You have a nice product, but the competition is closing in. Prices are under pressure and margins are slimming.
A friend of yours has the solution : China. He also has a contact for you, we will call him Mr. Lee. You speak with him, the communication is smooth and he seems honest. You send Lee the information about the product and he starts to work. After a couple of days, Lee contacts you and explains that he has found a good supplier. You decide to visit China, to see the factory, that will produce your product. After arriving, you are royally received by Mr. Lee and the supplier. A festive meal is prepared and a nice tour through the impressive factory give you a very good feeling about the deal.
After a long and intense negotiating process, you decide to work with this supplier.
You agree to pay for the molds and the prototypes and indeed after a few weeks you receive one. You look and feel and measure, there are some small discrepancies, but you feel that we are on the right path. You contact Mr. Lee and explain to him, that the parts look OK, but that we need to make sure that the small discrepancies are resolved, otherwise you can’t sell the product. Mr. Lee understands fully and after speaking with the supplier, he assures you that everything will be OK. So you decide to give the order. The supplier wants 50% down, as agreed. You send him € 50.000,-.
After 6 weeks, the first order is ready! A few parts art taken from the shipment and airmailed to you. They are splendid. You pay the second half: € 50.000,- and the container is released by the customer and put on a boat, headed for Rotterdam.
5 weeks later, the container arrives at port. The transport costs are a little steeper as expected, you had never heard of BAF; CAF; Delta surcharge; Follow me. After paying these charges and the VAT + the import duties plus the transport from the harbor to your warehouse, the container arrives.
You open it, together with you employees. You open a box and there it is: your product, your baby. But hold on, what is this??? The changes you requested, not done!! The color is also not what agreed upon after intense negotiation. The whole batch: useless!!
You call Mr. Lee and explain what is wrong. He tells you that he will speak to the supplier and will come back to you “very soon”. After a week: nothing. You try to call him: his phone is disconnected. Your friend can’t find him either. You decide to call the factory. They are surprised. They can’t help you, because the have not supplied anything. But now that they have you on the phone, when will they get the order? The second prototype, was OK, was it not? You end up with a container with junk: a loss of € 130.000,-. But the worst is: No products to sell.
D&D Safe Sourcing prevents this from happening. We have the whole supply chain under control, from order to delivery. You pay us AFTER delivery, when you have been able to assure that the products are OK.
