Sourcing Agent Outdoor & Garden

China Sourcing Support for Outdoor & Garden Products | Milestone-based Project We are TIIKK, a fast-growing trading company from Germany. We operate across various product categories with a clear focus on Amazon in Europe. As we continue to grow our portfolio, we are strengthening our sourcing capabilities and building a reliable supplier base in China. We are looking for a number of good and flexible suppliers for long-term, deep partnerships — and for the right sourcing partner to help us find them. For this purpose, we are looking for an experienced sourcing professional with a background in outdoor / garden products. This is a paid initial project, structured into fixed-price milestones (one milestone per product). Objective of this Project The goal of this project is to support us in identifying and commercially validating suitable manufacturers for selected products in: Outdoor & Garden (bulky and seasonal products, e.g. steel/aluminium constructions and outdoor textiles) Expected Deliverables Per product / milestone, the expected outcome is: • Identification of relevant manufacturers (real factories, not trading companies — incl. suppliers not listed on Alibaba.com) • 5–6 solid quotes per product, delivered in our RFQ / cost breakdown sheet incl. tiered pricing • Supplier tracking sheet maintained for a structured comparison of all quotations • The top 3 suppliers marked and shortly explained (why these) • Initial commercial pre-qualification and a FIRST ROUND OF PRICE PRE-NEGOTIATION with the shortlisted suppliers • Basic validation of price logic (materials vs manufacturing effort) The focus is not only on collecting quotes, but on understanding whether supplier pricing is commercially reasonable. Required Experience You should have: • Experience sourcing outdoor / garden or comparable bulky products • Understanding of the Chinese manufacturing landscape for metal constructions and outdoor textiles • Experience communicating and negotiating with factories • Ability to identify key cost drivers in supplier pricing Basic familiarity with EU compliance requirements (e.g. REACH, GPSR) is a plus. Payment & Collaboration This is a paid project conducted fully on Upwork. Payment is milestone-based (fixed price per product/milestone), agreed on Upwork before project start. We do not bill hourly. This initial engagement is designed as a first collaboration, with potential follow up projects if the cooperation proves successful. Screening Question To help us understand your sourcing approach, please start your proposal with a short answer to these two questions: 1) When receiving a supplier quotation for a bulky outdoor product (e.g. a steel-frame garden product), what key cost components would you review to assess whether the price is reasonable? 2) The product is highly seasonal — how do you make sure a supplier can actually deliver on time ahead of the season? We look forward to working with a sourcing professional who combines industry knowledge with commercial awareness.