“What you must do, what you should do and what would be nice to do.”

Do you know the difference?Johnny Sandhu of BV does and he presents a great PP on it at the Global Sources Trade Show Seminar, Buying from China: What new buyers need to know.First, what you must do includes anything that is mandated by either the Chinese government of the government of the country that you’re importing into.  If you don’t comply with these regulations you’ll be breaking the law and maybe get your goods either confiscated or stuck in port.  Part of this is also your necessary research into what expenses (duties, taxes) you’ll be paying to legally export and import your product.  Your 3PQ and customs broker can/will tell you each and every thing that you must do to meet compliance standards—all you have to do is ask.Second, what you should do would include anything that is not mandated but is morally right and/or is conventionally accepted practice in your industry.This is where I find that many people coming to China lose their way.  The idea that “China is risky, so let’s just go for it” is really the wrong way to see things.  In fact, China is really not much more risky that you're willing to make it yourself.  CLB just ran this on trademark law in China, for example.The funny thing about foreigners here is that some of us will scream and rant about how bad it is here but then turn around and say something akin to “when in Rome!”  You can’t have it both ways.  If you expect your supplier to be honest with you, you must be honest with him and not give him (or anyone else) any reason to question your ethics.Bottom line?  Just “do the right thing.”  Meet all the standards you can and are expected back home, even if you’re not going to get tested for them.  Does this cost more?  Yes.  Does it take more time?  Yes.  Is it worth is?  Yes.  Definitely.Sometimes we lose customers because we tell the ugly truth—we over estimate rather than underestimate expected time, problems and costs.  We are rarely wrong in our estimations and when we are it is always because we were still too optimistic (but much closer to reality than we would have been otherwise).  As you can guess, because of this policy, we are hardly ever the fastest or the cheapest bid.  But I regularly have people come back to me and hire me to fix projects they started with people who gave them “better” bids than what we offered but can’t meet their own commitments.The point is this: I believe in playing it safe and I believe in karma.  Over-estimate problems/expenses and underestimate success/profit and you'll probably come out just about right.  And even if the right thing looks bad on paper, do the right thing and you’ll come out better for it in the end.Third, what would be nice to do.  This is anything that you think will give your product a marketing or other advantage.  This has nothing to do with testing or taxes but everything to do with sales and/or product uniqueness.   These are also the things that the 3PQ can’t define for you.You cannot mix these three categories up (must, should, nice).  If you focus on the nice-to-have and neglect the must-have you may find that your product can't be imported into your home country or after you go through all the headaches of production in China there is a 217% duty that puts you in debt rather than makes you any money at all (what happened to someone I just met at the show last week).