China sourcing guides

1688.com sells at Chinese factory prices but has no English interface, no international shipping, and requires a Chinese payment method. Here are the three working ways foreigners buy from 1688 — and what each really costs.

Same parent company, very different marketplaces. 1688 is usually 20–50% cheaper than Alibaba.com for equivalent products — here's why, with the trade-offs that matter for small importers.

A practical verification ladder for Chinese suppliers: free checks you can do tonight, paid checks worth their fee, and the on-site audit — with the red flags that matter at each rung.

A 'golden sample' is a hand-finished, best-case unit that factories send to win orders. Here's how the trap works, why it's rational factory behavior, and the three defenses that actually protect your bulk order.

Ordering samples from several Chinese factories separately means paying international freight several times and losing the side-by-side comparison. Consolidation fixes both — here's the math and the process.