Published May 7, 2025, 1:00 PM EDT
John William Morales, better known as Jowi, is a writer, a career coach, a professional photographer, and a leisure pilot.
He's been using, discovering, and exploring PCs since Windows 3.1 and has been on board the Android bandwagon since Froyo. In 2023, he also invested in an iPhone and a Mac, allowing him to cover a wide spectrum of consumer technology.
Jowi started writing part-time in 2015 and transitioned to it full-time in 2020. He also finished a university degree with related units in journalism in 2012. Currently, Jowi writes for MakeUseOf.com, SlashGear, Tom's Hardware, and some private tech brands. But even before he received higher education, he's been known by his friends and family as the go-to person when anything computer-related requires explanation.
With tariffs on Chinese imports rising and retail prices climbing, TikTok influencers are encouraging followers to skip the middleman and buy directly from Chinese factories. But is this really the money-saving hack it seems?
What TikTok Gets Wrong About Factory Buying
Many TikTok creators are pushing their followers to buy directly from Chinese factories. This TikTok trend started after President Trump put a 145% tariff on Chinese goods and revoked the de minimis exception.
This means that the cheap items we used to buy from sites like Shein and Temu will become more expensive. These taxes will also significantly push up the prices of luxury goods made in China, like handbags, sunglasses, and more.
Because of this, some influencers say we should go straight to the factory source and cut out the intermediary. These are the same factories from which your favorite brands get their inventories, and the labels are just added to make the items more premium.
You will save some money if you order directly from the factory. However, you're taking on some risks if you do that—and there are some serious caveats you should be aware of.
You Do Not Get Consumer Protection
The biggest risk you face when purchasing directly from a manufacturer is that you do not get consumer protection. Unlike the US, where we have robust consumer protection, purchasing directly from a factory across the sea that is not bound by American law would make it much harder to get your money back if things don’t go right. For example, you can easily return an item on Amazon if the seller shipped you the wrong one or if you were scammed.
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You might have similar protection from established platforms like Aliexpress or Alibaba. However, if you contact a business directly via email or a messaging app, the transaction is only between you and the seller. So, if there’s an issue with your order (or it doesn’t arrive), you have no other recourse but to find a lawyer in the seller’s country and sue them there if you want a refund.
Quality Control Is Not as Good
Retailers often add additional expenses to the manufacturing cost of the products they sell. However, there’s a good reason for this: aside from bearing the risk from the supplier and giving you, the buyer, some protection, they also conduct quality control on the items they sell. That means you’re less likely to get a bad product because another set of eyes, aside from the factory, has already checked your item.
Most factories usually also have some sort of quality control, but small imperfections might make it through the line because of the volume of goods they’re manufacturing daily. Smaller plants may have fewer people dedicated to evaluating output, which means you’re more likely to receive a defective item. So, in turn, a retailer with relationships to many different suppliers is one of the ways you’re protected from getting a bad product.
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Quality control is especially important for retailers who survive on repeat business and feedback. People are less likely to buy if a store consistently gets bad ratings, whether on Amazon, Etsy, or otherwise. Furthermore, many established businesses already know which factories they can trust, so you’re more likely to get a good product if you buy from a retailer. But this also applies to buying directly from a factory: how do you know which is a good factory, and which ones you can trust?
There's No Volume Discount for Single Purchases
You might think you’re saving money when you buy directly from the factory, especially as you might see quotes around 70% to 90% off the retail price. However, these prices are often the result of bulk discounts, meaning the seller will only give you this price if you order at least 100 units of the item you’re buying. But if you only need one item, you likely receive a smaller discount, meaning you won’t save as much money as expected.
Furthermore, some factories will only sell the extra items they make from a bulk order. For example, say that a manufacturing plant receives an order for 10,000 phone cases. They won’t make that exact number for their customer, as they need to account for mistakes during the assembly process and damages to items during transit, among other reasons. So, they might have 10,500 frames once they complete the order. If we assume that the client takes the 10,000 units, the factory will still have 500 leftover items on hand.
Credit: Rawpixel.com / Shutterstock
These units are often the ones that are sold by the factory as retail items at a discount. But these sometimes have the damaged goods included, and you might be the unlucky one who buys the item rejected by a corporate customer.
Existing Platforms Already Let You Do That
Instead of contacting a factory directly on WhatsApp, WeChat, or other messaging services, there are platforms that let you do that and offer protection. These online shopping sites, which sometimes offer free shipping, sometimes have manufacturers and factories that post items directly for retail. Don’t expect to get Amazon levels of customer service from many of them, but at least you can easily compare similar products, pay for your item securely, and track its shipment.
Aside from Alibaba and Aliexpress, you can also try apps like Taobao and Tmall, which are owned by Chinese multinational tech companies. While they also protect customers who use these platforms, do not expect to get the same quality of customer service and consumer protection you’ll get from Amazon.
Credit: Amazon
You can definitely get the items you buy from online shops and retailers at a much cheaper price from the overseas factory. And while you might be able to secure a good deal through that, you should also know that you’re bearing all the risk of the purchase. This means you’ll have less of a guarantee of receiving exactly what you want compared to when you’re buying it from a retailer.