Hi, I have been in contact with 5 different suppliers in Alibaba for a product I would like to purchase and now am trying to make a decision as to whom I should place an order with. The supplier who has been the most helpful, professional, provided the most detailed information and who I would like to choose is not verified but they have had the onsite inspection by Alibaba staff. Is it too risky to go with this supplier? Does anyone have any experience? Thanks
The supplier you can trust is the one who factory you have had someone walk around and who you can verify owns the factory. Very easy to find middleman, brokers, resellers. If looking to do factory quantities - usually high MOQ - then can be a lot harder.
It depends on the price. I’ve got an unofficial ceiling of a grand on new suppliers, but for my stuff initial orders tend to be sub 500, if they arrive on time and are decent, I up the quantity. The tardy ones I simply don’t buy from again. The clue for me is how long it takes from order to dispatch. Clearly, as said, some are just buy and sell merchants, and often asking simple questions confuses them as they’ve never even seen the products. One of my regular suppliers is in this category, but gives me access to lower moqs. I can live with that. I took a chance the other day on a good price item similar to one line I already do, but a silly brand name. When they arrived, they were my usual brand, I ordered more!
As Fisicx said... I'd say 85-90% are retailers or wholesalers rather than manufacturers. Manufacturers are on there, but they are outweighed by those pretending to be one.
I have done business for reasonably long periods of time (many years) with several suppliers on Alibaba and have visited factories in China twice. From experience, it's difficult to tell exactly who you're working with until you meet them. I would try to fathom whether they are the actual factory and how professional they were. I would not base your decision too heavily on price either. Some may be agents requiring a higher price, some offering lower prices may not be as professional. Some offering slightly higher prices than you've found elsewhere may be the real deal and the most professional. From experience, working with the most legitimate, professional company is the most important factor.
Maybe hire a sourcing agent to help you, some suppliers in Alibaba are just the middleman, not the real factory. You can hire an agent to inverstigate for you, let them to send you video sor photos.
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