293 Comments (page 3)

Please help! I bought something on alibaba and now my supplier said I need a broker to clear ISF... what does that mean?

Reach out to FBAprep.com and they would love to help you out :)

Hi I am looking for companies that will go in to a company and check everything so one has a far chance to find a legit China manufacturer or suppler I did find them on the web but I lost it Thanks Ken

There aren't companies that are going to go into factories and do quality assurance for you. Alibaba.com sends people into factories to make sure that the factories are doing what they say they're doing. Short of going over there and checking product quality yourself, companies like fbaprep.com will perform quality assurance tests for you once you order the products and return them for you if they don't meet minimum standards. However by making small orders you will find out quickly if the products are good or not.

Anyone has any experience with after sales service? I bought 3500usd worth of cctv cameras for store stock. The company sends the camera and products well, but when some cameras has faulty, we send the faulty parts to supplier based on their instruction. After a month, they sent the serviced parts back with some parts still faulty. Since then, we cannot contact the sales person back and the company cannot be contacted as well either by phones, emails, or chats. I fear for our stock warranty, which is supposed to be 2 years and still in coverage. Has anyone had the same experience? We found the company from alibaba who has 12 years of gold supplier with alibaba

How can I verify that the product they are selling is an original or a clone? For instance, I found Mavic pros worth $500 whereas the company itself sells for $999. So are they fake?

Hi I want to buy some cosmetic from alibaba and then I have chated with supplier from that site. After I order something I need to sent money to them. Please kindly recommend should I trust and sent them money? I'm scare I was got cheating!

Be happy it wasnt more money, and learn from this mistake to never repeat the same mistake again.

Thanks a lot this article help me a lot

I'm curious, I want to buy some stuff from doztrading, but I'm not sure about them, had anyone bought from them?

About company check, instead of relying on second-hand information, we can choose to read the registration records from the AIC. There are startups like The China File (www.thechinafile.com) which provide both source AIC materials and reports in English.

Is it normal to have big suppliers respond to Alibaba queries giveing their yahoo e-mail address (apparently private) and a WhatsApp account number? I've made a handful of price/first contact enquiries to two large, popular companies – each manufacturing completely different types of products. The answers I received all sent back non-company based Yahoo e-mails and personal sounding Whatsapp numbers asking me to call them. From my Western sensibilities this looks suspect. Is this the norm there? I'm worried I goy fake versions of the companies.

You need to differentiate between a brand and a product. If someone is trying to sell you a brand name product then it's most likely fake. Alibaba specializes in unbranded products that you can private label yourself

If you only use Paypal or alipay then you should be safe!

Yea, You are completely right. I recommend only aliPay or PayPal

So glad the article can be helpful! Please don't be shy to ever ask any questions :)

I would recommend using suppliers from Alibaba you would be safer than in most other places

Your western sensibilities might be right. Most legitimate suppliers are more likely to keep all the communications on Alibaba

Thanks a lot Fredrik Grönkvist for posting this article. I think it will be help me to avoid scams.

Thank you for reading! Feel free to ask any questions :)

If i take the invoice from alibaba and paid directly to seller without alibaba portal, will it be safe?

Does letter of credit guarantee the delivery of quality goods? How can one tract a company that gets paid through their account? Are Chinese shipping documents reliable or it can be faked?

such a good info. Thanks a lot..

Why are loose diamonds on alibaba so cheap? I seen a diamond on there for $250 I called a diamond dealer in NY and they said that same diamond is worth about 2 or 3k Is this a scam or is this a good arbitrage opportunity?

Yes I have... Since 5 years up to know.

Well, it depends on how you pay the seller. With paypal, it's fairly safe. T/T or Western Union are very risky.

I purchased a Virtual Reality machine from a company in China. I paid through Alibaba..the company was listed with trade assure and the whole works as good. When the machine arrived, it was cheap junk computers, breaking down every other day. They assured me when I purchased it that it was top quality, not 10 year old computers. Although they give tech support, it is very inconvenient because of the 12 hour differences. if this machine had quality components theses problems would not be happening. They also are using Open-source software which may illegal to use for commercial purposes. I want a refund and I was under the impression Alibaba would protect me when it came to quality problems. Was I miss informed or do you think Alibaba will help to refund my money?

Please... help. I have a very small business, so i can't afford to be conned. I want to buy contact lenses from Guangzhou Winis Import & Export Co., Ltd. i found them on Alibaba. Gold supplier for 6 years, trade assurance. It even says Alibaba has checked the onsite offices. Registered capital is 500,000 RBM. But when i send an inquiry or chat with the sales manager, and there are several, the same guy Gabriel Tegha answers. His IP appears to be in Cameroon. What can i do? :( i really want to buy these products, they are the only ones who sell theses lenses. Also, their transaction history says they have made just 2 sales these last 6 months. I you could help me i would be grateful, what do you recommend? Oh i can pay via Paypal. But even the mail of the paypal account seem sketchy: [redacted], as far as i know smalto is an african surname, not chinese.

Hello do you have any reputable manufacturers that you deal with???

before buying - did you get a sample -

3500 is a small price to pay - did you get sample before buying - does company have paypal account even with 12 years gold supplier - what happen is if a company keeps putting out fake products - they will go bankrupt and they cannot afford to cover your warranty

Pay pal, either safe, cause when you write to pay pal you that you get products, case close automatically, and when you open dispute you stay there weeks and depend on what supplier says, if supplier offer solution you have to accept it.and if you dont like it is your problem.

Hi, I am new and first time buying from alibaba suppliers. As i not sure if it is a genuine supplier, i wish to pay in paypal but the supplier said they will charge me 5% extra on top the purchase price if i use paypal. Is this normal and allowable? Or is it a scam so i opt for western union ( no charges from them).

Hey Zee! It's both normal and allowable. Paypal charges a transaction fee so they are trying to make up for it. But we do believe it's normally a scam when suppliers want to only work with Western Union. There is no trace-ability with western union. I would recommend to keep looking for suppliers until you find one that is comfortable with accepting paypal. They do exist!

Did you make the purchase?

hello im buying some products from this company based in mainland china but once a get payment details, company name is different from that on alibaba, they suggested paypal but name is also different. i asked them why bank account in different name but also bank in hong kong..i'm not sure if i should trust this company/person.

I have a client who is a supplier of restaurant equipment, both producing his own products as well as reselling for others. If entering alibaba as a supplier, should he include his own products or the products he resells as well?

By the basis of my inquiry on the Alibaba site, on nov.2017. the first person from cpmpany Wenzhou Best Rigging Co., Ltd who contacted me is one woman - introduced as JoJo. After that, another person who contacted me introduced himself as Huang See. I agreed the business with him. That person contacted me through Whatsapp - on my mobile number. JoJo confirmed to me in writing that Huang See was their supervisor. I paid to him an agreed amount for the semple of climbing carabiners, rope and herness - by the invoices. I paid on his paypal account. After that, I never got the goods and the person Huang See stopped communicating with me through Whatsapp. After that, I again contacted JoJo through the Alibaba site and explained her this situation. First, she told me that they don't have Huang See in their company, and after that she told me that Huang See did not tell her about me. She was confused in the reply. When I started an investigation about this case of scam, by Alibaba site, JoJo told them that there is no Huang See in them company and that she did not tell me that Huang See is supervisor in your company. The person JoJo is lying. After that I sent mail to the company several times, but they never reply me. But the even bigger problem is that people from Alibaba did not want to approach this case professionally.  Although I provided them with all the written evidence of this fraud ( screenshots of my communication with JoJo on Alibaba site and with Huang See by Whatsapp, invoice, proof of my payment to paypal account of Huang See ) they persistently demanded from me to provide proof that I made the payment to the company account. I opened the case on Alibaba website 4 times, but they asked me the same thing - proof that I paid it to the account of that company. So be careful! People, be sure that people from Alibaba will not help you if someone deceives you on their site - although you have very clear evidence.

I want to buy babe puzzle from this company Yiwu Feisheep Import & Export Co., Ltd.,but I am not okay with there profile. The MD (Melody Zheng)gave me his WhatsApp contact, I called him on video to see his face, but he never pick. I told him to snap the products he sent he sent internet downloads.

Since u paid by paypal, lodge a fraud report and your money wont go to them, simple.

I have contacted a supplier and on a Turkish invitation letter and he sent his WATS up number,we talked on WATS up and I asked how am I secure he told me that he has no time to waste with me

How safe is it to order goods from alibaba agent ?

We wouldn't recommend using an Alibaba agent. There's no reason that I can think of to use one. Go on the website and place an order. Before that make sure you shop around for a great price.

HI.Were u able to get honest Chinese suppliers/manufacturers since you've asked this question wit MehmetDOZ?

Is there a way of knowing what manufacturer/supplier won’t steal your design and sell it to other buyers? Thank you for your article, it was extremely informative!

Hey Brit, truthfully there is no way to 100% ensure a supplier in China won't steal your design and sell it on their own. You can have then sign NDA's or non compete contracts to start. You can also get a US patent for parts of your design. The issue is that China doesn't respect US Intellectual Property laws because there is no way for us to enforce our laws on them. You can also file a patent in China but that would cost more money. I would say that if you really are worried about them stealing your design then you should keep everything in the United States. There are companies that can design and manufacture something for you here in the US, fully protected. Then what you can do is have some parts manufactured overseas and some parts here. It's possible and people do things like that all the time. In general, I would say that if your product is good, you should bring it to market no matter what and make sure your brand is registered with the US patent office. People knowing your brand is more important than the actual product because then people are going to be loyal to the brand. Thanks for checking out the article :) Hope I helped and if you have any questions at all please let me know!

What does acre mean when buying shoes on the site does it mean a pair or ??

Can you share the link here? We have never seen that measurement for shoes but we would love to help!

I'm pleased and so grateful with your teachings. Thank you.i

Thanks for checking out the article!

What's your opinion on using sourcing companies like Noviland to handle all of the sourcing instead of using directories like Alibaba?

1. No, a letter of credit does not guarantee the delivery of quality of goods. Quality is also very arbitrary and you should do everything you can to implement a set of quality assurance measures that the factory needs to uphold and agree to in the contract. 2. I'm not sure of your question. 3. They're for the most part reliable, however can easily be faked.

I want to buy an agricultural raw material by the ton. I have negotiated MOQ but the most favourable prices are from Thailand and I can't match the companies i am interacting with to the ones on the Alibaba.com app. One has refused to send samples as he believes my low order is considered a sample order. Our discussions have been by mail and WhatsApp and I would like to return to the app for discussion. But one of them claims the company is on several sites and he doesn't know where my contact is from even though Alibab is the only site I use.

If I had to pick something I would recommend using what's known as "contract manufacturers". They work sort of like sourcing companies where they will go out and find the best manufacturers for the individual components of your products. I don't have too much experience with sourcing companies so I will personally look into Noviland but I personally can recommend Morpho Manufacturing. They're a fantastic contract manufacturer.

thank you for helping to answer the question Francois!

One of the things you might want to consider doing is finding that company in Thailand's website and contacting directly on there. Do you think that's a possibility?

I have already made the mistake of paying a textile company by western union and now communication has really dropped off. My communication after the very first one were not through Alibaba. Looks like I have been scammed and made every mistake possible. I was looking for any company with Trade Assurance that did custom printed tea towels out of India and I didnt see a single one with this listed on their companies. Only marking any of them had were Gold Supplier. Amy I not looking somewhere I should be? China had it on most of their companies. Is this a regional thing or how do I know for sure what is the best safest companies to use out of India? Thanks

HI Jerry, Did you ever find a great textile mfg? I am in desperate need of one that can make custom ttea towels. If you have a referral, I would really appreciate it.

Hey Lee, thanks for reaching out and I'm sorry that you're having trouble on Alibaba. We partner with a company called "Sourcify" they are the go to people to find reputable suppliers. They will even work with you to communicate with your suppliers. I recommend them over anyone. Check them out and tell them startupbros sent you.

Hey Lee, I answered another one of your comments :) I would love to help you out and talk more about the issues you're having! Can you email us bros@startupbros(dot)com so we can talk about this further and figure something out for you.

I've seen a few times on Alibaba they've mentioned they could put "personal logos" on the items you ordered as well. How does that work🤔

We have a post "How to sell on Amazon" and there's a video showing exactly how to do that!

Hey Will-nice to meet you here. Great article by the way. Also listened to your video on negotiating and took some notes. Whats the fee structure on a comp like morpho manufacturing? Thank you!

I found a product that is reasonably priced and the company verified and has trade assurance. Is it safe to order from them even though their not Good Members?

Hey Chris what do you mean by "good members"? Do you mean Gold? Either way if the company is verified and covered by trade assurance you are safe to order from them.

Hey Paul, it completely depends on what you're looking to accomplish with them and how much you're willing to spend on products. The larger the order the more they charge. But their most popular affordable service is $997 for a new design.

Super post! Thank you. About Paypal, the rules probably changed. Q: Can I pay via PayPal and still get Trade Assurance protection? No, if you pay via PayPal or make payments to the supplier directly, your order is not covered by Trade Assurance, which offers protection for on-time shipment and product quality. Only orders placed on and paid for through our site are covered by Trade Assurance.

Thank you so much for spending your time to give us the core of your experience.

Thank you so much Mohammed for reaching out and reading the article :) If you have any questions at all please let me know.

Hey Martin, thanks for the info. We're going to look into this right away. Extremely useful!

Best affortdable shipping company to send my items from china to Philippines? (door to door) spoke to one supplier in alibaba she said SOFIA? is there any sofia shipping company?

Hey Tin, to be completely honest with you I haven't heard of that company so I would be a bit hesitant to tell you to work with them. I like to stick with well known global companies like DHL or FedEx International.

Good afternoon Will, my son and I are currently rebuilding a vehicle and found a set up which includes lights bumpers and various other parts we require. I am new to Alibaba and was hoping you could please help us out. Since the amount being sent is $4000.00 USD. I can sent you more info via Email, to include an Invoice they sent me "to get the order shipped out tomorrow" feel free t email me at [redacted] In the mean time this is the seller, you will see on his page that he has various post for these car parts, thank you for your assistance. https://globaleu.trustpass.alibaba.com/?spm=a2700.12243863.0.0.51313e5fkeSHR4 Danny

Danny, I would not wire money to anyone on Alibaba. If they don't accept credit card transactions then I would not work with them. Even if the deal you're getting seems good, when you wire money there is no way to get it back. But with credit cards both Alibaba and your credit card company can dispute, cancel and refund the order if something goes wrong.

Hi Will How do you check on boat motor suppliers

Hey Harry for something like boat motors I would shop domestic and talk with boat manufacturers and boat yard owners to find a good motor.

I made a trade assurance order back in March. These orders are assured and protected, supposedly. In the small print however, it states that you have up to 30 days, sometimes 60 to dispute the order after delivery. Now, what I’ve found is that they supplier takes absolutely ages to do anything and spreads their communications real thin over time. Then they send you a sample, or prototype. This is recorded as item shipped and delivered on the Alibaba system. Tricking the system into thinking that the order has been shipped, unless you notice this happening and intervene. I didn’t, I assumed I was dealing with a business and we were spending a lengthy amount of time to get the product right. In the end, once they proved they were unable to meet quality and order requirements, I requested a refund. There was no action for this on Alibaba’s system as the allotted time after ‘delivery’ had run out. Therefore it was basically me asking my contact to cancel the order and send me a refund. They initially said, ok they’ll send it through. For 4 weeks I asked them for an update and where my money was. They continued to send one word answers effectively, saying be patient, the finance department is dealing with it. Eventually, they stopped responding completely. I’ve now lost that money, have a crappy ‘prototype’ I could have made easily myself at home, and absolutely no contact with Alibaba in the slightest, no phone numbers or email address at all, 0% customer service that is not a looping AI chatbot. They have a completely locked down system and your only ‘potential’ help here is to initiate the refund process within the small print time frame of 30 days from ‘delivery’. After that, Alibaba is quite happy that you’ve been screwed out of really hard earned and hard to come by startup capital for a new business, while they collect the membership fee from the scammers in Shenzhen.

Very true. Don't ever make the mistake like myself. I order a few laptops for cheap and they wanted me to send via MoneyGram. It was cheap, so I didn't think nothing of it. It turned into a nightmare. Please do not ever, ever, and ever pay anyone outside of Alibaba. Always use Trade Assurance. Don't get scam like me.

Nice to meet you bro!

What about confidentiality agreements, so that your design doesn't end up being copied or showcased on their page?

As a small business owner, I ordered from one of their suppliers. I did get the shipment, however quality was extremely poor and it arrived in 2 separate shipments. I wrote a review that wasn't complimentary and I used a throw away email address in case there were issues.. and sure enough they have shared or sold that address and I got dozens of emails from suppliers anywhere from plastic moulded injection machines to plain garbage. I know it was them as their website was the only one I used that email address for. I am furious so they are less then stellar in their regulations and who they have as vendors. I watched the emails come flowing in for about 6 months then deleted the address. Never ever again will I order from them.

Hey Chris, this is SUCH a great article, thanks for writing this mate, its really helping me, but I have a few questions. 1.So just to be clear, PayPal is the best and safest form of payment? Is Venmo considered, or is Venmo just not as good as Paypal? 2. If I am looking to buy something a little less common, such as empty makeup tubes, and the supplier I find is labeled as "Yiwu Heypack Cosmetic Packaging Co., Ltd." that would be safe, right? This supplier is not a Gold one, but but is verified and has trade assurance, and the transaction level has 3 1/2 diamonds. They also had 84 transactions in the past 6 months, and I'm not sure how good or bad that is, but overall, but not a lot of reviews, is this a reliable source? I think that based on your article it checks out as a good supplier, this is my first time doing this so I thought that I should check first. Thanks SO much, your articles were what inspired me to start my buiness!

Hi Will. So I am conversing with this person (Jack DING) on Alibaba. The company page is: https://sun-vehicle.en.alibaba.com/?spm=a2700.wholesale.cordpanyb.2.13133c73KH30nq Now I checked and he has reviews (only 12 though) and most of them are positive. The bike I want to buy is electric but has a petrol version too that has EC certificate. He told me that the shipping would only be like 500 USD and the bike on itself 1290 USD. When I check on the posting however, the shipping etc. is much higher. (https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/chinese-High-speed-3000W-72V-electric_62124324650.html?spm=a2700.12243863.0.0.38403e5fVdKZvV) I am a bit lost and would greatly appreciate your help in this matter to establish if this person can be trusted. I can even send some screenshots of our conversation if you would like to quickly look into this. Could you please help as I feel a bit lost and don't want to lose any money to be honest. Thank you in advance.

Bought a large quantity of KN95 Masks. The supplier provided a certificate of Testing Conformity issued by an official European body. We did sent in the certificate and it appears to be fake. I entered a refund request. The goods are in process of being shipped from China. The seller argues that my request will be classified as "unreasonable request" and I will neither be reinbursed nor get the product (unless I present the fake certificate). Any suggestion how to handle the case ?

Alibaba is absolutely NOT safe and DO NOT follow through with theyre tr3sde assurance. You are advocating for a terrible company. Shame on you!

Shame on you for advising buyers thsy Alibaba is safe!! Do not honor they're trade assurance!! Horrible company!

Is Alibaba offering online jobs

I'm about to close a deal with Sameer Ali of Zaiba Handicrafts on Alibaba, when he asked me to wire transfer my payment. I told him I'm only paying through Alibaba, no outside payments. But he said Alibaba doesn't offer trade assurance in India, so just trust him. I don't think it works that way. A part of me wants to just agree and cross my fingers because it's a good deal (I think they have PayPal payment), but also scared to lose my money if this is a scam. How would I know which ones are legit, and not?

Hi will, many thanks for giving us this very important insight on how to trade on Alibaba. From what Ive noticed on the Alibaba website, nearly all the suppliers are either verified or trade assured. If their a verified trader, then aren't they meant to be safe to trade with? Also I did skim through some of your article, I'm sorry for that but I just wanted to know as well that if I paid using credit card or PayPal to the supplier if they're a verified company, then will my money be safe, and also if they deliver the goods for free or not. Thanks again for your great article.

Hi 🙋🏻‍♀️ Many Alibaba sellers accepting only MoneyGram payment is its safe? Thank you

Just want to warn others about a gold supplier ‘1 Moore AG LLC’ scam on Alibaba. We transferred them USD1100 for the whey protein that we wanted to buy. They stopped replying to us when they received the payment. We conversed thorough Alibaba Messenger just to keep the record of everything. The supplier provided a shipment number when I opened a dispute and that shipment was delivered in October 2020 (Canada) but I placed the order in May 2021 (New Zealand). This clarifies they are lying but Alibaba dispute team can’t understand this simple fraud. The proof that they provided clarifies that the supplier is a fraud but Alibaba closed the case saying involved parties reached agreement amicably, however we never reached an agreement. We know it is not possible to get the refund, however I just want to warn others so they don’t end up like us. Even though we have provided every single proof, I can’t understand why Alibaba is not taking any action against the supplier. Product Link – https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/OPTIMUM-NUTRITION-GOLD-STANDARD-100-WHEY_1600220058890.html?spm=a2700.12243863.0.0.2ce83e5fpXA6ok Supplier Link – https://ca1425983968uutm.trustpass.alibaba.com/

Hello will, thanks for info regarding Alibaba. It has given me a starting point to my research on buying from Alibaba along with some of the comments made below. Reading through the comments below there was one made about paying with PayPal and Trade Assurance (below). Did you ever find the answer to the question? Q: Can I pay via PayPal and still get Trade Assurance protection? No, if you pay via PayPal or make payments to the supplier directly, your order is not covered by Trade Assurance, which offers protection for on-time shipment and product quality. Only orders placed on and paid for through our site are covered by Trade Assurance Thanks

Be serious and tell the truth I followed all the steps and I got robbed by shanghai magic wheels. I bought an e-scooter. It did not work when I received it. I opened a dispute, and alibaba said it was my problem. This is why I say that ALIBABA is a fraud: they always favor these fckng Chinese thieves. I lost 600.