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What questions do you ask a new supplier to feel them out?
 

Pretty straight forward.

Whenever I'm researching a new supplier, I email them a series of questions. How they respond determines whether or not I will buy from them.

Here are the questions I ask...

- What is your turn around time? If I place an order, how long till I receive it?

- What are your means of shipping? EMS? DHL?

- How much product do I have to purchase at a time in order to get free shipping?

- Do you have a good track record of getting your product through US Customs?

- If US customs seizes a shipment. Will you reship at no charge?


Those are the questions I ask. What questions do you ask, if any, when researching a supplier?

Those are all good questions. I assume you look through their feedback and research the items that they have sold before. You will find sellers that have tons of feedback but it is for small items like pens or light bulbs.

Yes a lot of that info is provided in Suppliers profile

I usually go through the same sorts of things to be honest. I also usually put in there the fact that I do turnover lots and if I was to find their product a real success / good quality they will be in line for bigger orders (helps build a bit of trust, fizzles out the scam side of things).

I also have been so careful sometimes I have asked them to give me tracking numbers from previous orders to the UK over the last month to see whether they have had problems with customs.

The one regarding the reshipment is always a good one, lots of suppliers say they only reship once however if the second time it gets seized I open a case and get my money back by scanning the letter from customs as it gives PayPal the go ahead to refund. Thats your cue to look for a new supplier

I don't purchase items from DHGate or Alibabba so I have no way of seeing a suppliers feedback. I go right to the wholesaler.

I as well give them the run around by saying that if their product is good and their service is good that I will buy lots from them. That's usually what gets them to answer my questions.

All the above are good points, i think the key issue asking; will you reship free if seized by customs and whether you ship by ems/dhl is that its very easy to give any answer to these questions just to get the order, if they scam you once thats probably enough.

I think asking for the tracking numbers is definatley a good way to check this way you can see if theyre really sending goods on a regular basis and whether their packages are clearing customs.

I think the best though is probably to request a scan of their certificate of incorporation, a lot of scammers would have a hard time providing this as they either work under ⊗⊗⊗⊗ company names, or are one man shows with no real company.

Also you can bluff that your coming to china in a few days and want to come to their office/factory to meet in person see what response you get, if theyre genuine theyl more than likely be very welcoming offeing to book your hotel and pick you up at airport etc.

Another good way is actually give them a call and have a chat to feel them out more, it much easier to tell on the phone is someone is bluffing than via emails..

The language barrier via the phone is an obstacle. I got a call last night from a supplier that I have been researching, and while I like that they called me and were able to answer all my questions, between myself and the Chinese lady on the other end, we were constantly repeating ourselves due to the language barrier. Live chat via the net is the best as far as the communication goes I've found.

forgot about the potential language issue..having said that most of the serious trading companies/factories/wholesalers have someone working for them that speaks english to quite a high level..this obviously isnt always going to be the case, but if theyre big they 9/10 usually do..

What I like is when they have someone that stays up even though it's the middle of the night in China. Right now its 8:41am by me, but it's 10:42pm where my supplier is, and I just got done doing a live chat with them.

Its quite normal to have work days finishing around 2am, only to start back up again a few hours later, oh the joys of international trade!

The new supplier I went through this ONE TIME is garbage. Despite all the my questions, and their quick, accurate (accurate as far as towards what I wanted to hear I guess) answers, they still boned me.

sigh

Should have ordered one small sample to feel them out, but I didn't. Put in a big order and now my customers will be pissed cause they won't get their stuff till next week at the earliest.

Oh man that's bad. I did a sample order to china week ago, for scammed and was sent plastic toys instead of what I wanted, made it back within an hour though.

your looking for honest genuine suppliers

so if you know that something is true,,,e.g uggs are trouble with uk customs

ask them and see there answer,if they are a serious suppler they should tell you they are very risky for UK(not a given but)

also if a supplier tells you they dont reship or refund,they do not control customs in your country

that is a good sign too (not a given either)

always research,spend hours looking for the best of the best,there are ways to sort the real supps from the small time scammers

ask the questions,see if you like what your hearing,if you like,do a small test purchase

promise good business if all is well

but you can never be 100% so i would always keep orders small untill you have 99% confidence in there abilitys

always try to be professional

another thing i noticed too,the serious suppliers do not take paypal(not a given either)

yeah they know the problems,not that they want to scam you

please dont take all this as fact,it is my opinion on how to source goods safely but you can never be 100% safe

GTB sorry man have to disagree

The scammers I have found are the ones who dont take PP.

Even though I didnt pay my current supplier PP they offer it but are 100% reliable.

Some are just cowboys... and I DO NOT LIKE tradekey!

disagree all you want lad

never been scammed myself

so obviously i am dong something right and you are not

also hdavey10.....

what with the "and I DO NOT LIKE tradekey" LOOOL

i would like to know why???

its always been good to me:)

maybe you didn't utilize it correctly

I only go through suppliers that let me use my Visa CC because if they **** me over I can dispute the charge and get my money back.

I don't understand this...

How is it good if they say they won't reship if customs seizes the shipment?

because they are not chattin sh*t to you just to sell you there goods

they are been honest,none of the info is fact mate,just personal opinions

BUT,i have never gone wrong so far

if you find a supp and want me to check it out for you i am more than happy to give my opinions

as long as they are appreciated!

basically,my suppliers have confidence in their ability and dont need to give you everything you want,in other words they are saying if you dont like it,dont buy,we have plenty more customers.....

think about it slapzilla....if you was a scammer and you wanted to scam someone you would say yes to everything they wanted to right and promise them the world

a genuine supplier will normally say no to your demands LOL

just my opinions from personal experience

steer clear of the ones that say yes to all your ridiculous demands and make sure you ask them for things that no decent supplier would say yes to

some suppliers are genuine and do resend,but just be aware,ask alot of questions....

I dont like it because lots of them buy their feedback.. if you actually email tradekey about sellers that have e.g. 10000 feedback , I had a reply from tradekey saying they only had 1 positive and about 20 negatives but still was the highest listed on that search I did ... now can you see why.

The site seems a joke in my eyes lol

I agree about what you say about suppliers being too good to be true.

My supplier actually gives 30% back if it gets seized so not bad.

aw this gets better and better

where did you find your supplier lol

i already know the answer

ask how many ppl on here if they got scammed....and where they found the scammer

Where did I find my supplier? on tradekey........thats what were talking about ...

LOL joker

nevermind lad