We were walking back from a Summer trade show at the Exhibition Center in downtown Beijing, minutes away from any number of embassies. Dave, who used to live on this street 9 years previous, was harping on about “the good old days”. This would have been endearing if he hadn’t spent the entire walk on the way to the trade show talking in the exact same manner. Needless to say, I was no longer listening, and instead glancing...

The following is an excerpt from a China Daily cover story about Entrepreneurs, written by David Bartram. To view a cropped version of the original article, click the image to the right. An understanding of the local business environment is often what is lacking from young entrepreneurs and SMEs who want to do business with China rarely have an idea where to start. In 2007, Dave White and Shane O’Neill, a British engineer and an Irish...

When you order samples from a Chinese manufacturer at any stage, it goes without saying that you, as the customer, expect to see a close to final product with small exceptions that only mass production can achieve. Very often a buyer will accept that a mass production item will/should look like the sample they received. This is a fair assumption but unfortunately, more often than not, this is not the case. If the correct and detailed...

CIF means Cost, Insurance and Freight. This Incoterm (international commercial term) is also commonly referred to as DDP, which means Delivered Duty Paid to the destination port. The supplier basically takes responsibility for the product from manufacturing, freight, customs and duty for the buyer. It normally works out a little more expensive for the buyer than if they were doing it themselves or FOB but it is an option many prefer as they...

Ex-works means that the product is available for the purchaser to take custody of the goods at the factory only. The purchaser has to pay for all expenses to get the goods to their destination address. The purchaser can do this whole procedure themselves but it is highly advisable and both economically and time efficient to enact a shipping agent or freight forwarder to take care of this for them.