How can I determine if a supplier is reliable or not?

Full Question

How can I determine if a supplier is reliable or not? I believe I have to inquire about suppliers because there are many fake suppliers in market. Can you advise me about used laptops? Where I can get them easily? Are there places in Hong Kong that are good for purchasing used laptops?

Answer

First off, you are wise to check the reputation of the seller because there are lots of scams targeting small order buyers of branded electronics in Asia.

Here is a link that explains the scam: Can you get genuine Apple products from China?

Also, here are two short videos explaining how to do find and evaluate vendors to ensure the supplier is reliable: http://www.globalsources.com/ST/Videos/How-To-Find-Chinese-Suppliers.htm http://www.globalsources.com/ST/Videos/How-To-Evaluate-Chinese-Suppliers.htm

In an earlier email you mention you would like to buy just a few pieces of used laptops. In this case, as you are so small, you may not have the budget to do the proper audits and product inspections as mentioned in the video. In most cases I would advise these very small buyers that it is better to deal with a domestic distributor rather than try to go direct to China because the risks for you would out weight the potential rewards. This article explains why: http://www.smartchinasourcing.com/outsourcing/a-small-buyer-placing-orders-with-chinese-suppliers.html.

However, if you travel to Hong Kong and can personally review the quality of the lap tops, then you have a better chance of success so long as the cost of the flight to HK doesn't eat up all your margins and that you understand how to evaluate what is and isn't a good laptop. You can find sellers of used laptops in the Wanchai electronics district of Hong Kong. I don't advise you going direct to mainland China wholesale markets for your used lap tops as you will have very little recourse if something goes wrong.

Actually, in my experience, your safest and most affordable option may be to buy your used lap tops online from USA for the following reasons:

1. Even used ones come with a seller's warranty
2. Safe and easy purchasing on-line
3. Reputation and customer service history can be viewed online too
4. Experience in shipping internationally
5. Because of the volume of the marketplace in USA, you may find that the used laptops are less expensive in USA than Hong Kong.