All language subtitles for 14. How To Find a Supplier

All right now we're going to talk about where you're going to find your supplier.

So where do we do that as we've talked about before we go to Ali Baba which is the search engine of

suppliers.

OK.

And then what we're going to do is we're going to just put in our product name.

So think of the most general word that you can you're going to put that into the search bar.

So you might not get what you want originally but that's ok you just put it in other words.

And the goal here is to find images that match you know something that looks like what we're trying

to get.

It doesn't have to be perfect but try to get it as close as possible and then we can ask them if they

can get us what we want after that.

So we go out.

So we go to Alibaba put in silicone wristband.

If we were getting wristbands then we'll go up here OK.

So we are an Ali Baba.

We put in silicone wristbands and essentially here are going to be all sorts of different suppliers.

All right.

So just things that we're gonna look for right there we've got price.

We've got them.

OK.

Minimum Order which is M O Q and we'll explain that in a little bit.

But essentially what we're gonna do is you know start to look at the images and find something that's

somewhat similar.

So this one obviously I don't think would be a good idea.

It's like if they're not even going to take and put time into their image you know I work that's probably

a good representation of how they will be to do business with.

All right.

And if we take a look at this look they've only been on here for one year.

So not the most trustworthy person.

And their price is up to two bucks is very high.

And they have high ammo Q don't know that I would go with that supplier.

So if we take a look at other images here just looking around.

I never really look at the right hand side here.

You probably could but I just don't I always look at the main images.

So I would be looking around and trying to choose one that looks good.

So this one this person has been on here for 15 years in M0 QS 300 which will explain a little bit.

So right here is their response rate so they have a 97 percent response rate.

Now there's other things like this is if this shows right here this shows that they are a gold supplier

then also over here this is if they support trade assurance and we'll explain that in a little bit.

And then this will be their transaction level so the more transactions the better.

Because that means they've they've been proven to be out on Alibaba.

So we could go ahead and these they offer all sorts of different types of designs and stuff.

So this would probably be a good one.

These since I've been on here for 15 years that's pretty good.

But they don't have any transactions that could mean that they're just doing the transactions off of

Alibaba.

So they don't necessarily have to have a high transaction value because there is a fee to do it through

Alibaba but you could choose either one.

So we'll take a look at two of them here.

So now these are like like I said these are all products and they all represent factories.

Hopefully we will get into describing that a little bit differently.

So I'm just going to show you the diagram here quick before we analyze.

So you know just summary we went search engine to products put in that.

And then we see this.

But now it's like Which one of these are we going to choose.

So as we just explained you want to have like here's the the process if you didn't catch all of that

we're going to compare these.

So we want in the first obviously an image that's good.

So this is better than this that they didn't put much time and effort into it.

OK.

We have the price there the price their M.O. Q there you talked about a little bit and you just want

it to be similar.

So this is similar to what we're trying to make as they are they have the ability to kind of go down

there but they also have the ability to add ink on top of it.

So that would match.

So that would match what we're looking for then now what we're doing is we're trying to analyze the

suppliers and as we just said.

So here's this we'll put this down below.

So essentially we want someone who's been doing it for over a year and you want them to have.

We didn't mention name but you want them to have somewhat of a similar name and then we'll go in and

analyze the factory so the whole point of this is we want to get a factory.

We want to get a factory versus a trading company because a trading company I'll just quickly explain

this before we analyze the listing because that's what our whole point is they're just a middleman.

OK.

So maybe they have an office in Hong Kong

and you're not actually talking to a supplier you're just talking to some guy who's like just getting

some products from you.

And when you use a middleman essentially he doesn't care.

He just wants to make a sale and he's not necessarily looking for your long term business.

He might be but at the end of the day he has to make money to he or she has to make money also.

And so now you're not going to get the best price and you're not actually building a relationship with

the factory.

They are.

So you're not getting you there you're not going to be able to get as many good things so you want maybe

you want it to be you maybe around a stocking needed to be made faster.

Well that's probably not going to happen with a with a middleman.

OK let's say you want to negotiate other things.

You ever play that game of telephone.

The message can get really really distorted fast and so you want just that direct contact with that

manufacturer.

And so that's our whole goal here and now we'll go ahead and show you how to choose that.

And then obviously we want them to respond fast.

And essentially I forgot to mention this gold supplier just means that somebody on Alibaba has paid

to be a gold supplier and they did some verification checks to make sure that they're actually a business

but a gold supplier doesn't necessarily mean it is a manufacturer.

But we'll go back to Obama.

Essentially we would look at this and we would start to look at the listing.

Can they make a good listening.

That's what we want to see at first.

And this looks like a nice they give lots of details about this product.

So if they give details about this product and other products they sell.

That's good because that means they care.

Now if it's just really really cheap and they have like kind of standard templates for everything and

then that's not as good because that just means they're throwing up products and just hoping something

hits and they're probably a middleman or just not a very good factory.

But you can tell that they actually care here they've made an info graphic they say other things they

do the types.

So they laser engraved here.

They have they say even say they even up sell you on the other things that they sell.

That's good because then they even show you the types of packaging that they have.

So this makes me trust that this is actually a manufacturer of products versus somebody who's just a

middleman and throwing up random ones because it takes a lot of time to describe this.

But if you only sell.

So these people they only sells wristbands and servants and like related things.

So they put in the time and the detail into trying to sell you to do business with them.

So this is good because they're not just throwing up random stuff trying to make money.

They explain everything really in depth.

That's good too.

But we'll be asking these all the time by sending a message to them.

But you just you know if you're going to spend time going back and forth with someone you might as well

do a little bit of work ahead of time so that you don't have to manage talking to a bunch of UN qualified

people who you're not having to do business with anyways.

So there's that.

So this would probably be somebody that I would contact and we'll show you how to do that and a little

bit.

Now the way that we're going to determine if we're dealing with a factory versus a middleman is we're

going to look at this is the easiest way that I know look at what other things they sell.

OK.

So by clicking on that right there what we did was we clicked right here view company profile.

Now they've been verified by a world leading inspection company.

Their main product.

So what are the goals here.

They OK.

They can show.

So sometimes they can show certifications.

But I wouldn't look into that too much that's anybody could fake a certification and this info isn't

that more that important.

So but what's the most important is gonna be the product categories.

OK.

So like when we look at these categories do that actually make sense.

OK.

So it looks like they sell little pins little coins.

What else do they sell pins badges metal coins medallions key chains patches labels lanyard straps little

golf products they probably sell like golf tees and stuff like that photo frames.

So these all are around a general area and you kind of want to think what would look what would the

production be of this.

Like don't think too in-depth.

But if somebody's selling scuba diving masks and iPhones and like well you know all those sorts of random

stuff and pet gloves I.

Does that really make sense.

Would one factory be able to make all of this and why would they.

That's probably a middleman or somebody just trying to sell you know just anything.

So I would not go with that but this makes sense.

Like try to envision a factor in your head.

Would it make sense for them to be making this.

Yes.

Did I say it a lot.

Yes because that's just how I vet people.

OK.

So this would be a factor that I would spend some time to talk to.

OK if we took a look at another one here just really quickly.

You know this one since they did have a high transaction value that means it's good.

So essentially they they even made a video of theirs.

That's another added bonus.

They they stamped theirs so that means they care that they don't want other people stealing their photos.

They show examples of other stuff.

This would probably be a good one to talk to also.

So that's essentially what you used to look at.

If it's a trading company or an actual company and then you can always just ask them to.

But yeah.

Yeah.

There's this does have the transaction and they have 350 transactions with one hundred ninety thousand

dollars.

Good response time.

Even there's even reviews.

So that's just you know everything to increase the you know the trust because we're just trying to trust

that we can send money to them.

And if you use just one quick touch on that if you use a very strategic way to go about this it's not

you're the odds of getting scammed or them just taking your money are very low and you'll see that in

a little bit here.

So now we'll go back to the diagram.

So going back to the diagram here essentially we just had these things to vet that they were a real

factory and not a middleman so now what we would do is we would contact them if they have similar products.

They look like a good person to do business with.

Now we want to see.

OK.

Are they really a good person to do business with.

Or did they just put up a really good listing and that's what we're gonna do is we're gonna send them

a template and we'll go over this more in the intermediate course.

But this is just generally so you get it in your base you're going to ask everything you want to know

so that you could get that idea in your head and make a product that matches that.

So basically we're going to ask them stuff about price.

If they could we'll send a description of what we're looking to get.

So maybe a will write a picture or a drawing of what we want or you know just some form of description.

We also ask if we get a sample and also the other thing is you want to send this to multiple suppliers

because you don't want to just deal with one when you look at multiple ones that are qualified.

You can see which one is the best.

So we're going to send that template to them.

And then what we're gonna do is see how they answered in our goal here is to just qualify them.

All right.

If we sent them a list of 10 questions did they answer all 10.

OK.

If they can't answer all 10 questions then you probably can't get your product right.

OK.

Or maybe they could but I don't want to trust that you know my hard earned money and what I'm just getting

started with somebody that can't even answer a list of 10 questions.

OK.

Did they answer fast.

You don't want to be waiting a week going back and forth like e-mailing me.

It might take a month.

Don't e-mail me.

All right.

Say that.

Do they say that they can meet your specifications.

Is it a reasonable price.

Price isn't the most important thing here.

What is the most important is going to be product quality because at the end of the day people are buying

your product on Amazon and you're trying to get that idea in your head into reality in that.

And so whoever is going to have the best product as long as it's profitable then that's going to be

the person that we choose for.

So we'll get into all the things that we evaluate in a tiny bit but this phase right here we're just

trying to choose who are we going to get a sample from.

We don't have to choose the final people right here.

This is just that first phase of eliminations we had the first one then now this is the one and then

we go from there.

Other things.

Are they willing to send you a sample and you don't want them to charge you too much for a sample but

you will have to pay for a sample because otherwise people would just go and get free samples for life

and if you just wanted every product in the world you could just go get free samples and then yes of

course do they say they're a factory just straight up ask them that they could lie about this but there's

another way that we can prove that they actually are a factory.

I'll show you that below and in the intermediate course if you do your due diligence you will absolutely

get a factory.

There are pretty easy ways like hey let's get on Skype call right now and show me your factory.

Walk around in it.

All right.

Like it's as easy as that.

But you wouldn't do that until the very end and if you were still questioning if they were then.

Yeah.

Were they professional.

Now they're not going to have the best English necessary.

And that's OK but the better the English that is a good thing because you are going to be going back

and forth with them especially if you have a lot of needs and specifications the better the English

that's going to make it easier.

So I mean if they suck they became an answer those 10 questions move on.

All right.

Basically if any of these aren't met you're going to say no.

All right.

Except the the relatively good English that one is the one where it depends.

But you want to make sure they're professional they respond fast.

So if that all matches then we're going to buy sample.

It'll cost about thirty five to seventy dollars hopefully thirty five in the what we can do.

Don't worry about this because we can just send and ask when we buy the sample.

Hey could we have this put towards our first purchase and you get all that money back when you make

a purchase with them.

Every good supplier should allow you to do that.

And if they don't.

I've never heard of one that doesn't.

So now we've talked to suppliers maybe we gather eight good ones and we find that there's three that

we want to get samples from.

OK.

So now we are going to evaluate it.

So the samples are gonna come in about two to five days and then we can start looking at them.

Now how do you choose which one was the best.

OK.

Look at the actual product quality.

That is the most important thing.

And which one do you like the best.

OK.

And then when you go to that if there's one that's way better.

Go and negotiate to them.

But if there's two that are similar.

Well then now you're gonna have to kind of choose go back and forth and then you know who is the most

who was the most.

So who is the most professional and who had the best product and then obviously it has to be profitable.

But don't just choose the lower priced person because price is not the most important thing.

Product quality is and oftentimes if it's way cheaper then that's that's dangerous.

OK.

You want it to.

They need to make money too.

And if they're cutting the price way lower than everybody else you're probably paying for that by having

cheaper quality.

So I guess one other thing is when we send that template out and you'll see it we make sure to make

it clear to them that we want a good product.

We don't want the lowest price.

We want the best product.

All right.

Great.

Now once we've done that they can meet our specifications.

We found that they're good.

They're good to deal with.

Well then we negotiate.

OK.

So how is it how we're gonna do this.

Well we'll go back and forth and we're not just going to go on price.

All right.

Price is important we need to make money but they need to make money and price is the hardest thing

they go to negotiate the other things that we can negotiate are things such as M0 q.

Now we said we would talk about this later the later time is now.

That's essentially how much do you have to buy.

We'll be able to probably negotiate lower than they said because we could just say hey this is a test

run.

My boss.

Are you essentially.

Oh another thing I forgot to mention we kind of say that we're the purchasing manager and we're trying

to come it's our boss and we also say we have other people we like there's the best but you know their

boss likes the other one better.

So that now that you feel like you're on their side.

But you know I need you to help me convince my boss to go with you guys versus the other ones and we'll

be able to negotiate the amount that we have to buy lower lead time.

Basically we'll be able we're gonna try to get this made faster because we don't want to wait a year

to get our product made obviously generally be about 30 to 60 days for production depending on how complex

it is sometimes you get 15 like these braces because it's not these braces these bracelets would be

about 15 days because they're easy.

All right.

And then returns.

So other things we can negotiate on our like hey when we get returns if the product is bad will you

guys reimburse us for that.

They should allow you to do that because if they don't then that's kind of them admitting that they

don't have good product quality.

And so that that's how you win that one.

And then obviously we want to ask them to hold them accountable.

We just say Ah will you allow us to do inspection before we pay our 70 percent which will get the payment

in a second and explain that.

But essentially we're just saying hey before we pay you the full amount we're going to get an inspection

done to make sure by third party to make sure that it meets what we've agreed upon.

So that way you actually get what you pay for.

Then the last ones obviously snickering and packaging those are easier to negotiate that you could get

maybe some better packaging and that those sticker everything for you See you don't have to do as much

work.

All right.

So we found a good supplier.

We negotiate and we get a deal that's profitable and great.

OK.

Now we go ahead and pay.

So how do you pay them.

We use all Bob our trade insurance or pay pal in the way that it works is you pay 30 percent when they're

going to manufacture it and then you pay 70 percent.

Once you get that inspection done based off of what you guys have agreed about.

So you make it very clear with pictures and descriptions talking about the products like what type of

material is it and all that other stuff just so that you know what you're getting and then you take

that and we can use Alibaba trade assurance or PayPal and pay that ever good supplier should accept

this.

On the first payment now you're going to have to pay about a three and a half percent fee but it's worth

it.

Why.

Because you get insurance.

So by writing that good product description we have that.

And then now if they send something to us that doesn't meet that like let's say you didn't do an inspection.

What I suggest you do but let's say it's a seven hundred dollar purchase and one hundred fifty dollar

inspection doesn't really make sense then at least we have this really well written inspection with

this really well written terms and then we get insurance through these.

So if they send us something that's not that we get our money back and they get their money taken away

by these.

So that's how we know we have good supplier if they're willing to do that.

That means they want to actually provide the products that you've described and do business with you

because they get their money taken away if they don't do that.

So that's how we assure that we don't lose our money and that we have a good supplier.

Once we've done that we you know that optional inspection I suggest you do it but if it's a lower price

and it's pretty hard to mess up you don't.

But now it's going to get shipped.

So I suggest that everybody on their first shipment you get a shipped to your house.

OK you're going to go and you're going to inspect this yourself.

Even if you've already gotten the inspection and you're gonna send it into Amazon.

So basically if it's smaller which I suggest you do on your first order you can literally just have

it shipped by DHL in it or come to your house just like when you order from U.P.S. or FedEx.

All right.

And it's not like you don't have to deal with with cargo and ships or any of that stuff.

It just comes to your house.

All right.

And then now it's really easy and you just ship it into Amazon and you learn kind of how this whole

process works for yourself like you actually inspect and make sure things look the way that you want

it and learn the process from going from factory all the way into Amazon yourself.

And then you automate it from there on where it should get sent to Amazon and that's where that inspection

comes into play because even with good and good suppliers you want to make sure that your products are

getting to Amazon correctly.

Yeah.

That's that's the whole process.

I'll do a quick summary here.

We go to the search engine of products Ali Baba.

We've put in our words.

We find products which do we choose.

Well we choose the guy who look or the guy girl who looks close to us.

And then we make sure that they're a good factory.

They sell things that make sense.

And then that they're a factory not a middle man to to look like they could do it.

Does it look like it's going to be profitable.

Yes.

We talked to them and send a template which is going to now filter it down.

So in top we had a lot.

We filter down and then now this filters down to the best get about three that pass this.

And then we get samples from them and then look at these samples and then choose you know maybe your

top to negotiate and put put them against each other see who is the best to deal with and who's going

to give you the best deal.

But also the best quality and just the overall best person to do business with that you can make money

with and that they can do.

And then we negotiate get very clear about what we want that we can do it in a protected way.

And that it's going to meet what we want and then it comes to us.

We pay them 30 upfront 70 at the end bring it to us ship it into Amazon and then you're ready to make

a listing.

So that's the whole process.

It seems kind of scary but it's actually not it's just at every single step.

There's a couple of things to look out for and none of the decisions are hard.

It's just knowing all the decisions to make.

And here they are.

So let me know if you got any questions.

And then like I said go to the intermediate course if you want.

No.

Want a more in-depth on this and I do suggest because finding the supplier and getting a product is

the most important part.

Other than make sure going and getting the right product in the first place but by doing these finding

a good supplier and finding a good market you're 90 percent of the way there.

This now the rest can always be changed and always up you know improved over time but this these you

can't you can't unmake the product and you can't choose the market.

All right.

So while your product is in the air you're going to be making your listing getting things good to go.

So we're going to describe that now because your listing is the next most important thing because that's

what people see and decide to buy.

So we'll go onto that now.