The questions we get asked

We run sourcing projects in China end to end. You describe what you are looking for; we find the factory, negotiate, control quality and deliver to you. You have a single point of contact, from the first message to the moment the goods arrive.

Furniture, kitchens, bathrooms, décor, lighting, fit-outs for restaurants, hotels and shops, padel and sports equipment, professional equipment. If your project fits none of those categories, describe it anyway: we will tell you straight whether it is within our reach.

Yes. Someone renovating their house and a hotelier fitting out forty rooms follow the same path. Only the scale changes.

Yes, and it is most of what we do. We work from your drawings, your photos, or simply references you like. If the project isn't defined yet, we start by defining it with you.

In Guangzhou, Guangdong province, for the past twelve years. It is the densest industrial region in the world for furniture and interior fit-out. We go into the factories in person, before and during your production.

A sourcing agent finds you a supplier. We take the project on. The difference shows the moment something goes wrong: an agent passes the problem to you, we settle it on site.

With the form — three minutes — or by email at contact@asiaconnexiongroup.com. Tell us what you are looking for, in what quantity, for when, and with roughly what budget. Photos, drawings or a link to a product you like help us a great deal.

That is the most common case, and it isn't a problem. Pinning a project down is part of our work. You don't need a written specification to write to us.

We reply within 24 h. We tell you what we have understood of the project, what is missing, and when we can come back with a costed study: that depends on the product and on how many factories we need to consult.

We tell you. A regulatory constraint, shipping costs that wipe out the saving, a product already made on the thinnest of margins: it happens, and it is better to hear it at the start than halfway through. A project that fails along the way costs us as much as it costs you.

Allow 25 to 35 days of production for most projects, depending on complexity and quantities. Freight is additional and varies with your destination.

We ship worldwide. The firm lead time, freight included, is stated on your quote once the factory is chosen and the delivery address known. We don't give a date before we have both: a lead time quoted off the cuff is a lead time that won't be met.

Yes. Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, Asia, Oceania: we arrange freight, export packing and customs clearance to your address. Time and cost depend on the destination and are stated on your quote.

It depends on the product. Some factories will produce from a few units, others require several hundred pieces. We check it with you at the outset and steer you straight to the suppliers who work at your volume.

No. We look at every enquiry. Some projects are too small for importing to make sense once freight is paid, and in that case we say so rather than waste your time.

The estimate is free. If you want to go further, we produce a costed study: it is invoiced, and deducted in full if you hand us the project. Its price depends on the scale of the project and is given to you before we begin. Our own fee on the project itself is a tapering commission, stated in your quote.

Because costing a project, for us, is not looking through a catalogue. It means contacting factories, comparing, negotiating, checking the standards and certificates that apply to your product. Several days of work for our teams.

It is also what gets you a real figure. A free quote is an optimistic quote, built to make you sign. Ours is built to be held to. And if you hand us the project it costs you nothing, since it is deducted.

Because no project resembles the last one. Finding a supplier for a product that is already identified and fitting out an entire villa carry neither the same workload nor the same price. We work the way an interior architect or a lawyer does: we quote once we understand the request. With one difference — understanding the request is free here.

That is the right question, and here is our answer. Our commission is calculated on the amount estimated in the initial quote, not on the final invoice. If we get a better price by negotiating, our fee does not move and you keep the whole saving.

We also take no commission from the factories. Our fee comes from you, and from you alone.

Because that is when the work starts: finding and qualifying suppliers, negotiating prices, estimating the delivered cost to your door. It is a deposit on your project, not an entry fee. If we find no factory able to make your project, it is refunded.

You do. We can give you an estimate in our costing so you have a sense of the real delivered cost. The exact amount depends on your country, the tariff classification applied and your VAT position.

Usually euros or US dollars, whichever suits you. Prices shown are exclusive of tax.

The deposit is non-refundable. It is not a reservation fee: it funds the actual start of the project — booking production capacity and buying raw materials. Our manufacturer does not take those back, so we cannot refund them.

That is also why we ask for nothing until you have seen our costed study: you decide with the figures in front of you, and once you decide, the work genuinely begins.

We sign off a reference sample before production starts. During manufacturing we go on site and send you photos. Before shipping, we inspect the goods to ISO 2859-1. Nothing leaves if it isn't compliant.

That is precisely why we inspect before shipping rather than after. If a problem does arise, we are on the ground to settle it directly with the manufacturer, in his language and his time zone.

We check the operating licence, the legal entity, the declared production capacity, and then we go there. A middleman presenting himself as a manufacturer is spotted in one workshop visit. From an office in Europe, he is never spotted at all.

The applicable standards depend on your product and on your market: electrical safety, fire behaviour for public venues, food contact, the regulatory marking required by the importing country. We identify the ones that apply in your delivery country and write them into the supplier's specification. It is a point many people discover too late, at customs.

Yes. Our in-house lawyer drafts bilingual contracts that include protection for your models and drawings. It is a point most intermediaries leave aside, and the one that costs the most when it is neglected.

Because China applies first-to-file. If someone registers your trademark before you do, they can legally block the export of your own products. It has happened to companies far bigger than yours.

Yes — a specialist in Chinese and international law. He drafts our contracts, secures payments and steps in if there is a dispute. It is what most clearly sets us apart from a sourcing agent.

Alibaba is useful for seeing what exists. What it won't tell you: whether the person you are talking to manufactures or resells, whether the workshop is really running, whether the quoted price holds once quantities are confirmed, and what their quality control is worth. Catalogues all look alike. Factories do not.

You can, and that is what companies buying continuously do. A three-person subsidiary in China costs between €15,000 and €25,000 a month, all in, and takes several months to set up. Below a certain volume it doesn't pay off.

After signing, yes, for the factories producing for you. Not before. Selecting and qualifying suppliers is the substance of our work, and we don't give it away up front.

It is possible, once the project is confirmed. We arrange your visit and go with you on site. It isn't required, and most of our clients never travel.

We will tell you. It happens, particularly on products already made in Asia and sold on thin margins. We would rather say so at the start than charge you for a study that leads nowhere.

Yes. An inspection, a supplier search, a factory visit: these exist separately, from €350 a day. Many clients start that way.

Three French founders and a French-Chinese team, based in Guangzhou for twelve years. A lawyer in-house, specialising in Chinese and international law.

It is shared with no third party, and with no supplier, and it is deleted three months after the study. We use it only to build our counter-proposal.

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