How To Find A Good Yiwu Agent?

-Mar.01, 2025 updated.

This article is written by an insider of Yiwu agent business for 15 years. It covers:  

• What type of agent you need?
• What type of agent you don't need?
• The agents I know in Yiwu.
• Tips for working with an agent in Yiwu.

Hopefully, this can help buyers make good decisions to appoint a right agent for their business, right from the beginning. 

1. The agent you need, and how to get:

1.1 Serious and trustworthy character

A serious and trustworthy agent can always stay after the following filtration: 

===CHECKING THEIR WEBSITES/Platforms=== 



Nowadays almost each agent has their own website. Some agents even have a lot. A website is a good way to understand the people behind website.

You can also check them on other platforms like YouTube and other social medium platforms.

In fact, this is the only way for you to get information before contacting anyone.

You should be careful with: 

#1 Talking-rubbish Agents  (there are plenty)


These agents normally saying on their sites that they're the "Top 1",  "No.1", "Best..." "Most..." or "Official" Yiwu agent.

Let me show you 2 extreme cases:

One agent only keep average 1.5 staff since 2009 claiming on their sites they're one of the "TOP 3" Yiwu agent.

Another agent claiming they're the "Official Yiwu Market Agent" has absolutely nothing to do with the official company who runs Yiwu market. In fact, there are NO OFFICIAL YIWU AGENTs. There was one around year 2000, then it was quickly out of game, because the agent business is a free market. 

Yiwu market is built by Yiwu local government and run by CCC Group. Only CCC group can say they're official to manage Yiwu market(not agents). 

When these Yiwu agents are trying to catch eyeballs by bragging and bluffing, they already lose their credibility at the same time. 

#2 Promising-miracles Agents 


A lot agents saying they only charge a 1% commission, or they offer FREE service, free cars, free trial orders...

Or they cleverly saying charge "low to 1% commission" , but they make  the "1%" BIG AND BOLD, but make the "low to" very small or nearly invisible. Of course, you got it. They just want to catch you with these baits. In their mind, you are not a partner to grow with together, but a fish to be caught and cooked.

They can also saying offer a credit of 90 days, but... when you start talking with them, you will realize that there are lots of conditions(traps). Credit can be a good way to grow business, but usually not a good way to start business relationship as fresh. Credits need to be built, by TIME.

But you're already in. You waste your time to talk to someone which may ruin your business, while you could talk to someone who can help you grow your business using that same amount of time.

They know it very well, when you spend time with them, you will not have the same time with their competitors. We all have 24 hours a day, only.

This too bad for the entire export agent business in Yiwu. I mentioned this earlier on Yiwu agent commission rate. 1% is just too good to be true. Most of agents are charging minimum 3% with lots of "BUTs" and "IFs". Credits are not built in a day.

Unfortunately, when come to a new place with big time difference, plus lots of freshness and uncertainties, many new visitors fall in this trap and fail(without understanding why).

We have to admit that most of us are short-sighted and lack of common sense, we're irresistible to "FREE", "BEST", "CREDIT", "CHEAP"...  it's the weakness of human being. And they're being taken advantaged of everywhere, every time.

When come to service, PEOPLE matters. These companies who offer better opportunities and salaries usually have better and more experienced staff.

Most of your work will be done by staff(your real agent). Not the one who greets you for the first time in office and sign contract with you.

If a company can't have reasonable profit, they can't offer descent salary, they can't keep good staff. Quick changing of staff is a not a good thing for customers (but can be a good thing for the company as they may pay less, for short term).

There are exceptions like some company owners are extremely good at managing staff by paying them less and keeping them long.  From my view, these cases are rare. People need bread and roof, they will need more as they grow.

The companies who keep the best experienced and professional staff , for the longest, can be THE BEST AGENT for you in Yiwu. 

#3 Don't-have-rules Agents 


A lot Yiwu agents don't have a clear and straight forward way with their service and charges, but just want you to contact them or chat with them. 

This is a waste of everyone's time. Of course, if you waste some time with one guy, you won't have the same time for another guy. As I mentioned, you just have 24 hours a day. Even worse, you're jet legged, and need to quickly have things done then go home to your family.

Usually, these people who can state all their service and terms at the beginning clearly, have a better "awareness-of-rules" than those who don't say anything but just want you to discuss with them.

Believe it or not, lots of agents in Yiwu just don't have enough rules, both as a company and as an individual staff. The only rules work in the end is, money!

Company add extra costs to customers, staff earn kick-backs from suppliers secretly. Of course, it's the customer who will pay all the bills in the end... 

#4 Taking-Shortcuts Agents 


If a website respect their visitors enough, they should be very careful about what they're saying on the web pages. Provide the visitors indeed USEFUL and FRESH information, as much as possible, in a responsible way.

If you come across a website that just put on lots of "junks", copy and past other people's work on their own site, or just change a bit here and there. You already have an idea for what kind of person are there behind.

Are you ready for putting your business in such "take short-cuts and get-rich-fast" agents? I guess not!

Having above info in mind, you can properly filtered out lots of noises, and now it's time to select a few and talk: 

===CONTACTING A FEW OF THEM=== 

#1 How are they responding?

Here, of course, you will have different ways to find out if someone is right for you. Are they honestly telling about what they can do? Are they able to communicate well? Are they doing what they're saying? ...

#2 Ask for reference from their site

Some companies now put reference on their site publicly. This is good to see what other customers said about them. But you need to see if these reviews are REAL.

You can just ask them to offer contact information about their customers who wrote them the review, then go and find out.

I bet you have more ways here, so let skip to the next step.

===VISIT THEM, SEE THEM, WALK THEM=== 

By above 2 steps of checking their sites and talking to them. Now comes to the big step: visit them to find out.

Here is my advise: always select 2 or 3 potential agents, NOT ONLY ONE! Meet them and talk to them. Walk with them for one day in the market. Then point out your finger for the winner.

From meeting them and walking with them, you will have a clear picture of what they say and what they do.

Let them show you, their facility their ID, they license, what they did. How it can be a good fit for both of you... etc. You need to see these by your own eyes, then have a good sleep, then wake up make your decision.

Walking in the market for one day (only for browsing market purpose), you will find out who seems like care you more and who is putting more extra cost on you. Who is experienced, and who is a newbie.

===LET THEM SHOW THEMSELVES=== 



You need to to find out WHO is this guy? Which company you're dealing with?

Let them show their ID.

Check their Chinese name on the name card. Not only the English name. You can find million of Jack, or Julie, or Lisa, or Mike...

These are not their real names. If a Jack run away with your money. You call China policeman:

-"Jack in Yiwu run away with my money"

-"Sorry, but we don't know any Jack. Our system only has Chinese names"

- "... ..."

Check their business license, staff ID and make copies, to make sure they're legally registered in Yiwu/Zhejiang. NOT only in HK, or a small island. China police won't travel that far for your 20,000USD criminal report. FOR SURE. In fact, mostly, they don't travel at all. You're on your own hands.

After going through above steps, I'm sure you're very close to a trustworthy, serious, and reliable agent. Hurray~

1.2 Professional Capabilities And Experienced Backgrounds

TRUST is No.1, EXPERIENCE and EXPERTISE will be No.2.

Many agents claiming they can source thousands different products for you from Yiwu. This is true. But can they do a good job with thousands different products? Here is a big question mark.

An agent who is exporting a lot of plastic containers means nothing when they need to QC jewelry for "nickel free". An agent ships hundreds of containers to US doesn't means they know well enough customs requirements of Saint Martin or Peru.

You'd better find an agent that is specialized in your products, or at least is familiar with your type of products. These people will be more confident with QC in the end. They can also talk to suppliers before placing orders. They learnt from mistakes.

Also because they're more experienced with a certain type of products, that means they are more familiar with the suppliers. They probably know which supplier can deliver what they promise and which supplier may only deliver air in the end. 

The ability to handle supplier is also important, this can only be discovered out when you work with them. Some people are talented with such abilities and skills.

1.3 Your preference

In the end, it will be your agent that works with you. And it should work for you. 

Your preferences are also important. But on this part, it takes time, common sense, and judgment. Reason should outweigh emotion.  

A pretty hot girl may be good for a day, but a business agent takes much longer time. And it is a lot of hard work behind.

Because this person will be your partner, or even a member of your team. Then he/she also needs to be a team player. A good team will be better than individuals.

You need someone that adds a lot of value to your business. A solution provider, problem fixer, or executor... Up to what you need.

1.4 Sufficient Facilities

Character is No.1, Capability is No.2, Complimentary and Preference personality is No3, Facilities comes at last.

People are important, But, no one can do miracles.

For an agent in Yiwu, the two most important facilities are office and warehouse.

In Yiwu, a good office is an office that close to market. Almost every day, agents staff need to go to market. A close location to the market means the staff won't need to take a bus or get stuck in traffic jam. They can go there on feet or by bike/scooter easily. This makes their life easier. They can also be more efficient with your work.

Office needs to have air conditioner. It can be very cold for a few weeks in Yiwu in winter, and very hot for a few months in summer. Without air-conditioner, it's impossible to work efficiently. 

Office doesn't have to be luxury. All the luxuries is an expense which will eventually paid by you(all the customers). The buyer always pays in the end. In China, there is a old saying:  "the wool comes from the sheep's back".

Warehouse must be spacious, fully-monitored, fire hygiene equipped, clean, and has enough lights.

*Self-owned or managed warehouse is a BIG PLUS.  

Considering the fact that sometimes products need to be repacked or checked thoroughly. This job will be impossible if there is not enough space.

Also a good warehouse should be easy for container loading. If fragile items are carried up to container door each time. There is risk that these fragile cartons can fall off.

Of course, this can be found out easily when you're in Yiwu. You can drop by their office in the morning for 30 minutes and go to their warehouse for another 30 minutes after market visit.

In Self-owned/managed warehouse, your agent can control the load men which is very important for container loading.

For public warehouse like Yiwu port (most of these big warehouse are not self-owned or managed, but rented and operated by freight forwarders). They are usually packed with goods, crowded, load men can be not cooperative because they listen to the warehouse manager, not your agent.

If your agent has an office and self-owned/managed warehouse, AND they're both close to Yiwu market (Futian market), then I can say you have a better chance to be in good hands. Because this set up is customer-oriented.

Owning and Running a Yiwu warehouse costs lots of money, bears lots of responsibilities. Most of Yiwu agents either can not afford, or are not interested to have their own warehouse.

2. The Agent You Don't Need

This will be basically a recap of the above paragraphs if you're still here, not scared away ;)

I will put them in below 2 aspects:

2.1 You need company

• A genuine company, has morals and principles.
• A sustainable business, with enough history and plenty of future.
• Offers good values for customers,  employees, partners....So everyone ended up in win-win.
• Financially safe (you can check their payment terms, even bank statements over previous years), keeps strong cash flow, has secure payment gateways, safe payment handle procedures and systems.
• Offers good pay(salaries, insurance, bonus etc.) and good facilities and working environment (warehouse, office) .
• Has good supplier and partner networks (which are good suppliers and which supplier may never deliver products), can maximize profits and minimize risks.

2.2 You need individual persons

• Trustworthy, dedicated, hardworking.
• Experienced, professional, capable.
• Customer oriented, flexible, team player.
• Executor, problem fixer, solution provider.
• Value creator and long-term partner.

* To summarize, whatever is against above terms, you'd better stay away from them.

3. The Yiwu Agents I know:

In last 15 years, I see many agents on and off, come and go, but there are some agents impressed me which I would love to share with you here.

3.1 Agent companies:

• Eject Sourcing, since I came to Yiwu in 2009, I noticed about this company. In fact, I was reading their website and thought "well, I may do a better job for a website introducing Yiwu market", that's how this Yiwu market guide website was born. Over 15 years, I'm happy to see this company evolved and grew. At least, I can say this is a real company and they can get some of your things done.
• SellersUnion, I knew this company as a huge player years after I established my own company in 2009. This company is definitely one of the major agents in Yiwu, you may see their billboards after you land at Yiwu airport, you can come across one of their sales reps over your hotel breakfasts, in your hotel lobby, in market, or even on streets. They took an aggressive approach to get customers. They have their own network for suppliers and trying to build a small Yiwu market inside their own building. Not sure how it worked out. They may also offer some credits for established customer as I heard they delayed paying vendors in Yiwu market, as a result, some vendors not liked them. Anyway, if you are a big guy, you can this company and play some BIG GAME.
• MarketUnion(MU), seemed a division out of SellersUnion but later run on their own. This company is doing aggressive advertising campaign in and around Yiwu market by posting huge banners to attract customers. They seem are also building their own suppliers network and trying to work as financial player to offer credits for customers.   These two companies are both major players in Yiwu market and they look alike in may ways. But I can still feel the difference. Again, if you're big, you can check them out to see if they are on the same page with you.
• JingSourcing, this company came to my eyes years after I set up my own company. They impressed my by their online markets ways, I visited them for the first time. At that time, they were only 2 small loft offices in front of district 2 of Yiwu market. But they expanded very fast. The last time i visited them they already moved into a building in front of district 3 of Yiwu market, took a whole floor space with dozens of seats inside office. They don't do much market guide/visit with customers, mainly do sourcing for customers. They are very successful with online market, definitely to top 1 agent in Yiwu for online marketing. Didn't try any of their services, can not commend. From the customers firstly worked with them then worked with us, it was only because we were focusing on different services. Seems most of their customers are from Europe and US (developed countries)
• TonySourcing, this company was actually hatched out from my company in 2015. Tony was use the same online marketing approach as Jing (JingSourcing). They share many similarities. TonySourcing was focusing on soucing toys in China for overseas buyers. They combined the toys supply sources in Yiwu and Shantou together. The company is well managed, can be an option for overseas buyers buy toys from China.
• Golden Shiny, this company emerged from YouTube videos in recent years(probably last 5-6 years), the owner is a very good YouTuber. Young and ambitious. Their customers seems are mostly from South America and the middle east (if i am not wrong). Not know much about them.
• YIWU JIN-JACK IMPORT AND EXPORT CO., LTD. The uniqueness of this company is it has a way to keep customers, employees, and company together for a longest possible time, at a lowest possible cost. Most of the agents work in/with this company are already more than 10 years. Many customers are also with this company for over 10 years. They lately entered into supply chain management and e-commerce business, called PrepInChina. If you're in e-commerce, you can have a try on them too.

*There are thousands agents in Yiwu, many of them may not have presence online, which only means they don't have the right online marking personnel, it doesn't mean they can not be a good agent.

To me, majority agent companies in Yiwu do a good job. Few of them are exceptionally good. Also a small part of them are bad.  Only a few of them are REALLY BAD. The chance for you to meet these guys are also rare, if you simply use your common sense.

3.2 Agent Individuals:

Actually, the agent individuals (the agent person who works with you directly), or we say account managers, are also very important. Here I'm sharing with you some agents I know in Yiwu:  

3.2.1 Panpan Zhou

•  I know this agent since 2016, she has been working with a promotional items company for 6 years then work for an agent company for almost 10 years. She is really a good agent who can always put her customers interests at first. 
• I remembered once her customer tipped her for 100USD for her extraordinary work accompanying this customer in market for days. It's not a common practice to tip people in China. So she refused once, but when the customer insisted tipping her again, she decided to accept. Then, she used that 100 USD bought a few t-shirts for her customer after her working hours. Because she realized that her customer had some difficulties with getting his t-shirts washed.  The t-shirts she bought fitted her customer perfectly in size!
• Over the years, she kept getting referrals from her old clients for her excellent work. In this way, she managed to grow with little original customers(seed customers). She handles different products and different size of orders without a flaw, and she can also help with e-commerce packing and inspection. She has her own warehouse for her customers
• She is the kind of agents i respect a lot who has principles and morals to take their customers' interests to the best.  These agents are not everywhere in Yiwu. In fact, they are rare. I would love to hire one agent person like this if i had a chance.

3.2.2 Lily Yang

• I know Lily for almost 10 years. She works firstly with an Indian agent company for a very short time. Then worked for an agent company in Yiwu for almost 10 years up to now.
• Lily is a great problem solver and solution provider. Whenever, whoever has a problem, she is the kind of person to address them.
• She has a charming personality and she is welcomed by suppliers in Yiwu market. She can make everyone (almost) feel comfortable with her. A great team player too.
• Lily takes care of dozens of customers and helps them buy from Yiwu market, as well as other parts of China, for different kinds of products. She is the kind of star partner you would love to work with when you want to do business with China.

3.2.3 Cally He

• I know Cally for more than 10 years. She has a lovely daughter and a very supportive husband.
• She has rich experiences in Yiwu, as well as in Guangzhou, especially for handbags. She has a shop in Yiwu market for a short period of time and she has good connections with handbags factories.
• She is the kind of person we called self-driven. Keen on learning. Pushing things forward. Ready to have solutions for different cases.
• She is the kind of person you can work with for long term, as long as your business are going well and there are decent profit.

3.2.4 Carol He

• I know Carol for almost 8 years. She has two cute daughters and a very very supportive husband. She is a local Yiwu citizen and lived in a house about 20 minutes drive from Yiwu market. Carol is the few Yiwu agents I know can speak local dialect which can an advantage in some cases.
• Carol has rich experiences in kitchen items and hardware products. She has good experiences with exporting to Africa and the middle east.
• Carol is enthusiastic, warm, and straight forward. Buyers can quickly deicide to work with her or not to work with her, right after a short period of time.
• She takes good care of her customers and can protect their interests to the best. For example, she exported a certain type of steel products to Africa, that product sold very well there. Lots of African businessmen send inquiries for this product. She always refuse them and refer these leads to her customer in Africa. In this way, her customer can keep buying more and they are end-up making some money together.

3.2.5 Min Li

• I know Min for more than 10 years. She has a loving family in Yiwu.
• Min has good experiences in cosmetics and jewelry(stainless steel jewelry). 
• She is also very good for purchasing products from China local sites (1688/taobao...), then repack/prep, finally ship out to customer (Amazon / Walmart etc). She can also do inspections for e-commerce products and shipment before shipping.
• Min is a very honest and straight forward person, you can trust her with your life. She has high standards of working ethics. She can work as a good teammate with you when you're in good fit.

*There must be thousands of agent individuals, or we say individua agents, in Yiwu. Most of them are doing good job. Connecting the buyers and the suppliers in Yiwu market, which generates billions of USD business every year.

When you walk in Yiwu market, for most of time, you will see foreign buyers with one of two local Chinese agent people. These agent people usually work for long hours and do a lot of hard jobs: translation, navigation, negotiation, order follow up, handling suppliers... Some agent people also need to do collection, inspection, container loading, and shipping. It's a lot of work and requires lots of energy and time.

Of course, there are also a small percentage of bad ones, like in everywhere in the world. They are short sighted and only focus on what's before their eyes, taking every chance to get rich fast. You can also filter them by using your common sense.

4. Tips for working with Yiwu Agent

As I said above, most of agents (company and individual) in Yiwu will do an acceptable job. But you have to remember that China is still a developing country, at least for service industry. You can not expect the same service level of Europe or North America.

By using below tips, the chances for you to having bad agents will be very few.

4.1 Show Respect

Be a nice guy. Doesn't cost you anything. But will leave you a good image.

Plus, your agent will do a lot of hard work you will not be able to do or not suitable to do.

Respect, do what you say, be on time... that's the first steps.

4.2 Be Generous

In most of time, your Chinese agent will judge you by your behavior.

Don't be too mean. Please pay attention here what I mean generous is for personal, like buy your agent a lunch, or give them 20 minutes for a quick lunch, or just say thank you at end of the day... Not for business. Business is business.

In typical Chinese culture, for first impression, mean people are not welcomed for most of cases. People like generous behavior. 

4.3 Do diligence

You have to do your homework. Be prepared.

To buy what, at what price, for what quantities, any special certificates or documents needed... what's the plan for this season... What is acceptable and what's not acceptable.  You have to be clear on these fields.

Don't know what you're doing usually put yourself in dangerous situation when working with your agent.

4.4 Don't be in a hurry

Build business, trust, relationship (Guanxi)... step by step.

Most of your agent would like you place a big order. All of the suppliers would like you spend 10k USD with them, better on single item. No, you don't have to.

Marker is changing, esp. if you are doing international trade. Shipping may increase or container can be blocked... You don't need to go at full speed when you are still testing the water.

*All right, that's all what came to my mind today. Feel free to leave us a message or contact us direct when urgent. We will be happy to help! Good luck with you and your Yiwu agents.

Contact Us:

*You can either email us at: YiwuMarketGuide@gmail.com;

Or leave us a message via below contact form;

Or WhatsApp us by the code at bottom of this page, or via mobile phone number +86 159 2428 6660, from 9am to 9pm(China time);

Or visit us at: F2, 2-7, Huan Qu Yi Da (Yiwu Global Reach) Supply Chain Park, Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province, China.

Call us when Urgent:

Phone/WhatsApp/WeChat Number: +86-15924286660

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