Where can I buy low priced, quality wholesale goods?

My signature contains a direct link to my website where you can buy the book .

I have been offline for a little while, but watch this space for my answers to posts by ibas.

I would not recomend any site such as Doba.com, where you have to buy a membership in order to buy stuff. Not a good idea, as most of the stuff you can find there can be found elsewhere for nothing, And often the prices are too high to make a profit.

they both sucks and sell lot of china garbage and overpriced

I would not use them
Michael Ladd

Hi. Thanks so much for your input. Would you mind telling me of the sites that you recommend?

Regards

Richard

I bought some products from Aliexpress, most of the products on apparel is not as described and some of them are very disappointing.

Very useful post thank you very much. I checked your website.

This is true. I think these marketplaces are excellent for market research, though you might find that you physically have to visit the factories/offices of companies on the site to inspect facilities or sign an agreement.

Exactly. This is how I find almost all my sources.

One thing to keep in mind is that often the person you are competing with on ebay is the Distributor. Pricing on ebay is often way less than it should be. This is because many markups are based on Distributor pricing and not Wholesale. Dont go thinking you are going to find a magical source on something like 5-Hour Energy. I am a buyer for a 70 store C-store chain. Our distibutor makes .07 per bottle off us and its obvious many of those selling on ebay are buying direct.

Yes, for two reasons:

1. It is obvious that very few warriors read an entire thread, and very few read all threads relevant to a particular topic, but mainly because:
2. It is relevant to the point I am making as this more complete quote giving the context shows: " I ran an importing business for 22 years before retirement and franchised it in 4 countries. Only a couple of my franchisees ever visited the factories, instead relying on the safe sourcing practices that I taught them."

That context shows that it is not essential to visit the factories in order to successfully operate an importing business. I taught them how to source and how to import and with those very few exceptions they did so from home.

That was the point I was making and without the words that you quoted it would not make much sense.
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Hi AffiliateRg,

Gold suppliers are no better than any verified supplier because they are just verified suppliers who have bought gold status. A small number of them have paid extra for some real checking to be done. They may be OK.

Make sure you read the fine print relating to the rules for using escrow, which is now called Secure Payment. There are procedures to follow within a strict time limit, and I have read a number of reports that some suppliers on Alibaba and AliExpress have worked out how to use that time limit to avoid claims.

If someone is determined to buy from wholesalers at inflated prices instead of buying direct from real manufacturers at the prices that wholesalers pay, they should at least do some research on the sourcing sites.

For example GlobalSources, like all the popular sourcing sites give status ranking to their suppliers in return for payment.

DHgate have long list of complaints filed against them on ripoffreport.com.

Liquidation.com has a huge list of complaints filed against them on ripoffreport.com.

Just because someone has heard good things about a sourcing site is no reason to just plunge in the deep end and use that site to locate suppliers.
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Because so few read right through any thread, let me just remind everyone that it is your money you are spending, so don't take for granted that sourcing sites suggested on the forum are safe.

Try a search for Alibaba on Ripoff Report | Scams, reviews, complaints, lawsuits and frauds. File a report, post your review. Consumers educating consumers. where you will find a lot of people who have had bad experiences.

BKenn is right about most guys on Alibaba being agents. Working with agents usually makes it more difficult, not less so, to buy smaller quantities. The reasons are:

1. Agents or traders must make a big sale on the first occasion with a new buyer because they know that they will rarely get a repeat order.
2. They often have no formal arrangement (if any) with a manufacturer, they just use the manufacturer's photos, hope to get an order and then hope to get the manufacturer to supply. If the order is a big one, they will probably get the manufacturer to supply but if not, they get nothing and have to refund your money.

Big MOQs are quoted by manufacturers to avoid being pestered by newbies, wannabees, and small fry. If you take the right approach most can be persuaded to supply small quantities at genuine ex-factory prices.

Regarding Quality Control; Just asking will usually get you great assurances, but you need cold hard proof in the form of ISO certification. You also need to know that many certificates for whatever purpose, are forged, so you need to know how to get confirmation whether or not they are genuine.

I would say not just "if possible work with manufacturers", but it is essential that you work with manufacturers if you want profit margins that are probably beyond your wildest dreams. You are going to need a lot of luck to find real manufacturers if you try sourcing on the popular sourcing websites.

You may think you are getting wonderful bargain prices if you buy from a wholesaler, but imagine how much better you can buy if you go to the wholesaler's supplier - the actual manufacturer.

DanielJ's reply is typical of what happens when people use Alibaba for sourcing. There is no doubt that you can make money buying on Alibaba, but as he said "I've also come across a LOT of scammers". He has learned how to spot them,' but why take the risk?

I teach my students how to use safe sourcing sites, where they can have a lot more confidence that they will not be ripped off.

Alibaba admitted that 2236 Gold Suppliers had defrauded customers. See my posts on the thread: How Trustworthy is Alibaba.com? It quotes from an Economist article headed "Alibaba and the 2236 Thieves." See a more recent revelation here: China’s Consumer Protection Watchdog Reports On Alibaba

Don't forget that Gold Suppliers buy that status, they don't earn it, and for a long time during this year Alibaba discounted the fee from $2990 to $299. What does that say about Gold Supplier status? Now every man and his dog is a Gold Supplier.

@AffiliateRg,

My signature contains a direct link to my website where you can buy the book .

I have been offline for a little while, but watch this space for my answers to posts by ibas.

You are quite right that shipping costs can be a substantial part of total landed cost. The solution is simple:

Don't buy from the traders and wholesalers that you will find by the thousands listed on the most popular sourcing sites. If you buy direct from genuine manufacturers it is possible to buy small quantities at prices that will allow for door to door air courier charges and still make good profits.

I know, because I and my franchisees did it for 22 years, and although the business is now owned by someone else, those same franchisees are still doing very nicely.

You mention Taobao in a later post so I will comment on that also. Maybe all I need to say is that Taobao is owned by Alibaba, but for those who haven't read any posts about Alibaba, let me deal specifically with Taobao.

The website is in Chinese and is intended for use by Chinese buyers. English translations will make you either laugh or cry, and many Chinese entrepreneurs know that, so they have set up businesses as middle men to buy from Taobao for English speakers.

Some offer English translations, many of which are no better than Google Translate's near impossible version. All of them charge a fee for their service, but buyers are working partly blindfolded. They can't be sure if their middle man is buying from the lowest price source or the source that pays them the highest commission.

Taobao allows the sale of big brand goods. That may be OK for buyers in China and HK where intellectual property protection is almost non-existent, but buyers from western countries risk confiscation, fines, and at the least flagging of their name and address by Customs so every shipment ever after will be delayed.

You will not find manufacturers listed on Taobao, so although the prices may look good compared to what you pay in western countries they are nowhere near as low as you can buy from genuine manufacturers.

Your confusion seems to come from the comments in your last sentence. Anyone who buys from the kind of suppliers you are describing is not really running a viable business.

It is possible to import small quantities profitably. To do so resellers must follow this procedure:

• Do your market research as taught by Auctiondebteliminator
• Use a safe sourcing site to locate suppliers. Avoid the big popular sites that are always being recommended on WF.
• Choose only genuine manufacturers to deal with.
• Ignore MOQs
• Negotiate a small order
• Make sure you are getting the best possible price
• Have the supplier pre-pay door to door freight
• Sell, sell, sell.

I know you will still be confused, but that is due to your mindset that seems to think that everyone must buy from wholesalers. Buying direct from manufacturers, even for small quantities can result in buying prices that do allow for costly EMS or air couriers and still leave heaps of profit.

True, but how much more are they willing to go ?

Looking at sellers from China Mainland or HK - damn....lots and lots of sales. Hard to compete if your cost is already higher than their selling price.

If I do the basic math based on shipping with either FEDEX ( real bad IMO ) , DHL, EMS I won't be able to get much in neither weight or volume for my buck. Unless the items are really small and weigh next to nothing...

Next step would be considering Ocean Freight. A heck of a lot cheaper but also with surprising cost's no one wants to talk about.

Example:

1 cbm ( cubicmeter ) from HK to US, port of Long Beach, CA.

Cheap with $ 125.00. Sounds good. But there is more, of course.

$ 40.00 for the ISF filing to start. 2 days in advance to be filed or penalty.

After it gets to the warehouse the fun starts. 50 bucks for forklift charges.
50 bucks for the broker you need to have to clear customs. Wharfage, demurraghe. devaining. Some of those are included with shippers but not always.

First time import ? Get ready for CBP to take a look at your stuff. That will run you anywhere from 400 to 500 bucks , depending on where it needs to go to be checked.

So, even Ocean Freight is pretty much out of the question for "small" orders. Doesn't matter if you get 1 cbm or 10 cbm - those charges are always the same.

I agree with you. I usually buy Canadian or Usa. The shipping is usually faster too. Last item ive ordered from China on ebay was 1 month and 1/2 ago and i still haven't received it. Will consider NOT buying from China again.

Thanks AffiliateRg,

I intend keeping on with it while ever I still enjoy what I am doing. Having been forced to retire due to ill health I wrote and published it to stop myself going crazy doing nothing, and I get a lot of pleasure out of helping people get started in importing.

Hello. I have heard good things about both sites but I don't know about the dropshipping side of things, I only know that they are supposedly good places to find wholesale suppliers. I know that worldwidebrands verifies all suppliers in their database.

You might like to have a look at the thread: Is WorldWide Brands worth the $299 membership fee?
and in relation to eSources, I suggest you check out the complaints on
www.ripoffreport.com/reports/specific_search/esources

Now if you want to really make money out of your websites you might consider buying small inventories direct from the manufacturers overseas rather than paying the inflated prices charge by wholesalers and other middle men.

Marcmart is like a single supplier version of the large sourcing sites. The difference is that Marcmart only supply as wholesalers or middlemen and they compete directly with their customers as their post says. "(We still sell them on Ebay, ect)"

Their discounts for dropship resellers range from 5% to 12%. How can anyone make money at those rates? Resellers would be like low paid employees of Marcmart.

If you choose to stock inventory and buy wholesale, the discount rates for wholesale buyers ranges from 2% to 30 %.

Warriors may prefer to buy small inventories direct from the manufacturers where wholesalers like Marcmart buy, and that way they can enjoy margins many times higher.

Volumerate is owned by Dealextreme. Do a search for DX.com on Ripoff Report | Scams, reviews, complaints, lawsuits and frauds. File a report, post your review. Consumers educating consumers. before deciding whether to buy through one of their sites.

Warriors should never accept off the cuff suggestions about sourcing. Always check them out. Sometimes it requires a bit of detective work but it could save you a bad experience.

There are hundreds of sourcing sites that I would advise my students to avoid, and only a very small number that I recommend.

I am wary of this as you have little history here on the WF.

You have certainly not read many posts about Alibaba on this forum, and you could not possibly have looked them up on ripoffreport.com where there are 36 adverse reports on Alibaba, and 20 on their offshoot Aliexpress.

I strongly advise Warriors to always check sources that are casually recommended on the forum. It is my business to do so because I teach safe sourcing, and I have to protect my students, but everyone should do those checks.

After all it is your hard earned money you are risking on the say so of someone who often knows nothing about safe sourcing.

You might like to read the threads: How Trustworthy is Alibaba.com?
and the more recent revelations on China’s Consumer Protection Watchdog Reports On Alibaba

Yes, I would like an answer to this one too please!

AffiliateRG and Importexport,

affiliaterg thank you very much for starting this thread and importexport thank you a ton for some excellent insights from your own personal experience.

I have read every post in this thread and it is amazing that some people chime in without reading a single reply or post.

For someone starting out or thinking in this type of direction, it can sound like a daunting task to get started but with some of the info passed right here in this thread, (some replies) it removes some of that fear and doubt.

I too am jumping in head first but will be doing as much research as possible first.

A few years back (5-6 yrs ago) I did have some dealings with an offshore manufacture (china) and "importexport" is absolutely correct, I was able to negotiate an excellent price for 200 units (small product) and the manufacture actually paid the export/shipping costs for me. There original minimum was 1000 units but the shipping and customs was going to cost me almost as much as the product so they were willing to cut it for my continued business and eat that cost themselves.

I ended up placing numerous orders with them and they continued their excellent service with me and paid all costs to export to the US. Unfortunately my biz fizzled based on new technology and lack of availability of what I was doing at the time..

I basically ended up with a 400 percent free markup on my product at the time and still beat the prices of almost every other person selling similar or the same item on ebay.

Make sure and do your due diligence, like importexport mentioned, dealing manufacture direct kills the competition 10 fold. My only tough part of the whole encounter was dealing with my manufacture rep, me being born and bread American (English speaking and hearing) and a native born and bread chinese was difficult at times although it was a great experience for me as was for her, we kept in contact for quite sometime even after my biz fizzled.

If you are asking about brand name products the answer is NO.

And don't ever be tempted to buy the fakes. Sooner or later you will get caught and at the very least the goods will be confiscated and you lose your money.

Before blindly accepting any recommendations warriors should do some research. Warriors should never accept off the cuff suggestions about sourcing. Always check them out. Sometimes it requires a bit of detective work but it could save you a bad experience.

DHgate has a lot of unfavorable comments posted on Ripoff Report | Scams, reviews, complaints, lawsuits and frauds. File a report, post your review. Consumers educating consumers.
and you will also find heaps of bad reviews just by doing a Google search.

There are hundreds of sourcing sites that I would advise my students to avoid, and only a very small number that I recommend.

If you want the prices that the wholesalers pay before they add their margin, forget about buying from wholesalers at all. Go direct to the manufacturers overseas, where you will get prices that make "wholesale" look very expensive.

Surely it makes sense to buy the products at the lowest possible price.

If you follow the crowd and buy from wholesalers, they are getting profit that could so easily be in your bank account.

Time and time again we see posts like this that show that people don't bother searching the forum and certainly don't read many of the posts. Doba has taken a beating on this forum so do a little search of the forum and see why.

While you are at it, check out Ripoff Report | doba.com Search of Complaints & Reviews
40 complaints and this one: Ripoff Report | doba directory of Complaints & Reviews
135 complaints.

The difference between the two report lists is that on the first one the search is for doba.com and the second one the search is for doba. This shows that it is necessary to search thoroughly.

These last 2 posts highight the fact that few people seem to bother reading more than 1 post before they reply.

On Feb 20 I posted a response to one recommending DHgate and the same applies to Aliexpress, but also to other popular sourcing sites.

Do yourselves a favor. Before you start searching for suppliers on the popular websites, put the names DHgate, Aliexpress, DX.com, Alibaba, tradekey, madeinchina.com, and any others you see recommended on the forum into the search bar at Ripoff Report | Scams, reviews, complaints, lawsuits and frauds. File a report, post your review. Consumers educating consumers.

Remember it is your money you are risking. Spending some time and effort on research could save you a bad experience. If you are doing a Google search for reviews don't forget that some review sites are in fact affiliate sites pretending to provide reviews, but using their fake reviews to get you to click on the sites where they get paid a commission.

There are a few safe sites where you can find genuine manufacturers and if you use the right approach you can place small orders at such low prices that you will wonder why you ever threw money away buying at high "wholesale" prices.

I suggest reading this thread from the beginning. As far as Alibaba goes (not to mention dhgate etc), you really need to be careful. It's not only the manufacturers or agents, there are lots of other frauds to deal with. And I have a story to tell for example.

I had a 4-year contract with a decent manufacturer, everything was running smooth up to one point when I got a call from the manufacturer saying that the transfer hasn't still arrived at their bank. So my first thought was OK I will call my bank and sort it out asap (usually numbers missing etc). To my surprise, I was told that the transfer has gone through successfully. And several days ago... That was alarming.

So I got back to my PC, looked everything and remembered that the manufacturer even told me that they received the transfer. I also remembered they asked me to make the transfer to another acc as their current bank had some issues (can't recall the issue) so I told them to look at the other account they gave me. I got a response that they didn't provide any new accounts to me and what was I talking about. I then obviously knew that it was bad.

I followed up the e-mails we exchanged and I wasn't able to figure it out for about an half an hour and then I saw it. The email extension was different, instead of .com there was .net etc. I dated this back to two months before the transfer even happen. So we instantly filed a fraud case, told the Chinese what we discovered and they did the same.

It was about 60-70k transfer. These guys were monitoring the e-mails several months before and I remember talking the supplier several times without knowing someone is keeping a close eye on the emails, just changing them a bit. I remember calling them about the new acc (wasn't able to reach them), and ended up asking a confirmation about the new acc via email. which was obviously confirmed.

I was later able to get the emails from Chinese side as well and I compared them with mine, it was a masterful job making each email a bit tilted. Eerie stuff as they even mimicked the manufactures writing style, and did it very well.

They were so confident that they went for the 70% (I had a 30/70 agreement with them). 30% before (to correct acc) and 70% against BL (to fraud acc). I was quite lucky to escape this with bruises as the shipment was being late and as I had a government contract I urged them to release the BL after the transfer asap (to avoid any delays). So these fraud guys made sure that I was getting my BL and I did. They were simply doing this to make sure there was enough days between the transfer and finding out what was going on. They made sure I was pleased so they had enough time to get the money and vanish.

The problem was on their side, one of the executives who were CC'd was simply hacked. At least that what they said to us. Agents working on our side suspected an inside job, but they were purely speculating on the emails. There was nothing anyone could do about it. They never saw the money.

So yes, there are many things you need to be aware of and that was just tip of the iceberg of stuff you might encounter on your ventures.

Thanks @PGCEE. What you described is only one of the thousands of scams that happen every year to people who buy from suppliers on places like Alibaba and DHGate.

There is a lot of smoke and mirrors on Alibaba, and working out fact from fiction takes experience. I share that experience with warriors in my thread (see below).

For that amount of money you should have used a Letter of Credit. (L/C) An L/C is only paid by your bank to the supplier after the goods have shipped, and the supplier has met every tiny detail of your order, as specified on the L/C.

Using L/Cs is not totally safe either, because expert scammers can provide fake Bills of Lading.(B/L) As a result the safest payment method using L/Cs is to insist on a reputable, long-standing international inspection service verifying the loading of the goods on board, after first verifying the quality, and the loading of the container, and the sealing of the container. They should also verify the authenticity of the B/L.

For more information on the subject of safe product sourcing and importing, see my thread: Ask Me Anything About Product Sourcing And Importing For Profit. ― Veteran Importer Here

You can ask questions there and get answers from someone who has had a long lifetime of experience in shipping, exporting, and importing.

Walter Hay

Welcome! True, L/C is very reasonable, especially while working with new suppliers. The problem with L/C is that it's quite expensive to obtain. As my orders are almost always based on the technical description I like to keep myself safe with on-site inspections. Reasonably priced, and helps you sleep at night. Gets off-topic, but you usually get 'scammed' because you are being comfortable and making assumptions on what the other side should logically be doing. This is where the problems begin, but I guess these stories are for another thread!

I agree. Very few people seem to know that Warrior Forum has a search facility, or else they can't be bothered using it.

It is also obvious that most don't bother reading more than the last one or two posts if that.

The Spam posts by DanBr and iris zhao might have temporarily revived this old thread, but they have certainly not added any value.

My conclusions come from many years of experience. I can categorically state that the majority of suppliers listed as manufacturers on Alibaba (and other popular sourcing sites including Aliexpress) are not manufacturers. Here's an example:

Recently one of my students decided against my advice to go to Alibaba for sourcing. He found seven likely suppliers, all claiming to be manufacturers. Having read my book, little warning bells sounded, and he asked me to help check them out.

Within less than 10 minutes I had found that five of those manufacturers were in fact wholesalers. It took me another few minutes to check out the other two and only one of them was really a manufacturer.

There are ways to find out who is genuine, but I prefer to send my students to safe sourcing sites where they can be sure that suppliers are what they claim to be.

People such as our OP are not interested in buying from the B2C suppliers that you refer to. They want to buy at the best possible prices and the only way to do that is to go direct to the manufacturers, but not to those manufacturers who have in effect become retailers like those B2C suppliers you are referring to.

Please do yourself a favor and read this thread from the beginning.

Alibaba and DHGate have very bad reputations.

Walter Hay

A lot of people like you have done well by buying through Alibaba, but they are the lucky ones. Thousands of people have been scammed by Gold Suppliers.

You will find that most importing experts and gurus will tell you go to Alibaba, but they don't tell you how to avoid being scammed except "Only buy from Gold Suppliers". They don't seem to know that Gold Suppliers are plain old verified suppliers who have spent as little as $299 to buy a Gold Supplier badge. (This year it has gone up to $699. Still not much if you want to scam thousands of dollars off gullible buyers.)

In case you did not know, a verified supplier is one who has a registered business, and at least on the day they were visited by Alibaba they had an office. It might have been rented for the day, but that is enough for you to be told they are verified. Verification of suppliers does nothing for you as a buyer, and a gold badge does the same.

The great majority of suppliers listed on Alibaba are traders masquerading as manufacturers. You don't want to buy from traders because they have bought the product from a manufacturer, added a big margin and sold it to you. If you want maximum profits you need to buy direct from real manufacturers.

Just remember, you are swimming with sharks, so be careful.

If you have any questions about safe sourcing you might like to post them on my thread: Ask Me Anything About Product Sourcing And Importing For Profit. ― Veteran Importer Here.

Walter

Warriors should be careful about accepting such off-the-cuff recommendations. Alibaba is renowned for the number of people who have been scammed by suppliers listed on that site.

I have already posted warnings on this thread, mostly in answer to recommendations to use Alibaba. See Posts #5, #26, #32, #39, #42, #70, #98, #108, #112, #124 (just a few posts back on this page). I suggest that everyone should do themselves a favor and read this whole thread.

Indiamart also has a large number of scammers operating there, but if you must use a risky site like that, only consider ones that have a “Trust Certificate” issued by Dun & Bradstreet.
Walter

If Kole can import the products you want to sell, so can you. You can buy direct from the manufacturer and make a killing by bypassing the wholesalers.

See Post #132 above.

Walter Hay

How do you know if they are trustworthy?

I began importing from China in 1987 and I know how the system works. It is very common for agents to not only charge you a commission (that's OK they have to make a living) but they also get a commission from the supplier they find for you.

If you want the best product and the best prices you need to learn how to safely source your products. To help you on your way I have an AMA thread Ask Me Anything About Product Sourcing And Importing For Profit. ― Veteran Importer Here. where you can get a lot of helpful information. You can ask questions there if you like and get an answer that is based on a lifetime of experience.

Walter Hay
Provenchinasourcing