Vetting a reseller is fine, but not individuals who are making a direct comission. If we were to allow that, I would then be allowed to post my own "tell them I sent you", and that would not be fair. Many of these rules limit me more than anyone else, and I'm trying to make this as fair as possible. Technically I am the largest affiliate in this space, but I also want this forum to be corporate free. I am liable for all the recommendations on my other site. The recommendations here to random personal emails can easily be done in a way to scam others or push sales. And I will have to take the responsibility if something goes wrong. Which has happened multiple times already.Devil's advocate here again... The website is US only. The email address is a generic one. Many people want a specific representative since others have had good experiences with them. Anyone not in the US wants to make sure they're talking to the right person, and not a scam or whatever. People want certainty before sending a lot of money to a third party.
There has to be a way to allow members of this forum to vet resellers, maybe tied to some reputation or whatever. I fully understand not having random newbies come in and recommend stuff. But just like people going with your recommendations because they trust you, there should be a way for others that have been around the block a few times with this stuff to recommend and also warn new users here on vendors, and the best ways of getting in touch with them. Just the process of using Alibaba is alien to many people (i.e., use the chat function, no you don't call anyone, no don't put stuff in your basket and go to pay for it, yes the shipping cost calculation is wrong, etc.).
Vetting a reseller is fine. Pushing sales through a personal email is not. There is nothing special about these sales reps. You can order directly through any of these companies many sales reps without issue. The level of competency to fill an order is very low.