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Multiple factories making exact same product?

by Climb Online
12 replies
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Is it the norm for several Chinese manufacturers to produce the exact same product down to the box design?

Or is it the case that there is only one factory and the others are wholesalers?

The cost of the product is pretty much to the same from all them. Interestingly enough the lead time from 1 factory is 15 days, where as from another they have 500 pcs ready to go.

I
#exact #factories #making #multiple #product
  • Profile picture of the author Magicalidea
    Yes, there are several Chinese manufatureres can produce the exact same product with the sample.
    What product are you intending to produce susie ?
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  • Profile picture of the author Importexport
    Originally Posted by susie haynes View Post

    Is it the norm for several Chinese manufacturers to produce the exact same product down to the box design?

    Or is it the case that there is only one factory and the others are wholesalers?

    The cost of the product is pretty much to the same from all them. Interestingly enough the lead time from 1 factory is 15 days, where as from another they have 500 pcs ready to go.

    I
    Hi Susie,

    In most cases what you are describing is wholesalers trying to get orders by pretending to be manufacturers.

    They obtain photos from a manufacturer's catalog or website and offer the product for sale hoping to get an order from someone who finds their wholesale price attractive.

    This is why they are inflexible in relation to the big MOQs they quote. They need to make a big profit on your order because they don't expect to get a repeat.

    Once they have your order they go to the manufacturer in the hope of getting them to supply. If the order is large the manufacturer will usually agree.

    Most buyers don't have any idea of the vast difference between dealing with wholesalers or traders and dealing direct with the real manufacturers. There are two main differences:
    • Price. The manufacturer will always be able to supply at a price that is so low that you would kick yourself if you fell for the idea of buying from a wholesaler.
    • Flexibility. The manufacturer can please himself, so if you are convincing enough and use the right approach, they will agree to supply a small order instead of the big MOQ.
    You have probably been looking for suppliers on the popular sourcing sites and that makes your job very difficult. The great majority of suppliers listed as manufacturers are wholesalers or traders.
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  • Profile picture of the author amcg
    Originally Posted by susie haynes View Post

    Is it the norm for several Chinese manufacturers to produce the exact same product down to the box design?

    Or is it the case that there is only one factory and the others are wholesalers?

    The cost of the product is pretty much to the same from all them. Interestingly enough the lead time from 1 factory is 15 days, where as from another they have 500 pcs ready to go.

    I
    Yes, this is true. Many factories will share production and many will indeed be owned by the same same person/company.
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  • Profile picture of the author alksense
    Originally Posted by susie haynes View Post

    Is it the norm for several Chinese manufacturers to produce the exact same product down to the box design?

    Or is it the case that there is only one factory and the others are wholesalers?

    The cost of the product is pretty much to the same from all them. Interestingly enough the lead time from 1 factory is 15 days, where as from another they have 500 pcs ready to go.
    I wouldn't be able to tell if you one is a manufacturer and if one is a wholesaler based on the information provided but I can say that there are many factories in China that all produce the same products.

    Whenever I had to fill large orders and one manufacturer wasn't able to meet my deadline I always had at least two backup factories on call that produced identical items for about the same price.
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  • Profile picture of the author Importexport
    Originally Posted by susie haynes View Post

    Is it the norm for several Chinese manufacturers to produce the exact same product down to the box design?

    Or is it the case that there is only one factory and the others are wholesalers?

    The cost of the product is pretty much to the same from all them. Interestingly enough the lead time from 1 factory is 15 days, where as from another they have 500 pcs ready to go.

    I
    Hi again Susie,

    If the packaging is identical it is most likely they are all coming out of the one factory.

    Many Chinese businesses trade under at least 3 different names, but not often do those different names get used all the time to sell the same product. The less prominently advertised names are often there as a standby in case the first business name gets a bad reputation.

    One old friend in China owns 3 factories, producing some identical and some quite different products, but they trade under different names apparently in competition with one another. The packaging of the identical products is different depending on which factory they come from.

    He likes to keep to himself the connection between the 3 businesses because using the different names, different packaging, and different advertising does bring in more business.

    I agree with alksense that it is important to have more than one supplier, but it is not always possible to have backup suppliers for absolutely identical products - there will often be slight variations between suppliers.
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    Use emotions and perceptions to build a great brand. Ask me about my book LabelsThatExploit. For safe sourcing and easy importing from 41 countries globally, see https://provenglobalsourcing.com
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  • Profile picture of the author Climb Online
    Thanks for the input guys. I feel like a detective putting all the clues together!

    I got quotes for 500 pcs from 4 different sales people who all claim to be the actual manufacturer, as i mentioned the products are identical down to the packaging.

    The quotes are all within 25 cents of each other and all 4 are based in the same city (Shenzhen) 1 firm is D&B verified, another's website name and sales rep email and stationery all match. the other 2 have gmail and yahoo email address.

    The strange thing is that three have different lead times from 1 week to 30 days and 1 has stock ready to go. I am pretty confidant that they are all legit so I may as well go with the firm with stock ready to go.
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    • Profile picture of the author Importexport
      Originally Posted by susie haynes View Post

      Thanks for the input guys. I feel like a detective putting all the clues together!

      I got quotes for 500 pcs from 4 different sales people who all claim to be the actual manufacturer, as i mentioned the products are identical down to the packaging.

      The quotes are all within 25 cents of each other and all 4 are based in the same city (Shenzhen) 1 firm is D&B verified, another's website name and sales rep email and stationery all match. the other 2 have gmail and yahoo email address.

      The strange thing is that three have different lead times from 1 week to 30 days and 1 has stock ready to go. I am pretty confidant that they are all legit so I may as well go with the firm with stock ready to go.
      Hi Susie,

      Take care. The two with gmail or yahoo emails are quite possibly not legit, and the others may or may not be.

      D&B verification means that they have checked the business registration details of the company. It is not a guarantee of financial stability or trustworthiness. It does not show whether or not they are really manufacturers.

      The one with stock ready to go is most likely the manufacturer, although traders do sometimes carry stock of popular items.

      There are ways to check if the business does really manufacture. You won't want to publish it publicly but if you like to PM the website details to me I will do a quick check for you. Don't worry about confidentiality. As a teacher of sourcing and importing I am privy to many warriors' business and it stays strictly with me. Just search my posts and you will see that I am genuinely helpful.

      If you have not found the real manufacturer yet, you could be losing out on a lot of profit.
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      Use emotions and perceptions to build a great brand. Ask me about my book LabelsThatExploit. For safe sourcing and easy importing from 41 countries globally, see https://provenglobalsourcing.com
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      • Profile picture of the author gearmex
        Originally Posted by Importexport View Post

        Hi Susie,
        Take care. The two with gmail or yahoo emails are quite possibly not legit, and the others may or may not be.
        Not true, most factories even have legit websites for factory still prefer to use Yahoo/Gmail/hotmail, its not a base to determine if one is legit or not, usually it goes in here that 1 or 2 factories have the original product and rest just copies the actual product (i know from a personal viewpoint as one of my products got copied out) if they smell its a hit item, copies will come out sooner than later.
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        • Profile picture of the author Importexport
          Originally Posted by gearmex View Post

          Not true, most factories even have legit websites for factory still prefer to use Yahoo/Gmail/hotmail, its not a base to determine if one is legit or not, usually it goes in here that 1 or 2 factories have the original product and rest just copies the actual product (i know from a personal viewpoint as one of my products got copied out) if they smell its a hit item, copies will come out sooner than later.
          Sorry gearmex, it is true. Those suppliers who do not use their own website email are immediately suspect to those of us who have had a lot of experience in dealing with China.

          There are many ways to determine if a supplier is a real manufacturer. Most of the suppliers listed on popular websites are not manufacturers. If you find a real manufacturer you not only have the benefit of lower prices but also a real manufacturer is far less likely than a trader to scam you.

          Scammers never use a website email address, they always use a free email address.

          You are quite right about copying. I warn my students that if they send a design to China for production there, they could find that it is on the market under other names before they even get a sample.
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  • Profile picture of the author aurettemag
    Chinese is always copy each other so this seem normal.
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    • Profile picture of the author Importexport
      Originally Posted by aurettemag View Post

      Chinese is always copy each other so this seem normal.
      The OP sent me website details of the various offers, and as I promised I checked them out for her. Just as I had suggested in my earlier post, the supplier carrying stock turned out to be the real manufacturer.

      The others were not copies, they were the real thing, but being offered by traders.

      As I pointed out traders often use photos taken from a manufacturer's website and it is quite common for them to have no formal relationship with the manufacturer. They advertise in the hope of getting an order and then contact the manufacturer who will very often give them a discount for an order that the manufacturer did not have to work for.

      This goes to show that manufacturers are flexible on price, because they will supply these opportunist traders at a discount. Buyers can use this knowledge to their advantage, but they must not haggle. There are other benefits that can be negotiated other than price.
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      Use emotions and perceptions to build a great brand. Ask me about my book LabelsThatExploit. For safe sourcing and easy importing from 41 countries globally, see https://provenglobalsourcing.com
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      • Profile picture of the author Importexport
        Originally Posted by Importexport View Post

        The OP sent me website details of the various offers, and as I promised I checked them out for her. Just as I had suggested in my earlier post, the supplier carrying stock turned out to be the real manufacturer.

        The others were not copies, they were the real thing, but being offered by traders.

        As I pointed out traders often use photos taken from a manufacturer's website and it is quite common for them to have no formal relationship with the manufacturer. They advertise in the hope of getting an order and then contact the manufacturer who will very often give them a discount for an order that the manufacturer did not have to work for.

        This goes to show that manufacturers are flexible on price, because they will supply these opportunist traders at a discount. Buyers can use this knowledge to their advantage, but they must not haggle. There are other benefits that can be negotiated other than price.
        Update on Copying.

        Yesterday I had a chat with my old friend in China that I mentioned in my post on 4th.

        He told me that a new trend has emerged in the area of product copying. As I explained previously, traders are offering products for sale using photos from a company's website or catalog, and they then see if the manufacturer will supply them, but there is more to it than that..........

        They are using this method to test the market and if they get a good number of orders at a high enough price they set up a manufacturing unit themselves. The catch for customers is that they only do this with products where they can buy cheap, used equipment, and combined with using poor quality materials, this often leads to very poor quality products.

        My friend says that a lot of obsolete manufacturing equipment is now on the market at such low prices that even if it only lasts for a few months, the traders who are now temporarily manufacturers can afford to sell it for scrap.

        The poor quality of the products means that repeat customers are unusual anyway so the traders don't care, they just keep going as long as the equipment lasts or the new customer orders keep coming.

        We would call these people fly by nights but he actually said "come and go", because he could not pronounce "temporarily".

        So here we have yet another reason why it is best to buy direct from manufacturers rather than the traders who masquerade as manufacturers. It is far better to start off buying at the best price and dealing with trustworthy suppliers.
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        Use emotions and perceptions to build a great brand. Ask me about my book LabelsThatExploit. For safe sourcing and easy importing from 41 countries globally, see https://provenglobalsourcing.com
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