Sourcing & Procurement Agent
Kowloon Bay · Hong Kong
We work for
the buyer.
Only the buyer.
Wide Land Purchasing Centre Limited is a sourcing agent in Kowloon Bay. We find factories, negotiate prices, check what comes off the line and get it onto a vessel — on behalf of the company paying us, and nobody else.
That sounds obvious. It is not. A great many agents in this trade also take an undisclosed commission from the factory they recommend, which quietly reverses whose side they are on. Our fee comes from one direction only, and it is printed in section 03.
02What we do
Six jobs, in the order they happen
A sourcing agent is useful in proportion to how much of this you would otherwise be doing yourself, at distance, in a second language, on a time difference.
01
Supplier SearchTwo to three weeks, typically
Identifying factories that actually make the thing you want, rather than trading companies that will subcontract it without telling you. We visit, we look at the machinery, and we tell you which category each candidate falls into.
02
SamplingWhere most projects go wrong
Obtaining and comparing samples against your specification, and documenting the differences in writing. A sample approved casually becomes the standard you are stuck with for the whole production run.
03
Price NegotiationUnit price, moulds, packaging
Negotiating unit cost, minimum order quantity, tooling charges and packaging separately, so you can see what each element costs instead of one bundled figure that resists comparison.
04
Order ManagementThe quiet middle period
Following the order through the factory calendar, flagging slippage early rather than reporting it after the shipping date has passed. Chinese New Year moves every year and takes capacity with it.
05
InspectionBefore payment, not after
Checking goods against the approved sample and the specification while there is still leverage — which is before the balance is paid and before the container is sealed. See section 04 for what inspection can and cannot do.
06
Shipment CoordinationDocuments decide the timeline
Consolidating, arranging collection and assembling the document pack with your forwarder. We are not a carrier or a customs broker; we make sure the people who are have complete and consistent paperwork.
03How we're paid
Three ways agents earn.
Only one of them is honest.
This is the single most important question to ask any sourcing agent, anywhere, and it is asked far too rarely. The answer determines whether the person negotiating your price actually wants it to go down.
| Model | How it works | Whose side it puts them on |
|---|---|---|
| Flat fee | An agreed sum for an agreed scope, paid by you, independent of what the goods cost. | Yours The fee is the same whether the unit price is high or low, so there is nothing to gain from a worse deal. |
| Percentage of order | A percentage of the order value, paid by you and disclosed openly. | Mostly yours Workable and common, but note the built-in tension: a larger order value pays the agent more. Ask how that is handled. |
| Factory commission | The factory pays the agent a cut of what you spend. Often not mentioned at all, and the client is told the service is free or nearly so. | The factory's The agent is paid more when you pay more, and paid by the party they are supposed to be negotiating against. |
Our position, stated plainly: we are paid by the buyer, on terms agreed in writing before work starts, and we do not accept commission, rebate or any other payment from a supplier we introduce to you. If an agent tells you their service costs you nothing, the correct next question is not "how generous" but "then who is paying you, and how much of it is coming out of my unit price?"
04Inspection
What an inspection is —
and what it is not
-
It is a sample, not a censusStandard inspection examines a statistically drawn sample from the lot, not every unit. It gives you good evidence about the batch. It cannot promise that no defective piece exists anywhere in it, and any agent claiming otherwise is describing something they did not do.
-
It measures against a written standardAn inspector can only check what has been specified. "Good quality" is not a specification. Dimensions, tolerances, materials, finish, labelling, carton markings and the approved sample are. Time spent writing this down before production is worth more than any inspection afterwards.
-
Timing is the whole leverageInspection before the balance is paid and before the container is sealed gives you options. Inspection after arrival gives you a claim, a long argument and freight paid twice. The difference between the two is a date in the contract.
-
It is not a certificate of complianceWhether goods may lawfully be sold in your market — safety standards, testing, labelling, restricted substances — is a regulatory question answered by accredited laboratories and your own advisers, not by a visual check on a factory floor. We will tell you when something needs that route.
05Questions
Answered without hedging
Q.01Is the factory you found actually a factory?
It is a fair question and the honest answer is that a great many "factories" in online directories are trading companies. We tell you which is which, because it changes your price, your control over quality and who you can talk to when something goes wrong. Sometimes a trading company is the right partner — for small quantities across several product types, for instance — but you should know that is what you are buying.
Q.02Do you take commission from suppliers?
No. We are paid by the buyer on terms agreed in writing before we start, and we do not accept commission, rebate or gifts from a supplier we introduce. Ask this of every agent you speak to and pay attention to how long the answer takes.
Q.03Who owns the tooling I paid for?
Whoever the contract says owns it, which is why it should say. Buyers routinely pay a mould charge and then discover, when they want to move production, that the tooling stays where it is. Settle ownership, storage and the conditions for release in writing at the start, when you still have negotiating position.
Q.04The unit price quoted looks impossibly low. Is it?
Usually, yes. Prices well below the field are typically recovered somewhere else — a thinner material, a different component, a minimum order that only works at volumes you do not need, or a specification quietly reinterpreted between the sample and the run. We would rather explain where a number is coming from than help you win a race to the bottom you will pay for on arrival.
Q.05Can you guarantee the goods will be perfect?
No, and nobody can. What can be done is to specify precisely, approve samples formally, inspect before payment and before sealing, and keep a written record at each step so that a dispute has evidence rather than recollections. Anyone offering a guarantee of perfection is offering something they cannot deliver.
Q.06How do we start?
Send us the product, the specification if you have one, the quantity you actually need and your target landed cost. If you have no specification yet, say so — that is a normal starting point and building one is part of the work. We will tell you honestly whether the target is achievable before anybody spends money finding out.
06Contact
Wide Land Purchasing Centre LimitedKowloon Bay · Hong Kong
Office
Rm 7, 5/F, Po Lung Centre
11 Wang Chiu Road
Kowloon Bay, Kowloon
11 Wang Chiu Road
Kowloon Bay, Kowloon
Telephone
Acting for
The buyer, exclusively
Send the product and the quantity. A photograph, a drawing, a link to something similar, or an existing sample — all of these are workable starting points. So is a rough idea and no specification at all.
Tell us the quantity you genuinely need rather than the one that gets the best headline price, and your target landed cost if you have one. If the target is not achievable we will say so before you spend anything finding out.