my son lives in canada, and he is trying to source a safe way of buying goods from china ,india, etc, there is the alibaba site but there seems to be scam merchants on there as well, if anybody has any contacts or can point him in the right direction i will pass it on to him , i would hate for him to loose his money on the first atempt .

many thanks,,

Look at ratings and also only pay by visa or PayPal this will reduce chance of a scam a lot. I have been ripped off once for £20 using money gram but as I know not to use them as a rule in ok.

If they rip you off using PayPal you are protected and if you use visa again your safe.

These shops are mostly wholesale so may not like to sell 1 item.

Also quality is very poor in general I used to but a lot of usb's and IT equipment from them and found them to be rubbish. I found a few decent suppliers but not enough in my opinion.

One off items or wholesale quantities for resale?

As said paypal (not a gift) or credit card (assuming value is over £100). Remember that even if only a partial payment is made by via a credit card the credit card company become liable for full value of the transaction.

Obviously for this "cover" paypal/ cardcompany charge (the seller) up to 4% which they will add (in some way) to the bill - effectively you are paying for insurance.

Having imported from China in the past for resale in the UK and worldwide, the payment side is actually one of the easier aspects to cover off. Delivery, quality, customs and import taxes, certificates of conformity, etc are more of a problem.

Having exported to Canada they seem to be quite hot on the customs side as well (more so than the USA).

He needs to go into this with his eyes open and from a position of knowledge and understanding, the ability to get caught out and lose money extends well beyond being ripped off on the initial purchase.

As above, what is he sourcing, in what volume and what for?

We import regularly from the Far East and after trying several UK "sourcing agents" now deal direct with the factories we feel comfortable with. It's critical to factor all costs into your calculations including in particular transport and taxes (internal and cross border). A lot of goods are manufactured in China then exported via Hong Kong and there are plenty of rules about moving goods around. Import duties vary according to value and goods class (no experience with the Canadian side, but have to assume it won't be that different from the UK). It's not unknown for shippers to add "storage" charges if the goods stop moving in the supply route either.

We generally pay by credit card where pro-forma payment is required. Otherwise we have 30-60 day terms with regular, trusted suppliers.

HTH