Obviously China has its risks when importing goods. The plus is that products are extremely cheap, but the cons are that they are either fakes or poorly made products. Here are five tips for importing Chinese goods.
Pay attention to the product means just that, if the chinese wholesaler website that you are looking at carries any of the fraudulent items I listed on my last post then stay away, far away. This means that the company/manufacturer is trying to make a quick buck selling ‘real’ items which are indeed knockoffs. However, if the company you are evaluating sells unmarked and quality items then this is a good business to start up a relationship with.
Do some background research on the website where you found this information. Things like Alexa ranking and Google Pagerank are a good place to start. How long as the website been around? Do a Google search like this “EXAMPLE.com review” to see if there are scam reports and feedback on transactions done with those sites. You should steer towards websites that have ratings, reviews etc.
Domain evaluation includes what I stated above as well as determining if the website’s domain contains the branded product name, such as the iphone, or garmin. If it does then the website is absolutely a fake and steer clear.
Is their contact information readily available? While ready contact information doesn’t guarantee reliability, a lack of contact information constitutes a deficit in credibility. Do not do business with websites that don’t list a physical address and a phone number.
Finally be careful on how you pay. Credit cards and PayPal are usually the safest ways to conduct transactions. However, most chinese wholesalers do not accept these methods on a regular basis. A common form of payment is wire transfer. Make sure that it isn’t a personal account and a business account and steer clear of Western Union and Money gram since those are likely a scam.