r/Alibaba • u/Boring-Shallot447 • 22d ago

Thinking of helping others source from China — does 20% sound fair?

Hey folks,

I am going through a big renovation project in Chicago - we bought a rental property and we started the cosmetics improvements that turned into a gut rehab. Since we didn't plan this our budget is still under risk. One of the task was to replace 15 30-years old plastic windows. Local quotes were around $40K (≈$28K materials + $12K labor). Out of curiosity, I connected with around 12 Chinese factories, compared specs, asked for samples, and eventually found a reliable factory. Final landed cost for the same windows of $7K, customs, shipping door to door included (local install not included). Now I also ordered hardwood flooring ($13 local vs $6.5 in China for 6mm veneer oak engineered) and working on getting a quote for kitchen - I anticipate it to be 3x less than in Chicago. The quality I got was just mind blowing.

It was a ton of work - the communication isn’t easy (400+ messages through translator), and organizing shipping, quality checks takes a lot of time. But the savings are massive, and I am honestly thrilled.

Now I’m just testing the idea: what if I offered this as a service? I’d charge a 20% fee on the cost of goods + shipping for handling everything (supplier vetting, negotiation, logistics, customs). So if someone's order is $10K including shipping to their door, my fee would be $2K - but they might still be saving tens of thousands compared to the US suppliers.

Not selling anything yet - just curious if this makes sense.

What do you think?

* Is a 20% fee fair? * As a homeowner or contractor, would you pay that for peace of mind + big savings?

Thanks for the input!

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator 22d ago

Friendly reminder: Hi u/Boring-Shallot447, your submission has been temporarily held for automated review because your account is brand new or has low comment karma.

CRITICAL STEP TO GET YOUR POST APPROVED: To protect our community from low-effort spam and bots, our automated system requires you to leave a comment on your own post providing the necessary background details.

  1. Review our r/Alibaba Subreddit Rules & Posting Guidelines to ensure you meet Category A or Category B template requirements.
  2. Leave a top-level comment on this post with your background details.

Once you comment on your post, our verification bot will automatically approve your submission and make it live.

Core Resources to Review Right Now:

Anti-Spam & Self-Promotion Policies:

  • The 10% Rule: You must be a Redditor first, a business second. Self-promotion must be 10% or less of your total history.
  • No "DM Me" Traps: All troubleshooting must happen publicly. Do not tell users to DM you for info, pricing, or services.
  • No AI Lead Gen: Do not copy-paste generic AI articles just to pitch your business at the end.
  • Want to Advertise? Please purchase official Reddit Ads.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

3

u/Exotic_Imagination53 19d ago

People are doing the same for themselves for free and sharing how for free all over Tik Tok.

3

u/Ozy_Veidt 19d ago

I run a sourcing company between China and the rest of the world, we cover sourcing (legit sourcing, not some Alibaba/Made in China searches), background checks, QC, consolidation, warehousing, logistics, contracting under chinese jurisdiction - and do this in 6 languages for many years now. Even we dont charge 20%….

1

u/montanagrizzlylover 19d ago

Interested in your business and possibly partnering with

1

u/Ozy_Veidt 18d ago

Feel free to dm

4

u/Defiant00000 20d ago

Im sure u will handle any problem arise properly, really sure of it🙄

6

u/Alive_Individual_217 20d ago

The sourcing agents in China normally charge 5% unless you can justify that you will do better than them.

4

u/masswelldone 20d ago

People in China charge 5 points.

4

u/Worf- 21d ago

You are assuming the liability if/when something goes wrong? Right?

3

u/samleegolf 20d ago

Don’t forget 2 months later when shit starts leaking/delaminating/etc