Trade Leads

Once you join a Trade Association you can sign up for Trade Leads, which is a notification by email for whatever product's you are looking to sell or buy. As mentioned previously there are certain restrictions that may apply according to your level of membership.
Trade Leads match buyers and sellers by product category.
You could receive a large amount of inquiries or company profiles from Chinese factories.
The next step is to contact these companies to request price lists and compare prices.
I also did not hesitate to ask as many questions as I could think of. Many of the contact's will not have all of the answers right away. The good companies will have someone around that can get you the answer's in a reasonable amount of time. Beware of companies that shy away from your questions or never really answer them.
The problem with some of these companies is that they are 'sales machines', constantly looking for the next sale or new customer. They are inundated with sales inquires and often overlook customer service with their regular customers.
That is why establishing a relationship with your contact is important.