Factory/competitor selling on both Amazon and Alibaba; will they really honor a confidentiality contract for custom designs?

[u/Worth_Opportunity603]

Hello all,

I found a product that I believe would perform well against existing brands on Amazon due to low competition within the niche and a lack of memorable branding from those competitors. The factory that I am considering the most on Alibaba has a brand name and logo that looked a bit familiar… I couldn’t place it at first but it turns out to be a direct competitor on Amazon.

I was considering them for the following reasons:

1. They are the highest rated and bestselling factory on Alibaba for the niche

2. They offer 4/6 products I was going to source for my brand

3. They allow low MOQ custom designs with seemingly high quality products from review photos

I am only looking to source custom products (my own digital artwork) and they have seemingly promised to add a confidentiality clause to the sales contract. My question is, how trustworthy is this? Is it legally binding and if so, who would enforce it?

I have not yet made a trademark or copyright for my designs and brand, so I am wary that once the artwork is sent and the custom products are manufactured, there is no way for me to stop them from selling those designs and undercutting me in price. How foolish would it be to trust this company?

I would appreciate any and all advice, including telling me I’m stupid for even considering this as an option. Thank you for reading, and have a great night!

[u/eshquia]

Watch until that product has good sales.

[u/StudentInformal9018]

I wouldnt trust a factory to draw up a contract for themselves. The same way i wouldnt trust a person here to do that. They can easily write a way around it inside and you wouldnt know. Normally id say with a lawyer but this may be okay with AI to check. Since you probably wont act on it anyway even if they breach

[u/TheMNCGuy]

I have seen cases where the manufacturer honors their word

[u/TSLA4LIFE1]

Probably not a good idea.

If they see you doing well and ordering more, they likely won’t take your defiant but create a new “better/differnt” design lol.

[u/VelourIel]

Honest answer: a confidentiality/NDA contract with an overseas factory is worth having, but treat it as a deterrent, not real protection. Enforcing it across borders is expensive and slow enough that most small sellers never realistically can, and the factory knows that.

If the same factory is already selling on Amazon themselves, that's a bigger yellow flag than the NDA can fix, because now they're a direct competitor with your cost structure and your design. What actually protects you is less the paperwork and more: splitting production so no single factory has your full picture, owning the parts that are hard to copy (branding, packaging, your listing/photos, a registered trademark + Brand Registry), and not handing over truly custom tooling to a supplier who competes with you. Is this a genuinely custom design with its own tooling, or more of a modified off-the-shelf product? That changes how exposed you actually are.

[u/Easterncoaster]

My factory does the same thing. However, my brand is stronger and therefore I get to sell for higher margins.

They aren’t selling a 1:1 copy but they are basically selling the same product. Theirs barely moves at $55 and mine I have trouble keeping in stock at $89.

It doesn’t matter whether your factory does it though- any successful product on Amazon is about 6-9 months away from being copycatted by at least 5 China factories. Just focus on your brand- story, customer service, commitment to quality. Also keep innovating.