VAhut is a newer virtual assistant company in China, but they may not have survived their first year. I reached out to them on two occasions and never got a response.
The company is based out of Hangzhou, a city with a metro population over 20 million — a city that in typical ignorant-American fashion I’d never even heard of. They maintain a US-presence and sales office in South Carolina. VAhut.com began operations in 2012.
It was really only a matter of time until some entrepreneurial Chinese began a VA company to compete on an international level. At the moment, the only other one I’m aware of with any significant market presence is BPOVIA, but they seem to be aimed at larger corporate clients.
Naturally, the environment in China makes it a great place to build a virtual assistant firm catering both to the massive and growing domestic market as well as the mature worldwide VA market. The workforce is young, educated, and still has relatively low wages compared with more developed countries. The only real obstacle to international success is the language barrier.
VAhut offers the familiar administrative virtual assistant services, but much of their work is China-specific. For instance, they really specialize in travel assistance to China, sourcing and managing the relationships with manufacturers and suppliers, factory audits, and helping clients enter the Chinese market.
The company offers three levels of service: pay as you go, a monthly subscription, or project-based engagement.
The Pay as You Go plan allows you to pay an hourly rate for services on-demand. As I mentioned, when I inquired about what their hourly rates might be, I was greeted with silence.
Monthly subscriptions are available in 10, 20, 40, 80, and 160-hour packages. Again, prices are unknown at this time.
VA Hut will also quote one-off projects, and could be a good resource perhaps for initial research into the Chinese market or some other job that requires local expertise on the ground.
For most cases, VAhut uses a team-based approach where tasks are handled by different VAs on an as-available basis.
I wish these guys success because they have a well-designed site and seem poised to tackle to the giant opportunity of being the first real Chinese virtual assistant company aimed at small businesses and individuals. But until they figure out how to respond to customer inquiries I’m afraid we’ll have to keep looking for a better solution.
Have you worked with VAhut? If so, please share a review of your experience below so others can make an informed decision.
I have worked with them for years actually and really sad that they’re closed. They were the best. Now I can’t get a reply. I was hoping I could locate my past assistant
Hi sean,
Do you know any other Chinese VS companies available?
Thanks