Alibaba is one the best places in the world to find suppliers to supply goods to you and start your own business. It allows you to search for suppliers even if you don’t have a product to sell in mind. Despite that, it can be devastating if you don’t know how to operate on the site to achieve your aim.
Hello readers, you are welcome to this blog edition. My name is Antoaneta, and I am so glad to be here again today. There is a lot of content about general lifestyle and financial freedom on my platform. Therefore I was hoping you could take out time to subscribe to my platform, where you will see other related content. My Facebook community also needs your likes. So please join my Facebook page to get updated about whatever is happening on my channel.
Let’s get back to business. Today, I want to share how to use alibaba.com, the most important things you need to know about the site, and how to get the goods shipped to you.
How to Effectively Find Good Suppliers:
Research
The first thing you want to do on Alibaba is to search for good quality products that you can buy and good suppliers that you can buy from. The type of search you make depends on whether you have a product you want to sell in mind or not.
If you have a product in mind, all you need to do is go to Alibaba and type in the keyword of the product you want to research. But if you don’t have any product in mind, browse through the site. You can note where you write those products that interest you to come back to make more research about them. You should also check out for trending products to see some ideas that you might not even think of that may stand out to you.
When you search for a particular product, you see a lot of results. So, to get the best quality one to start with and remain saved from disputes and risks, you want to filter the result by “verified suppliers and trade assurance”. Trade assurances proffer you protection when you order a product. It also gives you convenient payment options like a credit card, wire transfer, and pay later option. So you have a chance of a refund if the product doesn’t meet the promised quality.
You can further filter based on minimum order quantity and the number of years a supplier has been on Alibaba. It will help you to narrow down to five to ten suppliers that you can proceed with.
Communicate With Supplier
Following the research and selection you have made in the first step, you now want to reach out to the selected suppliers and ask them questions that will allow you to choose the best one you can work with. You can reach out to them through Alibaba, and after that, you can transit to using Whatsapp, Emails, Skype, or WeChat. And these are some of the questions you want to ask them.
a) Their minimum order quantity and equivalent prices on bulk orders
b) Lead time (how long is it going to take them to manufacture a given quantity)
c) What customization option they have
d) The packaging options they offer and the correspondent prices
e) Which company they partner with for their shipping and how much each option costs
f) About on-site inspection (you can also ask them for videos and pictures of their warehouse)
Ask them these questions even if they are on their listing so that you can determine how they’re treating you. Are they providing in-depth answers to your questions? If not, that can be a sign of a red flag for you.
Order A Sample
After you narrowed down your list of suppliers according to the replies you get in the second step, you want to ask the top three suppliers on your list to send you a sample so that you can physically check for the product and see if it meets the promised quality. Although you often pay for the shipping cost, it will help you judge the best supplier you are most comfortable ordering from and the best product to give you more success in your business.
Select The Best Supplier
Based on all the information you’ve obtained so far, you want to confine yourself to the best supplier you want to proceed with. And before you proceed with them, you need to verify some crucial things.
Firstly, you want to know the price per ordered quantity, as well as the packaging price. You also want to know the payment terms you will be using. Usually, you deposit like 30% to start production and then balance when the product is ready to be shipped to you.
So, you want to have clear information about the payment terms. Also, it would be best if you asked for the payment method. And as a newbie, I recommend that you make payment through Alibaba with trade assurance so that you can be protected from getting scammed.
When you have more insight and built that relationship with your supplier, you can choose other subsequent orders.
You also want to know the shipping price and choose between shipping by boat, which is less expensive but takes longer before it arrives, and shipping by plane, which is more expensive but arrives sooner.
You can ask them for an itemized invoice that shows that everything is in place and you guys are in agreement.
Make Payment For The Product
After you have established all the needed information with your supplier, the next things are to make a deposit. And you can make payments through Alibaba with either debit card transfer, wire transfer, or PayPal. You also have the option pay later option from Alibaba if you’re qualified as a US buyer.
Once you make the payment, they’re going to begin production, and they shall let you know when it’s ready.
Check The Units And Get Them Shipped
After you have made your first deposit and production has been done, the last step is that you want to check the products for quality and have them shipped to you.
If you’re making use of trade assurance, Alibaba withholds the money until you receive the product and you confirm that the quality and other agreements are met. And if there’s any problem of dissatisfaction, you can get a refund of your money, or they act as the middleman between you and the supplier to settle the dispute.
And it would be best if you also considered the shipping destination. If the shipping is by boat, it’ll arrive at the port. So, you’ll need a freight forwarder to move the product from the port to whatever the destination is.
It would be best if you also tried to ask them to take high-resolution pictures and videos of the product so that you can confirm the quality before they ship it to you.
It’s recommended that you also ask about insurance. Some shipping options already have divergent stages of insurance. It means that if anything is lost or broken and or some issue that might be of additional cost occurred, you’re insured.
And you can also employ a third-party inspection company to help you assess the products depending on the supplier’s location.
The third-party inspection company will go to the warehouse to check the product and, after that, give you an inspection report that confirms that the product is of good quality and actually what you paid for. Your supplier can refer a third party to you.
Alibaba also has an inspection service, which isn’t too expensive. The price might be different depending on the location, and you can always ask about that too.
Once you’re pleased and satisfied with all the processes, you can now make payment for the remaining 70 percent balance, and after that, you should receive your product.
The products are now ready to begin selling on Amazon or any other platform you shipped the product to. You’re also free to ship the product to your residence to check them yourself.
To run a shop online or even a physical shop you need to find a good supplier. How to find a supplier is the question, there are many websites online where you can find suppliers but what about good suppliers, one of the main websites is Alibaba and Aliexpress. Alibaba is a fascinating experience if you know how to use it. It allows you to explore different kinds of products and choose the hot ones even if you don’t know what to sell before. The steps have shown you how Alibaba works. Take your time to explore and enjoy a fantastic business experience.
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