Ordering from Alibaba for the first time can be quite scary. You are handing over a large sum of money to someone you have never met. So naturally the question arises:
Is Alibaba Safe To Purchase From?
First of all, Alibaba is a platform, not one seller. Like with any other platform, you will find good & bad sellers on there. So here are four tips for helping you stay safe on Alibaba:
4 Tips for Staying Safe on Alibaba
1). Verified Supplier & Trade Assurance
The first step is very easy and something you should always do when looking for new suppliers on Alibaba. Make sure to check the Trade Assurance & Verified Supplier filter.
Trade Assurance
With Alibaba Trade Assurance, Alibaba will cover your order in case something is wrong with the order.
Verified Supplier
Alibaba will make sure that everybody that is a verified supplier is a legally registered company.
2). Trade shows
A great way to check if an Alibaba supplier is legit is by asking if he will attend any trade shows this year. You won’t actually have to attend these trade shows yourself. But if you know that your supplier has paid for a stand at the Canton Fair, I will tell you that he is legit.
3). Stay away from licensed products!
I can 100% guarantee you that any licensed product you find on Alibaba is a counterfeit! You want to stay away from these as far as possible. Intellectual property law is not very well enforced in China, but it is in the US. This means they can sell it in China without a problem. But once you import it into the US, you will be the one in trouble!
Branded products are products such as:
- Disney characters.
- Logos of a sports team.
- Video game characters
4). Inspection
ALWAYS inspect your goods while they are still in the factory. I have said this before and believe this is crucial, no matter how many times you have ordered from the supplier. There is always the chance that a supplier will try to scam you. So I always inspect the goods while they are still in the factory and before I pay 70% of the balance.
I have made a longer guide on why I always inspect my goods here.
hi garlic press seller,
your blog is wonderful. i read all of your writings. i am fba seller as you. but i sell on amazon for 1 years as an individual without corporation. i read that you opened your own company for selling on amazon and you are not resident of usa. i am not resident of usa same as you. there is lack of opening LLC for fba company instruction on internet. so can you write a tutorial about this? i wonder below questions’ answers for now. if something comes my mind, i will add to these questions.
-can you share how to found your company? did you use any agent for doing this? if you use agent, can you share it?
-when did you found? actually what is the perfect time to found a company? my monthly revenue is nearly 15k usd.
-what are taxes for paying usa country? both federal and state taxes
-how do you pay your taxes? do you use any accountant?
-how did you link your company to your fba account?
-how did you solve opening bank account problem without going to usa?
-when we profit from our sales, can we directly withdraw our money from company bank account for using personal purpose?
-what is the total cost of founding a company? are there yearly expenses?
i want to follow your footstep and open my company. please share your way.
Thanks a lot.
Best Regards
Hi,
Thanks, glad you like it! Yes, I do operate from outside the US as I live in Europe. If you are from abroad you need to open a company in your home country. So I can’t really answer most of your questions, since the rules differ per country. I can’t really give advice on taxes and stuff since I am no accountant, but I pay income tax in my home country & sales tax in the US.
Hi there,
1. Did you use Trade Assurance when the seller screwed up your order by using low quality materials?
2. Do you use inspection services for ALL orders? Even if the orders are rushed due to imminent out of stock problem?