Alibaba

I've used both Alibaba and BangGood to purchase electronics directly from China. Both services offer some great deals but the offers at Alibaba (considering the fact that it is primarily a wholesalers dream) come in a few confusing flavors with variable shipping costs. Cutting right to the chase and going directly to "ready to ship" is your best bet if you are looking to buy individual pieces, but if you are looking for bulk merch cheap, especially if you can arrange drop shipping, this service REALLY shines. As always with a collection of sellers, quality and communication is a mixed bag but a careful vetting of reviews and creating a thorough user profile can net you some quality bulk deals. Buyer beware and do your homework and your experience should be a good one.

Some sellers are ripoff artists, it comes with the territory, but as I said, do your homework and you should be fine. If you aren't the type who enjoys the thrill of the hunt and you just want some good international stuff, use BangGood, GearBest, Aliexpress, SunSky or one of the many other online retailers who sell some of the same merch.

Despite minor grammatical errors (Chinese company, understandable), the site flowed well from start to finish for my first time importing. I liked that communication with the supplier was done through the website to keep everyone honest. Alibaba have a "messenger" built into the site which helped me do everything from the free government phone I'm writing this review with. Perfect for my vows of Simplicity.
It all seemed great... until I made the seemingly harmless comment "at least we have the freedom to talk about our lack of freedom... for now." Alibaba Messenger replied: "Your message was not sent. It is a possible security threat." (Chinese company, understandable)
I was feeling pride in American free speech as Google's Gmail didn't censor my explanation of the incident to the supplier (though I know we prefer surveillance to censorship). Then the product was held at U.S. customs by the Anti Terrorism Contraband Enforcement Team costing me about $460 instead of the original $200 in port charges. It was almost $900, all told, to get a $700 item to my door.
Only $130 covered trucking from deep inside China and shipping all the way across the Pacific. Most of the rest incurred sitting for half a month at the port terminal while bungling idiots rudely tore open the crate (ignoring the screws) trying to put a feather in their intensive examination caps.
I'm not anti-government, just anti-waste, and it's too bad they wasted so much time and money to see a silly rickshaw! That's when I saw first hand just how communist America's capitalism is (and how capitalist China's communism is).
Some would say this is just the cost of importing. I just thought anyone should know that for a small, one-time, personal shipment from Alibaba, shipping to your door could far exceed cost of item.
My item was large and heavy, but I eliminated the usual customs broker fees and tried to find cheap or free ways to file documents (again, online with the free phone I'm using now), clear customs, even driving to Long Beach myself and tying the crate to a modified-pallet-as-roofrack with rope on the top of an old station wagon National Lampoon's style!
Ultimately, this experience makes me wish I could have found a rickshaw in America, but they are decidedly unAmerican. Jane Goodall pointed out the importance of feeding ourselves with local produce. To "think globally, but act locally." I see how I'm still suckling at the China factory teat like most Americans.
In the spirit of DIY, I could have found the plans and built one, though not as fast or cheap as them. I've heard that, though Danish shortbread cookies are popular here around the holidays, American shortbread cookies are popular in Denmark! Why don't we just trade recipes instead.
Only Love, Neil :)

Had three of the last ten commercial orders go pear shaped. Each time I did everything to make a compromise with Alibaba seller but failed so had to escalate to Alibaba themselves. Alibaba found for the companies in each case. First order was a silicone sample that was sent with lids loose and it leaked and got contaminated. The second was some sanding belts that were made too short and the latest was an order that went missing. This last seller agreed to refund me by a given date so I waited and then Alibaba reneged. It appears there are Alibaba only companies representing individuals posing as much more than they are. When you do finally choose an Alibaba company use google to see if the company exists outside of ALibaba. If they don't then they are an Alibaba only company completely backed by Alibaba. I will no longer use Alibaba only companies and certainly will not pay via Alibaba (which suits the non-Alibaba (genuine) companies). My advice if you do buy through them. Pay with a creditcard and get strictly 28 day terms. If it goes over the time cancel the payment and get your money back or make another payment. Just don't wait for too long before cancelling. Alibaba think they are smart but all it does is lower confidence in fostering malpractices. Changzhou Youth Tools Mechanical Co. Ltd is the tin pot company who reneged. Good luck.

This was my first time using Alibaba.com. A co-worker told me about Alibaba platform (she orders for her online store). Prior to ordering, I read and watched how to videos about shipping, dealing with companies, and etc. on Alibaba's website. Alibaba offers good instructions and information that helped me.
I found a trust worthy company on Alibaba - Dongguan L&N Shoe Material Co. All communication occurred through Alibaba and the company's sale representative (Ms. Zang) was caring, professional, and responded in a timely manner always. My products arrived yesterday, December 21,2020. I am verrrrrrry happy with the quality of the products - the are just like the picture on the website. The duration of the shipping (shipped by sea) was lengthy (COVID was part of the reason); and shipping cost was a little expensive. I will order again from this company and search for other companies to order products on Alibaba.com.
I did not have any issues; therefore, I didn't have to contact Alibaba's customer service. Therefore, I can't give a review about Alibaba's "Customer Service".

I am in the middle of a dispute with Yiwu Chuanqi Household Goods Co., Ltd. since the beginning of June till now. I am at the risk of losing USD1800 now. A stack of product of poor quality which cannot be sold. I'm left with 2 options -

1. Sell and destroy my brand
2. Lose my USD1800 because the supplier is not willing to refund and Alibaba cannot help.

The supplier provides poor quality of the product which is different from what is shown on the platform. The reason given is that we negotiated for a lower price so which means to say - 'you negotiate a lower price, the supplier agrees and provides a lower quality product without informing'.

Please avoid this supplier - Yiwu Chuanqi Household Goods Co., Ltd. if you can help it.
If you must deal with them, you have been warned.

Alibaba should be strict with the suppliers on their platform, I mean seriously... there is no shortage of suppliers out there who will not want to use your platform.

Buyers are the ones who keep the platform alive, not the suppliers.

Their Trade Assurance Protection is horrible. I ordered a sample of a customized iPhone selfie case, and the paint came with a bunch of holes and one of the LED lights was broken. I opened a claim and Sunny is name of the claim manager and she is terrible at her job. Bad communication skills and I don't think she understands English very well. She kept sending me copy and pasted messages even though I kept asking specific questions and she just wasn't answering those questions. She then closed the claim stating that I "never uploaded any evidence" even though I had uploaded a ton, i think she just didn't want to deal with my messages anymore since she didn't understand them. I had to open a second claim and I asked if I could work with someone who isn't Sunny, but it seems like Sunny is the only one that works claims. This time she took a total of over 5 days to reply to me and finally answered my questions sufficiently and offered me an $80 refund for an order that cost me $110, and I accepted, only for her to respond saying that my order is no longer under the protection period because too much time has passed. Like seriously?!? Even though it was all YOUR fault? If Sunny had just looked through the evidence the first time, and answered my questions, I wouldn't be in this situation! My order was still under the protection period when I opened the claim, orders should be protected while a claim is still open, the protection period should only apply to opening claims on the first place, that's what all other companies do. For a company worth billions, it's ridiculous that this is their policy. I guess now I know why they're worth billions though, they're taking advantage of poor small people like myself. I tried contacting their customer service to explain the situation and Alibaba told me I would get help from the manager of the claims department, but I just got a message from a regular customer service team member.

I order some plastic ware robe from them. I had some problem with agent fees so I ask for a refund. When I ask for the refund Mr Carter Wang said the agent send back the goods and he had to pay $20.00 US. I say make an invoice to get back your money. After I pay $25.00 US for the shipping.He said he pay $25.00 to ship. I paid for the goods and the shipping.So I went to claim my money on trade assurance.He stop the claim he up load all the conversation as evidence. I decide I am sending it to Dispute Resolution to settle because I have $20.00 and not $45.00 US. I up load my evidence. Almost a month haven't heard nothing from Alibaba about the matter. Sunday I receive a message saying supplier has not up load evidence.The Tuesday I receive a next message asking if I agree for him to get $20.00US and let me up load evidence. I had already gave them the evidence. Wednesday I receive a message from Lori to say matter close. Alibaba then put on the dispute after considering my dispute I am not to get back no refund.The level of dishonesty.So he has the goods and he has my money.He then put a claim that the goods got damage.The agent never receive any good from him. After sending him a message he turn around and call me foolish.So he has my $128 US and his goods.If I up load the evidence why are Alibaba coming back asking for evidence? I need my money back from this company. A bunch of thieves.

Alibaba is the single best service for sourcing Asian manufactured goods. One does need to approach Alibaba with an exploring mind and don't think that one quick visit will handle it all. No, you need to spend some time and get good at Alibaba. Study and compare your potential suppliers. When you have some candidates- contact them clearly, and build a relationship. Just sending in a hundred RFQ's will get you 99 sad faces, but if you send 10 intelligent requests, introducing yourself, and giving the suppliers a chance to actually engage in doing business with you, you will have more than enough qualified choices to work with.

And be real about deliveries- most suppliers on Alibaba will have at least 3 serious logistical mazes to negotiate before your goods are even on your continent- Alibaba don't control the logistics, they are consumers just like us. And then be fair with your vendor, let them sell at a reasonable price, don't make every order a crisis that needs special attention, be respectful of cultural differences llike Spring Holidays.

Don't trust them. Alibaba side with seller even if seller is fraudulent.

I have multiple evidence you can see. They are completely opposite than Amazon, eBay and PayPal. Alibaba is unfair and they don't make sense e.g. tell you to claim from logistics yourself. Then logistics say get the seller to contact. Anyways who will pay delivery cost which was so high for decieving items.

I lost a lot of money, business and health.

Please read evidence:
1. How did SELLER provide them evidence of my delivered item unless she knew the claim will be made?
2. Did I buy to make claim of refund? I asked them from day one to take it back but two months they wasted my time.
3. Is it a joke to ask the buyer to claim from Delivery service. I called them multiple times and they said as I expected, the seller needs to contact.
4. Alibaba gives one day to upload evidence. Look at their message. As normal human, you know it is impossible to get hold of any logistic company within a day. Lockdown has made it worse.

Nevertheless, have you heard PayPal or any other companies give less than 7 days? Even 3 days makes some sense. You can see they are unfair and playing

Alibaba said shipping was 9-12 days...
A month later I receive my package but they said I couldn't return it because receiving it means I'm accepting it?! The seller also shipped my product without informing me. He told me to wait a few days. 1 week later I reached out to him and he said he shipped them already. If he would've notified me first I would've told him to cancel. You cannot return an item that is in transit. You have to wait for it to be delivered which is what I did. Smh, never again.
Update: I deactivated my account. Wendy, Robert You and his entire team, along with customer service reps were all unhelpful. Not only did they deny every suggestion I offered to settle their mess up but they apparently have a list of "policies" that they throw in your face that tells you why the problem is yours and not theirs. 50 bottles ordered only 32 were usable. They wanted me to take pictures of all of the broken pieces before even considering A SMALL PORTION of a refund?! This was a week after I sent them pictures already. I'm not keeping shattered glass around for a "company" who has already decided that they weren't going to help.

I recently purchased a komatsu PC55 from a company, YAGUAN CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING, a company out of shanghai ON ALIBABA.COM, run by MR. JACK LEE, salesperson is ALICE ZHOU, (LISA). Horrible experience, got the 2016 excavator finally, and the starter went out in the container. Could not even get the excavator out of the container, i had to pull the starter and get it rebuilt. Oh and the excavator was squeezed into a high cube 40 foot container. I had to cut off the pad eyes on the cab to get it out. ALICE ZHOU or LISA (same person) is a dishonest person, unit is supposed to have a 12 month warranty, and i have sent messages to ALICE/LISA and she ignores my messages. I had to pay $625.00 to get the starter rebuilt/uninstalled/installed and have sent LISA the bill and she refuses to reimburse me. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY, YAGUAN CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING ON ALIBABA. Very dishonest company. And the employees that work there are horrible. The unit i purchased was/is supposed to have A/C however the compressor is not even on the unit. YAGUAN CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING deserves not ONE start but NO stars. MR JACK LEE you should be ashamed of how you conduct business.

I am very disappointed in dealing with Alibaba and the way that Alibaba have handled my trade dispute. I opened a case against a supplier in April 2019. The case continued to drag on for a month. On May 8th, the supplier was given two days to respond to the evidence I provided. The supplier never responded. Instead of making final determination against the supplier for lack of response. The case was simply neglected an never taken care of. The case stayed opened with no communication from Alibaba to me at all. The Mediation Dispute Department just stopped all communication and no longer took any more action on the case and stopped communicating with me all together. The Mediation Dispute Department leaves you no way to contact them unless they "open the system evidence window" where you are able to respond to their emails and upload any evidence. They closed the window and gave me no way of communicating with them. I had to contact customer service and write multiple emails to a generic company email address to which I receive no response. Customer Service representatives was not able to do anything except for tell me they will pass along a message to the Trade Dispute Department. I received no communication from the Trade Dispute Mediation department until July 17. My case has resumed since then, but it has been a month since then with no reconciliation. It is clear through pictures and videos that the heights of the products I ordered are not the heights outlined in trade agreement contract, but Alibaba is reluctant to make the seller take full responsibility because the seller's response is that height does not affect the quality and usage of the product. I do not understand why Alibaba does not see that regardless of whether or not measurements and heights affect the usage of the product... the product measurements do not meet the contract requirements that the supplier promised. Alibaba's Trade Dispute is a poor system with no recourse to make them take action and they leave you with no way to contact them should they decide to ignore your case.

As a business we have been buying through middle man companies for quite some time in the UK. After spending time researching the products we have historically purchased, we have found that we can source suppliers directly at source, negotiate our own bulk pricing and get an all round better deal!

We have to pay out considerably more initially to buy in bulk but typically we save over 50% on the products we would normally buy via a wholesale distributor in the UK once Alibaba have sold through.

Having an Alibaba account gives us access to a whole new range of products that we wouldn't normally have thought of buying and has helped us build and grow a new supply business, ironically as a middle man distributor not dissimilar to the ones we purchased from not so long ago.

If you spend time doing your research and identify the right suppliers [Takes time for sure] Alibaba is 100% the way forward for any business who has the cash facility to purchase directly, the profit margin increase speaks for itself!

Thanks Alibaba!

I have ordered off of this website for many years. When the orders get delivered then it's great, but what happens when the vendor violates contract and us as the consumer dispute this vendor. Well unfortunately Alibaba does not protect the consumer. It took them 8 weeks after I submitted a dispute because the vendor violated the contract. I was the only person to upload supporting documentation showing the products were not delivered and the vendor was not responding with resolution for over a month. Alibaba still awarded them the win over my dispute and now forcing me to do business with a vendor that can't be trusted. Alibaba entire website is based on business relationships and sourcing reputable vendors. So what happens when your vendor isn't reputable, Alibaba cover it up and the consumer has no recoil besides to leave them terrible reviews on websites. My personal opinion is not to use them. I have used other websites that have a customer service that actually protects the consumer. Alibaba has no interest in promoting a business relationship with the consumers that actually buy items, they only protect their vendors.

I've spent months providing evidence of a conman who sent me thousands of dollars of fake gold, fake platinum, fake Moissanite and counterfeit certificates. Despite the overwhelming evidence I provided in an effort to return the junk/worthy of going to the trash jewellery I paid good money for... Alibaba ended the dispute by telling me to negotiate with the seller. The seller by the name of Pu Liang of Quanzhou Pushi Jewellery (he's still on Alibaba ripping people off) who referred to me as an ugly kangaroo and said that he would "$#*! my daughter because she probably needed a good root and he'd be doing her a favour". These messages were all written in Chinese on the dispute resolution site - I only realised what he was writing when I installed language translator. The dispute team did nothing about these horrendous comments against an Aussie woman, a wife, mother and Nanna. This was his idea of evidence. I had to purchase more gold testers, gem testers and show evidence of what real GRA certificates looked like and his counterfeit replicated numerical ones. I spent just under $1000 having this jewellery tested independently to prove it was all fake. The onus was on me to show that what I received from him did not match the description of what I was promised I was buying. The English spelling mistakes were almost funny if it wasn't for the fact I was fighting to get my money returned. Needless to say the thief that is being protected by Alibaba is still trading and still conning the free world of their money because China has a problem with honesty and returning money to people who live in Australia. BE WARNED! To make matters even worse the executives clearly don't like me telling the truth and sent me emails asking what the problem was and how could they help? After sending all the information, and them having access to the full dialogue in the dispute and photos they would reply weeks later that they needed more time. Then they stopped responding at all. The executives who should be named and shamed are James Cunningham, Erica Matthews and Alitalia Wlt. Thanks for nothing you useless over payed fools. I have reported this crime and yes it is a crime to stamp crap metal as AU750 or PL950 when it's just a basic $#*! silver coloured metal. It is a crime to reproduce another companies intellectual property. More importantly it's a crime to export this fake crap to another country. This information has been sent to the USA cyber crime unit, the Australian Cyber Crime Unit, the Australian Federal Police, Australian Customs and GRA. I haven't finished with you yet... all of you. Pu Liang wants to be an entrepreneur Step foot in Australian or New Zealand soil I'll have you handcuffed and marched to one of our beautiful prisons. Any who I'm in the final stages of getting my money back from ANZ and NAB because they are very sympathetic about what has occurred and VISA stand by their promise to take action when thieves take your money. Alibaba Pu Liang's crap jewellery is sitting at DHL waiting to go back to China - I suggest you make him sign the consignment because he needs his junk jewellery back, or burn it I don't care but it's littering our good country where it sits. James Cunningham you may want to email me again as this is going to get far worse even though I am getting my money back. You didn't do your job and neither did your colleagues - for that you need to be named and shamed.

Let's start from the Beginning.
I bought USD 250.91 on items from a seller named Wenzhou En Ke Jie International on the 03/11/2020. I bought many other items from different sellers and I got all of them, perfect and on time. I was told by the seller I would get my parcel around 13/12/2020. I did not get my parcel by the time I was told. So the maximum i should wait following what trade assurance says is 60 days if it's composed by air/sea shipping. So I waited, I messaged the seller and he did not answer me, I opened dispute on trade assurance for 3 times, in all of them something related to an port nucleic acid test was mentioned as an excuse of the delay and that the seller had shipped my physical package. So I emailed UPS and asked them about my package and about this port nucleic acid test and Alibaba answered me that they do not know about this test and they also said the seller only created the label but the physical package was never got by them. There are lots of lies and misinformation, almost 3 months have passed and trade assurance has done nothing to help a costumer. I would love a way to get my money back.

I purchased 5 times:

- The first 3 purchases involved only packaging and everything went well.

Problems comes when you buy mechanical or equipment...

- First time from a Company called Shangai Baoju Machinbe Co LTD.
We purchased 2 food trailers for roughly 10000 USD
Once received we checked them ( straight away) poor ( if not dangerous) welding, poor building, we had to rewire all the traffic lights as Alibaba didn't work properly, rewire the entire electricals, replace the water pumps, replace so many things... they come up more pricey that any trailer that we could have been ordered here in New Zealand.
Since then we purchased other food trailer all here in New Zealand and at the end the cost was lower than the Chinese ones ( if calculating shipping and fixing them)
No way to have any spare parts from the manufacturer they didn't even reply to our emails... No support from Alibaba.

- 10 Months ago we purchase a tempering machine ( 3000 USD including shipping) from a Company called
Chengdu LST Technology Co., Ltd, this machine worked for 25 minutes than caught fire... we asked them to supply a replacement unit, thet emailed us and they agreed... then after 2 months we have no news about the replacement unit, and they are not replying to our emails.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALIBABA SAYS:

We will not handle complaints related to product conformity, damage, or shortage.

So at the end there is little if any buyer protection, they just cover you with insurance ( extra cost) for the actual product delivery. But then if the product is not what promised, if doesn't match your expeditions or the promise build quality, if isn't working, if is just unusable than it's you business.

DO NOT BUY FROM THIS CHINESE SCAMMERS.

Alibaba, A Chinese company, would have you believe that Alibaba will protect you in transactions from such thing as, wrong item sent or poor quality They use such terms as Trade Assurance. But not so.
We here in the West expect to get exactly what we order. But Chinese culture, sanctioned by Alibaba, seem to be that if you are sent something of what they consider equal or equivalent, that will suffice to complete the transaction. This is the case even if you can show a picture of what you have bought vs. the very different model you received. You can't return it economically because of the high cost to ship to China from the USA, costing us 10X more them for them with their government subsidized postal service.
So you contact Alibaba to help you resolve the dispute. However, you will loose unless there it is gross discrepancy. But if it is similar style, slightly different model of lesser quality or a color difference you will be out of luck. There are two problems here; they are Chinese company and the people doing the judging, are in some cases, not technical qualified. This is particularly true with the purchase of technical / industrial goods

Alibaba Customer. Made several big transactions.
Only 1 Seller was professional and honest:
- Foshan Linhao Art Glass Co (Joy).
Highly recommend this company to everyone!

All other Sellers sent defective product with flaws and refuse to fix it.
Sellers:
- refuse to fix defects or return some amount of money.
- doors opens the wrong way (not as ordered), not like in USA
- Door glass inserted the wrong way
- missing parts
Etc...
Seller reply's: "Sorry for inconvenience"

Other Seller: (Shijiazhuang Yilin Arts Import - Ruthy)
We ordered 2 mantel fireplaces and window trims.
1 fireplace arrived marble. Another - not marble (limestone - cheaper material). But Alibaba assured me"don't believe your eyes - it's marble!"
Missing parts!
This company charged me FULL price + expensive shipping for their mistake (missing parts). They took our money and didn't sent the product for 1 year.
Seller, why did you sent as fake marble? Did we pay you with fake money?

Alibaba? Dispute? Yes. We filed dispute 5 times - Alibaba canceled it.
Conclusion: Alibaba don't care about their reputation.
I won't buy anything on Alibaba.
I strongly recommend to avoid Alibaba to my friends and family members.
Alibaba, if you want to keep your customers, you should make them happy, not commit a fraud.

I am not new to Alibaba. I feel like I am gambling with them. Please, please, please,... don't trust their trade assurance slogan. That's a trap to hook you there. Throughout the years, I filed disputes several times because I received products that I can't do anything with them other than throwing them away. I showed all the images and explained the case. Alibaba 95% of the time stands for the supplier very blindly. I wish there were other platforms to import products, I wouldn't go back to them after my first experience. I bought several different kinds of products with a lot of emotional and financial burnout. This review is about my last experience. The images you see are rib-knit products.
If you file a dispute, you can't write a review. Alibaba remove the review button to protect the suppliers.
I just want to share my current experience. I bought products and waited around a month to get the products because of sea shipping. It's soo unbelievable to see such kinds of products. I contacted the supplier and showed them the images. Their response was, kindly clean it. The problem wasn't something I can clean so I issued a dispute. After several backs and forth, I was told to recover 1/3 of my loss and that is very fair enough. I said ok, but still, justice is not served. 2/3 of my cost is down the drain because there is nothing I can do with it. To my surprise, they closed the case without the money. I contacted customer service and escalated my case. Alibaba's superior emailed me as follows, according to Alibaba's policy 30 days is over to claim and you can't recover your money and your answer is not clear. I did start the case way before the 30 days time frame, I presented all the evidence and they closed the case. When I made the appeal, they told me that.
It's a very, very unfair place. They monopolized the market so they knew we don't have another alternative. I don't think I will go back to Alibaba again. I better think about what other things I can do without importing. Enough is enough, I don't have money anymore to gamble. To attach my proof of purchase, the system doesn't upload the word file. If you