Christmas is a one-shot season. A supplier who ships three weeks late does not discount your penalty - they erase your year. Here is the checklist we recommend every buyer run before transferring a deposit.
Ask for the production address, then verify: business licence scope, photos of the branch-moulding lines, and a live video walk-through. We publish our own factory page openly - see it here - because for us it is a selling point.
Ask what percentage of last season's containers shipped on schedule, and what happens when a line runs behind (subcontracting to vetted sister factories is normal and fine - hiding it is not).
Everyone says "high quality". Ask instead: needle-shedding test method, tip-count tolerance, light-string burn-in hours before packing, carton drop tests. Real answers take two sentences each.
EN71 parts, ROHS for LED strings, BS5852-style flame retardancy where your market requires it. Our summary of tree certifications shows what serious factories hold.
Standard is: sample fee + courier, deducted from first order. We work exactly this way - details here.
Trees are bulky-light cargo. A factory that has loaded hundreds of 40HQ containers knows how to hit volume without crushing branches. Ask for the carton dimensions and loading plan per SKU - container math explained.
One named contact, replies inside 24 hours on working days, quotes with itemised specs. If the quote says "negotiable" for everything, run.