Is Alibaba safe to order products?

[harrygreen90]

Hi everyone,
I want to buy a few products from Alibaba and I'm looking for some advice from someone who already has alot of experience buying from alibaba because I don't want to get scammed. Have you bought a product from Alibaba and are they safe to order products there?

 

[vinaya]

I have never bought anything from Alibaba. Even when I buy from China, I look for Chinese sellers on eBay instead of Alibaba. If you want to buy from Alibaba, in most cases you have to purchase in bulk. They may send you sample, however, I hear that the sample and the actual products are never the same. Further more, they charge very low shipping cost when you order sample, however, when you are actually buying products, they will add very high shipping cost. That's what my friend said when he bought from Alibaba. The website says it give trade assurance, which means scamming is very unlikely.

 

[Jetheat]

Yes, you need to filter the suppliers by Gold status. That means they have been verified to some degree.

JH

 

[robertosz]

I agree with Jetheat, like anything else, it just requires your own due diligence. I've ordered from Alibaba before and it's been a great experience. I made sure to do exactly what Jetheat says and filter out sellers by Gold status. It's a huge help.

Another thing you can do is make sure they are registered with the HKTDC. I spoke with a Chinese vendor at a trade show last year and he was telling me that if they're registered with the HKTDC, they are held to really high standards.

I would say that if they're Gold status on Alibaba AND they're registered/certified with the HKTDC, you're looking pretty good.

Hope this helps!

 

[Eli Maximilien]

You could possibly get scammed from ebay, Amazon, or other ecommerce stores as well. It really depends who you're buying from and what the product is like. You should do your research and evaluations with anything you buy- online or in real life.

On a side note, if you're an aspiring entrepreneur, Jack Ma is very motivational. He built his business from scratch without his own money, or a bank loan. He borrowed money from his family and friends. Anyone can succeed if they're creative and work hard.

 

[vishwa]

I never tried Alibaba before but have heard lot of bad things about them. Buying products from them is risky. I prefer to use eBay or Amazon. Feels more secure with them while doing shopping

 

[yishak1412]

I am completely sure that an order on Alibaba is safe. I have never ordered any item from Alibaba but I order many things from Aliexpress which is the same company as Alibaba. I never had a single problem on Aliexpress, but thats because I always check the reviews and the rating of the seller. There are many scammers on both Alibaba and Aliexpress, so you have to make sure that the seller has a pretty good rating also the review of the product which you are gonna buy.

 

[rbmm]

Alibaba is a bulk supplier. They sell in quantity, so you will have to buy
your product in lots.

As mentioned there is Aliexpress where you can buy in small amounts,
as low a just one item.

The only problem that I had with them is that they would not accept my
credit card. I have purchased with them several times (using the exact same card).
I have excellent credit, but they still blocked me from using the card on this site.

They would not explain why. They just told me that I could fill out their form
to get re-instated.

When you go to the form, they ask you for your bank account number, social security number (U.S.),
name address, copy of your passport, and just an outrageous amount of personal information.
I have never heard of such an abuse of information gathering in my life - except by scammers.

Supposedly, there have been no issues, but I am not willing to give that much personal information
to anyone that I don't absolutely have to. There are other markets out there.

I stopped doing business with them as I find this practice unacceptable from a supposed
legitimate supplier.

 

[mastrodigital]

Of course it's safe, I've used it myself to get product samples along with Aliexpress. On Alibaba make sure you know the difference between incoterms like FOB, DDP, etc and understand how to negotiate. A lot of beginners end up losing money because they order products FOB and they're stuck at some port.

 

[jayveeramos07]

Definitely. Your products ordered in Alibaba are with quality and your transactions are scam-free. Jack Ma, its Chairman is a business tycoon that inspired many people who wants to start business. Quality is one of their priorities. Alibaba is worth visiting site, since it is one of the world's largest e-commerce space.

One of the traits many buyers look into is Cost of the products. Alibaba earns the trust of their buyers by calculating the cost of the item, tax and many more fairly. They are neither expensive nor cheap, just an average, reasonable price.

If you are curious about safety, in reality, there are no 100% transactions these days, and so I really understand you. Money is so important to us, the fruit of our labor. Alibaba is not exempted, since it's a huge company. Some are pretending to be an Alibaba Agent or some make fake websites and accounts. Fraudulent suppliers will sometimes offer their items at a very very low price. It's not bad to believe in our human instinct sometimes, but in a nutshell, Alibaba is a very reliable online store.

 

[Gizamulake07]

Alibaba for me is alright but one technique I use to make sure I get great quality is to filter the suppliers and check for a Gold Status. That would indicate that they are great suppliers. I even read the reviews for items so that I would hear the feedback of previous customers, so if they say its great then I'll go for it.

There are some factors though as well that could affect your perspective to ordering online. My friend once ordered some decors for his house online. When he got it, he was shocked seeing a lot of damages to his product. He immediately asked for a refund but the suppliers were stunned because he was their first guy to react badly. They later found out that it was actually the couriers fault as he was very careless with the orders he was bringing. Again though, just try filtering it, look for the great suppliers with great reviews and gold status and that should be good.