Who pays your China agent decides what they can afford to tell you. A China agent on your side is paid a fixed fee by you, the importer. A commission sourcing agent is paid a percentage of the order. Industry guides commonly quote roughly 3 to 10% of FOB value, and the rate goes down as the order grows. That pay decides what each one can afford to tell you. When the pay goes up with the order size, "don't place this order" or "this supplier is not the factory" costs the agent money. A fixed-fee agent on your side can say stop.
China Agent verifies the factories and suppliers you already have. We do not find factories. We do not take commission from factories. Duty and reasonable care stay with you as importer of record. We verify, prepare, and draft on the China side. Your broker files. You certify. We do not give US customs legal advice.
I hear this question from importers who already have a Chinese contact, or think they do. The WeChat name feels solid. The PI looks clean. Someone offers to "handle China" for a cut of the order, or with nothing asked up front. Then the importer asks who actually owns the machines, and the answers get soft. The pay model is the first thing I look at, before I look at any brochure.
Who pays the agent, and how
Start with the invoice trail.
A commission agent's fee goes up when your order goes up. Public industry fee guides commonly describe commissions of 3 to 10% of FOB, often higher on small first orders and lower once volume grows. Some of those guides also warn that a hidden factory payment can end up inside the unit price. Treat those numbers as what industry guides commonly quote. They are not a China Agent market study, and they are not a CBP number.
A fixed fee paid by you works the other way. You pay for defined China-side work: identity, papers, visits, contracts, monthly eyes on the suppliers you already chose. The fee does not grow because you placed a bigger PO. If the honest answer is "walk away," that answer does not cut our invoice.
I also see sourcing offered with nothing asked up front, and "0% commission", in the same industry guides. The warning there is simple: somebody still pays for the work. If you are not paying a visible fee, ask who is. And ask if that money sits inside a unit price you never see broken out.
Why the conflict of interest is built into the pay
This is not a morality lecture. It is arithmetic.
If an agent earns more when you ship more, the honest answers get expensive for them. Answers like: "The supplier on your PI is a trading desk, not the factory that runs the line." "The factory that quotes you is not the one that will cut the goods." "Don't place this order until the identity and papers are clean."
A fixed-fee agent on your side can say those things and still get paid for the work of finding them. With a commission tied to volume, the same sentences are a pay cut. Some commission agents still tell the truth. The structure just doesn't reward them for it. When you build a reasonable-care file, you want whoever writes the China-side notes to be able to leave a gap visible.
Labels importers mix up on the China side
Plain definitions. No brochure words.
A trading company buys and resells, or sits between you and a factory as the named seller. You may never see the manufacturer's Chinese legal name. For some importers that can be fine. But it is a weak place to park "who made these goods" when CBP asks.
A commission sourcing agent finds and coordinates suppliers, usually for a percentage of the order value. What they sell is the search and the deal flow. Your factory relationship often runs through them.
A fixed-fee verifier on your side (what we sell) works on the suppliers and factories you already have. You introduce us. We verify identity, organize the China-side papers, sit face to face when needed, draft contracts, and keep a monthly trail. You keep the factory relationship. We do not take a cut of the PO.
Those are different jobs. Mixing up the labels is how importers end up paying a finder's incentive and calling it compliance.
We wrote about the name problem in The Alibaba name isn't the factory. An English storefront name is not a Chinese legal entity. A commission that grows with that storefront's order does not fix the entity gap.
What China Agent actually sells
Fixed prices. You introduce the supplier. We don't sell a factory hunt.
Supplier Reality Check is $95, a short paper pass on one supplier you already named. Factory Reality Check is $795, when you need to go deeper, on paper and on site, on a factory you already have. Due diligence covers the wider menu: verify, contract, visit. Monthly Support starts at $995 per month plus a $1,000 setup, for ongoing China-side control on up to three suppliers on the Visibility tier. Employee in China is a separate door: a person on payroll in China, salary and social insurance at cost, plus a 10% handling fee on what we pay out in China, plus our fee. That person works for you and does what you direct. We employ them and back them up. We still take no factory commission.
We do not sell "we will find you a factory." We do not take a percentage of your order. Nobody in China works only for you. We do. A fixed fee paid by you, and nobody else, is how we keep it that way.
Why this matters for your CBP reasonable-care file
You are the importer of record. The duty is yours. So is the duty to use reasonable care when you enter goods.
CBP's Informed Compliance publication Reasonable Care is the public checklist people in the trade use as a starting point. It sits under the bigger informed-compliance idea: CBP publishes what it expects, and the importer builds procedures that fit the facts of each shipment. The publication itself is guidance. It does not excuse a thin file. Your broker and counsel still decide how it applies to your HS family and your facts.
In plain words: if CBP later asks what you did to know who made the goods, "my commission agent said it was fine" is a thin answer when that agent's pay went up with the same order. A dated China-side trail is stronger. Named Chinese legal entities. Ordinary-course papers. Refusals left visible. All organized in English, so your broker can actually use it.
For the wider list of papers importers get asked to produce, see 10 things CBP will ask you to produce. For how those papers sit in a file, see reasonable care records for China importers. When the ask is specifically factory identity, see When CBP asks for Chinese factory information. A visit supports that file. It does not buy a release. We wrote about that limit in A factory visit supports the file, not a release.
Role split, every time: we verify, prepare, and draft on the China side. The licensed broker files. You certify. We do not promise CBP outcomes. Confirm current requirements with your licensed broker or customs counsel.
When Monthly Support fits, and when Employee in China is the other door
If you already have suppliers and you need ongoing China-side eyes on identity, papers, and supplier compliance follow-up between shipments, that is Monthly Support. Visibility tier: $995 per month plus $1,000 setup, up to three suppliers. If you have more suppliers, the higher Control and China Department tiers are on the same page. We keep the trail alive. Gaps stay visible. Your broker still files.
If what you need is a person sitting in that city week after week, doing the work you direct, that is Employee in China. Monthly Support is supplier control and file work. An employee is a human on payroll. Don't buy one when you meant the other.
Neither door is a commission on your PO. Neither door is us finding you a new factory.
Limits (read these before you buy anything)
China Agent verifies, prepares, and drafts on the China side. Your licensed customs broker files. You, as importer of record, certify. We do not give US customs legal advice. We do not file entries. We do not promise release of any shipment. We do not sell sourcing. We do not take factory commission. The commission ranges quoted above come from public industry fee guides, not from CBP and not from a China Agent survey. Confirm current customs requirements with your licensed broker or customs counsel. Primary public frame for importer responsibility: CBP's Reasonable Care Informed Compliance publication.
What to do
Write down who pays every China-side party on your next order, and how. Ask any commission contact, in writing, if they get any other payment, rebate, or commission from the factory on your goods. Ask for the Chinese legal name of the company that actually makes your goods. Match the name on the business license to the party on your contract and to the bank beneficiary. Then go visit the actual factory that makes your goods, and pull the BOM and the supplier list, so you know who you're really buying from. Put refusals in the file with dates. Hand the organized pack to your broker before anyone is asking under a clock.
If you want that trail kept alive across shipments on suppliers you already have, put Monthly Support on the file at $995 per month plus setup. Or message us on WhatsApp at +86 153 2208 6875, or book a call.
Ask who pays the China agent before you ask them what they think of your supplier.
FAQ
What is an importer-side China agent?
A party paid a fixed fee by the importer to verify and support the suppliers or factories the importer already has, without taking a percentage of the order.
How is a commission agent paid?
Usually a percentage of order value (industry guides often quote roughly 3 to 10% of FOB) to find and coordinate suppliers. The pay goes up with order size.
Does China Agent take commission?
No. Fixed fees only. We work with the factories and suppliers you already chose.
Does a China-side agent clear my goods with CBP?
No. Reasonable care and the entry stay with the importer of record. The broker files. The importer certifies. Confirm with your licensed broker or customs counsel.
