I'm creating a newbie guide/course on using Alibaba. Topics to Cover

One thing I would like to know about Alibaba is how to best distinguish between good and bad suppliers. One of the criticisms levied upon Alibaba is that there is no way of knowing which of the suppliers can be trusted and which are not even close to being set up to carry out the services they are advertising. How does one best approach the problem of due diligence when using Alibaba?

Most product pages I have seen on Alibaba are confusing. It's not clear what the product is, what the price is including shipping, and what the end-to-end process for me will be including how defects and returns are dealt with. What strategy do you recommend for approaching this problem?

One product I searched for was custom playing cards. I was thinking of ordering 100k decks or so, with a custom design printed on the front and back of each card. A lot of suppliers on Alibaba are listed in this niche. So I thought, great, I have a custom request -- I want to design the front as well as the back -- so I should be able to do a request for quote and send it to all of them, right? Wrong, there is no standard form I can send out to all of them, I have to contact each of them individually. I also wanted to know how much it would cost just to buy the cardboard boxes that playing cards come in, but again it seemed I would have to contact each supplier separately which struck me as a suboptimal process. Any thoughts on that, I would love to hear.

Also I would like to know how samples work. If I request a sample of something relatively expensive, does the supplier eat the cost of the item or do I have to pay for it? I assume I have to pay for the shipping. Are there any ways within Alibaba that I can fill out one form and get a bunch of samples sent to me, or is this something that I have to set up supplier by supplier?

Which product categories offer the best savings versus what would be available in, let's say, the United States?

What tips can you share on shipping?

I have read that Alibaba is not the best website for outsourcing manufacturing to China. However I have not come across strong viable alternatives. What are your thoughts on the competition? Specifically it would be helpful to know if there is anywhere online that you know of where suppliers are vetted for legitimacy and integrity, as these are routinely cited in forums as problems for Alibaba.

I signed up for your crash course. Thanks in advance. Good luck.