the platform | Yes. That is most of what we do |
| Who goes and looks at the plant | You fly there yourself | They say they have been | A third party, billed per visit | Our own auditor. $60 a day, written report in 48 hours |
| How many factories can share one container | You coordinate it yourself | They only ship their own | Not supported | Several. One container, one set of documents |
| If the goods are wrong, who answers | You argue with a factory in China | Them — but the contract is not in your hands | Platform arbitration, on the evidence you kept | The contract is in your hands and we are the exporter. It is on us |
| Typical order size | Whatever the factory's minimum is | Whatever they say it is | Low threshold, higher unit price | Most batches $5,000–$50,000 across several factories; single orders to $200,000 are routine |
Written for buyers comparing options, not for search engines. If a row here is wrong for your situation, say so and we will tell you which column you belong in.
Find the one that looks like your order. The third box is the one where we talk ourselves out of the job.
Your list is spread across three to five factories, or the plant with the best price has no export department, no foreign-currency account and does not answer English email. Nobody else can do those two things. That is the work. The buyers who reach us this way sit in Central Asia and the CIS, West and East Africa, Latin America, the Gulf and Southeast Asia — the port changes, the two problems do not.
One plant, one model, twenty or thirty thousand dollars. You could negotiate this yourself. What you buy from us is the audit day and the risk of getting it wrong. Whether that is worth it is your call, and we will not pretend otherwise.
If the factory has its own export record, answers you directly and the price is clean, an extra layer helps nobody. We will tell you so. Same when the order is too small for the rebate to cover our people — you are better off buying it yourself.
This is the shape every order takes and the papers you receive while it happens. The days and the documents are the real pattern; the figures are illustrative, not one buyer's file.
The buyer has an FOB offer from someone else. The machine model is written loosely, the payment line says 50% deposit. He does not want a sales pitch — he wants to know whether the number is sane.
Every vague line goes back as a question: rated power, voltage, track width, what ships with it, how it is crated. We normalise it into one sheet so five factories quote the same thing. Software drafts the sheet; a person who has stood in these plants checks it.
The same sheet goes to five plants that actually build this class of machine. Five prices come back. The cheapest is not the shortlist — it cannot show an export record for this model.
Two finalists, one day each. One has the line running someone else's job — the lead time quoted is two weeks short of reality. The other's certificate turns out to be for a different model number.
The contract is between us and the plant, in Chinese, under Chinese law — that is the version a Chinese court reads. You get the countersigned copy plus an English rendering. The deposit moves only after the audit.
Sampling, power-on test, packing, seal — photographed throughout. The report reaches your inbox first. You release the balance, or you do not.
The export declaration carries our company name. Invoice, packing list, certificate of origin and any required certification travel together. The rebate is our income — it does not come out of your goods price.
Documents land before the cargo so you clear without demurrage. Every file on this line is one you received while it was happening.
Most factories quoting well do not export themselves — no export desk, no foreign-currency account, no English sales team. We buy from them under our name, file the export, and claim the rebate. That rebate is the fee.
added to the goods price. You see the original factory invoice and pay that number.
export VAT rebate. China refunds it to the exporter of record — that is us, and that is our income.
per day for a stand-alone audit or inspection. Travel at cost, receipts attached.
when the order is too small for the rebate to cover our people, or the supplier already exports cleanly.
Within five working days you get a table like the one at the top of this page: the same specification, five factories, with the verdict column. Someone replies within one working day.