"How To Get Ahead In Business? Work SMART Not Hard - Here's How"
Alright so now lets say you want a little bit quicker of a start or don't exactly think you have the people skills to go off calling random companies. Honestly, finding out from the actual company is the most reliable way and best way to assure you don't end up with some middleman again, but the following avenue is slightly less time consuming.
As we all know, China is a well established factory for a great number of products circulating throughout the world. Some basic research will show you that most brand name designers have their OEM factories located directly in China. So where else do you think you could find the lowest prices? A wholesaler located in China that deals directly with these factories will most likely have the lowest prices you can find. So a good way to jump start that eBay business would be to get these rock bottom prices. The trick? Finding them and getting them to do business with you. Fortunately, we've solved that problem for you.
Finding that wholesaler in China is as simple as visiting a few websites:
Alibaba
EC21
WorldWideBrands
We recently came across the following websites that we believe to be similar to those above, but please be aware that we have not tested them fully. So far they give us no reason to believe they are not up to par, but please use them with caution.
New sites:
ECVV
Made-In-China
Global Sources (of which China Sources is a part of)
Each of these is discussed in detail below.
"Word of Warning...You Get What You Pay For"
Let me preface this by saying that this much more reliable than Google searches, but please do remember that a ‘fake wholesaler’ that is determined enough to make his/her money can even make it onto these sites. As opposed to Google where over 90% of the results that come up in your search are these fake wholesalers, on these sites its flipped, only 10% are worthless wholesalers with inflated prices. As you will see below, WorldWideBrands solves even this problem making it near 100% all legit wholesalers.Alibab and EC21 both are very similar sites and I have spent a good amount of time on both searching for numerous products with quite a good amount of success. I personally like EC21’s site layout a little better and find searching on there to be more organized and easier (a more professional feel). To my best knowledge over 75% of wholesalers from China are registered under at least one of these two sites as well as a substantial portion of other international and domestic bulk suppliers.
"How To Get The Cream Of the Crop From These Websites"
The best way to search through these two sites is to look through the certified suppliers which provide you with even better odds against coming across unreliable wholesalers (which tend to be free members).
-On EC21 the certified suppliers are the TradeOK and TradePro members:
TradeOK info
TradePro info
-On Alibaba the certified suppliers are listed as Gold Suppliers:
Gold Suppliers info
To search through the certified suppliers use this URL for EC21
Premium Suppliers Search
(A sample search for iPods on EC21)
And the equivalent URLs for Alibaba
Gold Suppliers Search
(A sample search for iPods on Alibaba)
So once you find a supplier you are interested in with a product you'd like, simply click the 'contact now', 'inquire', 'send message', etc button and send the wholesaler a message. A typical message for me, so that I don't have to sign up for the website and fill out all forms goes as follows. I click on the link to contact the member, fill in my name/company name/email etc and for the message I write:
"Hi I am interested in some of the products you have listed. If possible, would you be able to email me the pricing guide for the following products: iPod Nano and Sony PSP. I would be ordering from the US and would like to know what your minimum order amount for shipping here. Also do you provide samples?
Thanks,
Solpol
SolpolAuctions@gmail.com"
Within hours, you will get a response that email. And you can copy and paste that same email to as many wholesalers that match the product would like. I believe one of the sites also gives you the ability to just put a check next to each wholesaler that you want to contact, and you can send them all the same message - so one message to many many suppliers at the same time can save you lots of time.
Next: Hand Checked, Personally Interviewed Wholesalers - Only For The Serious
