If you’ve been looking at starting an FBA business you almost certainly have come across Alibaba. Alibaba is a massive Chinese marketplace with millions of sellers and tens of millions of products for sale in any quantity. Sourcing a product on Alibaba and selling on Amazon is one of the most popular methods to do FBA and it’s a great place to start as a beginner. Check out our low-risk, step by step guide to help you get started and save you time and money.
Read MoreValidation is a great place to set the foundation for sourcing your product. During validation, you’re able to organize your project and get everything in place for the full sourcing. For most projects, this should be the first real step in starting your sourcing journey, or second only to selecting your product idea and coming up with a product spec sheet. Most of the time, we feel it’s wise to do validation before the final product specification sheet or when you have a vague idea about a product or a niche a client wishes to tackle. Validation allows you to figure out if your product can be made, and if so, will it be profitable.
Read MoreIf you’re searching for a supplier, these are the different types of companies you will encounter in China. When sourcing on Alibaba, Global Sources or other similar websites, be careful as many trading companies and wholesalers will present themselves as factories. It’s difficult to tell from a beginner's perspective, and it can take a second look to tell them apart. Always remember that the best supplier is buying from the factory directly and not from a reseller.
Want to potentially save 1000’s of dollars on your next project? Check out these tips from our expert sourcing professionals
Like most people you want to save as much money as possible when you buy your products. In Chinese society, negotiations are expected and are part of business norms. But be warned, many factories have years, if not decades, of experience negotiating. We made this guide in order to give you a leg up on as you prepare to negotiate with your suppliers.
Read MoreAre you interested to see how sourcing products from Vietnam compare to China? Do you want to know the pros and cons of sourcing products from Vietnam? Curious as to how a sourcing company in Vietnam works? When I compare the two countries I try to think of China as a large mature corporate behemoth and Vietnam as the small but promising and rapidly growing start-up. In this guide, we’ll go through the reason of whether it’s better to source from China or Vietnam for your next product!
Read MoreIf you are looking for products product on Alibaba or one of it’s many alternatives, then there is a high likelihood that you will come across someone trying to rip you off. They love to target first time buyers who do not know any better. We wrote this guide so that you be aware of the most common ones. We also have a more in depth guide on this topic about how to spot scams and verify suppliers
Read MoreIn this guide, we will cover everything you need to know to find a great furniture manufacturer in Vietnam, how to get access to Cosmo Sourcing’s database. This is an ultimate guide so we cover every topic from the best Furniture trade shows in Vietnam to an overview of types of wood and methods used.
Read MoreIf you’re going to the Canton fair Be sure to also check out the Global Sources summit in nearby Hong Kong. This summit is made just for private label sellers, eCom sellers, and FBA sellers. This summit is a fantastic way to network with other sellers, get advice from some to the top eCommerce experts and find suppliers before anyone else.
Read MoreThe Canton fair in Guangzhou, held every spring and fall, is the largest trade fair in the world. This fall will be the 126th time the event has been held. This is easily one of the best places to find and connect with potential suppliers and add to your list of contacts. That being said, it can be absolutely overwhelming, especially your first time. The fair features over 60,000 booths, and hundreds of thousand buyers from literally every corner of the earth making about 30 Billion USD worth of deals.
Read MoreProduct safety and compliance is, at least to many small businesses importing from Asia, an enigma, riddle and minefield all wrapped into one. Get it wrong, and you can get your product listing rejected on Amazon or something far worse.
Read MoreTrade Shows are a great way to meet a large number of supplier in person in Vietnam. Not only will you get to see and try out many of their products in persons, you can meet a representative and start to build a contact. At Cosmo we often budget some time after a trade show to actually go and meet with the most promising factories and supplier in person, and learn more about their production capabilities. This is a good list of the Trade Shows that are worth attending in Vietnam. We’re going to be at several of these, so if feel free to email us at info@cosmsourcing.com if you want to meet up!
Read MoreVietnam Manufacturing is booming and finding the right supplier is getting easier but it’s not as easy as China and there are still several challenges. One of the biggest issues with finding suppliers is that the business landscape of Vietnam is fragmented. While Vietnam is the third fastest growing economy in the world, the country is still experiencing growing pains. When finding a supplier it sometimes feels like the wild west and information can be hard to come by without actually being there. Despite this, there are still several resources to help you out. This guide compiles the best ways to find a supplier in Vietnam.
The RFQ will be the first thing that a supplier reads from you. It’s important that a good RFQ both introduces your product and yourself in a manner that a supplier will want to do business with you. A good RFQ should be simple and easy to read while also covering all essential details. How is a Request for Quote different from a Spec Sheet? To be honest for some projects there isn’t that much difference. For other projects, they can be drastically different. Why? It really depends on the complexity of the project. If you are sourcing a simple item you can use your full spec sheet in the RFQ, but if the project is more complex, then you may want to make a simplified product spec sheet to attach to the RFQ.
By now you should know that the US has imposed a 10% tariff on around $200 Billion worth of goods exported from China into the United States and is expected to rise to 25% on March 1st, pending a lack of a trade agreement. Now there is a great deal of uncertainty with the tariffs, but we will let you know how you can navigate it the best that you can. Even before the current trade dispute, buyers still had to pay duties and customs fees on a wide range of products shipped into the United States.
Read MoreIf you can imagine a product, then there is a probably a factory who can build it. China and Vietnam have a seemingly endless number of manufacturers that have the capabilities to make a wide variety of products. But how do you know that the supplier makes your product exactly as you want? With a well-written product specification sheet. While it takes several steps to make your idea into a product, one of the first things you need to do is create a product specification sheet. Cosmo Sourcing has simplified this process into our simple sourcing, which has 4 steps: Plan, find, make and ship.
Read MoreAre you unsure about the trade terms of Alibaba or Chinese suppliers? Don't know what the 3 letters that came with your quote mean? Cosmo has defined the 2010 Incoterms abbreviations, such as FOB, CFR, and DAP for international trade. Incoterms, often called trade terms or shipping terms, are an international contract of sale. Incoterms is short for International Commercial Terms. EXW and FOB are far and away the two most common incoterms. Incoterms are published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) who hold the copyright.
Read MoreDon’t know what to ask suppliers? What should you know from suppliers before you buy from them?
If you're reading this we already assume that you have found suppliers on Alibaba or another website like Global Sources, and are now ready to reach out to them. By this point, you should have a large list of suppliers. Once you have the suppliers, Now comes the hard part-- talking to them. When asking suppliers questions you need to be polite and professional yet thorough and assertive. Check out this guide to learn more.
Are you looking to source products from Vietnam? Not sure who you can trust? Need a Vietnam Sourcing Company to help you out? Vietnam Manufacturing is booming and finding the right supplier is getting easier but it’s not as easy as China and there are still several challenges. One of the biggest issues with finding suppliers is that the business landscape of Vietnam is fragmented. This guide compiles the best ways to find a supplier in Vietnam. Read our guide to learn how!
Read MoreAre you looking to source from Vietnam but you’re not sure what’s made there? Want to know more about the manufacturing landscape of Vietnam? We made this guide so that you can understand Vietnams industry better and be more prepared when you source product from Vietnam.
Read MoreAre you tired of Sourcing from Alibaba for your FBA Business? If you’re sourcing products for Amazon, then use this guide to find alternatives to Alibaba for FBA product Sourcing. Sourcing Alibaba has long been the standard for finding suppliers in China, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only resource for sourcing products for FBA. We created a list of Alibaba alternatives so that you can find suppliers in China as well as Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea and globally.
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