Www.alibaba.com .......and small wholesale shoppers!

In the last couple weeks. Have been lookin to start a business of kando by selling stuff online and door to door.... The first thing that came to mind is where are the wholesalers,,,,,, don't know about you but as in Kenya, there are not many wholesalers with a wide selection and range of goods....plus as they all mostly ge imported stuff the prices are already inflated at this point. I sometime back blogged about air fair, well to get to china you need to uses one. A two way ticket to china is 110,000 shillings at the best....on top of tha you need your hotel and taxi charges when over there and food.....let's say on the cheap the entire trip would set u back at least 150'000 shillings. If you are as small as me, this is more than good enough money to start a business on full time or else.......I just need to get the good to me without flying there....the solution is alibaba Yesterday. Received my first sample, I only paid 5k for the DHL shipping and the sample was free......the sample was not what I had described to these guys and was shocked at he quality.....the quality was very good,.......going off what I see on the streets I didn't think that china made such good quality stuff although I have read they are the worlds biggest producers.....anyway the wrong item, high quality and have only wasted 5k instead. This is a small price to pay as opposed to having ordered the whole lot and discover I is the wrong stuff The guys have now agreed to send me another lot of wha I hope and the think is what I want from them, only this time I got another 3 companies sending me the stuff as well.......I know it is daunting but if you can try talk to more thatn 3 suppliers at a go and then choose the best..... What I like about these suppliers is their flexibility, if the don't produce something they are willing to do it for u if you send a sample and specifications. Anyway, there are my experiences shared!