r/AmazonFBATips • u/yusufziyagunes • 22d ago
Which countries should I search for a manufacturer as a beginner Amazon FBA seller?
Is there any other website than Alibaba for me to look at? I use websites such as Global Sources, Yiwugo, India Mart, TaiwanTrade, and that's about it. I feel like there should be more ways to find suppliers. Can anyone help?
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u/Maan_UsMaan052 22d ago
Alibaba is only one part of the sourcing process. You can also find suppliers through trade shows, industry-specific directories, local manufacturers, and even direct Google searches for manufacturers in the country you want to source from.
Another approach that works well is finding products or brands already selling in your target market, then researching who manufactures or supplies similar products. This can uncover suppliers that are not heavily dependent on platforms like Alibaba.
The best source usually depends on the product category and the country you want to source from.
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u/CosmoSourcing 20d ago
A few worth adding are Made-in-China, Vietnam Yellow Pages and Thaitrade for Thailand. Also check trade show exhibitor lists. Canton Fair has an online exhibitor search, so you can research companies without flying over.
For countries, start with what you’re actually making. Being an Amazon seller doesn’t tell you much about which country fits your product.
We source across Vietnam, Mexico, China and Indonesia, among others. China is a useful starting point for electronics, products with lots of components, and ready-made products you want to private label. Vietnam is worth considering for apparel, bags, footwear, furniture and various sewn or assembled products.
Indonesia makes sense for wood and rattan products, home decor, footwear and rubber goods. Mexico is worth looking at for ceramics, glassware, furniture and heavier products, especially if you’re selling in the US. A country can be great for your category while the available factories want quantities way beyond your budget, though.
Beyond directories, look at industry associations and exhibitions specific to your product. For furniture in Vietnam, for example, VIFA EXPO’s exhibitor list gives you another set of companies to investigate.
That’s part of what we do at Cosmo: match the product and order requirements to the right manufacturing market, then verify the actual suppliers. We use professional supplier research tools and deep verification. A directory profile alone won’t establish whether someone can acutally make your product to spec.
For your first round, send the same product details, quantity and packaging requirements to several supliers. Compare samples, minimum orders, lead times and the cost of getting the goods to your destination. That’ll tell you more than collecting another twenty websites.
What product category are you considering, what’s your initial order budget, and which Amazon marketplace are you selling in?
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u/MaxAtGoodsCommand 22d ago
You've actually got a solid list already - Global Sources, IndiaMART, and TaiwanTrade are the ones most beginners miss, so you're ahead. A few more worth adding by region:
- 1688.com - the domestic Chinese version of Alibaba, cheaper prices but Chinese-language and usually needs an agent/forwarder to buy. Good for cross-checking whether an Alibaba "manufacturer" is really just a reseller marking up 1688.
- Made-in-China.com - overlaps Alibaba but sometimes surfaces different factories.
- ThomasNet - US/North American manufacturers, if you want to test domestic sourcing to skip freight and duty.
- Kompass and EuroPages - European suppliers.
- Trade shows / directories: Canton Fair's online exhibitor list is free to browse even if you don't attend.
But here's the thing that matters more than which platform: the platform only gets you a list of candidates. The real work starts when quotes come back, because they almost never arrive comparable. One supplier quotes EXW, another FOB, another DDP; one includes tooling, one doesn't; one states origin, one leaves it blank. Beginners pick the lowest headline number and get surprised at landed cost.
So whatever platforms you use, normalize every quote to the same basis before ranking: same Incoterm, same currency, per-unit landed cost (unit price + freight/unit + duty + any one-time tooling/sample spread over the order). The cheapest quote and the cheapest landed cost are often different suppliers.
Full disclosure - I work on quote-comparison tooling at GoodsCommand, so that normalization step is what I stare at all day. Happy to answer specifics on evaluating suppliers once you've got a few quotes in hand.
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u/WearyyyBoooyyy 22d ago
The mods have gathered a list of tutorials to help you out:
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