Choosing a Chinese supplier is one of the crucial decisions an importer must make, but the question is, where to find a reliable supplier? Nowadays, because of the development of B2B platforms (like Alibaba), it is possible to find sellers from the comfort of your home on a mobile device. Without a doubt, it is a suitable option for beginner importers who don’t have a big budget at the start. Another way is to visit fairs in China to find a future supplier on-site. At this moment, the questions every importer must face might arise: Are there good companies on Alibaba? Perhaps it is better to visit the fair? We will try our best to answer them below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Canton Fair<\/a> is the biggest trade fair. The last edition of the Canton Fair, where we participated, inspired us to bring up this topic. We wanted to check whether Chinese companies from the industry we chose (electronics) exhibiting at the Canton Fair could also be found on Alibaba<\/a>. If yes, we would compare the product’s availability, prices, offers for individual models, and information such as MOQ<\/a>, which was agreed upon at the fair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To our surprise, out of the ten exhibitors we were interested in, four of them were not on Alibaba. Among those who had their profiles on this platform, we did not notice any significant differences in pricing, product availability compared to the on-site catalog or MOQ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At first glance, one could say it is not worth visiting Chinese fairs since most of the exhibitors we checked had their profiles on Alibaba, and the offers posted there did not differ much from those presented at the fair. You may just as well run your sourcing business without leaving home or office. This led people to believe that participation in such events is unnecessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It couldn’t be further from the truth. It is important to remember that many exhibitors didn’t have Alibaba profiles, and their product range and pricing were just as or even more interesting. They would be unavailable to importers who only gravitate towards B2B portals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, the probability of sourcing the same products by different importers is reduced, and the chance of receiving better price offers rises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, at the fair, a meeting with the company’s representatives is possible, which often positively influences further cooperation and helps build trust. Moreover, it allows seeing the products firsthand and asking all the necessary questions, which could prove challenging to get answers to via the internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It should also be mentioned that on platforms such as Alibaba, there are many more intermediaries and fewer producers or factories, as is the case at the fair. It reduces the chances of getting a great deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Undoubtedly, there are good companies on Alibaba and other similar platforms. It is an attractive option for those who are new to importing from China before the business takes off. However, it is important to remember that many Chinese companies participating in fairs don’t have a profile there, and their offers are just as good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A greater number of benefits from cooperation with these kinds of companies and participation in fairs argues that looking for a supplier directly in China is more reasonable. Additionally, on Alibaba, we will only find many intermediaries, while during fairs, we will meet the manufacturers, which is more beneficial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, it is important to remember that whether we meet the supplier at the fair or via Alibaba or another B2B platform<\/a>, we should ALWAYS verify business partners<\/a> to avoid financial losses and unnecessary stress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Choosing a Chinese supplier is one of the crucial decisions an importer must make, but the question is, where to find a reliable supplier? Nowadays, because of the development of B2B platforms (like Alibaba), it is possible to find sellers … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[144,81,190,533,812],"class_list":["post-9275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-import","tag-alibaba","tag-china-ecommerce","tag-chinese-company","tag-sourcing-from-china","tag-verification","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9278,"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9275\/revisions\/9278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Are there good companies on Alibaba? Is it worth it to participate in fairs?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Are there good companies on Alibaba? \u2013 a summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n