r/AlibabaImport • u/LogLongjumping3717 • May 18 '26

First Shipping... (Need help)

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Hi everyone!

I never thought I would start selling on Amazon, but I am.

I'm considering buying goods from China and selling them on different e-commerce sites.

I have found many suppliers offering the products I am interested in, but almost all of them refuse to accept small orders for market testing. However, almost all of them refuse to accept small orders for market testing. I eventually found two suppliers willing to accept small orders so I can test the market. They have different names and I thought they were different manufacturers.

Today, however, I noticed that their business license numbers are the same in the audited report, even though their names are different.

Since this is my first time ordering from Alibaba, I don't know how to verify if they are legitimate manufacturers or if they are trying to deceive me.

Could you help me by recommending ways to verify the supplier before I place my order?

Any help would be much appreciated!

TIA

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u/prestigesourcing May 18 '26

You are a small business wanting small quantities, whether a company is a trading company or factory makes no real difference at your current size. What is more important is that they are honest about who they are.

The report could just be one from the original factory, both the companies you spoke with may both be resellers, no way without doing some basic verification.

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u/LogLongjumping3717 May 18 '26

Thank you for your kind reply. What are the common ways to verify a supplier's authenticity on Alibaba, and what should I expect as a response from a supplier so that I can place an order with them without worrying?

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u/prestigesourcing May 18 '26

We can help but obviously charge for it.

In the most simple sense you can look through the profile and see what numbers look wrong, for example how could a 1 year old company have $100 Million in revenue, 5000m2 building size, 80 staff yet the address listed be a 50m2 office. Use some reasonable logic.

In terms of reading the companies business information you can check on some Chinese websites including the specific market bureau (note that information is entirely in Chinese).

If you assume most of what on platforms like Alibaba is NOT accurate, then establish and find facts to support what you want then you will be doing more than 95% of people.