Questions on importing goods from China

Hello All-

I was hoping that some of you may have some knowledge on importing goods from China.

We are considering importing optic crystal awards and gifts directly from the manufacturers. We are currently buying them from distributors here in the USA at a substantial mark up.

I hesitate to ask the factory I am dealing with, as their English isn't very good and it takes a day to get a reply.

So...

We will be buying in less than container quantities. We are looking for something faster than container ship, but slower and less expensive than Air (UPS runs around $3 per pound). Does anyone know of any options? Also what should we expect to pay? 2-3 week delivery would be perfect if we could find a logical pricing relationship.

Also, most of the suppliers want to be paid via T/T. Does anyone have any idea what this might be? I can only assume that it is some type of transfer. I am a little bit familiar with L/C's, but that isn't what they want.

Last, is there any way to protect myself from being ripped off? If we pay first because the supplier doesn't trust "unknowns," what says we won't be ripped off by them?

Thanks in advance,

Guy Kass