293 Comments (page 2)

Excellent article! Thanks for the info...

I'm not certain where you are getting your info, but great topic. I must spend a while finding out more or understanding more. Thank you for great info I used to be on the lookout for this information for my mission.

Can we trust Alibaba's new "Trade Assurance" program with gold suppliers? They guarantee 100% of buyer money back

Hello Timothy, Yes, this may offer a refund - but only if the reasons are 'good enough'. Telling Alibaba to issue a refund simply because the supplier did not comply with an imaginary vision of 'good quality' will not be sufficient. Alibaba will certainly, and for very good reasons, require extensive documentation that proves that the supplier did not comply with the buyers specifications.

Hey Frederik, I'm looking for PS4's on alibaba, and I can't find which ones are legit.. can you helpme out?

Pretty! This has been a really wonderful article. Manyy thanks forr supplying his info.

hi Sebastian is there a way that i can get a good reference for credible suppliers of good quality human hair extensions? I'm currently based in Nairobi Kenya your help is greatly appreciated and thanks for the informative article.

Many legitimate companies advertise on Alibaba, problem is it takes a lot more research, and many of the "legitimate" businesses will make contact with you or get your e-mail from your alibaba queries, then they will mail you brand named products at really cheap prices, which are all fake, as they are not allowed to do that on alibaba. As a general rule, the alibaba rating is close to meaningless, but that doesn't mean legitimate honest suppliers don't advertise on alibaba, but scammers use their rating system. I have clear evidence of this if anyone needs.

I wouldn't be too pedantic about hair extensions, it's not generally something anyone would make "fakes" of, you can use ali-express which has a 100% money back if not satisfied guaranteed, and make sure they pass all the other checks, check the same suppliers on alibaba for factory/site checks and audited companies. Only use suppliers who have a factory manufacturing exactly what you're looking for, and test their communication skills thoroughly by negotiating an order. If all seems ok with all of the above, you've probably found a lefit factory or supplier, if any of the above seem out of place, strange, or too good to be true, it's because something is not right, everything should be 100% perfect for you to place an order, no paying ever until goods have arrived and been checked, EVER! Good luck

Hi, I want to start a legitimate business of selling kids clothes online. I am importing dresses through aliexpress. However, the seller's are not providing invoice and also all the packages are marked as 'gift'. how are you guys managing this? As for setting up a business invoice and custom clearance are mandatory in every country... Thanks in advance for your help :)

Hello Garima, Are you based in the US? If yes, then there's quite a few more things than customs clearance to take into consideration. Before you import anything, you need to ensure CPSIA compliance, and perhaps also CA Prop 65 compliance (substance regulation).

Hello Will, Kyle, Fredrick It is absolutely great stuff following you guys, I have learned soooo much through reading and listerning to many of your articles, but I still havent made any real dives yet (even though I really want to..nerves). I live in Dubai and we don‘t have an Ebay or Amazon just Souq.com and a few others that can‘t compare. I have made a few sample orders from Alibaba and so far so good... when i make the BIG dive i‘ll fill you all in :) Anyway love you guys ... keep it up. Jacqueline

Congrats on your order, that's a huge step. Keep us updated!

Awesome blog, quality questions, great responses. Will and Kyle, and now fredrik. I've been reading all you guys have out there so very informative. Thank you. Obviously there are lots of sellers on alibaba. Is there a list anywhere of legit sellers we can obtain. I would be willing to pay for it?

The guy that scammed me has an e-mail address, surely there is an account sent for this address, surely they can be tracked down and punished through this connection???

I every time used too study paragraph iin news papers but now as I am a user of net so from now I am using net for articles, thanks to web.

Fredric man I just found u...Awsome articals.. sir I got scamed for over 2000 bucks buying 10ft long charging cords and power banks and anti dust plug phone jewelry..I am out of time now to do a bunch of investigating.. can. You PLEASE sir recomend a supplier or suppliers that can offer me 10f long phone charge cords all makes.nd power banks and phone jewelry. Thank u so much.my email is. [redacted]

I would like to know more. And what do you sale. Thank you

HI Patricia, I think you'll enjoy this: https://startupbros.com/how-you-can-make-big-money-importing-from-china-the-rise-and-fall-of-my-empire/

Kevin I found your web address on a how to avoid being scammed on Alibaba. I believe you said that you have connections to the Chinese manufacturing factories. I'm currently investigating to have some parts made cheap in China. So I have been reading how not to be scammed LOL. My research tells me that they don't care in China about your patents. They say they will sign a NDA but how do you enforce it in another country, joke and or nightmare. I have a device that I want to get the metal parts manufactured cheap. I want to try make good decisions on who I am trusting as I have heard about a lot of bad set ups. These stories make me leery of taking the next step. I don't want all the hassles that add up to negative losses not worth the energy. Can you tell me how to have quality parts made at factories for the rite price with a happy ending? . Steven Bullis

My brother and I made a purchase from: Address：Chiweipian, Xiachen Village, Shanghua Town, Chenghai District, Shantou City TEL：+86 754 85607891 FAX：+86 754 85607892 E-Mail：[redacted] on Alibaba and when in receipt of payment they asked for a further payment of $500 because apparently the shipping cost were wrong. We haven't received our products.

What do you guys think of this company please ?

Hi Frederick do you still work as a sourcing agent ??

If you order from a site like this, from a foreign company, would I have to pay customs fee when it gets to the United States? I have to buy product for a Hawaii business and shipping from the mainland is expensive. Everything is made in China anyway. But I don't want to end up paying more than I thought I would.

Hello Frederick! May I say first of all, what an informative and detailed article, so thank you. I am looking into starting an online boutique and am investigating manufacturers of handbags, headbands, jewellery etc- possibly China is my preffered option Can you recommend me any suitable manufacturers which have a good reputation? If you do have the time, I would really appreciate it. I have provided my email as above. Thank you :) Armaveni

What is your private email address so I can contact you ? Thanks

Thanks to my father who stated to me concerning this webpage, this web site is genuinely awesome.

Hello Fredrik, you seem knowledgeable, what exactly do you do for china portal or are you the owner.

Can you trust it? So far no, you cant. The supplier and I have agreed to cancel the order because the shipping company did not include the relevant local charges and were charging $220USD to ship from china to australia, it was going to cost me a further $550AUD to pick up the item from a freight forwarder. So $1700USD and almost 2 months down the track and I'm still emailing the disputes team even when the company has said to refund it. I am still in contact with the company and I have since bought other items from them but the trade assurance may refund the money.. But I wouldn't trust it again.

hie what security do i have if the supplier fails to deliver, though i paid directly to the supplier not to alibaba

I freaking love your site. It is incredible information that applies directly to small-scale import entrepreneurs/wantrepreneurs. Keep it up my friend.

Hopefully fewer and fewer wantrepreneurs :)

I like your comment. I would love it if you would kindly explain to me the intricacies of online marketing

What about identity theft? My company has been a subject to that- many people have been scammed on my account, I will not mention all the lawsuits going on, but now, how can I purchase anything via Alibaba and be sure the company I am willing to deal with is eligible?

unfortunately yes you have been scammed.

Guys, I have 2 queries: 1. Is there any other place to buy wholesale item apart from china. I mean from other Asian countries at cheaper price? 2. Is it advisable to but branded products in electronics section from china. For ex I was interested in buying San disk micro sd card. Please advise.

Hi Fredrik, Not sure if you still check this. But, can you email me some reliable textiles Chinese mfg?

looking to buy a bike frame, does anyone have a good source.

Hi Japhet, I've also been looking at 'Phoenix trade LLC' and if I were you I would avoid them. If you Google the address they give for their factory, you will find it is a small house it the USA. I have found that scammers, will advertise the same product multiple times, using different photo's and descriptions to make it appear as if they are selling many different items. They will even have a website where you can purchase these items that you will never receive. If you find a good supplier, please let me know

Pretty! This was a really wonderful article. Thanks for providing this info.

hi sebastian.. can you check me at

Hi, this is a pretty extensive and thorough way to investigate Alibaba merchants. I write a lot about the safety of online shopping in China and I like to use your info one day (with credits of course). It will be very helpful to my readers too. Today I wrote about how fake scammers use inquiries on Alibaba to send their listings. One of the companies even stole the identity of a legitimate Chinese manufactory. This blog can be found here. http://www.startbuyinginchina.com/beware-for-fake-products-on-alibaba/ Keep up the good work!

Hey, I am currently looking at buying electric unicycles from Alibaba, and what I wanted to know is, what if a supplier list the same product (well, or at least it looks like it), but under a different name and/or price? Should you go for the cheapest, mid-priced, or high priced?

Hi! Thank you for the article. Would just like to know if anyone has bought from four leafage fiber ? Did you get what you ordered and was it of high quality

Hi, I'm a local Chinese and I think some of the ideas above are not really practical. First is about the ISO 9001 certification. I mean, literally, this certificate can be bought for just a few thousand CNY(approx. 1,000 USD) here. However, if the product you are looking for are in some special industry and some specific certifications may apply, like API-6D for pipline valves, that certificate will certainly make a factory more valuable. Second is about the size of the supplier. Not always the bigger the better. Some bigger company produce crappy stuff, while some house-based workshop produce with great quality. What's important is to get a sample from the supplier, and what's more important is to get on the ground and pay a visit, watch and feel, evaluate the supplier with your own eyes and hands. If you are not able to get to China yourself, hire someone local to do that for you. Hope this will help you guys, and you can contact me at hankjiang1@gmail if you want. Kind regards, Hank

Thank you for a great article. What would you say it means if the company's profile is missing a lot of the info you mentioned? Would you assume they are not good quality?

I'm looking for a printer in India or China to produce jigsaw puzzles of my designs. How can I find an honest and reputable jigsaw puzzle printer?

Link exchange is nothing else except it is only placing the other person's weblog link on your page at suitable place and other person will also do same for you.

that is because many suppliers use their boss's private email address to apply the paypal account.it is common for the suppliers in china.

Hi, it's me.. Again. I have read a few of your other articles and I want to exactly what you did, start a business at 13, make money, and everything go smooth. I have spent weeks looking for products and found some I think are good but I'm not so sure. I am new to this so I ask a lot but I don't really understand this stuff I thought it's just pay and get your stuff but it's so much more so if anyone could please explain in simple words step by step what I need to do. How to find good products, good suppliers (big one), how to import it, and how to sell it. Thank you all so much and a special thanks to you Will, you inspired me to try this!

How do you know what you buy from alibaba is authentic? I.e., my wife sales clothes online. She has found some name brand makeup for a cheap price. My thought is it sounds too good to be true. She ordered some and they look like the real thing. However, I don't want her to sell them if they are remakes because I don't want to be guilty of copyright infringement. How does one know if they are buying an authentic item to resale?

Which method of payment would be your safest bet.

I want purchase iPhone 6+ and leptop on Alibaba.com Who is true and trast suppliers plzzzzzzzzz tell me

two thing that can happen 1 is Fraud you might not get want you order another is getting fake products

Thanks for the info. I am concerned that the agents of the suppliers giving quotes want to liaise on whatsapp and Skype. Is that alright? Should I only worry when payment needs to be made? Thanks

You've got it exactly right. Communicating on Skype is totally normal.

Hey, thanks for the article , how do I check the companies registered capital , I can see listed on their profile , but how can be sure that it has been verified ? Kind Regards Asa

Hello Fredrik, Thanks for the informative article.its really educative since i would like to start importing baby products from china. would you please recommend some manufacturers. Do you give services of an agent in China? I will highly appreciate your assistance.

I have been working in factory and selling on Alibaba for 5 years. I have to say something you mentioned are not correct. 1/ Why you want to advoide Middle Man? If you buy small quantity from factory, do you think factory will be careful with your order? Of course not, Chinese boss seldome like small order, so there is no gurantee for small orders, if you work with middleman, they can go to the factory to check quality and ask them to send photos, as far as I can see, milldle men are more honest than Chinese factories, this is hard to explain but I can say the Chinese bosses are old stupid Chinese, they do not speak English and they have typical Chinese mindset, those sales girls are lazy and not responsible, middle man are all young guy, they are enthusiactic and have passion. 2/ You really think Alibaba certificated manufacturers are real manufacturers? There are thousands of companies open Alibaba with manufacturer's company lisence but they are middle men, you can't tell it. Alibaba is not that serious with this, if you pay them money, you can have all the service on Alibaba. 3/ Chinese always use Hongkong Bank to avoid tax, if you see their bank names are different from their company names or their company address is in Hongkong, this is normal. I think there is no way can 100% to tell fraud manufacturers, the best way to get good quality is to check the webiste contant, see their photos good or not, the products information detialed or not, if a company is not responsible with their website, how could they be responsible for their customers?

How should I take payment? Through alibaba or through their direct bank? I'd rather pay the extra 5% and be protected by doing it all through alibab

Hi would you trust a china supplier if not alibaba but receives paypal payment?

Does anyone know a good company that sells hoverboards for about $150 (more or less)?

I need a reliable supplier of walnuts and sesame seeds. raw. no shell. if anyone has contacts please reply

When the item is "shipped how long does it take to get the tracking number

Is there a place online to get Alibaba vendor reviews? I would be interested in hearing what other people have to say about their experiences working with specific Alibaba vendors.

yado's company verification reports saved me from being defrauded.

Hi, I have a question. What should I do if i bought a product from a aliexpress vendor and they refused to give me a refund and tried to make me change my review or i wouldn't get it?

Dana did you buy the product?

I'm having nearly the same issue with a manufacturer who says that I should pay directly to their bank.

You can file a dispute with Paypal or your financial institution.

Hi Id like to know how to hire someone local - is there a website for this sort of thing?

From my understanding, if you select pay for goods button, PayPal offers buyer protection on your side. They also offer a program well you don't pay a penny until you get the items in hand. If you're using your bank card, that is linked to your Paypal account, you will have double the protection. 1 through Pay Pal, and 1 through your banking Institution. This is why I always start the conversation with the supplier with, my company only allows me to work through PayPal. If they deny that request and are not willing to work through Pay Pal, then I will not mess with them. That is my general rule of thumb, I'm still figuring it out myself.

Anyway you can assist me with my inquiry above?

Hey guys, now this is something that has been worrying me and I wanted to know how to go about it. Two vendors with almost identical names and identical info exist of Alibaba. One is 8 years gold member while the other is 3 years gold member. Both deal in the same product and both have been given all the "trade assurance" "gold member" "on site checked" "inspected by Bureau Veritas" Is one fake? or is one a subsidiary of the mother company? or are both just coexisting in the same space with same photos :| (seems highly unlikely) Thanks

let us pay alibaba in advance. what if the product received is not upto the mark as specified. shall we receive the product after exchange through alibaba. or we have the option to receive our amount back from alibaba.

Venezia International Ltd scammers One i have delt with and ripped me off. Cant even follow orders and then sends you products that you can even use. Refund....nope. out of pocket $350

I don't understand ,why an 8 years gold member or 3 years gold member company will be the fraud company? they paid at least 5000 dollar per year in order to do business on alibaba , not including doing SEM&SEO.Chinese are using Alibaba as a good way to do business online, if an 8 years gold member want to cheat in order to get may 3000 dollars from you ,it is not necessary for them to do it . they are doing billion yuan per year.

alibaba is doing B2B not B2C, $150 is so little

i need your advise. I am about to make an order for a certain gudget. when i checked the su[ppliers website they had a similar product with better features to the one i initially wanted and it was way cheaper than the initial one. When i then contacted the supplier informing her that i now want this better and cheaper version they informed me that the price on the website was a mistake and that it was actually more expensive. I began to doubt them. They should supply customers with accurate information. should i trust my instinct before i make a mistake dealing with them

I was scammed by Anika Barclay. I sent money for laptops and never received them and thus person is still selling on the site stealing money.

Had a run in with VENEZIA INTERNATIONAL. Scammed me and Alibaba wont do anything. I ordered shirts and other things, all wrong colors and sizes and printing is poor. VENEZIA INTERNATIONAL scammer wont refund or anytihng and Alibaba wont punish him. Abusive emails calling me a dog and many other things. Stay away from VENEZIA INTERNATIONAL scammers

Alibaba practices in major fraud. I tried to purchase a ring bearing for a crane. Alibaba introduced a company that not only sent the wrong, second hand item but sided with the seller. I am now $15000 in debt. Company name is Oriemac (Qingzhou Fuhao Engineering Machinery)

Alibaba dealt with a company that not only sent a second hand piece of equipment but it was not complete. I am now $13000 in debt without any way of getting the money back. Company name is Oriemac (Qingzhou Fuhao Engineering Machinery)

buy his course. follow his method. Do you think he is going to find you and tell you everything? or post it in this comment section.

Alibaba introduced me to a chinese company (oriemac) that dealt with waste paper recycling for my business in Sydney NSW. Once the company sent me a shoddy replica in pieces unable to work, Alibaba decided that the seller was in the right. I have lost over $19500 and cannot do a thing about it. Trade assurance means nothing. Alibaba are responsible for my loss all the way to Jack Ma.

anybody know who's selling authentic mac books on Alibaba?

I tend to agree with the others who have commented. Alibaba no longer cares about their B2B business - its gone entirely to the dogs, if you will. They are just focusing on B2C - Aliexpress and buying random companies in India to derisk their China concentration.

Ewww...Alibaba..!

whaaaa? Look if you make 15k mistakes perhaps what you're doing isn't really your bag. I mean if you order parts for an aircraft and you are getting scammed...get out of the aircraft biz. You either don't know what you're doing or might put peoples lives at risk. Aliexpress is a well known scam location. It's for knock-off chinese products. You get what you pay for mate!! Shop in the right place to get what you want.

Dear please help me is they are fraud please email me [redacted]

Why do you want me to email you???

I suspect that this is a negative press designed to destroy the company in question. I'm not sure though, but can't help noticing the two incessant complaints, from two different monicas, with two random round figures, both mentioning the same company. A coincidence? Possible, but pretty doubtful.

Useful article but not completely practical, I have been working with china and alibaba since 2005 and I can assure you that, right middle men is like a lawyer for you and your business. It will be your safe zone and a person who you can count on. As we know Alibaba is also playing middle men role here some aspects but are they complete solution? No they are not! They are just a search engine and that is what they are good at it. We have came a cross with several bad suppliers ourself in the past. losing time, reputation and money is something you really don't want! Now we have found solution to this matter by putting our people and our USA company branch office in china! By doing that We stoped all negativity that was sucking all our excitements, reputation and capitals. Now we can focus on growing our businesses and also help others like you if they need any support on importing. I deeply suggest you find a right company like DOZTrading or someone else, let them take your 1% and make you 99%.

In fact, none of them matter anything can be forged. As long as the company do not accept legitimate payment methods such as paypal or credit cards you should walk right away. Even so called 5 star gold members on Alibaba turned out to be scams. After all, Alibaba is definitely not the right place to find legitimate products/sellers.

Try that company yourself with $15k. Then you can tell whether is a scam or not.

Mehmet DOZ, What is your company's email & contact person , & what particular items do you produce. I don't want to lose money & would appreciate any advice that helps me & others who are not in China, purchase from a reliable company that has has learned through experience & by setting up an office there, which gives clients a sense of confidence that you are a reliable company which is vary valuable these days & makes one feel really confident to purchase or send clients,by your experience; knowing that our referrals would receive the "product they really ordered" if they were to purchased from you. Respectfully, An honest purchaser.

Hello dear friend. I didn't want

Alibaba / Aliexpress / Global source Investigation 6 minus 4 investigators. Supplier inspections. # 58% of quotations do not respect the price of negotiations for the same quantity # 71% Are companys trading # 23% s products do not match the products ordered. # 96% Born in compliance with the 1 year warranty they promise. # 33% in case of frauds changes company name. # 11% are actually verified when subscribing GOLD member # 82% of the disputes are not resolved, lack of seriousness of the structure Alibaba # 14% increase in scam over the last 6 months. # 61% of products are of poor quality. Alibaba / Aliexpress / Global source Privacy policy not respected When you make mass quotes your personal data first name / firstname address phone / email are disclosed to all members who paid a subscription on Alibaba / Aliexpress / Global source, you will notice when you request an RFQ the box to agree To share My business card is already checked in the form. While legally this box must be checked only by the buyer. The system RFQ request strong quotation is a deception and exposes you to products of poor quality, scam and spam on a large scale. Why? Because when you do call the RFQ mass quotes. The application is sent to all suppliers, trading company, without any selection by contribution to the product request. That is to say that company who have never sold this product will also receive your request and so you access your data: company name. First name, phone, email. This increases fraud and Spam. TRAD INSURANCE: trad insurance does not guarantee the buyer, the quality of the product, the accuracy of the products ordered by the buyer. Deception in the details of Alibaba / Aliexpress / GlobalSource articles Finally it is important to know that these websites the B2b and B2C traent. That is, you can negotiate prices, also note that 56% of sellers do not apply the price trade range for the same quantity. For example, you see US $ 2.99-9.99 / Piece Minimum order 100pcs When you enter into communication with the seller the prices are above the maximum promised. This is a technique to attract you, but especially that indicates that this seller is not honest. if the price quotation is over the price when applying for listing for the same minimum order do not do business with that seller who is not honest. It is necessary to look at the descriptive of the articles sold more than 72% of the articles use false descriptive, for example TV LED and in reality it is of the LCD type. False images that are usually taken on branded brand products like Samsung LG etc. Alibaba / Aliexpress / Global source accepts this deception; support indicated that it is to attract buyers. So it's a total complicity with Alibaba / Aliexpress / Global source

bwahahaha. Good one.

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