If you’re running a business – especially if you’re selling on eBay or selling on Amazon – you’ll know how important it is to buy all your stock as cheaply as possible. Now, importing stock can be one very good source of supplies for your business. Unfortunately it’s not always easy to track down manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and exporters abroad.
But, if you know where to look there is a solution. Because there are a growing number of online trade directories where you can find suppliers of almost any kind of product abroad – all at the lowest possible factory gate prices.
Here are 6 sources of cheap stock:
China Commodity Net (CCN)
This one is an official site provided by the Chinese Government, so it’s a bit official-looking and not all that user friendly. But their database contains information on over 600,000 Chinese suppliers and 2,200,000 products.
Website: ccne.mofcom.gov.cn
DH Gate
This is another China-based one. What I like about this one is that it’s more like an online catalogue or magazine. As well as searching for things you want you can browse for new product ideas. It also supplies per-item prices (although they are in dollars) so you can get an idea of what importing a product is going to cost you.
Website: www.dhgate.com
EC21
EC21 was established in 1996 and has grown steadily ever since, so that it now has tens of thousands of products listed and hundreds of thousands of registered users in most countries worldwide. It’s better suited to those looking for business-to-business goods and supplies rather than consumer goods.
Website: www.ec21.com
ManufacturerSupplier
Describes itself as the world’s largest directory of manufacturers and suppliers for importers and exporters. You can search by product type or country. As with EC21 it’s one that is better for business-to-business goods and supplies than consumer goods.
Website: www.manufacturersupplier.com
Trade Key
On this site you can find worldwide wholesalers, buyers, importers and exporters, manufacturers and distributors. There are apparently 2.5 million users in over 220 countries. You can post buy offers, sell offers and search for products and companies. Some services are charged for, but you can get basic access free.
Website: www.tradekey.com
Alibaba
Alibaba claims to be the largest B2B marketplace in the world. It’s perfect for finding suppliers of almost anything in China. You can even ask for quotations and place orders online. It’s a very comprehensive and user-friendly wholesale warehouse. Great for finding cut price consumer goods.
Alibaba’s sister site AliExpress (www.aliexpress.com) is a place to buy in small wholesale quantities, sometimes with delivery arranged for you.
Website: www.alibaba.com
Here’s a useful article giving more information about using Alibaba: Product Sourcing Made Simple With Alibaba. [LINK: http://www.whatbizopp.com/mark-business/2512-product-sourcing-made-simple-with-alibaba]
For more expert secret sourcing techniques plus extensive listings of wholesalers, import sources, manufacturers, auctions and many more sources What Biz Opp recommends the Secret Source Directory.