There is a lot of skepticism when it comes to buy supplements and drugs for personal consumption or business, mainly in bulk and powder form, from an Alibaba Chinese supplier. Despite Alibaba Chinese suppliers being often much cheaper than other online distribution channels, there is no guarantee to receive the right product nor that the purity and grade (medicine vs food or cosmetic) of the product is really as specified. Unless you have direct access to testing facilities, or pay for expensive testing services, to confirm the nature and purity of the substance one is interested in there is no way to find out whether you are paying for the right product or being scammed. Moreover Alibaba does not allow to write reviews on products (like Amazon or eBay) or give an overall feedback on the vendor (like eBay). This lack of transparency from Alibaba is frustrating indeed and create a power unbalance between the sellers, who can claim whatever they want and get away with it, and the buyers.
The fear of heavy metal contamination is also in the back of your mind no matter how many Certificates of Analyses (COA) and photos of numerous Facilities/Labs/instruments the Chinese supplier show in their Alibaba product pages.
The presence of Alibaba badges such as Gold Supplier, Trade Assurance, Assessed Supplier or indexes such as Response Rate, Transaction Level do not offer any guarantee the product is legit nor that any reimbursement is given if, after testing or trying the product, it is not as expected. The size (large versus small) or the type (manufacturers vs traders) of the company does not also guarantee the reputation of the company nor quality and legitimacy of their products.
It would be useful to share what strategies people in this forum use to:
A) find reputable Chinese drugs/supplements suppliers in Alibaba
B) select the best supplier among the potential shortlist of reputable Chinese drugs/supplements suppliers in Alibaba
I came up with a draft list of selection criteria in order of importance to look for and I would be happy if other people in this forum could revise/add to the list based on their personal or business experience.
A) find reputable Chinese drugs/supplements suppliers in Alibaba
- Check whether the company is listed in the most up-to-date list of Self-Identification of Generic Drug Facilities, Sites and Organizations published by the FDA at https://www.fda.gov/...s/ucm537886.htm . If I am not wrong those companies listed are presumably already selling drugs or ingredients to the US market. The listing is a pre-condition to import into the US market. Can anyone confirm?
- Search for word of mouth and multiple reputable reviews of the company names and possibly products (the same company may have legit and non legit products) in independent websites such as Longecity, Reddit etc.; google keywords such as "Company Name + Review" or "Company Name + scam"
- Ask in the same independent websites forums for help and recommendations.
- Check the Alibaba company profile and look for relevant information:
- Business Type: manufacturer is safer and cheaper than trading company
- Location: is the company located in a Chinese pharmaceutical cluster or technology park? If so it is a good thing
- Main products: is the product you are interested in mentioned in the main products list? If so it is a good thing
- Year of establishment: the older the company is the better
- Total Employees: the larger the employment size the better
- Total Annual Revenue: the larger the revenue size the better
- Quality certification: ISO 9001, GMP and HACCP are good ones
- Top 3 Markets: check whether North America or Europe are mentioned (supposedly those markets have stricter drug regulations and health standards)
- Check the Alibaba badges and indexes
- Is the company an Assessed Supplier (third party inspection)? If so read the assessment report
- Is the company a Gold Supplier? If so for how many years? The longer the better
- Does the company offer Trade Assurance? If so it is a good thing
- Does the company have a high Transaction Level and Response Rate? If so it is a good thing
- Does the company offer a Chat Now option? If so it is a good thing
B) select the best supplier among the potential shortlist of reputable Chinese drugs/supplements suppliers in Alibaba
Once you end up with a short list of potential suppliers that satisfy all or some of the above selection criteria the next steps are:
- contact each company to ask for their best quotation (tracked shipping included) for the product and quantity you are interested in. If they offer a Chat Now option consider to use that channel to see how responsive they are, the level of English etc. It is easier to reply to a written quotation email than to a live chat inquiry.
- confirm with them that the product is medicine grade and suitable for human consumption (not just for animal consumption or research purposes).
- ask for a current Certificate of Analysis possibly from an independent third party laboratory.
- ask if they frequently sell that specific product to North American or European companies; that would increases the chances that someone else has previously conducted an Analysis in an independent third party laboratory.
- ask when the stocked batch of the product is expiring and whether the shipping could damage the substance (if exposed to high temperatures for example).
- ask what are the best conditions for storage of the product once arrived (refrigeration, maximum temperature, humidity etc.) to maximize the "shelf life".
- ask if they can ship a sample for testing
Choosing a supplier just based on price could be a mistake and if the price is too good to be true think twice before committing to large quantities and ask for a sample instead for the purpose of an independent analysis (it does not matter whether you will actually do it, but the fact that you require a sample for testing show that you are serious about the quality of the product and you are ready to spend some money to verify their product claims). There is no single silver bullet to identify a reputable Alibaba supplier. A combination of all the above selection criteria can give you an idea on how short list and select a reputable supplier. Ultimately only an expensive analyses from an independent third party laboratory can verify the legitimacy of the product claims and specifications. Unfortunately that would defeat the purpose of buying direct from cheaper sources like Alibaba suppliers, at least for personal consumption.
Important note: this is just a draft list of criteria and steps for finding and selecting a reputable Alibaba supplier. I would appreciate the feedback of the Longecity community to make this list better and more exhaustive and thank in advance anyone who can give some additional tips or revise this list in accordance with their personal or business experience. If you have a business interest and supply drugs and supplements in your country I would appreciate if you could disclose it before giving advice, especially of negative nature in order to discourage potential buyers interested in buying direct from Alibaba suppliers. I personally do not have any direct or indirect business interest in any supplement or drug company and have used Alibaba suppliers in the past for personal consumption only.
Edited by world33, 28 September 2017 - 04:33 AM.
