Short answer: evaluate a robotics supplier the way you would audit any critical vendor: verify the company is real and is what it claims to be, separate datasheet claims from demonstrated performance on your own workpiece, price the whole deployment rather than the robot, and confirm — before you pay — who will service the machine in your country when it stops. The steps below are the order experienced buyers work through them, whether they are sourcing an articulated arm, a mobile robot or a single component such as a gripper or a 3D camera.
1. Start from the job, not the robot
Write down the task before you look at any catalogue: payload and reach, cycle time, the parts or pallets involved, the environment (dust, washdown, temperature), and what "success" means in numbers. Most failed purchases are specification failures, not product failures — a robot that is excellent at a slightly different job. A supplier who asks detailed questions about your application at this stage is showing you how they will behave later; a supplier who quotes a price before asking any is showing you something too.
2. Verify the company is real — and is what it claims
Check the basics that cost nothing: a registered business at a real address, a working website on its own domain, a product line consistent across its site, its trade-show presence and its directory profiles. Establish whether you are dealing with the manufacturer, an authorised distributor or a trading company — all three can be legitimate, but they differ in who holds stock, who honours the warranty and who can change a specification. A structured starting point is a reviewed directory: the GlobleMatch robotics directory lists robotics companies, each profile compiled from public sources with its sources and a last-verified date shown, so you can cross-check what a company says about itself against an independent record.
3. Separate the datasheet from the demonstration
Datasheets describe a robot under ideal conditions. Ask for evidence under yours: a video of the machine handling your part or a comparable one, the achieved cycle time (not the theoretical one), repeatability measured on the workpiece, and the conditions of any reference installation. For vision systems and end effectors — the categories buyers most often buy across borders — ask what happens at the edges: reflective parts, varying lighting, mixed SKUs. Suppliers who have really deployed their product answer these questions with specifics.
4. Check certification for your market, not theirs
A robot legal to sell in its home market may not be legal to install in yours. For the European Union, ask about CE marking and the machinery documentation that supports it; for North America, ask about the applicable UL/CSA and workplace-safety expectations for the complete cell, not just the arm. Safety certification usually applies to the installed system — robot, end effector, guarding and controls together — so establish early who is responsible for certifying the cell as installed: the supplier, your integrator, or you.
5. Price the whole deployment
The robot's price is often the smaller half of the project. Build the full number: the robot, end effector and sensors, integration and programming, safety hardware, freight, duties and installation, commissioning, training, and a starter set of spare parts. This is also why comparing suppliers on unit price misleads: a cheaper machine with no local integration partner can cost more per working hour than a pricier one with a system integrator in your region who has installed it before.
6. Settle after-sales before you sign
Ask, in writing: Who services the machine in my country? What is the spare-parts lead time for the three parts most likely to wear? Is remote diagnosis available, in what language and time zone? What does the warranty cover, and who pays freight on a returned drive or controller? Get the answers into the quotation. After-sales is where cross-border purchases succeed or fail, and it is decided entirely before the purchase order.
7. Pilot, reference, then scale
Talk to one existing customer in a comparable application — a serious supplier can arrange it. Then pilot: one cell, one line, one warehouse zone, with acceptance criteria agreed in writing before the machine ships. Structure payment in milestones through traceable channels, tied to those criteria. Buyers who follow this sequence rarely have a story that ends with a container of unusable equipment; buyers who skip it occasionally do.
Putting it together
None of these steps require specialist knowledge — they require doing them in order and in writing. If you are starting a search, you can browse the full company directory, shortlist by category and country, or post a request with your specification and let matching suppliers respond. Companies considering the other side of this checklist — being found and trusted by overseas buyers — can see how profiles and visibility work on the Launchpad.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common mistake when buying robots from overseas suppliers?
Comparing unit prices instead of total deployment cost, and skipping the after-sales questions until after payment. The machine is often the smaller half of the project cost, and service arrangements cannot be negotiated once the money has moved.
Should I buy from a manufacturer, a distributor or a trading company?
Any of the three can be the right channel. What matters is knowing which one you are dealing with: who holds stock, who honours the warranty, and who can support installation in your country. Verify it rather than assuming it from a website.
How many quotations should I get?
Enough to see the shape of the market — typically a shortlist of three to five suppliers quoting against the same written specification. Quotations against different specifications cannot be compared, which is why the specification comes first.