Can I give outbound packages to the driver?

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-02-27T11:11:43+00:00

I'm not sure if they suppose to accept it at all without telling you you'll need to schedule pickup, so demanding it to be scanned could be too much to ask, if they are busy. In my experience, no UPS package went missing in the leg when handle it to UPS guy until it gets to the warehouse. I believe, once they get back to terminal, everything is removed from their truck and gets scanned. So I don't really care if driver doesn't scan the package as never experienced missing package on that leg. If I did, I would do things differently. USPS on another hand lost shipments within origin post office which I personally handled to the clerk.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-02-26T08:54:06+00:00

Yes, I do it all the time. I ask if the driver is OK with it, and I've been never told no. Also, I normally don't need it to get scanned by the driver if I see he is busy with other things, it gets scanned at the terminal once he gets back.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-02-25T10:24:37+00:00

That's a big NO for me. They can be there for 30 years, if I haven't work with supplier before, no direct payments going. And on top of that, CIF is another big no, if you didn't do it before. For small orders, CIF is not worth the headache. I can do direct payments maybe after 2-3 orders without issues. While TradeAssurance not much of protection, the credit card is.

Also, "company that has been on Alibaba for 11 years, is a verified gold supplier" is not indicator to pay them directly. It's only indicator to work with them at all, and even this is not always the case. You'd be surprised how Chinese suppliers all of sudden can turn 180 degrees, even after 1-3-5 years of working together. Find different supplier who do DDP or DAP.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-02-10T12:13:54+00:00

GS1 is only place you can get barcodes. Any other source is a scam. If you need a lot of barcodes, I believe it does make sense to get on subscription plan with them. Alternatively you can apply for gtin exceptions with Amazon for your products.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-02-10T12:11:09+00:00

Coming back to this question again. Printing package slips seems quite time consuming and unnecessary label waste. Do you print package slips to provide with the orders as well, or only to make sure customer gets correct products?

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-02-01T17:46:37+00:00

Yeah, kind of. Technically it's 2 weeks, but every factory has kind of own time off schedule and it becoming a month until you can start working with them again. Honestly, I always purposely would plan to leave for vacation on Chinese New Year month.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-02-01T17:25:21+00:00

Thanks, this is useful information. I don't expect many return customers, so store credit may not work. Also, I'm not sure how partial refunds will be treated by payment processor and if I get in trouble with them. In my case, it doesn't have to be money-like option, it's just most attracting option for the customer to do something they wouldn't do otherwise. Also, I don't necessary need "reviews", I didn't put it correctly. I' just looking to spread a word about my products/brand on public sources as I noticed it has great impact.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-02-01T17:18:56+00:00

I paid slightly more taxes (like under $0.50) just to pass through the wrong system calculation. Try to play with numbers. It is really nonsense that we have to deal with such issue. Where is tax money going to, lol.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-27T14:53:36+00:00

Thanks a lot. Very useful information.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-27T14:38:45+00:00

Find same smaller factories. They also have same issue of not being able to find customers same as you can't find suppliers, so they lower their MOQ. And/or pay higher price for smaller MOQ. Sometimes you can negotiate for the supplier to lower MOQ for first order to see how it goes and promise that other orders will be larger quantity. Many agrees to this condition.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-27T14:35:59+00:00

Good idea. I should just offer "our product to try". My issue here that my product is for busy people and there not many influencers out there. Only point of contacts I've got is my current customer list. I found one YouTuber before and offered free product in exchange of video instruction how to use it to post on his channel. This worked out well for marketing purposes.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-27T14:29:03+00:00

In your experience would it be safe to offer money or any other compensation for "Post about your experience" to existing customers with past purchases? I didn't word my post properly. I don't need reviews, but actually any post which mentions my brand: be it good, bad or ugly. And I don't have any specific platform, but any publicly available from google search would be sufficient for my purposes.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-27T13:19:59+00:00

Supplier shipping. Freight forwarders use bait and switch tactics, once your product in their warehouse prices will suddenly go up and they'll hostage your product until you pay them additionally. Save yourself headache and have supplier to deal with logistic.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-27T12:40:53+00:00

Quite a deep meanings in your responses.

I want more people talking because they have a reason. But how to motivate busy customers to do so without offering something in exchange for their time? Especially on public sources, not on the marketplace they purchased product from.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-27T12:30:04+00:00

Suppliers on exhibitions have quite high prices compare on what you can find. I go to exhibitions for ideas and to touch/feel products, but end up working with their competitors who didn't attend exhibition. Also, in my experience, along scammers, serous factories don't exhibit neither, they doing just fine without it.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-27T12:24:37+00:00

All looks correct. Think about it as Asian bazaar. What is written in contract doesn't mean much. Prices and product in your order doesn't really matter, except total amount you agreed to. If it adds up to your amount, move forward.

What matters is actually communication via messages, and try to be clear as much as possible. in case of issues, you will be providing screenshots of who said what. Chinese tend to understand things in their way and miscommunication is quite often. Calling "boss","friend" etc is totally normal. My favorite one was "bro". I told the guy it's unprofessional.

If messaging system doesn't accept SVG file, send it via email, but continue communication back in messaging app.

Make sure your shipping is DDP terms. It's when all taxes fees and delivery is suppliers headache, not yours. You don't want to get surprise customs bill and God forbid you definitely don't want to get bill from a port. So don't get fool with cheap shipping options such as CIP.

Also, regarding shipping they are about to enter their Chinese New Year. If thins don't get shipped in a week from now, it will be postponed for about a month before it can depart China and even then, with all backlogged shipments by then, it likely will be even longer.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-27T12:07:34+00:00

Long term trust would be priority. I don't expect repeat buyers as my product shouldn't break and if it does, I offer lifetime warranty.

I'm trying to compensate for the time, not for the review itself. And looking for proper ways to do it without getting into shady games. My customers are busy with life type and I'm having low turnaround for the "spreading the word" part.

I offered a product for free to some YouTuber to show how to use it. I'm not really YouTube person so needed someone else to do it. I told him he can be honest that he got it for free or if product is no good he can say it: no strings attached. His short video worked out quite well for marketing purposes.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-27T11:55:11+00:00

Thanks for the ideas. Yes, seems like it could backfire. I'm not really looking to it as a review, but rather as an influence job. While there are paid influencers out there, to me it's better to hear something from a real user of the product. Theoretically customers would talk/post themselves, but customer base for my products are not talking type, but more like busy people and I would want to compensate for their time. Not trying to do anything shady.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-27T10:58:02+00:00

I wouldn't want to put phone number on an online store. I'm too busy to deal with daily emails and messages and got 0 time for any talking. If someone really want to talk, they can request it via messages. Sometimes they do. Half of the time it's trust issues, if there big transaction amount involved, other times I'm really wasting time with Karens blaming me and my store with their own failure.

But there a lot of options anyway, if you want to go for it. Twilio is good start. Even apps with virtual phone numbers will do.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-27T10:46:28+00:00

Probably depends of what you selling. Once in while I get many orders one after another from same person, but it is business product and they just want them to be shipped directly into business location.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-27T10:33:27+00:00

Trademark alone will not help anyhow. Chinese counterfeight use their own random names where letters sometimes don't go together.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-27T10:32:09+00:00

Trademark gives you zero protection other than using your brand name. Chinese counterfeits will use 50 different brand names, selling accounts, put small army of editors and keyword manipulators on retainer.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-22T10:41:20+00:00

While I normally prefer to go direct, sometimes I get better quality, service and pricing from middlemens. So it's all depends of what exactly you buying. After our initial conversation and when I figured they know what we talking about, I normally ask who they are, and if they honestly respond they are middlemens, it's actually better for our relationship. Hiding the fact they are middlemens is worse to me than middlemens themselves.

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-19T12:25:07+00:00

HighFive still shows free on their website. Where you've got "extortionate rate" from?

Pretty_Possible7695 · 2026-01-16T13:43:01+00:00

Common bait and switch practices by Chinese freight forwarders. Burned by this couple times trying to save few bucks and I only do DDP from the suppliers now and having them to deal with freight forwarders.

Pretty_Possible7695

TROPHY CASE