Sourcing electronics from China involves five stages: defining your specification, finding and qualifying factories, placing a sample order, running a factory audit, and managing production. A first order typically takes 8–14 weeks end-to-end. This guide covers each stage with specific tactics for consumer electronics and IoT products — written by a hardware engineer who has been on both sides of the transaction.
The most common mistake is treating Alibaba as the endpoint rather than the starting point. This guide explains why, and what to do instead.
The fundamental problem with Alibaba
Alibaba is a marketplace where both manufacturers and traders list products. You can't reliably tell them apart from the listing. A trader who buys from 5 different factories and marks up 40% looks identical to a manufacturer who makes the product themselves.
This matters because:
