I was actually quite grateful Alibaba was very slack in the no screening approach of companies they listed with the majority being scammers. I was able to research and filter out the genuine companies from the bad actors through researching which has given me a work ethic that I have benefitted from.
I am sure things have changed with the Chinese online company Alibaba since those early days back in 1999. Alibaba back then was a massive opportunity back then for anyone looking to buy and sell items from China. At this moment in time I was still in the UK dabbling with imports and exports visiting the Institute of Exports and Trade library once a month that listed every trade and export taking place around the world.
It was not just a simple case of matching supply and demand because you had to do plenty of research before you ever got to that stage. The internet changed things and Alibaba was seen as the opening of Aladdin's cave. jack ma the founder of Alibaba thought the name was an ideal match after asking 40 individuals if they had heard of Alibaba with the majority saying "open sesame" and a few saying "forty thieves".
Back in the early years with my experience dealing with companies listed on Alibaba was that research and back ground checks were your only security. the saying "if it is too good to be true" was always in the back of your head. If I had to guess maybe one out of 20 companies was legitimate yet they were registered suppliers with Alibaba. The KYC was not a thing back then and it seemed like anyone could just register without any checks or balances being done. This I am sure has changed now or one would hope so anyway, but would still not guarantee it is the case.
In those days I was selling many products on E-Bay and was even importing electronics like televisions in bigger numbers for local sale. I had moved back to South Africa by this point and there was opportunity all over due to the high retail mark ups. Televisions were selling for R30K and I was landing the latest technology televisions for 25% of that price. These were literally being flown in as cargo and were Samsung televisions without the branding one year in advance technology wise of what was being offered locally. The insides were Samsung and you could brand it in any name you wanted besides Samsung or it would be considered illegal. This is what happens when you find an OEM or original equipment manufacturer.
With success there are also failures and where you learn from your mistakes which definitely keeps you grounded. Stupid items like Pro V1 golf balls were being counterfeited along with various branded golf clubs and why the back ground checks were crucial and even still were never guaranteed. The truth is online is always a risk and why travelling to view the factory or supplier has to be the ultimate goal.
Over the years it became more and more difficult to find any genuine supplier on Alibaba because there were no longer 40 thieves, but more like 40 000. Those contacts you had made over the time of dealing o Alibaba became the key to finding genuine suppliers and how I found items such as Play Station and the PSP. Those were interesting and informative times with talks about a digital currency for online trading namely Bitcoin being mentioned. This was long before 2010 because PayPal had controlled all of the payments on E Bay by this point. I know the Bitcoin discussions were long before 2010 because I had already stopped importing any products before the end of 2009.
A contact of mine Mathew Kidder who was also my Play Station and PSP contact and supplier was ripped off for a whopping $1 million. My last orders obviously did not arrive as they were mixed up in the scam. You kind of miss those days, but saying this was the Wild West would be an understatement. The learning curve was huge and even established experienced buyers and traders were conned.
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Your strategy of leveraging background checks and building personal contacts underscores the necessity of developing a robust network and a keen eye for genuine opportunities.