i think sveral pionts : first , you can communicate with the supplier , have a gerenal image , second , if ok you can ask them make the sample for you , the quality is good for you . third , you can visit the factory ...

come and visit is the best way

We can trust/judge a company in many ways: 1. ask the company a collected A/C of a famous courier company. If the company has good reputation, it should havae at least one famous collected A/C like Fedex, UPS, DHL, TNT even EMS. 2. Put the company name into internet, if it has a bad name or do something dishonest, you can find something in internet. 3. Call the person in charge of,  through company Tel and Automobile phone, if he can answer you every time, he has no problem. 4. By local Alibaba, if he is not verified, it is a problem, if he is verified, go ahead, no problem. If you are in China, and you want to be a verify supplier as Alibaba.com, the staff of Aliba will come to visit your company all of a sudden to make sure the company is exist and has a good reputaiton. 5. From small amount, if a person is responsible and has good reputation, he can do things seriously though it is small amount. To observe the person's action then to raise your amount step by step. Hope you can get some help from my suggestions.

contact with them and know more about the factory, or you can visit the them if possible. and you can get more information you need.
goog luck!

amrelshaer wrote:

hi i am amrelshaer i am an engineer .

i was asking about making order from suppliers on alibaba.com

my order was a small one it costs about 1600 $ . the supplier is liu`an economy developing.

it is a gold supplier. but the problem is the trust .

how can you trust a supplier and know that he offers first quality items and that you will not lose your money?

thank you for your time.

1,ask the related certificates and check
2,trial order is useful for the first time
3,bank transfer to company account not personal
4,if possible ask your chinese friend to check the supplier
5,if possible vist the factory

trusting a company requires time and previous experiences. companies in china do not have the same moral or standard as most western countries. Dealt with two companies I found on alibaba.com and both are very bad. www.parkeli.com and www.fanworld.cn are just fake. one sent out new and original product, but dated back in 2003. now is 2009. the solution they had was 50% discount toward your next purchase. but why in the world would you want to buy again? you can see how one's definition of "new" compared others. you emailed back and forth several times and got the manager involved, but it was time wasting. The other company sent you used stuff, but when called to confront, they claimed they are all new and he himself personally checked each product and package them. my take is not to buy from china. your purchases may be small like less than $10,000 usd, but it is a fortune to them. they thrive on these small orders. these bad chinese businessmen can retire on your donation in a short time. i learned my lessons & never buy from china again. no problem buying "made in china" products from Costco, Target, Walmart, or other major distributors or stores in your country. you can't find out how to trust a company but just need to know who to trust.

sometime .when i have a inquire from a a free member whom comes from foreign country,,i will check them from google using thier email,phone no,adress and anything i can get .second, i chat with the guy as possible as i can ,so i can get close with the guy .then i will consider if i can have business with him.

good luck to you !