Alibaba is a Chinese version of eBay. You can find anything from clothing to machienery. I have never bought anythng from Alibaba, however, I am interested in trying Alibaba. Alibaba specializes in selling goods in bulk quantity. You can of course get a single piece, however, most of the sellers on Alibaba only sell to buyers who are willing to buy in bulk. Since I am thinking to launch a front store, I am planning to pricuremy goods from Alibaba. Has anyone used Alibaba?
Many friends have already bought through this site and their comments are relatively good (one of the only negatives is the delay in delivery of the products... but I think considering the distance from China, this is totally compressible ). I particularly never bought anything through it.
@Shine_Spirit I have used this website several times and i found a few items at very reasonable and fair prices, my only complaint is the delivery time as you stated.
Thank you guys for your comments. As both of you have mentioned delievery time as the only problem, I think I can trust Alibaba. China is our neighboring country, therefore, delievery time will not be a major problme for me. My main concerns are quality of goods and shipping cost. I have heard horror stories about product quality and shipping.
@Zero Thank you for another positive feedback. I'll be more attentive to this site to see if I find something interesting. I think for now, delivery will continue to be a "problem".
@Shine_Spirit Yes, unfortunately, the delivery time is definitely holding back the success and the growth of the said website, i hope things change.
I hope one day this problem will be solved, or at least mitigated. Unfortunately, I think this won't happen anytime soon. But I saw the site and I liked it a lot.
I've heard of Alibaba and even opened an account on the e-commerce site after being tutored by one of my friends that use the site to order goods from China and I must confess that the guy did a great work with his teachings which were simple to learn and grasp. However, I was put off by the demands of the site if I want to go into bulk importation from it which includes registering my company with the Company Acts Commission (CAC) in Nigeria, whose registration fee I did not have at that particular time. I had to slow down using the site to order for goods. The other smaller version of Alibaba is Aliexpress which deals on buyers that want to order small quantities of certain products to their country and navigating through the site also showed that they work almost the same way that Alibaba work which puts me of considering that I have not registered my company with CAC. However, I would advise you to research more on how the site works for it is easy to order for goods using both sites.
My sister ordered something from that site and she got scammed. She ordered a beautiful cocktail dress, they delivered a Barbie doll's clothes instead. Be careful of the scammer sellers. Look at the feedback sellers are getting because scammer sellers are thriving from this site.
Well based on the situation you mentioned, it seems that both parties are at fault, your sister for not being careful and the website for allowing scammers to sell.
I've just googled this site as I didn't know much about it and it would seem that most people like it but are put off by the time it takes to deliver or the shipping costs. I guess if you don't want something in a hurry and you can't get it anywhere else it could be ok. I don't see too many complaints about non delivery or mistakes made in buying the products.
I have done quite a bit of research regarding this site. It's the largest site of type worldwide. It's larger than Amazon. There was a problem with the how some of the sites under Alibaba's umbrella conducted business. The Chinese government intervened and by sanctioning Ailbaba to have those problem sites clean up their act. That issue has been resolved by Alibaba. There are numerous opportunities to obtain goods mostly in bulk quantities at very low cost, however, there is usually a concern about the lengthy delivery time, therefore, it would be wise to apply well in advance of the time that it would be needed. Some people complain of being scammed when it comes to clothing size, but you should be aware the the Chinese sizes are mostly 2 sizes smaller when compared to US sizes.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I am thinking to order in bulk from Alibaba. based on what you have said, my business should be registered before I can place the order? I have done a lot of research on the site, I have even talked to the sellers, however, none of them mentioned about being registered business entity.
I have of Alibaba long ago when I was still in the University and I believe that it's a reliable online shopping store just like Amazon and eBay. I have read peoples testimonies about the services they offer in some of online sites that I do visit from time to time and I actually think that they are good in what they do. Well, I would suggest that you take it slow with your first order from the online store and see exactly how their services are now recently, in order to know whether to move on with them or look for the nearest alternative.
It must be the same as Ali Express. I have bought items from them in bulk for my Christmas parties. They are good and trustworthy. Recently I had an issue with them about some pants I had ordered They were patient with me and even refunded part of the amount. Partly I was to be blamed as I did not read the full specifications.
