Equipment is bought once and serviced for years. You can pick the factory perfectly, agree the specification and run acceptance — and still end up with downtime if a unit fails six months in and the spare part is "three months away" or the supplier simply stops replying. This article is for those who already understand that importing industrial equipment from China is about an asset, not a batch of goods: we'll show how to make warranty, spare parts and service real obligations rather than a line on a quote. Across seven years we've seen this is the block most often "forgotten" — and the one that costs the most later.
Why "12-month warranty" guarantees nothing
The phrase "warranty 1 year" with no detail is almost legally empty. What does it cover — only factory defects of assemblies, or consumables too? Who pays to ship a spare part halfway around the world — you or the factory? How fast must the supplier respond — within a day, or "when they can"? What happens if an engineer visit is needed? Without answers to these, the warranty is a word, not a mechanism. So warranty terms go in a separate, detailed contract section (the base is in contract with a Chinese factory).
What the warranty section must contain
- Term and start date. 12–24 months is standard for industrial equipment. Critically: the clock starts from successful start-up (SAT), not the shipment date — otherwise shipping and installation eat half the warranty.
- What's covered. Factory defects of assemblies and materials — yes; consumable wear and operator error — usually not. List the key assemblies by name.
- Who pays for parts and shipping. During the warranty period the defective unit and its shipping are on the supplier. Write this in explicitly, or the "free" part arrives on your air freight.
- Response time (SLA). How many hours/days to respond, to ship a part, to send an engineer if needed.
- Remote support. Video troubleshooting, PLC access for remote diagnostics, language of communication.
Spare parts: 5–10 year availability is its own question
The equipment will outlive several generations of the supplier's models. The main risk: in 3–4 years the unit you need is "no longer produced." To avoid this, agree in advance:
- A spares kit in the delivery. A basic set of wear parts shipped with the machine — so the first failure isn't a month of downtime.
- A guarantee of parts availability for 5–10 years, fixed in the contract.
- A price list for key assemblies upfront — so you're not haggling during a breakdown, when your position is weak.
- A spec of standard components. Bearings, belts, sensors, pneumatics from HIWIN, SKF, SMC, Omron can often be bought locally — demand a list of standard components so you don't depend on one supplier for every small part.
The most expensive unit isn't the one that costs the most — it's the one out of stock while the line is down. A stock of critical parts pays for itself with a single day of avoided downtime.
Service and commissioning: who, at whose cost, how much
Write the engineer-visit specifics into the contract, or "an engineer will come" turns into an argument about invoices:
- Commissioning: included in the price or separate, how many engineer-days, who pays for visa, flights, lodging.
- Staff training: how many days, to what depth, whether there's video material and documentation in a language you can read.
- Post-warranty service: rate for a visit, remote support, engineer availability after the warranty ends.
The main lever: retention and tying to results
A promise of service is worthless once you've paid in full. So the strongest tool is holding back part of the sum (5–10% retention) until the end of the warranty start-up or for a set operating period. As long as you hold some of the money, the supplier is motivated to respond. This is the same logic as paying a Chinese factory in stages: money follows a confirmed result, not the other way round. Tying the final payment to a passed SAT works the same way — you're guaranteed service at start-up because it's paid last.
Don't forget the cost of ownership
Warranty and service aren't a "free bonus" — they're part of the equipment's economics. Into the landed-cost calculation budget: the spares kit, first-year consumables, a possible engineer visit, a stock of critical assemblies. Equipment with no service budget is a time bomb: cheaper at the start, more expensive across its life.
Secure service, not a promise
We write the warranty block, SLA and parts availability into the contract with the Chinese factory before the deposit, hold retention as leverage, and handle warranty claims when something breaks — so you're not talking to a silent platform chat but have behind you a partner who knows the factory and has influence over it.
This is part of equipment procurement support together with foreign-trade consulting.
Check your supplier's warranty terms: email contact@silkwaysourcing.com or message WhatsApp +380 97 883 4765 — send the draft contract and we'll flag what's missing in warranty, spares and service.
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*Sources (verified; check for current editions as of 2026): International Chamber of Commerce — Incoterms 2020; warranty-service practice per industry norms for industrial-equipment supply.*
