Payment method matters less than payment structure. A well-structured T/T is safer than a badly structured escrow. Here is how the common routes actually behave.
T/T with a deposit
The standard structure in this trade is a deposit by telegraphic transfer with the balance paid before shipment — the terms used here are 30% deposit with balance before shipment. The protection is not in the method, it is in what the balance is contingent on. Make the balance payable against inspection results or against a photo of the packed goods with the correct labels, and the deposit becomes the only sum genuinely at risk.
Two structural details do most of the work. First, the beneficiary name must match the business licence exactly. Second, write into the PI what the deposit buys — material procurement and production start — so there is a shared understanding of what has been earned if the order stops.
Trade Assurance
Alibaba Trade Assurance holds the payment against an order contract with agreed terms and a dispute path. It is genuinely useful on a first order with a supplier you have not met, because it forces the specification, quantity and delivery date into a document that both sides accepted before money moved.
Its limitation is that it protects against the terms as written. If the contract says "custom pouch, 1000 pcs" and nothing about fabric weight or colour approval, a dispute over fabric weight is hard to win. The protection is only as specific as the specification you put in it.
PayPal
PayPal is convenient for sample payments and small amounts — it is accepted here for samples — and buyer protection is real but limited for custom-made goods, which are harder to claim on than off-the-shelf items. Fees also make it unattractive at production volumes. Treat it as a sampling and small-value tool rather than an order-payment method.
Letters of credit
An L/C is standard on large orders and rarely worth the bank fees and paperwork below a substantial value. If you are running a first order of a few thousand pouches, the administrative cost usually exceeds the risk it removes.
Structuring a first order
The pattern that works: pay for the sample separately and cheaply, approve the physical sample and keep a counter-sample yourself, place the production order against that approved sample with the deposit, and tie the balance to an inspection or documented packing check. Keep the first order small enough that its total value is a sum you would accept losing, because the first order is buying you information as much as goods.
Red flags at payment stage
A beneficiary name that does not match the licence. A request to switch to a personal account or a different country. Pressure to pay the balance before goods are ready "to secure shipping space". A sudden change of bank details mid-order — this one is often email compromise rather than the supplier, and the fix is to confirm any bank-detail change by voice on a number you already had.