The best way is the cheapest way. Make sure the delivery is door to door. Also, on the packaging you just need the FNSKU. The UPC code on the packaging does not matter.

There are Tons of suppliers on Alibaba that are not from China.

I pretty much always recommend staying in just one category so that you can use both listings to help sell each other.

I have tried many times to source from China, but the shipping cost usually doubles my per unit cost and the price I can get on Amazon is only about 2x cost (not worth it after FBA fees). So far I have not been able to save enough money to order enough to where shipping costs become reasonable on a per unit basis. Good luck. If anyone has ideas, that would be great. I am open to partnering on a product.

What everyone else here said basically. Cheapest will be sea, but air is faster and in many cases the faster you can sell the faster you can turn that money around into more inventory and continue selling more etc so it’s worth considering just doing air perhaps to start until you’ve got your timelines figured out best to handle sea.

It’s the Chinese New Year so most manufacturers are closed until the 13th Feb.