Monthly Support vs Employee in China — which door fits
If you already buy from China, you do not need another sourcing pitch. You need the right operating door. Monthly Support puts our shared China Agent team on suppliers you already have — Chinese follow-up, drift watched, visits on a plan — from $995/mo plus setup on Visibility. Employee in China puts one full-time person on your instructions, employed under Chinese law through our subsidiaries, working only for you. Same buyer side. Different product. Neither finds factories for commission. Neither files your US entry. Reasonable care stays with you as importer of record.
I get this question on WhatsApp more than almost any other. "Do I need monthly, or do I need a person?" Buyers mix the words because both put China-side humans on the file. The work is not the same. Mixing the doors wastes money and leaves the wrong gaps.
The short chooser
Pick Monthly Support when: you have one to several existing suppliers, you need ongoing eyes in Chinese, you want planned factory access without hiring, and a shared accountable team on the file is enough. Start here for most US importers who are not ready to manage a local headcount. Live page: Monthly Support / China Supplier Control.
Pick Employee in China when: you need one dedicated full-time person whose calendar is yours — merchandising, QC rhythm, samples, deeper factory presence, local ops under your brief — and you want that person employed properly in China without opening your own Chinese company. Live page: Employee in China.
Pick neither (yet) when: you only need a one-time paper check before a wire (Supplier Reality Check), or the relationship already broke and you need recovery (Fixer). Subscriptions do not replace a snapshot. Snapshots do not replace a fight that already started.
Door A — Monthly Support (shared team on existing suppliers)
China Supplier Control is the productized ongoing layer. You introduce the suppliers. We read what they send in Chinese. We follow up on missing documents. We flag price, timing, MOQ, spec, certificate, and entity drift. We keep shipment-supporting information organized for your broker and counsel. We walk in on a plan.
On the live Visibility plan (fetched 24 Sep 2026): up to three suppliers, one China Agent factory visit per month, $1,000 setup + $995/month. Control and China Department scale supplier count and visit count. Extra QC or extra days are separately scoped.
What you are buying is capacity on a shared operating team with a named contact during China business hours — not a body whose only job is your company. Dedicated response means accountability on your file in scope. It does not mean a full-time exclusive headcount.
What you are not buying: sourcing, factory commission, middleman margin, a CBP release stamp, or legal opinions. The Monthly FAQ says that plainly. We keep it that way in this article.
Door B — Employee in China (one FTE on your instructions)
Employee in China is your person. You describe the job. We hire with you, train around your products, and employ the person through our Chinese subsidiary in the hub — labour contract, salary, social insurance, housing fund handled on the China side. They work full-time for you. We show salary and social at cost. Our service fee starts from $595/month on the live page, plus salary and social, with setup from $1,800. Higher tiers put the person in our office, or in our office with a Chinese law firm on retainer. Confirm current cards on Employee in China.
This door exists for importers who need depth and exclusivity the shared Monthly layer does not pretend to sell. Samples sitting in a room. A calendar that only holds your factories. Someone who can be on a floor the same day because that is their job, not one visit slot among a plan.
Straight talk that stays on the live Employee page and stays here: a person on the ground does not stop a CBP detention. Under 19 U.S.C. § 1484, reasonable care sits with the importer of record. What changes is the quality of contemporaneous evidence you can produce — mapping, production records kept as they happen, dated engagement, documents collected while the line is running. CBP decides on the package. We help you have a China-side file worth handing to your broker or counsel. We do not file the entry.
Side-by-side without the brochure fog
| Question | Monthly Support | Employee in China |
|---|---|---|
| Who works the file? | Shared China Agent team; named contact on your suppliers | One full-time person working only for you |
| Who do they report to day to day? | China Agent operating rhythm + your decisions | Your instructions |
| Employment | Our team (you are the client) | Employed under Chinese law via our subsidiaries (EOR-style); you do not need your own Chinese company |
| Best fit | Ongoing control across existing suppliers | Dedicated local capacity on your brief |
| Entry price (live, 24 Sep 2026) | Visibility $995/mo + $1,000 setup | From $595/mo service fee + salary/social at cost + setup from $1,800 |
| Sourcing? | No | Not a China Agent sourcing SKU; person works the job you define |
| CBP release guarantee? | No | No |
If a salesperson collapses these into "boots on the ground," hang up. The fee structure and the calendar tell you which door you bought.
How I usually steer the first call
You have two or three stable suppliers and the pain is silence, drift, and English-only follow-up. Start Monthly. You need the file alive between containers more than you need a headcount.
You are in the building every other month in your head, but your body is in the US, and you need samples, QC rhythm, and same-day factory presence under your voice. Look at Employee. Monthly visits on a plan will feel thin.
You want both. Some importers run Monthly across a supplier set and later add a person when volume justifies exclusivity. That is fine. It is still two doors on two pages — not one blurry promise.
You do not have a supplier yet and want us to find one. Wrong company for that job. We verify and control chains that exist. We do not take a cut of the PO by "finding" the factory.
CBP or counsel just asked for China papers you cannot produce. Do not buy a door as theatre. Build the file. Monthly or Employee can help collect and organize China-side records going forward. Your broker still files. Your counsel still owns the legal read. A person or a team does not erase an empty past.
Money shape, said once
Monthly is a fixed operating fee on a supplier count and visit plan. Employee is a service fee plus real local employment cost shown line by line. Compare them on total cost for the work you actually need, not on the smallest number on a card. A $995 shared layer that covers three suppliers can be cheaper than a full-time person — and the wrong tool if you needed exclusivity. A dedicated person costs more all-in — and is wasted if you only needed Chinese follow-up and one planned visit a month.
I will not invent a break-even spreadsheet here. Bring your supplier count, visit need, and weekly task list to a call. We will say which door fits, or say neither.
Soft next step
Open both live pages and read the FAQs cold:
If you want a human steer, WhatsApp or book a call. Tell us who your suppliers are and what has been happening. We will tell you if Monthly is enough, if you need a person in the building, or if you need a one-time check or a Fixer instead.
FAQ
Q: Are Monthly Support and Employee in China the same product? A: No. Monthly is our shared team on existing suppliers. Employee is one dedicated full-time person on your instructions, employed through our Chinese subsidiaries.
Q: Which should I start with? A: Most US importers with a small set of existing suppliers start with Monthly Support (Visibility from $995/mo + setup). Choose Employee when you need exclusivity and same-day local presence under your brief. Confirm live cards on both pages.
Q: Does either door source factories? A: No. Neither Monthly nor Employee is a sourcing service. You introduce the suppliers. We verify and operate the China side. No factory commission. No middleman margin.
Q: Does a person on the ground get me through CBP? A: No. Reasonable care stays with you as importer of record. A stronger China-side file helps your broker and counsel. China Agent does not file entries and does not guarantee release.
Q: Can I run both? A: Yes — some importers run Monthly across a supplier set and later add an Employee when volume justifies exclusivity. Still two doors on two pages, not one blurry promise.
