If you want to buy goods by the piece as a natural person this is not the place for you!
Switch to reading articles about AliExpress and other Chinese online stores for buying goods by the piece, that's why!
Alibaba and AliExpress similarities and differences
AliExpress is an e-commerce platform within the Alibaba Group, but unlike Alibaba.com it is focused on B2C transactions.
B2C (Business to Customer) - refers to the business process where products and services are sold directly to end consumers, without intermediaries (retail sales). Since it is a B2C platform, AliExpress sellers offer their products directly to the end consumer, so the product prices are retail prices, not wholesale prices.
Unlike AliExpress, Alibaba is a B2B platform
B2B (Business to Business) - is a type of business when a company sells products to legal entities, i.e. to other companies, so it is a wholesale sale.
Before you decide to buy on your own, we advise you to read the text from our blog Cheap, cheaper, cheapest (most cost-effective) and find out the cheapest way to go when buying from China
On the page Guide to importing from China you can find the complete and most detailed instructions in our language, which is all you need to know if you decide to import goods from China.
If you are not familiar with importing from China, we believe that you will find the answers to all your questions in this text. Also check out our blog where you can also find loads of tips.
If you decide to buy directly from Alibaba, check the seller carefully.
One of the ways to check can be on our website. We have been following Alibaba and Alibaba sellers since 2005. For our own security, we collected information about sellers. From each product category in the period 2010 - 2013, we singled out companies from Alibaba that, in addition to the presentation on Alibaba, have their unique website .
You might be wondering why?
Well, because serious companies have their own website and not just a presentation on Alibaba!
When you find a company with which you want to cooperate, see if it is in our list. Lists of companies of all product categories can be found on the website of Chinese companies. Of course, we could not list all the companies, and certainly not those that were created after 2013. Perhaps a better reverse approach is to find a company listed on our site and then look at their current products on Alibaba or their site.
In the fall of 2023, we analyzed the state of these companies and came up with astonishing results. 
Read more about this topic on our blog in the text Alibaba shopping - WARNING
Product categories offered by Alibaba
Links lead to companies that we separated from Alibaba in the period 2010-2013.
- Consumer Electronics
- Home appliances
- Clothing
- Shoes
- Fashion details
- Packaging and Printing
- Beauty and personal care
- Machines
- Vehicles and accessories
- Sports and entertainment
- Fashion details, jewelry and glasses
- Lights and lighting
- Furniture
- Garden supplies
Pet Products Health and Medicine Office & School Supplies Power Tools AgricultureTelecommunications and accessoriesToys and hobbies Electrical equipmentGifts and crafts Bags and suitcasesComputersEnergy
In addition, know that you are working at your own risk and we cannot guarantee the listed companies and your independent purchase!
Generally, the best option is that if you are able to go to one of the many trade fairs in China, get to know the goods, their quality and the seller live.
However, it is never a guarantee that going to China and to the fair will pay off. , that is, you will find what you are looking for, and such a path requires both time and money, especially in the time of corona!
What then?
The good news is that you can get access to the world's largest e-commerce marketplace Alibaba, without leaving your comfort of his home.
However, it is important to understand what you are getting yourself into when you try to buy goods from abroad. It can be a great way to get what you want for less money than you hoped for. But just as you have to be careful in any business, so here you have to know how to shop and be careful with every purchase from Alibaba.
What is Alibaba?
Alibaba is a wholesale catalog of goods and products where you can find manufacturers of semi-finished products as well as finished products. Alibaba is considered the largest B2B e-commerce site in the world.
Some of the features of Alibaba:
Buy products at wholesale prices - Most people who use Alibaba for the first time are shocked to see how low the prices are compared to retail. You can easily get big margins.
Wide selection of products - You may be surprised by the wide variety of products available through Alibaba, allowing you to find what you need - and even explore different niches.
Product Branding - You can create your own brand and logo and put it on the products you get from the manufacturer.
Create your product and brand - You can also use your own designs to create products that you can then sell as your product and your brand.
Working with manufacturers - On Alibaba you actually find and work with manufacturers, so you have a chance to be involved in how is your product designed, built, packaged and delivered.
When you find a supplier on Alibaba, it is important to understand that you are dealing with a third party - a factory that is not affiliated with Alibaba.
So Alibaba is not a retail website. Alibaba is an online catalogue of almost all products for bulk purchase with the cheapest prices.
Alibaba doesn't sell anything.
Instead, they connect you (as a customer) with producers.
What to do before using Alibaba
Determine your niche!!!
A niche is what you do or what you intend to do.
Ideally, you should already know your niche before using Alibaba. After all, one of the first things you need to do when starting a store is to have an idea of what you're going to sell. In fact, before placing a large order with a supplier you find on Alibaba, it's important to be sure of what you want to sell.
Be sure to do your research and find out if there is a market or niche for the products you plan to use for your local or online stores. In addition, you should at least know approximately how much your product should cost to make an adequate profit from sales.
Alibaba is too big to randomly browse for product ideas, so knowing what you want to do is a must.
Alibaba purchase process in 7 steps
Shopping on Alibaba.com is a little different from shopping on an online B2C store like Amazon or AliExpress. Shopping on Alibaba.com is very simple, but some steps have alternative approaches that give users some freedom to shape their shopping experience. Let's take a look at some basic steps for shopping on Alibaba.com.
1. Account creation
If you know your niche, go to Alibaba.com and click the "Join Free" button. The first thing you need to do is create an account< /a> on Alibaba.com. You will be asked to add some information which usually includes:
- Country/Region
- Trade role (Your role in the trade)
- Full name
- Email Address
- Company name
- Phone number
2. Search and find products
After creating an account, it's time to search for products. There are two ways customers can find items to buy on Alibaba: search and browse the general offer or post request for quotation (RFQ). Searching the site is simple because it works like any other search engine. You enter a search query and view the results. 
You can also "upload an image" to perform searches more efficiently with an image of the product you are looking for.
Results can be filtered and sorted according to different criteria:
- Provider Type
- Product type
- Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ)
- Provider country/region
- Certificates
- Features
This helps customers narrow down products to find exactly what they are looking for. If you can't find the perfect product with the right purchase terms, you can request a quote on an RFQ, where suppliers can get back to you if they can meet your requirements.
Alibaba's RFQ read how to collect price and product data from Alibaba from multiple sellers simultaneously.
In any case, whichever method you use, you will easily find the products you are looking for on Alibaba.
For example, if you are looking for a wedding dress supplier, enter the English name "weddingdress" in the search box.
Once you search, Alibaba will show you a bunch of wedding dress suppliers.
You can see examples of what they offer, as well as how quickly orders are ready and whether it is possible to customize the product to your needs.
If you have created an account, you have the option of publishing your demand in the form of a request for all interested suppliers to contact you.
The main thing you should pay attention to is the price and minimum order quantity.
Some manufacturers may require you to buy a larger quantity, so you will have to ask for goods from factories that are in line with your requirement.
Generally, the larger the quantity you buy in bulk, the lower the price per piece of the product will be.
But be aware that prices on Alibaba are often completely incorrect.
The prices listed on the Alibaba website may be lower than the actual prices you get when you start negotiations with the supplier.
We know from practice that prices are deliberately lowered to attract customers, so when you contact them and ask for the price it will be in fact higher than it is expressed on the site.
Overall, you should contact as many suppliers as possible and get several quotes to get an idea of the price range for your product.
3. Compare vendors and narrow down your choice of suppliers
There are millions of sellers on Alibaba, but some sellers have certain qualifications or certifications that set them apart from others.
We distinguish three main types of sellers "Gold supplier," "Verified supplier" and "Trade Assurance supplier".
- Gold suppliers are companies with paid membership fees on the Alibaba platform that have been confirmed as companies with industrial or commercial opportunities, so they exist as legal entities at least on paper.
- Verified suppliers are companies whose management system, production capabilities and control of the production process have been evaluated, certified and/or inspected by third-party institutions.
- Trade Assurance suppliers are suppliers that accept payments directly through the Alibaba.com payment portal, enabling the protection of orders going through Alibaba.
It would be a good idea to look at the reviews of each supplier to see what experiences previous customers have had with them. If you have questions for suppliers about their business or other information that you can't find on their profile, you can send them a private message and ask them.
Product pages give you the ability to contact the supplier, and some have a chat function.
It is imperative that you find out all you can about the supplier before placing any order.
Also try to learn more about the product and get yourself a sample of the product.
All suppliers should be willing to send you a sample of the product. If they refuse, don't work with them.
However, you may have to pay a high price for your sample if, for example, the supplier does not have them and has to create it for the first time.
But it is better to pay for a few product samples and examine them, than to receive a complete order later and regret it.
Although the sample will be expensive, most suppliers will allow you to include the cost of the sample in the cost of making the product and reduce your final bill by that much.
4. Should you negotiate offers or buy now
Once you have selected the supplier and the product, you can either negotiate or buy it outright.
In order to buy a product immediately, it must be marked as ready to ship - “Ready to Ship” and on the product details page there must be a create order button - “Start Order< /strong>”.
If you would like to receive product samples, place an order lower than the required MOQ, reduce the price of goods or make any type of product change, you will need to contact the supplier. For that, use the "Chat Now" instant messaging tool to negotiate with the seller.
Like this You will send a private message to the seller.
Approach them professionally and clearly state what you have to offer. You might not succeed, but it's worth a try, and with the right approach, you should be able to reach an agreement that satisfies all parties involved.
Here are some terms you should know before you start talking to suppliers:
Minimum order requirements(MOQ): What is the minimum you need to order, to be able to cooperate with a supplier
Sample pricing: In many cases You will have to pay for the samples. Find out how much it will cost you.
Nail down production pricing (Product price depending on order size): It is common to see a price range, like 1 - 10 USD per product unit. Which means the product for minimum quantity costs 10USD per piece and for some larger orders it can cost 1USD per piece.
Production time (Production time): You need to know how long it will take to make your order. And you also have to add the delivery time to that time. Understand that it can take several weeks - or even months.
Payment requirements : Find out how you will have to pay. Try to keep payment through Alibaba, especially if it is in advance. Find out if you can work out other payment plans later if you establish an ongoing relationship.
A little tip on how to contact a supplier on Alibaba
You must understand that most good suppliers on Alibaba receive hundreds of inquiries per day. Which means that you must formulate your request well and know exactly what you want to buy and be specific in your inquiry.
How to properly communicate with suppliers, read on the page Create Alibaba Request for Quotation(RFQ)
Negotiate the price
After you have seen the sample and are satisfied, negotiate prices with the seller. In fact, all suppliers in China expect to do some kind of negotiation.
However, your ability to negotiate depends greatly on the volume of your order. If this is your first order and your order size is small, you will likely have limited bargaining power.
Also understand that your negotiated price may not include shipping. You need to find out the cost of shipping and make sure that the price of the product is not going to eat into your profit.
But overall, if you have requested enough information from different suppliers, you should have a pretty good idea of how much your product costs.
And while negotiating with your supplier, it would be a good idea to never negotiate the price of the sample.
This will make you look like an amateur and give a bad impression to your supplier.
5. Order
Once you've worked out the product details through negotiation and made an agreement, it's time to order the goods. Although you can transact without Alibaba, if you do not use the services of an Agent (like us) we suggest that you do not. If a transaction leaves Alibaba's platform, it is no longer eligible for Trade Assurance, which protects both the buyer and the seller. If you order from Alibaba, communication will be held on the platform and you will pay through Alibaba's payment portal. Acceptable payment methods are:
- Credit cards
- Debit cards
- Online bank payment (eChecking)
- Bank transfer (T/T)
- Western Union
- Alternatively, you can use "Pay Later", which gives customers 6 months to pay for their order with a minimum interest rate of 3.5%.
6. Check your order
Before shipping your order, you should hire an inspection company like WE to inspect your goods before the seller ships them to you.
Because after you receive send the goods, it is extremely expensive to return them to China in case of problems.
Most inspection companies only have time to examine a statistically small amount of the sample so there is always room for error.
For example, the entire container of coffee cups is not inspected one by one, but samples are taken.
If there is a problem with your order, especially damage, you can contact the supplier or even Alibaba to find out how to get a refund.
Technically speaking, Alibaba Trade Assurance protects the buyer in case the supplier fails to ship the goods on time or if the quality of the product varies greatly from what was agreed upon.
If you need help importing goods from China Email us
7. Receive your goods
The last step of the purchase process is to collect your goods. Regarding cross-border shipping and logistics, customers can use Alibaba.com Freight for reliable and safe shipping of goods. It provides ship and airmail express and/or air cargo package shipping services from China to the whole world. Delivery times vary from seller to seller, so it will depend on a case by case basis. Informatively, the ship from China to Rijeka or Koper takes about 30-35 days to travel.
When your goods arrive, it is important to check them thoroughly. Count the items to make sure you got everything that was contracted for.
Also, review each of the products. Are any of them damaged? Are they clean? Is the packaging acceptable?
After you receive and check the goods you have received, you can leave the seller a comment whether you are satisfied during the cooperation and decide whether you will contact them for new business in the future
How Gabriel Group can help you when buying goods from China
If you want to import goods from China without the stress and fear of a failed purchase, you can leave the complete procedure from the selection of the manufacturer, through product manufacturing, product control, export customs clearance and delivery to us.
This is a business that we have been successfully engaged in since 2010, and it is up to you to choose your way of doing business!
And how much Agent services cost and why hiring a professional agent is worth it, read on our blog in the text cheap, cheaper, cheapest (most cost-effective)