Sourcing Genuine Manufactuers Online

Don't try to focus on branded products or you will run into trouble. Once you pay a Chinese for the branded products, they have your money and then the customs people will confiscate it and you are out in the cold and without your money.

Just go to Google and enter your product with manufacturer in the search box. enter things like -alibaba.com or aliexpress.com and any others that you know might not be thew ones you want. You will have to weed through the results some, but you should find some.

Of course, alibaba and aliexpress etc do have manufacturers, but many are just resellers and it is hard to figure which are which. I have talked to a couple on Skype and feel confident I found the real deal, but who knows?

The popular websites like Alibaba. AliExpress, DhGate, Tradekey, madeinchina.com and numerous others do have some manufacturers listed as suppliers but they are like hen's teeth.

There is no doubt that the vast majority of suppliers listed on those sites as manufacturers are definitely not.

If you want to source genuine manufacturers you must use a sourcing site that does more than just verify that a business exists. There are some that actually check the manufacturing capability before listing a supplier as a manufacturer, and one even checks that the factory complies with international labor standards.

That is totally different to the majority of sites where they don't do any checking of a supplier's manufacturing status unless the supplier pays another big fee. Not many choose to do that.

If a supplier wants to impress, they just buy a badge of status such as Premium, Gold, or on one website they even have to buy status as "Verified". The badges of status are bought, not earned.

Tim Pears is right to warn you not to consider branded items. You will lose your money at the least and there can be worse consequences. If a sourcing site offers big brand names, that is a good reason to avoid dealing with suppliers on that site, because it shows that the site operators don't care about the customers being ripped off.

I have had business dealings in China since 1978 and I have never been ripped off. I was scammed once but that was not in China, it was done by a local sales rep for a big international freight company. My dealings with Chinese businesses have been very enjoyable and profitable.

So yes, in answer to your question, there is a way to source genuine manufacturers online. I would never suggest that you just rely on information that you find on forums, because I know that a lot of it is out of date, or just plain wrong. There is a lot of misinformation, and a lot of throw away lines such as "I have bought from .......com and found some real bargains."

I recommend a couple of safe sites for sourcing, but don't disclose them online because that would be like inviting people to start the importing process wearing a blindfold.

I think you should not focus on "Genuine Manufactuers", but to get a trusted supplier instead. Even you find the genuine manufactuers in China, maybe you won't get the lowest price or better exporting/importing service.