Does anyone here use Alibaba? Tips?

Hiroshawn

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I want to sell socks. I've never worked with a manufacturer through Alibaba and I just wanted to see what you pros think about the Alibaba experience. Or even if there is a better alternative.
 
Hiroshawn said:
I want to sell socks. I've never worked with a manufacturer through Alibaba and I just wanted to see what you pros think about the Alibaba experience. Or even if there is a better alternative.
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I've used it and had a positive experience. Just sort by ticking the boxes: Gold Supplier, Assessed Supplier, etc.

Also, take note of the year established, transaction Levels, etc.

Just like making a purchase via eBay, Amazon, etc., it's about minimizing your buying risk using the appropriate ratings.
 
1+ to everything @backwoods said. Additionally if you find a pair of socks you like, hunt for a better deal. There's resellers of resellers on there, so there's a chance you could be paying more than you need to.

No brainer... but always use escrow
 
Oh, and of course narrow it down to a few manufacturers and order samples from each before you settle on one. You'll get a good idea of who to work with just with the communication experience (or lack of) during the ordering of the sample process.
 
Wow. Thank you guys for the tips. I really appreciate. One of my goals is to one day be able to point other in the right direction as you all have done for me.
 
Alibaba has made me more money than friggin affiliate marketing, tell you what.
 
- Sellers take FOREVER to fucking respond, even on live chat. I get the connection takes time given the distance, but I swear some take 3 min to respond to a live chat conversation. It's nuts... The majority aren't motivated. They'll say "it's dinner time", etc. There's always a damn excuse to delay your conversation until they are ready to talk. You'd think they'd just live chat on their phone while eating or whatever... Nope!

- Don't expect a straight price/product answer. They LOVE and I mean LOVE to "build rapport", and ask you ALL sorts of questions. This perhaps is the MOST annoying thing I ever dealt with.

- You can pick out a EXACT product/QTY and ask for the price, and they will dick around. They'll ask to email a quote, check on price, etc. Most of the time I feel these fuckers know the damn price but just want to screw around first. They can easily send it over live chat, but they love wasting time with e-mail for some reason...

- Samples cost $$$. If your product costs $2, they'll want $20 a sample. The crazy ones will tack on shipping and come up with something insane like $69.49 shipping to the US. It's rather annoying to see them make an attempt to pretty much scam you right off the bat by being dishonest. A LOT of them will try to pull that one over on you..

- MIN QTY is everything. If you can't order volume, a lot of sellers won't work with you.. Even if you order 10,000 and the min is 1,000 there are some sellers that won't even respond back to you. It's really hit or miss with the response rates.

- Ali doesn't mess around when it comes to scammers. They are really good at having your back so you don't lose money. You MUST go through their process thing though for checkout.

- Be aware of quality control. If it's coming from overseas, corners have been cut somewhere.

- Prob best to go over there yourself and hire a local person who knows what's best.
 
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