Quote: (10-06-2014 04:39 PM)DVY Wrote:
@TheFinalEpic- I've looked at Alibaba, but id say 50%+ of it is fraud or deceptive marketing. The "wholesaler" is either a scammer or a drop-shipper who ships from manufacturer to you at much higher markups (retail prices basically).
The easiest way to get wholesale price estimates is to go unto EBAY and check out lowest prices there, then subtract 30% and you'll get to wholesale prices. <--- Doable, but youll have to put in a good amount of work.
Master Distributor prices are generally 30% under wholesale prices. This requires huge Minimum Order Quantity and very likely a formal agreement both in Chinese and English. <--- Basically impossible for an average person to get it. Expect boots on the ground, long discussions back and forth, and a minimum order of at least 250k+, followed by a yearly commitment of recurring orders. If you fail to keep up, you'll get dropped and somebody else will come in.
Tips for ordering from unknowns- never agree to pay w/ WU or TT. If you must, use PayPal as it has fraud protection. Escrow is another option.
If you decide to go for the Alibaba route, stick to gold suppliers of at least 4-5 years. Scammers are much less likely in this group.
Very good tips here. Couple things I notice. THere are actually real manufactures on Alibaba but as you said it's also flooded with traders and resellers. You really have to search for them and know what questions to ask. ALso like you said much better if you got boots on the ground.
I think 250k for a true wholesale order may be a bit steep but you are right about them only wanting to fuck with people who are serious. I was selling hoverboards last year during the hoverboard gold rush. I would order 100 boards and that was considered a "sample" order. I'm spending 20k and that's a "sample". That means if a 1000 piece order comes in a week after my order I get bumped and theirs gets filled. I wound up finally just ordering from US warehouses and distributors. I paid quite a bit more but didn't deal with customs headaches, I could get defects replaced which that product had a huge percentage of defects and I could get my stuff quickly like within a couple days so though I was probably paying double the price there was still money to be made and I cut out a lot of the risks and headaches.
