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What is alibaba like?
 

I have a source in Hong Kong I've dealt with certain items but Im looking for some new items to work with. I saw some things that caught my eye on Alibaba. Im honestly scared dealing with this site. Are things better now? What are your experiences with this site?

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

Avoid anything that is branded. It will be non-genuine

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

All brands at Ali are phakes. Cheap ones are disgusting garbage made by lame hoblins, expensive ones (still 5x cheaper than the original) are quite decent, but phake anyway.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

any places to buy wholesale or in bulk that isn't f@ke? I have no problem finding sellers that deal with media.. But I don't really want to mess with that anymore!

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

Yes.
Every single manufacturer in the world sells wholesale.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

Any suggestions of ecommerce suppliers other than alibaba?

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

Hah Im having terrible luck so far. I found one "wholesaler" selling a product I'm interested in for more than $14 more per unit than staples is. Bargain alert!!

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

start emailing and calling manufacturers and distributors.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

Welcome to the forum.Good luck

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

jboone has been here quite sometime makavi :FF:

@jboone, avoid branded items for sure

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

Pot calling kettle black now


:pound:

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

I don't know, I have done business on Alibaba, you have to do your due diligence, though. Make sure any company or supplier is a gold supplier you can actually refine your search on Alibaba for just Gold Suppliers, and do your fact checking, is the business legitimate? Is there an actual business @ the address listed for the company on Alibaba? It's like anything else. I found my long-term supplier, (10+ years) on Alibaba.
He's a good guy..

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

last comment made by liveifelove. I agree with his experience if they are less then 3yrs on alibaba or branded items dont you will be scammed. Other wise yeah its not a bad place to find suppliers.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

if you want to buy PHAKES i don't give a frank footer. you have to be careful. that customs does not take your goods. i would buy a small load of items nothing that's cost a lot lets just say you want to buy those head phone by dr. here is the deal you are nothing going to find 100% real items that are a steal to buy other wise this fourm wold not be here lol. if customs gets your goods there is nothing you can do about it. you will have lost all your money and you are not going to get it back. i only sell what i can buy in the usa. so be car-full and good luck

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

A little late. But hey thanks :)

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

So if I go with "gold" suppliers my chances of not being royally screwed substantially go down?

Lol great pic Rsot. Thats about how I view Alibaba from most stories Ive read so far

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

Hey jboone,

I have been dealing with suppliers in Asia for a while now and I can tell you one thing if your not careful and don't fully understand the wholesale business the chance of you getting screw over is high. Doesn't matter if they are a GOLD supplier or not, these companies operate on volumes and increasing feedback online for them is NO issues (money talks). I have dealt directly with a supplier that made gun holsters for the NYPD, this company is one of the biggest manufacturers in leather goods. However, when it came to developing my product 60% was good and the other 40% was trash. Their quality control was so bad to the point I had to stop manufacturing goods with them.It was such a shame, because my business was a niche market and it was supplying scaffolding belts to construction companies in Australia and training facilities.

My advice is stay away from Alibaba if you don't have big coin to spend and research into other markets. Look into making contacts through LinkedIn or find freelancers from different parts of the world to help you research for local products. Alibaba and Aliexpress is a place for people that want to sell on volumes and if you don't want to constantly chase the market or get into a price war stay away from these two platforms.
You can use them for packaging products or for product add on if you want to cross promote your items to create more value etc.

If you need anymore in info you can pm or leave a reply.

Take care

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

The guy asks about Alibaba and immediately everyone thinks that he is going for ⊗⊗⊗⊗. I have dealt with many suppliers on alibaba. NEVER had a major issues. Defenitely not a 60% defect. Just order some samples first. Life and business is about taking risks.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

Ali Express can be worth a look but there is a lot of rubbish on there, never ever rely on the gold stars for feedback they have either, it's well known that they give each other gold stars so that they will look good to westerners looking to innocently buy from them.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

I find most of the prices on AB are too high anyway...but never had issues with not getting items/scams. The product can vary though, they try and slip in the non-premium or seconds, bad-stitching whatever stuff in there too - maybe they rank you on importance/quantity orders....and I agree why the downer on AB, 99.9999% of the goods are generic....

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

There is one thing with alibaba that I personally always check.
There are trading companies and there are manufacturers and some companies are both.
I would go with contacting manufacturers only. They are more trustworthy
when it comes to the product they sell since they are the ones who actually produce it.
You will also have better control on what you are getting and often will be able to
customize your product for your needs (changing colors, size, packing etc).
I would stay away from trading companies. You can check their profile and see if they
are manufacturers or trading companies. Another way to tell is if you see a company that
offers totally different kind of categories. Check their products list, and if, for example, they
offer babies car seats and bathroom tiles, I would think twice if I want to deal with them.

I also agree that the bigger your order is the better chances you have to get exactly
what you ordered. The only real issues I have had when placing smaller orders is getting
different colors, or packing not as good as I thought it will be.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

In 2008 I was scammed 3x. They either never sent the item, or sent the wrong item. After 2010 never been scammed again. What I did differently? 1) I flew to China more than once to do business face to face. 2) hired a part time in China. 3) did business only with contracts and 4) hired an attorney in China for legal advice. It was an investment but they know who to cross and who not to cross.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

On AB i have only bought from sellers producing custom items for me, and only sellers who have been on there for a lengthy ammount of time with good reviews and trade assurance....i often go on regular google and look up their company name and see if their address really exists.....usually the scammers are sloppy and unintelligent with their business priorities

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

I personally buy anything outside the USA anymore. Alibaba from my experience is full of people the sell either phakes or unbranded goods. The quality is usually low and for those items you can sell you have to order in huge quantity to pencil out and can be a problem either getting through customs or having a tariff.

Like one of the other users mentioned custom made goods might be an avenue but trust me if these sellers could create eBay accounts to sell their goods and they were worth while they wouldn't have been kicked off already.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

Funny how people who claims Alibaba is mostly for phake items came up with conclusion because they, well... Searched for phake items! Make a search for legit items in Alibaba and you will find millions of items from legit sellers. In many cases high quality too. Just a matter of what you are looking for. And you can find suppliers that accept lower quantities.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

I sourced all my products for alibaba/aliexpress.

You just have to know the bits and bobs and you are all set. ask around the forum(here or any other country specific forum about business/wholesalers etc) about certain sellers for advice etc, im sure you are good to go.

of course there is always risk in business.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

alibaba is not mainly phake items at all!!! as for unbranded, what is wrong with that?

I prefer ab, as I started with them years ago and decided to stay...they have been good overall...

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manufacturers aren't always cheaper. With the stuff I sell it works roughly like this:
distributor/reseller makes $100,000-500,000 order and gets 20-25% discount then they sell at 10% mark up so often buying from distributors is cheaper for me. The manufacturers try and tell the distributors not to sell below a certain price but once you know them they'll sell to you at a 10% or even 5% mark up as theres 10-15 distributors all selling the exact same product competing on price only

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

ali has decent non brand stuff but as others say expect some crap quality at times

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

alibaba just a platform to source products only. You need to verify the supplier or the products by yourself from small small orders or sample order.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

Yes - bit of hit and miss

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

You really need to research before buying anything on there. A lot of little tricks like have been posted. But if you are getting replica items stay away, almost all are garbage. Now I did buy a bunch of those little rubber pill/oil containers and those worked nice. Something like that is different. If you are looking for a quality replica something you need a different browser.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

Some valued and unbranded products are also profitable.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

Lot of research is in order - ask for samples when able to

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

He has great advice:

ALSO: Be warned. China can steal your money and not give you anything. No recourse.

So here is some advice to STICK TO. NEVER DIVERT to communicating outside of ALIBABA email correspondence. If you get scammed, you can talk to alibaba, show them all the emails, invoices, etc. The Chinese will try to get you to contact them at a different email because they say it is easier. Tell them you wish to stay on the alibaba email system to communicate from start to finish.
I got scammed and lost THOUSANDS of DOLLARS because I could not prove I sent money to the company on Alibaba. I had emails to a different email address etc. NO RECOURSE. Was not a good experience.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

If you truly want to talk to manufacturers other than China. You will need a resale license, business license, etc. Companies only deal with legit entities.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

thats not always true its true 99% of time tho. I agree tho the cheaper but more pricy ⊗⊗⊗⊗ are decent. I got this vaporizer for 100$ off and it works like the real one and the warranty is decent. They pay for the first repair even the shipping.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

Research, research, research.

Also take steps to protect yourself.

Pay with PayPal. If you can, pay with a credit card through PayPal. This provides you with two layers of protection. (PayPal buyer protection and chargeback).

Good luck.

Re: What is alibaba like?
 

In Alibaba Looking at the shop details to see the company or researching it will not tell you if it is a manufacturing on Re-sellers company .
all those are fabricated 80% of the time.

Once you take a trip to china , then you will understand my messages .
you will be able to tell who is a small seller and who is truly a Gold seller .
75% of the sellers are selling from a little Stool in a big open buildings with about 9/10 floors .
they have people doing all the Gold star for them and the Vid ,

They do all the manufacturing right in the little stall ,

the main manufacturing firm will not be in Alibaba .

Go to Canton Fair and take a trip in china you will see ,

All major Factory are hidden

you will not come across one manufacturing factory.

Be very Careful ,

Only buy unbranded goods

buy and pay with Escrow payment .

All brand goods form all Ali sites are Phkers .
couriers companies like DHL/Fedex will not Return them back to china for you .
you will be in 100% Lost

All the Best!!