Re Suppliers??

[4shades]

Thinking of buying through Ali Baba or Ali  express (China)

Ali Baba is a platform & you get millions of suppliers..

has any one had any good or bad experience from members of ali baba?

has done a lot of research but still very  confused (you read so many horor stories)

would appreciate some answers.

thanking you in advance 🙂

[digital*ghost]

---

@taeyaselini wrote:

So where do you get affortable suppliers??

---

That really depends on the kind of products you want to sell. For many sellers it's a long process of searching, buying, testing etc before they have a good list of reliable wholesalers. 

Locally, you can check out trade shows and make wholesale contacts that way. Some websites don't wholesale, per se, but offer bulk discounts for higher volume purchases that are nearly as good. (Some of my stock I technically purchase at full retail price, but even those prices are very competitive and consequently my own prices are still lower than other domestic sellers for those kinds of items). 

There are a lot of wholesaler websites that offer products from a wide variety of manufacturers, varying in price (usually a little more expensive) but minimum order quantities are also lower. They're basically agents for numerous factories, sometimes they'll have stock on hand, other times they'll order it from the manufacturer after you place your order with them (occasionally they won't be able to acquire all items, though).

Most of them will accept a wider variety of payment methods, too, including PayPal, which is often not offered on either of the Ali~ sites.

That being said, it's better to treat the Ali~ sites as a list of sellers, each one needing proper investigation and research before deciding to take the plunge and make a purchase from any of them, ask them questions, check for reviews on other sites, etc.  

[saarzi · Accepted solution]

It depends how serious you are about your business.

Ive imported by myself previously from India and China for a business outside of Ebay - I would never use Alibaba or aliexpress to buy anything - they are simply too expensive compared to what is available in these countries. I found most of the products I got direct from wholesalers in China and India were 3 to 5 times more expensive on Alibaba.  It might seem cheap to us, and our economy, but they do not work on our economy, and most of it is inflated "tourist" prices.

In saying that, if youre not looking for a full time business, buying from Alibaba can still make you a quick profit, just not as big as if you do a little more research.

If you do buy from Alibaba, only ever buy from GOLD members who have been on the site 2 years or more. They have a little gold coin with the amount of years they have been on the site.  Gold members are verified - they have identity AND business licenses checked. Its not fool proof obviously, but it should make your dealings easier than had you used non verified members. I also found they generally have better English skills and have more experience with dealing with Western customers (not always, but in general).  

Also, be really careful what you buy. If youre buying a large quantity, get a sample or two first to check for quality (and the chemicals used on things like clothing etc because they honestly STINK and youll get complaints, and some are actually illegal in Australia). Also, check your competitors on Ebay - items from Alibaba have mostly saturated the market - no point in trying to sell something that 100 other sellers are selling.

Also, if you only ever import under $1000 worth of stock, you wont have to pay GST / duties on it.... its much safer (thats going to change un Jul 2017)..... but be careful with customs - its easy to do, but it can be very expensive and you need to add this onto item cost, and if you try to go under the radar and get caught you can be in big trouble (more so if you dont have an ABN and do your taxes properly).

[4shades]

Thank you for advising, much appreciated 🙂

[4shades]

Dont know much about drop shiping??