What does a sourcing agent cost in India?

There is no standard rate for sourcing in India, which is exactly why the question is worth asking carefully. What you should really be comparing is not the number but the structure — because the structure decides whose interests the agent is serving.

The four models

Commission on order value. The most common arrangement. Rates are commonly quoted anywhere from about 3% to 10%, falling as order value rises. Simple, and you pay only when you buy. The catch: their income is a function of your spend. An agent on commission has no reason to talk you down to a cheaper supplier, and every reason to let a bigger order through.

Retainer. A fixed monthly fee for ongoing sourcing support. Predictable and neutral on price, but you pay in quiet months too, so it only makes sense with steady volume.

Flat fee per project. A fixed amount per requirement, regardless of order size. Neutral on how much you spend, though it can be poor value on small purchases.

Supplier-paid commission. The agent charges you nothing and takes a cut from the supplier instead. The catch: this is the one to be most careful with. If the supplier pays, the supplier is the customer. The service is free to you because you are not the one being served — and the commission is in the price you pay anyway, just where you cannot see it.

Trading companies are a fifth case that does not look like a fee at all: they buy and resell, and their margin is the difference between the two prices. You never see a fee line because the fee is the price.

Rates move a lot by category, volume and city, so treat every range above as a starting point for negotiation rather than a market price.

What to ask before you agree

• Who pays you, and does anyone else? An agent taking money from both sides is the arrangement to avoid.
• Is the fee on the goods value or the total including freight and GST? The difference is real money.
• What happens if I do not buy? A success-based fee should cost nothing when nothing comes of it.
• Do you take any payment from suppliers for placement or listing? If yes, the shortlist is advertising, not advice.

What we charge

Straight answer: a success-based finder's fee, paid by you, the buyer — and it is currently waived entirely while we build up our first set of clients. Post a requirement today and the sourcing, vetting and comparison cost you nothing.

Two things stay true whatever the fee is doing:

• Suppliers never pay us for placement. A supplier cannot buy their way onto your shortlist, which is what keeps the shortlist worth reading.
• We never take the goods. There is no spread between what a supplier charges and what you pay, so we have nothing to gain from you paying more.

That is the whole reason we can tell you when a quote is too high. An agent on commission cannot say that sentence without arguing against their own invoice.

Working out whether it is worth it

Compare the fee against what it replaces, not against zero:

• The hours you would spend finding and calling suppliers.
• The cost of choosing badly once — a late delivery, a rejected batch, an advance that went nowhere.
• The gap between the first price you would have accepted and the best of three real quotes. On an unfamiliar category this is routinely the largest of the three.

If you want to run that comparison on a live requirement, the quote comparison tool shows the landed-cost gap between quotes, and what a sourcing agent does covers the service itself.

Figures here are indicative market ranges, not quotes. Ask any agent for their terms in writing.