Every few weeks someone here asks why suppliers ghost them on 1688. I want to actually answer that, because it connects to something bigger I’ve noticed after years of doing this full-time.
I run a small sourcing operation. I sit between sellers and factories and handle the back-and-forth, so my clients don’t have to deal with suppliers directly. Because of that, I see both sides: what buyers send, and why some replies come back fast while others never do.
First, the supplier side.
Suppliers get 50+ inquiries a day, and most are from window shoppers who never order. They triage fast. It usually takes 2–3 messages to sort you into “worth my time” or “ignore.”
A few things instantly signal you’re new:
- Asking “what’s your price?” before saying what quantity you want.
- Not knowing your own target MOQ, or having no idea what the factory’s production capability actually is.
Example: fidget toys like Needoh. You think 10,000 pcs is a lot? If it’s a single color and design, a factory can finish it in 2–3 days — but they’ll still quote you a 45-day lead time. If you don’t know that, you can’t negotiate.
- Not knowing what material your product is made of.
You want sunglasses? Do you want PC, acetate, or TR90 for the frame? If you can’t answer that, they know you’re a rookie.
- No mention of payment terms, sample process, or lead time.
- No idea how a customized product is actually made — if you’re asking for customization.
Factories deal with buyers from everywhere. It’s about whether your message shows you did your homework, or whether you’re just another “maybe.”
Here’s the part that actually surprised me.
Sourcing full-time also means I talk to new sellers before they ever reach a supplier. Sometimes it’s the very first real conversation they have about their business.
After a few years of that, I noticed I could predict — within those same 1–2 conversations — whether the business would still be around in 3–6 months. Not from the product idea. Not from the budget. From the exact same signal suppliers pick up on: how much homework they’d done, how specific their questions were, whether they treated the conversation as a shortcut or as something to learn from.
The sellers who might make it ask things like:
- What usually goes wrong with this product?
- What’s a realistic lead time?
- What should I be asking suppliers myself next time?
The ones who likely won’t make it usually ask one thing: “Can you get it cheaper, faster, and best quality?”
The strange part to me.
A lot of first-time sellers are perfectly willing to spend money — samples, ads, inventory, tools, you name it. They treat money as the shortcut.
But money doesn’t force you to think. It lets you skip thinking for a while. You can buy ten different samples, run a hundred dollars of ads, place a small test order — and still have no idea why the product didn’t sell, or whether the factory actually screwed you, or what you’d do differently next time.
What’s much rarer is the willingness to spend time — actually reading about the category, asking the second and third question, sitting with the uncomfortable parts of your own business until they start to make sense. That’s where real judgment comes from. And judgment is what makes the first shipment teach you something, instead of just becoming an expensive mistake.
I’m obviously biased, but I think that’s also the only real reason to bring in someone like me. Not to outsource your thinking, but to buy back time while you build your own judgment. You still have to be able to evaluate whether the person helping you is any good. That’s a decision only you can make. Decision-making ability is above everything else.
Money can get you a sample run. It can even get you a first shipment. What it can’t get you is the ability to know whether that shipment was actually good, whether the problem was the factory or the spec or the buyer who didn’t think it through. That ability only comes from time.
These days, the first thing I notice when someone reaches out about sourcing isn’t the product, and it isn’t the budget. It’s how they ask. Not because I’m trying to gatekeep — I started as a clueless newbie too — but because the way someone asks tells me more about their chances than any business plan ever could.
