Questions to Ask Alibaba Suppliers

The questions

Open any question to see why it works.

1. 1

   Are you a manufacturer or a trading company?

   Almost every listing implies a factory, and a large share of them are agents who place your order elsewhere. Neither is disqualifying, but a trading company adds a margin and a layer between you and the line, so you want to know which conversation you are in before you compare prices.

2. 2

   Can you send a copy of your business license?

   The license shows the registered company name, the registered capital, and the scope of business, which should include manufacturing if they claim to be a factory. The name on it is also the name that should appear on your invoice and on the bank account, and any mismatch between those three is the point where most sourcing problems begin.

3. 3

   How long have you been making this specific product, and who else do you make it for?

   Factories often list dozens of unrelated products because the catalog is a marketing surface, not a capability list. Asking about this one item separates the people who run the tooling from the people who will subcontract it, and named customer categories are easier to sanity check than a claim about years in business.

4. 4

   What is your minimum order quantity, and what does it look like for a first order?

   The published minimum is usually a filter rather than a rule, and many suppliers will run a smaller first order at a higher unit price. A supplier who will not move at all on a first order is telling you either that the material has a real batch size or that your volume is too small to interest them.

5. 5

   What is the unit price at one hundred, five hundred and a thousand units?

   The shape of the price break tells you whether the quote is built from materials and labor or invented on the spot. A price that barely moves with volume usually means a trading margin sitting on top, and a price that collapses at volume tells you where the real production batch begins.

6. 6

   Is that price EXW, FOB or DDP, and from which port?

   A number without an incoterm is not a quote. The gap between EXW and FOB can swallow the discount you negotiated, and DDP quotes from suppliers often assume a customs and duty treatment that is theirs to choose and yours to pay for later. Get the term and the port in the same sentence as the price.

7. 7

   What is the lead time for a sample, and for production after the deposit clears?

   Ask for both, because suppliers quote the production time and leave out the two weeks of sampling and the queue in front of you. Also ask what the lead time becomes near Chinese New Year, when factories close for several weeks and every schedule in the country shifts.

8. 8

   Can I buy a sample at full price, and do you credit it against a first order?

   Free samples are a sales cost and are sometimes pulled from a shelf rather than made on your spec, which is why paid samples tend to be more representative. The credit question is standard practice, and a supplier who has never heard of it is unfamiliar with export customers.

9. 9

   Are there tooling or mold costs, and who owns the mold afterwards?

   Tooling is often quoted as a one-time fee without any statement of ownership, which means the mold stays with the factory and moving your order elsewhere means paying for it twice. If you are paying for tooling, the ownership and the right to have it shipped out should be written down before the deposit.

10. 10

    Which certifications does this product hold, and can you send the certificate itself?

    Ask for the document, not the claim, and check that the product and the company named on it are the ones you are buying from. Certificates belonging to a different factory or an expired scope circulate widely, and the certificate number is normally verifiable with the issuing body.

11. 11

    Which countries do you already export this to?

    A factory that already ships to your market has met its labeling, safety and documentation requirements before, and knows what the paperwork looks like. One that has only ever shipped domestically may make an excellent product that cannot legally be sold where you are.

12. 12

    What is your typical defect rate, and how do you inspect before shipping?

    Any answer of zero is a signal that nobody is measuring. What you want is a number, a description of what counts as a defect, and whether inspection is a sampling plan or a person glancing at the top layer of each carton.

13. 13

    Will you allow a third-party inspection before the balance payment?

    This is the most decisive question in the whole conversation. Suppliers who work with export customers regularly say yes without hesitation and will ask which agency. Hesitation, conditions, or an explanation of why it is unnecessary should end the discussion regardless of how good the price is.

14. 14

    What are the payment terms, and will you go through Alibaba Trade Assurance?

    Thirty percent deposit with the balance against shipping documents is a common structure, and full payment in advance to a new supplier is not. A request to move the payment off the platform, especially after you agreed terms on it, removes your only route to a claim and is the most common way first-time buyers lose money.

15. 15

    What bank account will the payment go to, and is it in the company name?

    Payment should go to the same registered entity that appears on the business license and the proforma invoice. A personal account, a differently named intermediary, or a sudden change of bank details part way through an order is the standard shape of both internal fraud and email interception.

16. 16

    Who will I be dealing with during production, and can we do a video call through the factory?

    The salesperson who quotes is frequently not the person who follows the order, and turnover is high. A short live walk through the line, arranged rather than recorded, confirms the building exists and shows you the machine that makes your product, which no photo set can do.

17. 17

    How will this be packed: units per carton, carton dimensions, and gross weight?

    You cannot get a real freight quote without these three numbers, and volumetric weight can make a light product expensive to ship by air. Packing detail also tells you whether the goods will survive a container, which is where products designed for domestic delivery fail.

18. 18

    Can you print my logo and packaging, and what artwork do you need from me?

    The answer should include a file format, a color system, and a physical proof before the run. Suppliers who say just send a picture will print exactly what you sent at whatever resolution it happened to be, and the whole run will be wrong in the same way.

19. 19

    If the goods arrive different from the approved sample, what happens?

    Ask before you order, in writing, and look for something specific: rework, a replacement run, a credit on the next order. The value of the question is partly the answer and partly the reaction, since a supplier who has handled this before has a routine and one who has not will change the subject.

20. 20

    Do you already supply anyone selling into my market on the same platform I sell on?

    If the factory supplies three sellers competing on the same listing, your differentiation is packaging alone and your price floor is set by whoever is most desperate. It is also worth knowing whether the factory sells direct under its own brand, which quietly makes them your competitor.