China Inspector bribery, how many inspectors coming to audit ?

I used to be one of those quality inspectors sent in Chinese factory to perform quality inspection, factory audit, container loading supervision.

Before going on site, we had to contact the vendor to let him know some inspector would come to inspect the goods they have produced for their overseas customers.

I was always amused by vendor who after the first exchange of email where instantly asking how many inspector would come.

At this time I was quite young and naive (it was 7 years ago now, I just graduated from school and had a very limited experience). Inspection after inspection discussing with factory owners they indicated to me that they were frequently requested by inspectors from several well known and well reputable inspection companies to give them some under the table envelope called “hong bao” in Chinese. They explained to me that usually the inspector would ask how many container are going to be sent and what is the total value of the shipment. Eventually, the inspector would issue a pass report to facilitate the supplier to ship the goods which may be improper.

I then realized the reason why vendor asked us by email how many inspectors would come was that they have to plan to withdraw enough cash to be able to please the inspectors who would come to visit them.

In another post I will explain how some inspection and quality control companies success to deal efficiently with this kind of issue.

And you, did you already have this kind of case whole importing or controlling the quality in China ?