Why I’m Ditching Amazon for Small Factories on Alibaba I still remember the first time I ordered something from China. It was a pair of sunglasses from a random seller on AliExpress, back in 2018. I didn’t know what I was doing — the listing had broken English, the photos looked like they were taken in a basement, and the price was $3.99 with free shipping. I figured, what’s the worst that could happen? Three weeks later, a package arrived. The glasses were… surprisingly okay. Not groundbreaking, but for four bucks? Unbeatable. That moment flipped a switch in my brain. I started to wonder: if you can get decent sunglasses…