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I poured my heart out for "you" a few days ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=762531 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=762531 Alibaba is a hub, but it

by mahmud 17y ago

I poured my heart out for "you" a few days ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=762531 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=762531 Alibaba is a hub, but it's a very Chinese company; I was there in Hong Kong during their IPO and I can assure you, HK and all of China was abuzz. Nearly every Chinese factory has an account with them. You should be safe dealing with .cn firm through Alibaba, specially if they have verified accounts. You can use that post of mine to look for scam clues, but generally, your order will arrive, albeit a little bit overpriced. If you want fair market you should be at the market, in person, taking long rides to dusty villages like the rest of us ;-) The price hikes are usually done by resellers, middle-men and brokers. Not all "Chinese" are Chinese; there are plenty of Overseas Chinese (Honkies, Malaysians, Taiwanese, Singaporeans, Vietnamese, even Filipino Chinese, who do business in the mainland and act as brokers to foreign companies.) Indians are pretty safe too. The guidelines for doing business with Indians is different than doing with Chinese, but not by much. Indians are usually less polished in appearance; the Chinese spend a lot of money on image, so they have bigger office buildings, fancier sales brochures and the like. In my experience, specially in generic drugs and pharmaceuticals, the most efficient Indian "companies" have been a few guys, usually cousins, usually Punjabis, who did business outside a shared office in Hong Kong or Dubai but they did a great job delivering the goods as promised. Indians also have trained practitioners as salesmen; my pharmaceuticals sales guy was an oncologist (In China he would have been an English major, for example.) Usually the best way to conduct an important business is to fly there. Even if you budget is $10k; I would say spend half of that on travel expenses and your eyes will be opened to the many possibilities out there. I also dabbled in scrap metal and used cars; those two are the FOREX of the import/export world, rife with scammers and sometimes violent criminals. Avoid any business that offers you "government connections"; this is where you will likely be robbed. If a partner hints at having government links and tells you he has the ability to avoid customs or shipping expenses, this is their way of appealing to your greed. There are plenty of Westerners who are dying to be friends with a rich 3rd world dictator, it's like an undocumented fetish. Play ball, and play by the rules. More than Alibaba, I would be weary of any firm that has the label "drop-shipper" anywhere on its site. Big manufacturers don't sell to EBay kiddies; that's just weak and disgusting.

mistermann 17y ago
Wow, thanks for some of the awesome tips! re: "If you want fair market you should be at the market, in person, taking long rides to dusty villages like the rest of us".....do you think it would be difficult to find someone local in China I could work with, to visit factories, inspect products, take photos, etc?
- mahmud 17y ago
  Depends on who you know, actually. Most business expats are doing this exact same thing for their paying employers. If you want a freelancer, it depends on what business you're in; if you are interested in electronics stuff made in Guangdong province, I don't mind going through my rolodex and introducing you to my friends. Shoot me a mail. The reason I specified the product industry and manufacturing region is that it's not just a matter of calling up factories and looking at their samples. It takes a lot of effort to create a relationship with the Chinese. If anybody tells you they can "get anything from China" they're blowing smoke; they can't, at least not efficiently and cheaply. Everyone is in an specialized industry, and whoever has a lead outside his expertise passes it on to someone in that industry. China is all favors, face, guanxi, and connections. The concept of "face" is a lot like consumer rewards and frequent flier mileage; the more you buy from a factory the more perks you get and the more face you have with the management. At the high end, people with good contacts can get millions of dollars worth of products up front :-) reputation is currency. People who hop-industries, the jacks of all trades, don't get any deals and nobody knows them. (or worse, people do know them and they have a negative reputation.)

by mahmud 17y ago

mistermann 17y ago

Wow, thanks for some of the awesome tips! re: "If you want fair market you should be at the market, in person, taking long rides to dusty villages like the rest of us".....do you think it would be difficult to find someone local in China I could work with, to visit factories, inspect products, take photos, etc?

mahmud 17y ago
Depends on who you know, actually. Most business expats are doing this exact same thing for their paying employers. If you want a freelancer, it depends on what business you're in; if you are interested in electronics stuff made in Guangdong province, I don't mind going through my rolodex and introducing you to my friends. Shoot me a mail. The reason I specified the product industry and manufacturing region is that it's not just a matter of calling up factories and looking at their samples. It takes a lot of effort to create a relationship with the Chinese. If anybody tells you they can "get anything from China" they're blowing smoke; they can't, at least not efficiently and cheaply. Everyone is in an specialized industry, and whoever has a lead outside his expertise passes it on to someone in that industry. China is all favors, face, guanxi, and connections. The concept of "face" is a lot like consumer rewards and frequent flier mileage; the more you buy from a factory the more perks you get and the more face you have with the management. At the high end, people with good contacts can get millions of dollars worth of products up front :-) reputation is currency. People who hop-industries, the jacks of all trades, don't get any deals and nobody knows them. (or worse, people do know them and they have a negative reputation.)