PPE Buyer's Guide What Do You Need To Know Before You Pay

1. Does the vendor actually own a company in the US?

You want to be legally protected. It is almost impossible to chase your money back if the seller, often from South East Asia or China, refuses or fails to deliver your order. International contracts and court orders are difficult to enforce. Magic Ice Cube (MIC) is a California based company, with multiple properties and 57 employees.

2. Does the vendor have warehouses, loading docks, and all the logistical power necessary to execute your order?

Without the proper infrastructure, you can expect a lot of headaches on logistics, storage, and shipping.

MIC has a 70,000 square feet warehouse in Ontario, CA, 30 minutes away from our office in downtown Los Angeles. Our warehouse has 22 loading docks, 7 fork lifts and 5 trucks. With 11 cameras live streaming everything happens in our warehouse, along with 26 on-site staff members working there everyday, clients can be assured that their products will always arrive in a timely manner.

3. Are their prices way under the market prices?

If the prices they are presenting are way under the market prices, you have reason to be alarmed. No one is selling you Nitrile at $9/box. If a guy tells you that he can do that, the chances are he is a scam. Don’t believe these deals until you have someone you trust to inspect the lot in person. 

4. Do they have a good track record?

Without the professional experience of working with large clients, vendors may not have a proper understanding of the standards and efficiency required to fulfill their client's needs. For example, cases may not be consistently palletized and could be labelled incorrectly. MIC has provided PPE to the US Border Protection, the FBI, Victoria’s Secret, Google, Los Angeles County, and CVS, to name a few.

5. Who are the individuals behind the company?

People are the essence of any business — you need a team with good track record and experience. MIC’s founder, Rudy Rong, is a serial entrepreneur. He was elected Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2017 and has been interview by new agencies such as CNN and CNBC for his past successful ventures. The Rong family has deep connections in China, and are board members of multiple factories.

6. Do they have people in the factories that can live stream the production lines and oversee the production process?

Roughly 60% of underproduction deals are scams. You need to be careful about individuals who are not the owners of the factories, and are not wiling to allow you into the facilities. We've had quite a few clients who never received their products after payment, and are still tied up in expensive and time-consuming lawsuits. MIC guarantees all of our products with full returns, refunds, or exchanges. While this has never occurred, we understand that this can be a shady industry, and want all of our clients to be as comfortable as possible with their orders. To date, we have a 100% invoice delivery rate.

7. Do they understand the concept of “Guan Xi”?

In China, it is all about network. The truth of the matter is that individuals with no industry background or status will simply not able to get you the allocations needed, and will be passing on their higher costs to you, the buyer. MIC has extensive network in China — two of our founding members were born and raised in China, and thus will be able to fulfill any requests you may have. We pride ourselves in our company culture of honesty, efficiency, and transparency.