Money, payment and conflicts of interest

You do not have to take my word for it. Here is what you can check:

1. The factory quotes you directly. I do not relay prices and I do not mark them up. You see the factory's own proforma invoice, in their name.
2. My fee is a fixed percentage, disclosed in writing before we start. It does not change depending on which factory you choose.
3. I never hold your money. Every payment goes from you to the factory, or through an escrow or platform you control.

Nothing — and you should assume it is possible. So let me be straight about how I work:

What I do not sell: a phone number. A factory contact is worth almost nothing on its own. You can find thousands of them on Alibaba tonight.

What I actually sell: I run the order. That means:

• I check the factory before you pay
• I stand between you and the factory, in Chinese, on your side, for the whole order
• I check the goods against your spec before the balance payment goes out
• I chase the things you cannot chase from 8,000 km away: the real production date, the sub-supplier they quietly switched, the spec they changed without telling you

One policy I will state up front, so there is no surprise later: I do not hand over a supplier's contact details until an order is confirmed. That is not hiding anything — it is how every sourcing agent protects their work, and it is the same reason a recruiter does not send you their candidate list before you sign. Once the order is confirmed, you deal with the factory directly on everything — invoice, production updates, shipping.

And practically: most buyers find that running the coordination themselves costs more than my fee. If you would rather take it in-house after the first order, that is your call — I would rather earn your second order than trap you in your first.

No. Two things protect you here:

1. I sign an NDA before you send me anything — I can send you a simple one-page mutual NDA, or sign yours.
2. I do not work for your competitors in the same product category. Tell me who they are and I will confirm in writing that I will not take them on.

Practically: my business only works if buyers trust me with their supplier lists. Breaking that ends it in one week.

Only the buyer. I do not take commissions from factories, I do not represent factories, and I do not do "supplier introductions for a fee" from the Chinese side.

My only client is the person paying me — the buyer.

Fair question. Here is what you can verify:

• Legal status: I work as an individual, not through a registered company. I am not going to pretend otherwise — it is the kind of thing that is found out in one search. What that means for you in practice: an English-language invoice from me personally, not a corporate invoice, and no Chinese VAT invoice (fapiao).
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lucas-yuan-qa — with my real work history.
• Website: www.lucas-yuan.com — registered to me, with a business email, not a Gmail address.
• Video call: I am happy to do a 15-minute call before you commit anything. Ask me and I will turn my camera on.

If you want, I will do a 15-minute video call and turn my camera on, and you can check the invoice name against my ID. I invoice under my business name and am happy to discuss the details privately before you commit anything. A supplier's sales rep is often not authorised to sign anything — I would rather be the opposite of that.

I would rather you check than assume.

Five routes, in rough order of what most buyers prefer:

1. Payoneer — I invoice you through Payoneer, and you pay by card or bank transfer in USD/EUR/GBP. Fastest for most buyers.
2. WorldFirst — if you already use it for Alibaba.com or AliExpress payments, we can keep the payment there.
3. Wise — useful if you are in Europe and want the exchange rate and the fee shown before you send.
4. Bank transfer (T/T) — I can provide USD account details. Good for larger amounts.
5. Platform escrow — if you would rather pay through Upwork or Fiverr, we can run it there (their fees apply).

I never ask you to send money to a personal Chinese bank account with no paper trail. Account details are only ever sent inside an invoice — never pasted into a page or a chat message.

The full picture — which payment goes where, when each one falls due, and what the invoice contains — is on how payment works.

Two different things, two different rules:

• Commission work (sourcing and order management): invoiced after the order is placed with the factory. Not before. If I do not find you a factory worth ordering from, you do not owe me anything.
• Fixed-price written work (reports, document checks, assessments): agreed up front, invoiced on delivery. This work is priced on what I deliver, not on what happens afterwards.

I do not offer, and will not accept, any arrangement where my fee depends on recovering money or winning a case. That is not modesty — in China it is the specific fact pattern courts treat as fraud.

Yes. I issue a proper English-language invoice (PDF) with:

• My business name and address
• Invoice number and date
• Description of service, amount, currency
• Payment details

That is the document your accountant needs. I do not issue Chinese VAT invoices (fapiao) — buyers almost never need them, and they require a registered Chinese company. If you specifically need one, tell me in advance and I will say honestly whether I can arrange it.

Two ways, depending on what you need:

1. Commission (for sourcing and order management)
8/6/4% of the order value. Charged only after the order is placed with the factory.

2. Fixed-price written reports

• Desk check — $99
• Compliance gap check — $99
• Deep check, on site — $349

I do not bill hourly. You should know the cost before we start, not after.

Full scope and exclusions for each report →