I am looking to purchase some electromagnets. They are expensive everywhere in the states/Canada but I can get them really cheap from China. I happened to stumble over Alibaba and spoken to online suppliers. Would they be a reliable source to purchase from? what do I need to watch out for? Is TT a reliable payment method?

Or avoid anything but paypal?

Thanks,

M

 

Alibaba has a whole range of businesspeople, from the legitimate to crooks. You have to judge for yourself whether or not to buy their stuff. I've bought a few minor electronic trinkets; I know of others who buy ICs or other grey-market parts. They have some type of authentication program ("Gold Supplier", etc.), too. I'd say go for it. If the supplier seems shady, buy a small batch first.

 

Agreed Alibaba is basically like amazon for chinese manufacturers, with no insurance, and no amazon backing you up. All the items are from chinese manufacturers of all types. Some will be legit and you can get great deals, some will be crooks you need to watch out for. You can hook up with some big firms and get some great deals but typically they all want to deal in bulk. Many have min units in their listings. I have had friends who did good by ordering tools from a mnf. But to start he had to dish out like $2k before they would even deal with him. This was also 3-4 years ago and it was pretty much for distributers only, they may be trying to sell mainstream now and handling single sales. But back in the day everything was a min of 10k units, 2k units, etc....

 

I got a quote for an amount of 170, saying they will ship the good to canada within 5 days. Can I believe this?

 

gold supplier need to hand money to alibaba.A small company,the minimum maybe 20KRMB .our company also have account on it,but its not the main way to sale.

 

I got a quote for an amount of 170, saying they will ship the good to canada within 5 days. Can I believe this?

can you see its credit degree,or clients comments?I have not bought things on it.
Its subsidiary company called taobao,the above information are available,you can judge based on it.

 

I got a quote for an amount of 170, saying they will ship the good to canada within 5 days. Can I believe this?

What is the company name? Do they have good standing on Alibaba?

 

What about delivery time? By air or by boat?

I bought some stuff, shipped from China. It took 20-25 days before I got it. Guess thats OK, considering its nearly on the other side from where I am.

I'd start with some small amount, to see if they are trustable.

 

The company name is

HCN Zhejiang Huaxin Electromechanical Co., Ltd. They are 7th year gold supplier.

I am not sure on their standing on Alibaba...I've never dealt with Alibaba before so i dont even know how to check that.

They claim delivery is by air.

 

Expect anything from China to take 3-5 weeks. Some eBay sellers have a graph of delivery delays for various destinations -- perhaps some Alibaba vendors do as well? I'd say go for it, given the 7-year attribute. Their website looks nice, and I always judge a book by its cover. ( )

 

haha ok. I mean, 5 days would have been great, since this is sort of time cirtical. 3-5 weeks however, would suck, I wish that doesnt end up happening..

 

For what it's worth, the Ali Baba of fable was a thief with poor judgement. I wonder why they chose that name?