Which is better than Taobao, Aliexpress, eBay or other Chinese online stores? Are Ali Baba and Aliexpress the same thing? Ali Baba or Aliexpress: which is better, where is cheaper? Ali baba com official
The Internet is full of possibilities. With its help, you can not only communicate and relax, but also make purchases. For example, massive ones. This operation does not require any special knowledge. But there are exceptions. Online ordering is more difficult when it comes to international trading platforms. Today we will find out how to buy on Alibaba. What kind of service is this? What tips and tricks will help you to purchase products from this site? With the right approach, the process shouldn't be too much of a hassle for users.
About the site
What is Alibaba? It is one of the leading wholesale purchasing services in the world. This page is a kind of trading platform. This is where suppliers can offer their products to users.
Alibaba is not an online store, although that is what some call it. On the service, users ask questions to suppliers, place orders, study the offered products. And manufacturers create a description of the goods, post their photos and answer the questions asked.
You can order both wholesale and retail on Alibaba. The main thing is to know how to shop. After all, we will not have to deal with an online store, in which everything is extremely simple and understandable.
Briefly about orders
How to buy on Alibaba? To begin with, it is worth understanding what actions the whole procedure boils down to. It does not matter what kind of purchase we are talking about - piece or wholesale. The algorithm of actions will be the same in both cases.
How to buy wholesale and retail on Alibaba? You must adhere to the following actions:
- Register for the service.
- Log in to your account using user-created authorization data.
- Find the products you need.
- Send a request with clarifications about the product.
- Negotiate the terms of the deal and confirm the purchase.
In other words, the user does not add the item to the cart. He sends a corresponding request to the manufacturer. 
In addition to the proposed algorithm, you can buy on Alibaba in a different way. Namely - place your request on the site in the form of an ad and wait. Then the producers themselves will send proposals for the deal.
registration
The first thing to look out for is registration. Without it, it will not be possible to bring the idea to life. Every user looking to learn how to shop on Alibaba must go through this process.
Registration on Alibaba boils down to the following steps:
- Go to Alibaba.com website.
- In the upper left corner, click on the "Register" button.
- Fill in the fields of the future profile. Here you need to indicate: full name of the customer, company name, phone number in international format, e-mail and password to enter. You also need to enter the verification code from the picture.
- Select profile status. You can become a supplier, a customer, or both.
- Click on the "Send" button.
Ready! All that remains now is to follow the profile activation link. She will come by email.
How to buy retail or wholesale on Alibaba? Now you can take a closer look at each stage of the order formation.
About search
How to buy on Alibaba? As already mentioned, you need to find the product on the trading floor. It is possible both to search through a special line of the service, and to form a personal request. In the first case, the user will view ready-made offers, in the second, the suppliers themselves offer products.
Searching for products on Alibaba comes down to an algorithm:
- Open the service website. It is advisable to go through authorization using your username and password.
- Enter in the search bar (located at the top of the page) the name of the product of interest.
- Click on the "Find" button.
No further action is required. A list of ready-made offers will appear on the screen. You can select a product from a specific supplier. 
Sometimes it happens that the search result turned out to be zero. But that doesn't mean there are no suitable products on Alibaba. There are some tips to follow to increase your chances of a successful product search.
Namely:
- Reduce the number of words in your search query. The more concise and precise it is, the higher the chances of a successful search.
- It is advisable not to form too precise and specialized queries.
- One request - one product. Searching for multiple items on Alibaba at once is not possible. The operation results will be inaccurate.
- It is not recommended to write the country of origin in requests. For this purpose, you must use a search filter.
- Words like "supplier", "seller" and so on do not need to be written in the search string.
- If you cannot find the desired product, you must exclude all quotation marks from the request. Sometimes it is they who interfere with finding the right product.
- You can exclude all queries with a specific word from the results. To do this, put "-" in front of the corresponding inscription. For example "cosplay costume - Yuna". In this case, all queries containing "Yuna" will be deleted.
You can increase the chances of a successful product search by creating a purchase request. This is a kind of ad in which a person indicates the product that he needs, as well as the conditions under which the product will be purchased.
Choosing a product
How to buy retail or wholesale on Alibaba? After the user completes the search, he will be on the page with the results of processing the operation. The selection page is a list of offers from suppliers. All companies doing business with Alibaba are registered with the service.
To simplify the search for specific products, you can use a special filter. It's on the left side of the page. With its help, a specification is introduced for a specific product. For example, you can select the country of origin, color and size.
Below the search bar is the supplier field. Here you can leave only offers from sellers with a particular status. The following options are possible:
- Free Member is a provider with a free account. Many people recommend against buying from such sellers. Fraudsters are often found among them.
- Gold Supplier - online verified sellers. Such suppliers can already be considered for further cooperation.
- Assessed Supplier - Verified sellers who have been verified by the Alibaba dealership. These are 100% working organizations.
On the left of the search page, the user can find information about the company. Here you can see the legal address of the seller, responses to applications, the number of transactions. 
Product data
Once all the previously listed steps have been passed, you can select a specific proposal and study it. To open information about a product, you must click on the corresponding block in the search results. You can click on the photo.
The screen will display information about the products in expanded form. Also here you can see the pictures of the offer.
Contact supplier
How to buy on Alibaba without intermediaries? The next step is to contact the supplier. This step allows you to clarify the specifics of the order. For example, find out the exact price of a product or find out the terms of delivery of products. Some suppliers do not work with certain countries. In this case, the order will not be available to the user.
In total, there are several ways to contact the seller:
- Use the "Submit Request" function. Here you need to write your questions about the product.
- Start forming an order. To do this, you need to click on the appropriate line.
- Use a third-party program to communicate with sellers. You need to download and install the Trade Manager app for yourself. Then the user finds the right supplier and asks him about the products.
As a rule, it is the first option that is most often used in practice. How to buy on Alibaba?
Forming a request
This requires the seller to believe in the buyer's reliability and answer all his questions. After all, Alibaba is a trading platform with which many serious companies cooperate. I don’t want to waste time on those who are not really going to buy anything. Therefore, you have to adhere to some rules for writing requests.
To contact a seller on Alibaba, you need to:
- Log in to the site using your username and password.
- Search for products and select a specific product.
- Click on the "Send request" button.
- In the window that appears, write a letter to the seller.
- Click on the "Send" button.
- Wait for an answer.
This algorithm of actions helps to contact the suppliers of a particular product. But what are the rules that facilitate a quick response? 
A user submitting a request to sellers on Alibaba must:
- Write text only in English. It is advisable to use short and clear sentences.
- Write full information about yourself - personal data, position, what company the user represents, region of residence, field of activity.
- Describe a specific product (what you need) - color, size, features, estimated purchase volume.
- Ask questions about the minimum quantity of products to form an order, as well as about the cost of the goods in this or that case.
If the user does not know English, Google Translate or other online translators will help him.
Message center
Further communication with the supplier will go through the message center. It can be accessed by selecting the appropriate line in the "My Profile" menu.
The message center works like an email or messenger. This service is the area of trade formation. Here you can conclude a contract online or download a ready-made contract. If this is not a drop shipping, click on "Place order online".
Forming an order
How to buy on Alibaba? After a person contacts the supplier, you can place an order. To do this, in the product window, you need to click on the "Order" button. Or, as already mentioned, click on "Place order".
The user will have a form for bargaining with the seller. This field indicates the quantity of goods, their cost and delivery terms. All that remains for the user is to click on the "Confirm order" button. If the seller agrees to the deal, he will quickly respond to the request. 
Delivery
Now it is more or less clear how to buy on Alibaba. Free shipping takes place here. The fact is that when placing an order for this feature, you need to pay special attention.
The buyer is obliged to fill out the delivery form. It indicates the date of receipt of the goods and the time allotted to the seller for the formation of the order. Usually FOB is used on Alibaba. In this case, all shipping costs are included in the shipping cost.
But free shipping is also available. Some suppliers for bulk purchases do not require additional payment from the buyer for the transportation of products.
You can use mail or express delivery. These services are more expensive.
There is no customs charge for delivery if the total value of the order does not exceed 1,000 euros. It is important to remember that the customs authorities themselves can evaluate the products. Therefore, all the features of free delivery must be agreed with the seller.
Choosing a payment method
How to buy on Alibaba? The step-by-step instructions presented earlier imply the completion of the operation by paying for the goods. In Russia today, you can use only 2 methods of depositing funds. The product payment window will open after the user specifies the delivery details.
Residents of the Russian Federation can pay for orders on Alibaba:
- by bank transfer - recommended when using the order for commercial purposes;
- by credit card - if the goods are paid by the piece or are not subject to duties.
Once the customer chooses a payment method, he will have to provide the details of either a bank account or a credit card. All that remains now is to click on the "Confirm order" button.
For individuals
That's all. Now it's clear how Alibaba works. How to buy for a private person here? It is enough to adhere to the previously proposed algorithms. Difficulties may arise when registering a new user, but nothing more. 
Many users prefer to use the services of intermediaries. These are companies that order in bulk from Alibaba and other Chinese services. In this case, you will need:
- Contact a reseller.
- List the product you want to buy on Alibaba.
- Discuss the terms of cooperation.
- Pay for the services of an intermediary and deposit money for the order.
- Wait for the goods and receive them on time.
How to buy on Alibaba without intermediaries and unnecessary hassles? Many people say that individuals cannot make purchases on this service on their own. A similar site called "Aliexpress" has been created for them.
Outcomes
Now it's clear how Alibaba.com works. How to buy for a private person here? You can register as an individual entrepreneur and place orders on a regular basis. Or just register on the service and coordinate purchases with suppliers.
However, if you want to shop on Alibaba, it's best to use a reseller. Sellers on the studied marketplace rarely work with individuals. With intermediaries, ordinary people are more likely to buy this or that product.
Trading company is a Chinese publicly traded company that provides commercial services in the Internet sphere. Its main activities are online retail and business-to-business B2B transactions. Alibaba's mission is to make it easier for everyone to do business anywhere in the world. To fulfill this mission, suppliers are given the opportunity to contact buyers from all over the world, and buyers receive a convenient service for finding products.
Alibaba's official website in Russian:
At its core, the Alibaba company represents a family of online stores of several formats, including the world famous one. The company owns the Internet site Alibaba.com and is headquartered in Huangzhou.
Its main activity is in the People's Republic of China, but over the years, its clients have become millions of buyers and traders from all over the world. At the moment, the corporation is one of the largest retailers in the world and the undisputed leader among American and European firms purchasing products from Chinese suppliers. Over 15 years of operation, the Alibaba trading platform has managed to connect Chinese small and medium-sized businesses with international buyers.
To some extent, the trading model developed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is a hybrid of eBay and Amazon projects, but so complex and specific that it is almost impossible to repeat it. A distinctive feature of Ali Baba is the possession of a global outlook on business, a focus on helping small companies make money and their own business model. Its success lies in the fact that the creators of the project, unlike competitors, never tried to copy the American model, but were focused on the quality of the proposed product.
A brief history of Alibaba
Alibaba was founded in 1999 in Huangzhou. Its founder is 43 years old Jack Ma, an English teacher from a poor family, has registered the web portal with associates as a trading platform for small and medium-sized companies. Initially, the platform was launched as a small trading platform with 10 people in the team, and the office was located in Jack Ma's apartment. Almost from the very beginning, it began to work according to 3 models: C2C (consumers to consumers), B2B (business to business), and B2C (business to consumers). For a gradual expansion, the organization took out loans in 1999 from Goldman Sachs, and in 2000 from Softbank Corporation.
Video - principles of running a successful business from Jack Ma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMvm7XwA8EY Video can’t be loaded: TOP15 BUSINESS SECRETS FROM ALIBABA FOUNDER JACK MA. Success Secrets From Alibaba Founder Jack Ma (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMvm7XwA8EY)
In 2004, all online stores owned by the company were merged into a single proprietary electronic payment system Alipay. In 2005, Yahoo acquired 43% of Alibaba's shares. In 2007, the site earned $ 39 million, with a combined income of $ 129 million, and was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
In 2009, the project received the category of an open company, as a result of the issue of shares, more than $ 1.5 billion was received, and the company value was $ 26 billion. In 2012, Alibaba had sales of $ 170 billion, with a market value of $ 231 billion in 2014, repurchased 20% of its own shares held by Yahoo and delisted shares listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Ali Baba's project, together with Yahoo Ma, launched its own search engine, and its online auction Taobao is larger than the Chinese version of eBau and Amazon auctions combined. Today he is the main Internet company in China, and its founder and owner, Jack Ma, is the richest man in the country. More than 24 thousand people work in its headquarters and offices.
Online stores owned by Alibaba, assortment of their products
Alibaba Trading Company owns the following online stores:
- Alibaba.com
- Aliexpress.com
- Tmall.com
- TaoBao.com
- 1688
With the help of these sites, you can buy and sell almost any Chinese-made product: from a paper clip to a car.
Ali Baba online store
A one-stop resource for wholesale purchases and sales between manufacturers and large store owners. The site contains ads indicating approximate prices, seller's address, minimum batch of sale, payment methods, contacts. The site owners practically do not control the trading processes and do not provide guarantees of fulfillment of obligations.
TaoBao
Taobao provides free access to catalogs of nearly 500 million products grouped by category. Here you can buy household appliances, industrial equipment, clothing and other goods. The online platform TaoBao.com, an analogue of the American online auction Ebay, was created in 2003, its distinctive feature is free placement of lots and free transactions. The main advantages of this Internet resource are low prices, a huge range of products and the ability to trade in retail.
The birthplace of the brand is China. However, the Alibaba Group company has long gone beyond its homeland and has become a world famous brand in Internet commerce. The company's operating profit is 40% higher than the combined figures of eBay and Amazon.com, making Alibaba one of the first companies in the e-commerce and international business and trade sectors.
the site could not pass by this platform and offers you some business ideas from Alibaba.com.
1. Trade in Alibaba shares
Alibaba went public with its shares on the New York Stock Exchange several years ago. Since then, the company's shares have shown stability and high growth. The return on Alibaba Group shares reaches 90%. This is a great investment.
2. Become an Alibaba reseller
Despite the fact that the Internet is sweeping across the country by leaps and bounds, not everyone has the skill or the time to use the Internet. Yes, you will be surprised, but not everyone uses the network as cleverly as you. You can make great money on this - start looking for profitable supplies from China for everyone. Look for great deals, find a logistics company. That is, take on all the organizational issues related to the search and delivery of commercial consignments of goods. There are many suppliers on Alibaba, and there are even more product offerings, there is something and from whom to choose. You can find very lucrative offers.
Pick a niche that you are good at. Explore a niche market in your city or region. Find suppliers on Alibaba, you can also find logistics there. Calculate how much the wholesale consignment of goods with delivery and customs duties will cost. Throw in your percentage and ... offer the product to local sellers. You do not lose anything except time, since you can take an advance payment for the purchase and delivery of goods. Don't want to mess with sellers? Organize group purchases with the same prepayment, collect money for a wholesale lot and deliver it to you, send it out to all customers upon receipt. Or, which is generally the simplest thing - collect the contacts of the suppliers of the required product, write down the prices for this product and sell the list to everyone, for example, through Avito. The demand will be! Registration on Alibaba.com is free for now, hurry up! At the end of the article, we will tell you how to choose suppliers on Alibaba.
3. Two business ideas for Aliexpress
Aliexpress- "daughter" of Alibaba. Online retail platform for buying Chinese goods from Chinese sellers. On the pages of Aliexpress you can find everything you need - from Chinese trivia to advanced Hi-end electronics.
We have already described some ideas as, but these are certainly not all business ideas that exist in the world, and each of us can easily come up with our own. Let's share with you a couple more ideas from Aliexpress.
How to Find a Reliable Seller and Supplier on Alibaba.com
Unfortunately, the popular platform attracts the attention of not only honest manufacturers and sellers. There are various types of scammers and resellers on the site. In order to protect yourself and your finances from their proposal, you must follow the following tips.
- Pay attention to the status of the seller, it must be Gold Supplier- this status is issued only on a paid basis after a thorough check of the seller. Each year, the status must be renewed, if it is renewed without interruption, there is a special label about this. For example, if a seller renews the Gold Supplier status for 5 years in a row - this will necessarily be indicated in his profile - 5 years of Gold Supplier, if he takes a break, then the next status receipt will be without a mark on the period. Try to choose a seller with this status, which has a tag with a period of at least 2 years.
- Real sellers and manufacturers have all the necessary documentation - business licenses, certificates, etc. Often, Chinese companies that do or are going to do business with Russian buyers, that is, with you, already have the necessary Russian documentation and certificates of conformity. Starting a business - ask to provide all the necessary documents.
- Before concluding a contract - "google" - the name of the supplier and any words from - reviews, deception, fraud, etc. If a fraudulent seller "threw" one of ours, "our" will definitely write about it on the Internet.
- Good sellers have a good English-language (Russian-language) website of their own, with a language level higher than automatic translation. These sellers can also be trusted.
- A good seller can also have a retail store on Aliexpress. If he has such a store, and that store has reviews - such a seller can be trusted. You can, for checking and assessing the quality, buy a sample of the product from this seller through Aliexpress or he will send it to you for free.
- Deal with sellers through Alibaba Escrow only. Yes, this system asks for 5% of the order, but if you cheat, you can easily get your money back.
- Popular suppliers on Alibaba have reviews, please read them before contacting them.
- Check the invoice from the seller, the data from the account must match the data in his profile on Alibaba.com. If the seller asks to make a transfer as an individual or through the system of fast transfers, do not agree, this is a scammer.
- If you are planning a large order, you can ask for a tour of the production. A conscientious contractor will not refuse his customer.
- Most likely, you will work with China through an agent - who will ensure that your purchase in China is verified and the goods are transported through customs. This is usually done by cargo companies. Ask your agent to check your supplier before paying. The agent may have encountered him before.
Alibaba is by far the best and most affordable way to start a business with China, and while this opportunity is available, don't miss it.
The country: China
Range: Electronics, apparel, bridal gowns, evening wear, food, car seats, navigators, car goods, home goods, sports goods and more.
Delivery: EMS, Hong Kong Post, Russian Post
Payment: Visa, Western Union
- Official site:
Chinese online stores with a variety of products have long been open for shopping by Russian shoppers. Alibaba is one of the most popular shops, attracting primarily with excellent prices and an abundance of products of various categories.
In addition, this service covers more than 250 countries and a huge number of merchant users.
How not to get lost in this diversity? The editors of Shopozona magazine figured out this issue. There are a few golden rules to successfully interact with this online store.
Who will find it convenient to buy on Alibaba.com?
Unlike such popular services as the American Ebay, Chinese Taobao and AliExpress, which, by the way, are part of the same public company as Alibaba, this marketplace is focused primarily on trade relations with organizations, legal entities and, respectively for wholesale.
This does not mean that retail customers are ordered to trade on Alibaba. First, a wholesale batch does not have to be 300 units of a product. Many items (in particular, underwear) are sold in sets of 5-10 pieces, and some items, for example, medical devices, are sent individually.
In addition, many suppliers have accounts on neighboring retail sites, in particular, on AliExpress, and are happy to release the goods not in large batches, but in smaller ones or by the piece.
If the buyer does not have the status of a legal entity or his own individual entrepreneur, but is going to purchase a large batch of certain products, then certain questions may arise from the side of customs control - it is not easy for customs officials to convince that 200 pairs of sneakers or 150 flash media are purchased for personal use ...
However, this bureaucratic obstacle can be bypassed. For this, there are many proven intermediary sites, including those focused exclusively on the Alibaba platform. Using the services of these sites, splitting your large orders into smaller lots and filling out the invoices correctly, it is quite possible to buy in bulk without being a wholesaler.
Careful choice of the seller is the key to the success of the buyer
Various manufacturing countries are represented at Alibaba, including the United States, but the overwhelming majority of manufacturers and sellers are located in China. The remoteness of the customer and the supplier often entails fraud and there are enough deceiving sellers on Alibaba.
To protect your money and receive purchases, you need to carefully choose a seller - fortunately, the products offered on this site are far from always unique, and you can find them from a wide variety of representatives.
Unfortunately, the Alibaba administration cannot control the honesty of the execution of the transaction and the only sanctions that can be applied to a dishonest seller are to block his account.
It is better to treat the so-called "verified sellers" with some doubt, since their verification consists in the fact that the administration is sure only that the given company is registered (A&V Checked) or really exists (Onsite Check).
Somewhat more credible are suppliers who have undergone more rigorous verification by an external service - Assessed Supplier. These manufacturers have a "dossier" - an inspection report and photographs.
The most trusted sellers are those who are willing to pay the platform for the opportunity to offer a product - the Gold Supplier. Such companies value their reputation and the risk of fraud is minimal. Moreover, it is best for such a seller to have a gold status for at least three years - this information is visible next to the status logo and the name of the company.
Experienced shoppers are advised to deal with merchants who use the popular PayPal service to transfer funds without exposing the buyer's personal information. There are not many of them on Alibaba, Western Union is more popular. Therefore, when purchasing a piece non-unique product, such as a TV, and making a one hundred percent advance payment by WU transfer, without using special payment services, you need to be ready to say goodbye to money forever and not see the purchase.
There is a separate service for gold sellers from China, Alipay, which transfers money to them only after the buyer has confirmed that the goods are in order. There is also a service of trade guarantees, thanks to which it is possible to get back funds in case of non-receipt of the goods or its discrepancy with the declared one.
When choosing a seller on Alibaba, you should pay attention to the reviews left about his work and product. All conditions and terms must be discussed before paying for purchases, pay attention to their observance when sending goods.
Passwords and attendances - registration on Alibaba.com
To simplify registration and more convenient navigation on the site, you can use its Russian-language version russian.alibaba.com. Next, you need to select the free registration button, which takes you to the page with the form to fill out.
Fill in the fields, as stated in the memo, you need to use the Latin alphabet. You can pre-register a separate e-mail box only for purchases on Alibaba and correspondence with sellers.
When speaking on behalf of a specific organization, you must enter its name. If there is no company, then you should enter yourself as an individual entrepreneur.
After submitting the completed form, you can go down the page, select the Alibaba site and go directly to shopping.
Necessary things - choose and place an order
Searching for purchases on Alibaba.com can be done in different ways. Searching by category and subcategory is useful when choosing broader product categories. To find a specific product or seller, it is best to use the search bar, where you need to enter keywords. On the original version of the alibaba.com website, the search is carried out in English, and on the Russian language russian.alibaba.com - in Russian.
It will not be superfluous to use the function of choosing the country of origin and place of residence of the recipient - unnecessary goods and suppliers that do not work with Russia will be eliminated immediately.
After entering a query in the search bar or after surfing by category, it is time to familiarize yourself with specific products, sellers, and, when using the Russian version of Alibaba, enjoy the wonderful gems of machine translation.
Directly above the list of products, you can set additional search criteria: select a seller who is online in order to immediately contact him, sort the product by the most bought (best choice) or recently added, indicate the currency and the minimum number of products.
Having chosen a specific product, you can read about the supplier in more detail, study his "dossier" and consider the products themselves: the price for one piece, the quantity in the batch from minimum to maximum, terms of payment and delivery, scroll through the detailed description of the product and see detailed photos.
Particular attention should be paid to how the merchant accepts payment. Mysterious ciphers in the Latin alphabet are interpreted simply: L / C - payment through the bank after the seller fulfills the agreed conditions (letter of credit), T / T - regular bank transfer, D / P - cash payment, D / A - the rights of ownership of the goods are transferred to the buyer after legitimization of the presented invoice ...
Also, sellers accept payment by bank cards and various payment systems.
After discussing the nuances of the delivery of goods with the seller, which is convenient to do on the site itself, the goods are paid for and you can only wait and hope that the vicissitudes of international cargo transportation (mainly sea) and domestic mail of purchases will not touch.
Wholesale online purchases on alibaba.com fall into the commercial category and therefore require customs clearance. In order not to rack your brains with filling out the documents and engage in additional insurance of the cargo, worrying about its safety and delivery conditions, it makes sense to use the services of intermediary sites that take on all the difficulties of shipping and, as a rule, have detailed instructions, as well as clear forms filling in customs declarations.
Stop the thief - what to do if the seller is unscrupulous
Even if the seller has gold status, overlaps with the receipt and quality of the goods can occur. True, Secure Payment services for such a category of suppliers and Trade Assurance (trade guarantees) help to return money.
Not all trading operations go directly through the Alibaba site, and they are not at all obliged to control the payment of the order and its delivery there. But this does not mean that it makes no sense to open a dispute about the quality or delivery of the goods - it is possible to spoil the reputation of the liars or completely cover up the trading page of the scammers.
Any online shopping is risky in a way. According to experienced buyers, Chinese is doubly risky. But following the advice in this article, you can buy decent products for nicely little money. Enjoy the shopping!
They are owned by the same company - Alibaba Group, which was founded by Jack Ma in 1999 in Hangzhou, PRC. In addition, these sites are united by a single electronic payment system, which was created by the same company in 2004 - Alipay.
Alibaba.com
Online resource for large wholesalers. The site was created for making sales and purchase transactions between factories and owners of large stores or chain stores. The ad contains only approximate prices, the minimum batch available to the order, the seller's location (from where the goods can be picked up), payment methods that the seller sets himself, and contacts for communication. The owners of the resource have practically no control over the process and do not give any guarantees of fulfillment of the obligations assumed by the seller and the buyer, i.e. no protection of the transaction. In view of this, a huge number of fraudsters come across on this resource.
In fact, this site can be called information rather than trading. It has no advantages and conveniences for an ordinary retail buyer.
Taobao.com
Auction and the largest online marketplace in China targeted at the end user. Let's list the main pros and cons, distinguishable at first glance, that most beginners distinguish for themselves.pros:
- incredibly huge selection of goods
- low prices
- retail
- Chinese
- delivery from the seller only within China
- for sending to another country you need (and these are additional expenses and controversial situations)
Now let's take a closer look at the buying process on Taobao in more detail.
A huge selection of goods is undoubtedly very, very significant and undeniable advantages. However, it is he who makes the search for the necessary product so long and not always productive. And if you add to this the Chinese interface language, then the task of finding the right thing becomes even more difficult.
Low price is one of the main components of the attractiveness of this trading platform and one of the biggest delusions of buyers. Since the delivery of goods from Taobao is carried out mainly only in China, the question of an intermediary arises. Therefore, you always need to add to the price of the goods the% of the intermediary (on average, it is 5-10%),% for transferring money to the intermediary (usually the PayPal payment system is used, which takes about 5%), the cost of delivery in China (if any) + shipping cost to your country (depends on shipping method and state). After all the calculations, it turns out that the price of the goods increases by 20-50%, depending on the weight of the parcel.
The need to use a middleman for purchases on Taobao not only increases the cost of the order, but also explicit / covert methods of deception. Here are some of them:
- redemption of goods not following the buyer's links;
- delay in processing and sending the order, so that the dispute in paypal expires and the buyer can no longer return the money for the wrong or not received goods;
- an increase in the weight of the parcel due to a large amount of paper or garbage.
For the sake of fairness, it is worth noting that buying through an intermediary involves checking the goods for defects when the order is still in China. In the event of an incorrect size, color or damage, the item can be promptly sent back to the seller.
Due to the fact that delivery in China, order processing at the intermediary's warehouse and delivery to the buyer sometimes take a very long time, the benefits and security of payments through PayPal lose their meaning, because the system gives only 45 days from the date of payment for the opportunity to open a dispute for a refund.
Thus, purchases on taobao.com are profitable only for large and large orders. Never forget that, despite the budget savings (and sometimes significant), they still involve a certain risk (and sometimes complete loss of money in the case of a dishonest intermediary).
Aliexpress.com
was created by the Alibaba Group as the younger brother of taobao.com, targeting the international market. Initially, the developers of the marketplace did not invest in the development, advertising and promotion of the resource on the Internet, and this somewhat slowed down its growth in the e-commerce market. The fact that previously there were quite a few vendors selling lots (3-5 or more pieces of the same name) did not add to the popularity of the resource. However, at the end of 2012 - 2013, the site's management took it seriously. As a result, the interface and the rating system were improved, the trading rules were tightened, the Paypal payment system was replaced by a more suitable one - Escrow, and the rules for disputes were gradually improved. You also need to pay tribute to the owners of the trading platform for keeping their finger on the pulse and quickly reacting to the situation with delivery times - the maximum number of days on the counter first increased to 90, and then to 120, for the situation with disputes - it was expanded and clearer a list of reasons for opening was formulated and some gaps were removed, for example, it is no longer possible to open a dispute for partial compensation for a parcel in transit.If we consider Aliexpress in its current form (as of August 2014), then the following pros and cons can be distinguished:
pros:
- low prices;
- a wide range of payment methods;
- the presence of a buyer protection system - escrow;
- English and Russian languages of interface and search;
- contests, sales, discounts and availability;
- the ability to leave reviews for the product in Russian, English, Spanish and some other languages and attach real photos;
- lower selection of sellers and goods compared to Taobao
- there is no consolidation of parcels (an order from each seller comes in a separate parcel, and not in a common box, you will have to run to the post office)
- you can check the goods for compliance with the order only after receiving the parcel
- limited number of delivery methods (no cargo and no sea shipping)
A bag on Ali costs $ 7.51 with free shipping by China Post Air Mail. In addition to this, you can still return up to 2% cashback for a purchase, i.e. it will cost about $ 7.36. A bag with Tao at today's rate (10 CNY = 1.6 USD) will cost $ 3.15 + 15% for an intermediary and money transfer via paypal (the price will be ~ $ 3.62) + shipping (on average for the same China Post Air Mail to Russia intermediaries charge 18 yuan per 100 grams, the bag weighs 400 grams, we get $ 11.66). In total, a bag with taobao will cost about $ 15.28.
It was a direct and averaged calculation “head-on”. Of course, few people order one inexpensive and easy item with taobao, besides, each reseller sets its own price for delivery and offers different methods. You can choose to ship via cargo (about 300 rubles per 500 grams, minimum order weight from 5 kg) or sea delivery (but the waiting period is significantly increased). The calculation only shows that it is more profitable to buy cheap and light goods on Aliexpress.com, and heavy ones on Taobao.com.
eBay.com
American company founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995. In 2002, the company acquired the PayPal payment system, which previously used to pay at the auction. an undoubted advantage over other sites is the presence of different versions of sites for countries such as Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, which actually means a much more diverse selection of goods compared to China, where most sellers trade in the same type, not unique things.pros:
- the ability to place bids and receive goods literally for a penny;
- availability of original, authentic goods;
- double buyer's protection (from ebay and paypal);
- the seller himself adjusts the rate step;
- the seller may not sell the goods to the winning buyer at the auction if the final price is lower than that which he planned;
- the cost of goods from Chinese sellers is higher than on Tao or Ali;
- some of the goods are not sent to Russia, Ukraine or other neighboring countries, even by Chinese sellers;
- small choice of delivery method (mostly only state mail);
- the number of characters in a product review is limited to a very small number, i.e. you cannot write a full, detailed review.
Let's compare the above trading platforms with , and others small Chinese online stores. Auctions and online mega-markets charge sellers a kind of rent, which entails an increase in the price of the product. For example, I will give the price of a phone on the buyincoins.com website and in the store of the same seller on aliexpress.com
As you can see, the price difference is quite high. However, sometimes the comparison is in favor of the marketplace:
We see that on aliexpress.com this dress from the same store () is cheaper, besides, there is an opportunity to apply a coupon for $ 3 and $ 5. Let's look at a similar product in another popular Chinese online store - romwe.com:
Thus, we can conclude that small and cheap goods (makeup brushes, wall stickers, rubber bands, etc.), some electronics are more profitable to take on individual sites of single stores, but clothes, shoes, baby products are better to buy on taobao .com, aliexpress.com, ebay.com.
As a conclusion, I will once again write the main conclusions. :
- it is more profitable to buy bulky and heavy goods, or to make wholesale or large orders and save on cheap delivery.
- it is more convenient to purchase goods individually or in small lots. This is a great option for those who cannot or do not want to take a lot of things at once.
- it is better not to order goods from Chinese sellers and always remember about resellers who sell more expensive what can be bought elsewhere at a lower price.
- in small separate ones it is cheaper to take small things, part of electronics and technology.
