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How do I not get scammed on AliBaba? RFQ? (alien.top)

submitted 1 year ago by maowly@alien.top to c/entrepreneur@indiehackers.space

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Hi. It’s my first time posting here and I had a few questions.

There’s a product that I want to bring to market and I was looking to get it manufactured in China.

I’ve been looking on AliBaba and unfortunately have only managed to get in contact with a single manufacturer that seems suitable.

After briefing them on my idea they proceeded to give me a $20,000-$30,000 quote on a sample which seems quite excessive. Their reasoning being that it is completely different to the current products on the market.

I have since tried to use the Request for Quotation function but it constantly says that it has been rejected with no proper information about further details that may be required.

As such, I have very little to compare my original quote to and I honestly have no idea if this is a fair price or not. Does anyone have any ideas?

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[–] linzsteiner@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

We found a manufacturer in China through Alibaba and that has been successful. It is very similar to something they were already producing, just required some design changes...nothing complicated

We had a 3rd party quality control person inspect the first few runs of product at several points during the process.

As a side note, Before we placed our first order my partner flew out there to see the factory so he could make sure it was legit and establish himself personally with the account exec. This was based on the recommendation of a family member who had goods manufactured for years in China. I get the sense that a personal relationship is still highly valued.

[–] Open_Patience7625@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

[–] bumblejumper@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

You should talk to a sourcing company to handle this for you. Typically they're US based, but they have contacts in China that do the actual manufacturing.

The benefit of working with the better ones is that you'll pay the sourcing company in the US directly, and they handle everything from there. You're not going to get screwed in terms of losing money, because it's all US based transactions.

PM me if you want a recommendation. I've worked with a lot of people looking for the same, and found a couple of good companies that do millions in volume every month for their clients.