The Wholesale Forums

[isydropship]

In an effort to shorten the amount of threads about who's legit and who is not I thought I would write a guide on how to verify the supplier you are intending to use.

1. Is the price realistic?

The price for several reasons is the most important thing. It is the probably the bit on the website/price list that will catch your eye. The number one reason people get scammed is because attractive prices appeal to everyone's personal sense of greed. Many times will buyers look at a website and think that they are going to make a small fortune and lose all common sense and become naive and rush in. Firstly, check the average price on eBay if it looks like you stand to make 2, 3, 4 times your original investment then be very cautious especially with branded products because 9 times out of ten that margin is impossible.

2. The price seems okay, I just want to do a few additional checks to be safe

If you want to be really assured that who you are using are legit then try emailing a few times and asking a few deeper questions rather than price and delivery etc if they can answer respectably then chances are they aren't trying to pull anything. You can even sign up to newsletters and check the efficiency of how frequent they are sending them out and how professional they are.

3. Google and Alibaba are great tools...

Try doing a check on Google or the forum on Alibaba. Type the supplier in + scam and see if anything comes up. It doesn't always work but save you a lot of time and hassle in the long run. You won't always find many people saying how great it is because suppliers too most people are treated like children. They are not given away at any costs and are worth potentially a lot of money to the right people, hence the reluctance of people giving them away.

4. Payment

Paying with a credit card through PayPal is arguably the safest way, always try and give yourself some sort of backing if everything doesn't go to plan. If the seller is pushing you to use Western Union then run and don't look back. Always be cautious when using it even after a relationship has been built as you never know what sort of situation the supplier is in at the other end of the world.

5. Make sure they are selling what they say they are selling!

In many cases people will decide that China is the way to go, you cannot buy anything branded from China so if people are offering you authentic products then you are going to be lumbered with fake goods which is as bad as being scammed full stop. If you have been scammed you are not breaking any rules, if you receive counterfeit goods and do anything other than destroy them or report it you are breaking the law and they are cracking down on it. So if you want branded goods its probably better to source a supplier at home or at least somewhere like the U.S.

6. I'm still stuck?

If you are still stuck then ask a few people around here privately what their thoughts are, everytime you query a supplier on here you are giving it away to thousands of people, not a very good way to look after your child is it? You can always the do the whois search which can work in many cases however you must appreciate that there are people out there who are legit who have just started trading. Not all new websites are scams.

If anybody else would like to add to this then feel free

[Businessinchina]

Here are more articles regarding this topic:

http://resources.alibaba.com/topic/3...s_easily__.htm

http://resources.alibaba.com/topic/1...companies_.htm

http://resources.alibaba.com/topic/2...ou_online_.htm

http://resources.alibaba.com/topic/3..._in_China_.htm

http://resources.alibaba.com/topic/3...s_in_China.htm

http://resources.alibaba.com/topic/3...Inspection.htm


STIN--- A PROFESSIONAL BIZ SERVICE COMPANY IN CHINA!

STIN provides a range of inspection services for manufacturers, retailers and bulk commodity traders, including factory and quality, custody transfer, pre-production, in-production, final random sampling, pre-shipment, and loading supervision.

A Pre-shipment QC Inspection service can tell you whether the goods you buy can meet your buying demand both in quality and quantity requirements etc before delivery. It plays a very important role in quality control and reduce the risks of international business in Asia. Inspection services also include audits of supplier capabilities – i.e., systems, management, and operating procedures, based upon specified quality requirements, including but not limited to, quality systems, manufacturing processes, equipment calibration, procurement, raw material management, semi-finished/finished product management – and verification of product safety, quality, quantity, workmanship, function, colour, size, labelling, packing en route to determining product consistency and compliance with all country, industry, or otherwise-specified requirements.

We can simply act as your ‘eyes’ in the factories in Asia, esp in China. Product inspection involves statistical selection of production samples to check visual and organoleptic aspects including labeling, marking and packing requirements. Final random inspection on the entire consignment reduces import risks. This service is catered to large OEM orders or machinery manufacturing in China.

More professional business service can be available upon request: www.bizinchina.cc

[jitverify.com]

Yes, it is very necessary to visit your suppliers and verify some info they provide to you.
We protect the interests of Western companies by providing a full range of high quality verifications of claims by Chinese companies.

[tvcmall]

This is a very professional way to verify your supplier !

[saffihe]

yes, it seems very useful

[TPH]

Thanks for this post, very helpful. Would you say ordering a sample is a good way to actualy verify a supplier? I suppose it could verify they are not complete scammers, but what's to stop them sending a sample, and then sending nothing once you place a large order? Does this happen often?

[saffihe]

You can ask them to give you some information about their copartner, and you could confirm it with his parter, if it's true, you can trust him.

Second, you could ask some friends in China, they could search more information in China.

[Businessinchina]

Originally Posted by TPH

Thanks for this post, very helpful. Would you say ordering a sample is a good way to actualy verify a supplier? I suppose it could verify they are not complete scammers, but what's to stop them sending a sample, and then sending nothing once you place a large order? Does this happen often?

Sampling is a good way to verify a supplier but not the best way.

Last week we received a report from a UK buyer, saying that the samples good quite good but after they placed a large order with the supplier in Shanghai, the quality is too bad and they lost more than 50000 USD owing to the quality issue.

In this case, do not forget to book a Pre-shipment QC Inspection service from a third-party biz service company like us (www.bizinchina.cc ) when your order is large enough in the future in China!

No international trade is 100% safe for both parties, what we have to do is to do enough homework before payment and delivery ! Take care..

[arenecute]

wow, very useful, thanks!

[SmallVolume]

All are good ideas. I love them...