Why are suppliers reluctant to accept Paypal or other secure payment transactions?

Full Question I am trying to purchase Nikon cameras and I find that none of the suppliers are willing to accept payment via Paypal, Alipay or LC. What is going on with secure payment transactions?

Answer There could be multiple reasons, but based on my experience, here are the two most likely candidates:

1. What is your order size and is your order size appropriate for the seller? Sometimes the larger sellers who deal in volume don’t want the headache of getting set up in Paypal or using L/C as they deal in steady large orders for a select group of buyers. More information can be found at this link: All You Need To Know For China Sourcing
2. Another reason may be that you are falling into a trap with a scam. Once you send money to a private account, they disappear. That is why they may say on their website they accept Paypal, but then give you 100 reasons why they can’t when it comes time to place an order.

Some additional thoughts:

1. It is highly unlikely that you will be able to find a branded product like Nikon cameras in China at a price lower than you would find them back home (US, for example) due to the tax structure in China. This link explains: Genuine products from China? So please be careful.
2. The best way to protect yourself is to do your due diligence upfront to make sure the seller is legit. Then when it comes to placing an order, make sure you or an independent party inspects the goods before they ship and before you pay. Third party inspection only cost a few 100 USD. So if you can’t afford that service to source safe, your order is too small to be going China direct in the first place.
3. Here is a series of short videos offering a tutorial on how to source safely from China. Video1: Finding suppliers Video2: Evaluating suppliers Video3: Negotiations Video4: Project management and quality control Video5: Protecting your intellectual property Video6: Leveraging Global Sources Video7: How to find and manage partners for logistics services Video8: Avoiding Scams Video9: Returning defective merchandise to China Video10: Resolving a dispute