Buyer Service Center

Tradesparq delivers exceptional buyer services to clients who wish to outsource their import and export management and activities.

Service providers are selected for their professionalism, affordability and relevance. The Service Center is managed on an exclusive basis for Tradesparq by the experts at the PassageMaker Group.

Mike Bellamy: based in Asia since 1993.

  • China advisor to both Fortune 500 and small businesses
  • Founder of the PassageMaker family of companies
  • Tradesparq Board Member

Our clients supply the world's best retailers & corporations

Scam Avoidance & Supplier Verification
Red Flag Assessment for Scams
Review of supplier's business license, quotation and bank account, physical address, and website to expose any red flags.
Simple Factory Audit
On-site review of supplier's facility and quality control system to confirm the likelihood they can produce the product you wish to order.
Technical Audits, Background Checks & Investigation
Contact us with your needs and we'll present an appropriate service package.
Project Management
Customized Advisory Services

Certified Sourcing Advisors make themselves available up to 4 hours each month for conference calls and/or email communication at a set time each week, but they don’t get involved in actually managing the vendors for you.

Retaining a Certified Sourcing Advisor is the ideal option when you are willing to do the heavy lifting of project management but want a seasoned China advisor on your team.

At a minimum, Certified Sourcing Advisors are:

  • based in China full time
  • native speakers of English, Spanish, French or Portuguese (at time of writing)
  • seasoned sourcing veterans with significant and relevant business experience
  • China Sourcing Academy graduates with honors
  • trained under the direct supervision of China Sourcing Academy founders
Chinese Freelance Support

Chinese freelancers with English language skills and basic sourcing experience assigned to support your projects. This is an ideal option if you need a local representative on the ground to assist with supplier communication and wish to outsource low-level administrative tasks.

Freelancers are managed directly by the client and are not considered sourcing experts or advisors. As your ability to control and monitor freelancers is limited, it is not recommend they perform mission-critical tasks or have access to sensitive information. Freelancers are available in time blocks ranging from 10 hours to 160 hours per month.

Outsourced Import-Export Management

You can literally "outsource the sourcing department" of your company to our team. Clients are welcome to outsource their entire import/export department or just a few functions.
Based on the clients’ needs and language preferences, each project will be assigned a single Account Manager (AM) who will coordinate as many Project Managers (PM’s) as required.

The AM’s are customer service specialists serving as a central point of contact in Asia responsible for communications with the client. The PM’s are well trained local staff with professional experience in one or more functional area such as strategic sourcing, purchasing, engineering, QC, law, HR, tax or logistics.

The client sets the agenda. The AM assigns and manages the PM’s who are responsible for advancing that agenda.

Legal Services
Quality Assurance
Pre-shipment Inspection (QC 1.0)
On-site confirmation that product matches what you ordered in terms of quality, lead-time and order size.
3rd Party 100% Inspection & Customization

When a random inspection is not enough we can arrange for 100% inspection.
Semi-finished goods or components can be shipped to our warehouse in China where inspection, final assembly and/or custom packaging is performed under a secure US-managed system but at local labor rates.

All buyers have concerns about their Asian supplier’s ability to achieve targets for quality, lead time and social, safety or regulatory compliance.

Our clients have total visibility into the identity and pricing points of all entities in the supply chain.

Shipping costs are reduced through freight consolidation and quality control issues are dealt with on-the-spot long before the item is shipped out of China.

Warranty on workmanship provided and every project utilizes an industry-leading, bi-lingual, ISO compliant, “Product Quality Manual (PQM)” which defines in intimate detail the quality standards, inspection methods and the assembly process.

Quality Assurance Planning & Implementation Consulting (QC 2.0)
Create a comprehensive plan to monitor quality and reduce defects in your supply chain. Our QA experts work with your suppliers ON the factory floor to create and implement the plan.
Import Compliance (safety & regulatory) Planning & Implementation Consulting

Clarify the applicable regulations and standards for your products and create a comprehensive plan to monitor compliance in the supply chain.

Our import compliance planning can significantly reduce an importer's legal exposure.

Manufacturing
Black Box Assembly

Keep your supplier at arm’s length from sensitive information.Due to Intellectual Property concerns buyers can be hesitant to give a Chinese supplier too much information about assembly specifications, packaging, and branding.

With the “Black Box” service, semi-finished goods or components can be shipped to an assembly and inspection center where inspection, final assembly and/or custom packaging are performed under a secure US-managed system but at local labor rates.

The client has total visibility into the identity and pricing points of all entities in the supply chain, but the “Black Box” keeps the supplier at arm’s length from sensitive information.

Shipping costs are reduced through freight consolidation and quality control issues are dealt with on-the-spot long before the item is shipped out of China.

A full warranty is provided and every assembly/inspection project utilizes an industry-leading, bi-lingual, ISO compliant, “Product Quality Manual (PQM)” which defines in intimate detail the quality standards, inspection methods, and the assembly process.

A transparent per unit fee is charged to perform inspection, assembly and/or packaging. This per-unit fee is based on a time study and calculated using a fully burdened, pre-agreed, fixed hourly rate.

Tool & Die Steward

Ensure proprietary tooling is not being used supply the competition. Most buyers of customized products manufactured in Asia are wise enough to contractually own their tools and dies.

But what happens if the supplier goes out of business and tooling is liquidated before you are aware of the situation?

Can you be sure tooling is maintained and stored professionally?

The Tool & Die Steward looks after your molds, tooling, jigs, etcetera, by storing them at a secure facility between production runs at your factory.

Sourcing Education
The Essential Reference Guide to China Sourcing

300 pages of sourcing strategies, templates, procedures and best practices.

Learn More
A course on developing and managing successful Chinese sourcing operations. Perfect for companines setting up a china based sourcing team.
Customer Testimonials

"I would like to express our deepest gratitude and appreciation for the assistance provided to us by PassageMaker. We have received examplary service!"

"Many consultants, trading companies and manufacturers understand in "theory" how to source in China, but PassageMaker is successfully turning theory into reality."

"Throughout the PassageMaker structure, I have found nothing but the sort of people who I can trust. They have a palpable level of honesty, integrity and character!"


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Our clients supply the world's best retailers & corporations