How to order equipment in China?

Question

Electronics

In general, we needed one piece of iron (a stream scanner). From what is offered on the market, there is either something that does not suit you in terms of characteristics, or something worth the cost of a spaceship.
In the order of delirium, I decided to find out if anyone had experience in ordering small-scale production in China? And can they help with the development itself, or do you need to hire specialists separately?
The bottom line is this - you need to sanitize 2 types of two-dimensional barcodes (2 from one sticker at once) from a tape (a reel of 5 thousand stickers). Requirements - the scanning speed is as high as possible (the tape moves quite quickly) + 100% readability of all barcodes (there is a detector before the scanner that detects defects, so only readable barcodes get under the scanner).
Well, as compact as possible.

Answer 1

option 1: there is a set of companies that are smuggling goods from China with off-docs and all that.
option 2: there is a set of firms that are smuggling goods from China through their channels.
option 3: if you do not need to report to the accounting department, then talk to the seller and ask him to indicate the price in the invoice is less than the allowed limit.

Answer 2

If the number of required devices is up to 10 pieces, then you just need to find some research institute or design bureau and order the development of a prototype from them (if only 1 copy is required, then the prototype will be the product).
For Chinese offices, small-scale production is 100-1000 pieces (how lucky to negotiate with the seller). And it’s better to order development nearby, otherwise you will spend more on sending test samples than on production itself.