Finding a reliable manufacturer has been harder than choosing a product

I have been working on finding a manufacturer for a product idea, and honestly, that as turned out to be the hardest part of the whole process.

At first I thought it would just be a matter of comparing prices, but after spending more time looking into different suppliers, I realized there is a lot more to it, things like communication, production experience, quality control, and minimum order quantities seem just as important as the price.

While researching, I ended up looking through Alibaba, Made in China and a few other sourcing platforms just to compare suppliers and see what was out there, it definitely gave me more options, but it also made me realize how difficult it is to tell which manufacturers are actually worth working with.

I'm planning to order samples before making any bigger decisions because I would rather spend a little more time now than deal with problems later.

For anyone who is already been through this process, what ended up helping you separate the good manufacturers from the ones you would not work with again? It feels like this is something you only really learn after a few orders.