china- how to speak to a supplier

Alibaba.com is a great place to buy resale items, group buys and samples.

What is a sample? A sample is one of anything.
 Even if the company isn't selling samples young can still buy them if you know how to speak with a business.

Tips.
Always say hello and I look forward to your reply.
Always speak in a simple way so the sales person can understands you (most don't speak very good English so unless you speak mandarin Chinese speak simple.

I recently spoke with a company that sells gaming laptops on alibaba .
they immediately wanted to know how many I wanted to buy.
 This didn't work for me since if I was going to buy for resale I wanted to actually judge the quality of a sample.

First i ask so it's a conversation not a demand.

"Hi, can I order a sample to see if it meets my standards."

Then I tell them that they decided to allow a sample by asking not if but how much. Specific questions and no "the" because it doesn't exist in Chinese.

"How much will laptop cost?
How much will shipping cost?"

bottom line
Sometimes you can get a free sample but most of the time you will have to buy it and pay for the shipping.
The sample will cost less then store price but more then wholesale.

good luck!

Using your invention as a business base

Inventing is easy (I have over 200 inventions), bringing those inventions to market is hard.

Here is how I would bring an invention to market.

invent the product.

Do a little research to see if your product would sell.

Do a product and patent search (lots of articles on this out there).

Search alibaba.com for a company that can manufacture your product.

sell on eBay, amazon or other.

There you go!

good luck!