Sourcing from China
Simple and transparent
We help UK businesses find factories, manage production, and land goods at their door — without the guesswork, and without the hidden middleman margin. You always see the real factory price. Our fee is our fee.
Whether you've already found a factory or you're starting from scratch, there's a way in
Already found a factory? We check they're a genuine manufacturer, verify their certificates, inspect the goods, and can manage the order through to your door. You keep the supplier you found — we take out the risk.
From "I have an idea" to pallets on your loading bay. We find and vet the right factory, negotiate in Chinese, handle samples, production and quality control, then ship it to you. One team, the whole journey.
Once you've sent your enquiry, we'll book a quick call to understand your product, your volume and your target cost. After that, we take it from there:
1 — We find the right factory
We look far beyond Alibaba to find your ideal manufacturing partner. Many top-tier factories are too focused on production to invest in marketing or English websites. We uncover these hidden gems, verify they are genuine manufacturers, and secure competitive, comparable quotes for you.
2 — We manage production
Samples, negotiation in the factory's own language, and quality control during the run. We catch problems while they're still cheap to fix.
3 — We inspect before it ships
A pre-shipment check while the goods are still on the factory floor — verifying quantity, quality and finish against your approved sample, before anything leaves China.
4 — We ship it to your door
Freight, customs and delivery to your UK address, arranged and managed for you.
You see the real price.
We don't mark up your goods or take hidden commission from factories. You always know what the factory charged.
Native-language negotiation.
We deal with your suppliers in their own language — the difference between a quote and a good quote.
UK-based, China-fluent.
A UK company you can meet and invoice, handling the China side so you don't have to.
We're there for every order.
From the first sample to the hundredth reorder — quality checked, problems solved, your supply chain looked after. Most of our clients stay because it's simpler than doing it themselves.
Registered capital of £2,000, a rented office, and a 30% markup you never see. Alibaba doesn't tell you which is which. Chinese company records do — if you can read them.
You can't sell a product in the UK without the right paperwork, no matter how good the quality is. We prioritize compliance checks from day one, verifying certifications and testing reports upfront so you aren't left with unsellable inventory sitting at customs.
Which is fine, until the middleman raises prices, goes quiet, or goes under — and you have no supply chain of your own, because you never owned it.
You can, and for simple low-value products you probably should. Alibaba ranks suppliers by who pays for placement, not by who's good. It also can't tell you whether a company is a real manufacturer, whether their certificates are current, or whether your product is legal to sell in the UK.
That's our Manage Only service. You keep the factory you found, and we take out the risk — We check they're a genuine manufacturer, verify their certificates, inspect the goods, and can manage the order through to your door. You keep the supplier you found — we take out the risk.
Yes, we arrange and manage freight, customs clearance and delivery to your door, often at better rates than you'd get on your own.
We work across general consumer goods and industrial components. If your category is outside what we know well, we'll say so.
No sales pitch, no obligation. If the honest answer is that you don't need us, that's what you'll hear.
Or email wei.hu@elephantglobal.co.uk