What worked (and failed) while matching Chinese suppliers to North American buyers

I spent the last year helping North American buyers source from China, and I underestimated how messy matching really is.

What did not work:

• Sending buyers to giant directories and expecting them to self-filter
• Treating MOQ and lead time as afterthoughts
• Assuming email response speed means supplier quality

What worked better for us:

• Brief-first intake (spec + MOQ + target price + timeline)
• Matching by requirement fit before first intro
• Keeping communication in one thread so context is never lost

Result so far: 500+ verified suppliers in our network and 300+ buyer-supplier matches.

I wrote this because many founders here are building in boring but high-friction categories. If you are in one, what was the workflow change that gave you the biggest win?

(Working on this at maplebridge.io)