What is the procedure for selecting a product distributor overseas?

I'd be pretty conservative here. Unless the inquiries you're receiving are from Vivendi or SAP, you don't know any more about these folks than you would if they were claiming to be Nigerian government officials.

I'd look to partner with American companies, which, conveniently, operate under the same laws and in the same corner of the planet as you. There are, obviously, about a zillion US companies, and a substantial fraction of them are able to provide international distribution. The trick is identifying a partner and making the deal... but that's another topic.

If you can't find a US partner, at a minimum please make sure that you're not sending any up-front money to your international distributor. Of course, they should be paying you, so if they even raise the issue of some sort of payment to them, that's a huge red flag.

Good luck!

Scott

the most inexpensive way probably is to do facebook ads per country and see the uptake in each country - prioritize countries that have the most viable inquiries. at the end of the day you have a global network and you didn't spend more money being in-country

I would talk with the people making the offers, and do my best to see if they are legitimate (check out their websites, talk with their customers...)

Once I figured that its a good opportunity, I would contact my manufacturer about shipping some of the product to that country, and I would get the needed insurance to make sure I don't loose money on that transaction.

One thing I would not do, is have my manufacturer talk directly with my oversees partner, because they might figure that they want to cut you out of the loop.