use sourcing service or not

i do tradiingwhat kind of products? fashion accessories? electronic   ps3  wil

I source factories for my customers and let them do business directly.I just follow up order for them and they give me some commission.

Hi, I am doing art trading,mainly reproduction oil painting. Do you interested in? All the paintings are for both wholesale and retail, painting on canvas,e.g. portrait painting, modern decoration painting, impression oil painting, reproduction of old masters.
contact me: phoebesart at hotmail dot com
http://phoebesart.spaces.live.com

Depends. There is not one answer.

Exporters have some advantages. Obviously they already have contacts in the selected industry. They should already have QC procedures and staff to conduct QC. Sometimes an Exporters price can actually be lower than a factory because of currency exchange and export VAT issues.
They should be considered, and price evaluatd in relation to the services they provide.

Factories can have a lower price, but not always. If a factory is selling domestically in China, they most likely are not setup to do "export contract processing" which means there will be an export VAT tax of up to 17%

Many USA companies are moving away from exporters because they want more direct control of the product. The many recent safety issues with China made products is causing this.

Sorry, can not give you simple answer, but it really depends upon each situation.

I would suggest that your research both channels.
Good Luck with your business.

Using sourcing services can work but many get secret commissions from the factories. Dealing with factories can be difficult usually they start with lauwai pricing and if you don't have a representative on site to do QC you may get defective product. Also you must check approvals if the UL or CSA is valid. It is much easier to have a good agent helping you rather than a referal service they deal with factories that produce quality and ontime and generally the pricing is less than you can negotiate yourself.
Cam McAlpine cam_zymac@hotmail.com

Good call campbel