Salehoo Forum and Chinese Suppliers
When evaluating an online wholesale sourcing community, one important question to ask is does it have a forum, and if so, how active is the membership.
Side Note:
I am going to drop some supplier names and tips, so please bear with me a moment.
End Side Note
The membership is your key to not only finding suppliers but understanding how to to deal with them. Supplier are essentially individuals, and each has its own personality and its own set of talents. As a retailer or reseller–online or off–it is your job to understand your sources and learn how to work with them. A membership community with an active forum can be a great asset in that regard and, in fact, breath life into an otherwise dead directory list. The point being, that if you need help finding a source or finding information about a source, you can put it to the forum community and gather an immense amount of product sourcing intelligence.
I know there is a fair amount of controversy regarding the Salehoo forum. Well, you can’t please all the people all the time. However, for myself, I always find discussion of interest. No matter what I find in the supplier directory, I always check on the forum to get feedback. If you belong to other communities and are not taking advantage of the forum resource, you may be missing out on important information.
Salehoo provides a relatively low cost entry into the world of wholesale and dropship sourcing. However, if you are trying to run a business or figure out how to make money online on the cheap, you may need/want to rethink what you are doing. You may have to be willing to spend some money on information resources. If you don’t know what you want or have any idea what information would be important enought to spend money and/or time on, then you may need to slow down and give that some thought. If you want to sell physical goods on the Internet, and you are not sure what you want to sell or where to get products, then why not spend the money for the best information you can get. That would be, in my opinion, Salehoo , Skip McGrath’s eBay product sourcing directory and course, and One Source, otherwise known as World Wide Brands. All together, that may cost you more than you want to spend, but the information is your livelihood, so the cost is really a drop in the bucket. Besides, if you are in business enought to list it on your taxes, then the money you spend will count as an itemized deduction.
So now the tips . . .
Be cautious when approaching Chinese suppliers. Most of the name brand goods produced in China are fakes, reproductions, or knockoffs. When buying name brand goods, always check to see if they ship with certification and warranty. Always ask if it ships in the original box. Always check that the supplier has the goods in stock, and always verify that the supplier has the quantity in stock that you want to buy. This advice spplies strongly to the suppliers that you find on DHgate.com. DHgate.com gets mixed reviews. Generally, I think, inexperienced buyers get burned with poor products and knockoffs. I have spent some time looking at product and company listings and found that reproduction iPods, for example, were listed as reproductions, so I didn’t find anything out of line. However, my attempts at communicating with DHgate suppliers resulted in no return response.
Alibaba.com is another site that brings together buyers and sellers. Alibaba crops up on many different lists. Again, you have to approach sellers with caution and take the time to get to know them so that you can make a reasonable decision about whether or not to do business with them. As a buyer, you need to sure of what you are getting. A recent visit to the Salehoo forum yeilded a number of negative comments about the suppliers found on Alibaba. If I were looking for a manufacturer or supplier of a particular product on Alibaba, I would take the time to dig a little deeper and get more information.
www.made-in-china.com looks like a pretty solid china sourcing company. Comments on Salehoo are positive. One clear strong point is the ability to purchase small quantities and yet, if need be, negotiate lower prices for large volume purchases.
Lightbox.com is also interesting. Again, this appears to be a solid company and also allows the purchase of small quantities. There are many different categories of goods available.
Are you after iPods? It seems as if everyone if after iPods. Finding genuine iPods, iPods shipping with certification, warranty, and original box and packing is a tough project, though it can be done. Just a moment ago I found a lead on the Salehoo forum. You can find the same lead I just stumbled I just stumbled upon by searching the forum.
And by the way, you know how folks on eBay manage to sell consumer electronics for unusually low prices? Know how they do it? Closeout and liquidation suppllier. Know where to find them?
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