Anyone bought goods from Alibaba.com?

11 replies
Hi. I was wondering if any of you had bought goods on Alibaba.com and if so what was your experience of them? Did you buy just one item, or did you buy in bulk and what kind of items did you buy? Your feedback is greatly appreciated!
#alibabacom #bought #goods
  • Profile picture of the author Magicalidea
    This is the first time I have purchased goods from Alibaba online. The seller is very dishonest and deceive, I was very disappointed. I ordered a carbon monoxide detectors, but received smoke detectors. Following discussions with the seller, the seller asked me to mail back the goods, not only agreed to pay the freight from the U.S. to China, and also agreed for a fully refund. I also got the pre-approval before I mailed back the goods to China, but after I returned the good, the seller ignore my message and reject the refund. I spent total of US $ 193.05(include merchandise, shipping from china to US, shipping from US to China), lots of energy and time. Very bad experience.
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  • Profile picture of the author dannylesh
    Originally Posted by AffiliateRg View Post

    Hi. I was wondering if any of you had bought goods on Alibaba.com and if so what was your experience of them? Did you buy just one item, or did you buy in bulk and what kind of items did you buy? Your feedback is greatly appreciated!
    Hello! I used to buy goods on alibaba.com, a lot is on the other.
    It's like amazon Asia, however, not everything was good on that, I have repeatedly encountered counterfeits. Most fakes come from China.
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  • Profile picture of the author muffty
    Hello AffiliateRG,

    I went through Alibaba and found Jaks Toys Ltd, unfortunately for me it was a complete scam! I have lost money on it - basically I sent the money (they have a business address in the UK so thought I was safe!) they wouldn't send the goods and they refused a Refund.

    I am at present at the start of going through the Small Claims Court!

    I have since found another person on a different forum who has experienced exactly the same treatment, so I also have this info to pass on to the court and have also informed the Tradings Standard people.

    They have since been taken down from Alibaba but I think we can be sure they are on other Wholesale/Trading Sites and no doubt doing a great trade by scamming people.

    Difficult to know who to trust out there - so if anyone else comes across Jaks Toys Ltd Beware - Run the other way!!!!!
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    • Profile picture of the author Wolster
      Originally Posted by muffty View Post

      Hello AffiliateRG,

      I went through Alibaba and found Jaks Toys Ltd, unfortunately for me it was a complete scam! I have lost money on it - basically I sent the money (they have a business address in the UK so thought I was safe!) they wouldn't send the goods and they refused a Refund.

      I am at present at the start of going through the Small Claims Court!

      I have since found another person on a different forum who has experienced exactly the same treatment, so I also have this info to pass on to the court and have also informed the Tradings Standard people.

      They have since been taken down from Alibaba but I think we can be sure they are on other Wholesale/Trading Sites and no doubt doing a great trade by scamming people.

      Difficult to know who to trust out there - so if anyone else comes across Jaks Toys Ltd Beware - Run the other way!!!!!
      I had previously looked at them with a view to the run up to Christmas, but some thing just didn't feel right about them.

      Glad I decided not to check them out now, sorry you weren't so lucky Muffty, but I'm sure your warning will help others in the future.
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  • Profile picture of the author ackroener
    Alibaba is similar to Ebay or Amazon, it's a marketplace... They (as a marketplace) are very reliable. The actual sellers that sell on Alibaba - well, some of them are scammers (usually the ones selling items at prices to good to be true). I've been sourcing products from China via Alibaba since 2008, i've met a lot of sellers who were trying to scam us but with a bit of due diligence and a bit of common sense we managed to avoid being scammed. If you're not sure about the seller, PM me and i can look into it. And also, earlier this year alibaba introduced an escrow service. You pay 5-7% extra but the seller actually gets the money only after you confirm that you received your order. And this escrow feature actually works - we had to use it once: we purchased 10 smartphones from a seller we had no previous relation with and we got the 10 smartphones alright, but instead of being quad-cores like we ordered, we got dual-cores (everything else was the same, same screen, same memory, etc, just a different cpu); the difference between a dual core and a quad was like $50 (so it was a $500 total loss for us); we contacted the seller, they said they didn't know about this and that they sent the phones we ordered; they then said we should return the 10 phones and they will "check" them and replace them if that's the case - but we would have to pay for all the shipping (to and from China - and that's a bit expensive); so we contacted the Alibaba escrow service, they asked some details from us, we sent them some IMEI codes and also had videocall and showed them the phones and the fact that they were dual cores and not quads as we ordered, and one week later, they refunded us the $500 difference, despite the opposition of the seller.
    So Alibaba works smooth, but be careful, there are lots of other issues with sourcing products from China.
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    • Profile picture of the author moneymax
      Actually I have bought several items from this site. Don't order and expect to get it in 2 days. It takes a long time, as much as 30 days because the items are coming from Hong Kong and other places.

      I have mostly ordered small items such as flash lights. I did order some of those forever matches, but I never received them, but I was given a refund.

      They have a neat email system, that check on the progress of your order and they ask you to leave a review of your order.

      The thing I really like is the free shipping on many items. I don't know how they can send things that are cheap to begin with, and then not charge a high shipping charge.

      You do have to watch what you are buying...for instance, I wanted to buy a parabolic solar cooker and I have found some cheap ones, but this shipping on these were 3 times the cost...so I did not order.

      Also, another problem is the language barrier. I inquired about some item and I got an email and didn't understand what they were trying to tell me. So if you know of someone that speaks the language, they can help with this.

      I did buy some reflective vinyl (small amount, cheap price) and when I got it, it was wrinkled and I was unable to use it. I did not ask for a refund as it was not worth the hassle.

      I would not hesitate buying from them in the future and my experience with them has been mostly positive.

      I would suggest that you order something cheap, be prepared for a long wait and let this be your test for something bigger.

      I hope this helps.

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      • Profile picture of the author demon1000
        I just ordered 10 samsung galaxy s3 powerbank covers on friday for 180$ including shipping.
        I got a mail that it will be sended on thuesday, i will keep you updated when i got it
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        • Profile picture of the author AffiliateRg
          Yes ,please do!

          Originally Posted by demon1000 View Post

          I just ordered 10 samsung galaxy s3 powerbank covers on friday for 180$ including shipping.
          I got a mail that it will be sended on thuesday, i will keep you updated when i got it
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    • Profile picture of the author AffiliateRg
      Hi ackroener.

      Thank you for telling me about your experience with Alibaba.com. Can you tell me how you personally go about vetting a supplier on Alibaba.com? PM me if you like. Regards, Richard

      Originally Posted by ackroener View Post

      Alibaba is similar to Ebay or Amazon, it's a marketplace... They (as a marketplace) are very reliable. The actual sellers that sell on Alibaba - well, some of them are scammers (usually the ones selling items at prices to good to be true). I've been sourcing products from China via Alibaba since 2008, i've met a lot of sellers who were trying to scam us but with a bit of due diligence and a bit of common sense we managed to avoid being scammed. If you're not sure about the seller, PM me and i can look into it. And also, earlier this year alibaba introduced an escrow service. You pay 5-7% extra but the seller actually gets the money only after you confirm that you received your order. And this escrow feature actually works - we had to use it once: we purchased 10 smartphones from a seller we had no previous relation with and we got the 10 smartphones alright, but instead of being quad-cores like we ordered, we got dual-cores (everything else was the same, same screen, same memory, etc, just a different cpu); the difference between a dual core and a quad was like $50 (so it was a $500 total loss for us); we contacted the seller, they said they didn't know about this and that they sent the phones we ordered; they then said we should return the 10 phones and they will "check" them and replace them if that's the case - but we would have to pay for all the shipping (to and from China - and that's a bit expensive); so we contacted the Alibaba escrow service, they asked some details from us, we sent them some IMEI codes and also had videocall and showed them the phones and the fact that they were dual cores and not quads as we ordered, and one week later, they refunded us the $500 difference, despite the opposition of the seller.
      So Alibaba works smooth, but be careful, there are lots of other issues with sourcing products from China.
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  • Profile picture of the author deu12000
    I order from Alibaba vendors all of the time. Never any major issues as long as you have realistic expectations and know that quality of items can vary drastically between different vendors.
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  • Profile picture of the author AffiliateRg
    Hi guys. Am I correct in thinking that only some sellers on Alibaba.com offer the Escrow payment route?
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