With the cost of almost everything we buy going up, I've started to purchase a few things overseas to save money. It's saved us a bundle, but the learning curve has taken a bite out of my time. What are the best ways for small companies to buy globally?

 

Dear Global Buyer: "Global sourcing" is taking off among companies of all sizes.

 

Consider the rapid rise of Alibaba.com, a popular business-to-business e-commerce hub that connects some 25 million registered users worldwide to help them buy and sell every kind of product, from apparel to agricultural items or trinkets to textiles. When I first wrote about this international trade portal in 2002, it was already growing rapidly into a major destination for buyers and sellers to find trade opportunities.

 

When Alibaba went public this past November, the stock price skyrocketed in a blockbuster debut that rivaled Google's initial stock sale in 2004. Its unique business model for creating a global B-to-B shopping mall has clearly caught the fancy of investors as well as users worldwide.

 

But the point is this: Global purchasing is no longer the future. It is today, right now. Businesses looking to stay cost-effective and competitive in whatever they do are finding it essential to look everywhere from across the street to across the globe to find the best combination of price and quality for whatever they need. Business-research firms such as the Aberdeen Group are calling global sourcing "the next great battleground of business competition."

 

Alibaba is one place that lets you quickly and easily browse by product or supplier categories for what you need. You can contact sellers after you find products to get more information or post buying leads to get instant seller quotations. The site has a variety of customer-support and safe-trading features that help you research seller backgrounds and reputations and protect your account.

 

The site is also rich with free articles on global trade, including helpful advice on finding suppliers, shipping and inspection, payment and security, along with Alibaba's own tutorials on how to best use the site.

 

But Hong Kong-based Alibaba is not alone. Another excellent global trade resource hub is the FITA Buy and Sell exchange, a partnership of the Federation of International Trade Associations, based in Reston, VA, and Worldbid.com. It's a huge network of international trade sites that provide easy access to buy and sell leads around the world. You can submit offers to buy, RFQs and RFPs for whatever your business needs.

 

The site (fita.worldbid.com) offers a wide range of helpful information, links to other sites, company "showrooms" that businesses have set up to display their products, plus directories and information on global trade shows.

 

The FITA Buy/Sell Exchange resources section includes links to country profiles, government agencies, industry news, trade organizations, shipping and international business travel. Their "Really Useful Sites for International Trade" section lists over 8,000 websites related to global commerce.

 

Help is also available from newly established global purchasing firms that specialize in pooling orders and helping business buyers find the best price and quality for what they need.

 

YourBuyer Worldwide (www.yourbuyer.com), for example, specializes in helping the construction, hospitality and food-packaging industries find what they need at the best prices on the planet.

 

They buy direct from domestic as well as overseas factories, and have "sourcing agents" in several countries that search the globe for the best deals.

 

Companies such as YourBuyer also handle key details such as inspections, quality assurance, shipping and customs.

 

Cabri Developers, which builds condos in Las Vegas, used YourBuyer to purchase sinks, faucets, toilets, bathtubs, custom cabinetry, wood flooring and custom mirrors from overseas suppliers, saving thousands of dollars per unit built.

 

These resources can also help:

 

•  Euro Pages is an online European business directory where you can search by suppliers by product, service, company name or business sector. Visit www.europages.co.uk.

 

•  Global Sources is a business purchasing search site that includes "verified" suppliers from around the world. Visit www.globalsources.com.

 

•  You can locate customs brokers at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America website. Visit ncbfaa.org.