Ask anything: supplier verification, Alibaba vs 1688, payment safety — weekly Q&A

[assassinationss]

This is the weekly questions thread for anything about sourcing from China.

Good questions here:

• "Is this supplier legit?" (paste what you have: website, license, quotes — no private data)
• Which platform for my product — Alibaba, 1688, or an agent?
• How to structure payment on a first order?
• What does this Incoterm actually cost me?

Ground rules: I answer from the VERIFY system — six steps, ten red flags, twenty-five templates, all open-source. Specific questions get specific answers; dropshipping-guru vibes get ignored.

Ask away. — Sol