I Got Scammed on Alibaba! – I Hear This in Every Other Email
You won’t believe the amount of emails I used to get that started with this horror sentence! Thankfully it’s getting less and less now, both because Alibaba are much better at spotting and removing scams, and more importantly because people know what to look out for and how to avoid Alibaba scams.
But still even today, every third email I receive from my blog readers is about Alibaba scams! It is that serious, yes. I already debunked the myth that Alibaba itself is a scam in my Alibaba Scams EXPOSED article but today I want to talk specifically about the most common Alibaba scammer tricks and schemes you can run into when searching for a supplier on Alibaba.com.
Remember, these don’t apply solely to Alibaba but to all popular B2B platforms that involve a large number of wholesale suppliers from China. But as Alibaba is the most popular platform, I will use examples from there. So let’s get started!
Alibaba Scam #1 – Sending FAKE branded goods!
This is without a doubt the most popular scam taking place on Alibaba! The saddest thing is that most people who get fake goods from a Chinese supplier don’t even realise it until eBay takes down their listing a while later.
How does this scam work?
Basically the supplier will sell you “branded goods” which are actually just copies of real products. This usually involves products like:
- Clothing (designer clothing)
- Footwear (especially Yeezys, Nike products, Timberland)
- Electronics (mobile phone replicas, specialised electronics like Shure microphones, airpods)
- Disney character items (bedding sets, mugs, kid’s clothing, toys)
- Mobile phone cases with Apple, Samsung logos
- Sports jerseys with team logos (Manchester United, Real Madrid, NBA/NFL teams etc.)
- Blu-rays, software (Photoshop etc) Fitness training programs (P90X etc.)
- Cosmetics, fragrances (Max factor, MAC, Dior etc.)
- And many others!
This can basically be ANY product with a well known Western brand name/logo/registered trademark on it.
How to avoid this scam?
SIMPLE – DO NOT BUY ANY BRANDED GOODS from Alibaba suppliers! Or ANY Chinese supplier for that matter!
What is a branded product? It’s a product with a well known name on it, like:
- Apple
- Nike
- Sony
- Dsquared
- Gucci
This also includes ANY kind of band, movie character or kids’ character like:
- Batman
- Spiderman
- Frozen
- Hulk
- One Direction
- U2
All these are also classed as branded goods in the sense that to manufacture such goods, you have to buy a LICENCE from the Intellectual Property (IP) holder and pay royalty fees. Chinese manufacturers selling such products on Alibaba HAVEN’T paid licensing fees and simply use any popular images they can find and put them on these products. These are not genuine, licensed items and you can get into serious trouble selling them online.
While it’s true that most products these days are manufactured in China, it DOESN’T mean that Chinese factories sell them directly to everyone via Alibaba and similar platforms. Far from it! Brand owners monitor the entire manufacturing process very strictly and they do not allow any of their products to be sold outside their own distribution channels.
Genuine branded goods in China are actually more expensive than they are here in the Western world due to the high taxes the Chinese government has put in place (to support local business). So contrary to popular belief, an iPhone actually costs a lot more in China than in the UK or US.
Just to clarify, by China I mean Mainland China and I am not referring to Hong Kong based suppliers here. Yes, in HK you can get genuine branded goods BUT you still have to be extremely careful as there are also many types of Alibaba scams associated with HK based suppliers, which we’ll cover later on in this post.
So if you’re looking for ANY KIND of branded goods, Alibaba is NOT the place to go! You want to look for US, UK or EU based official distributors/wholesalers for such goods, NOT China. If you order such items from Alibaba suppliers in China, it’s a SCAM.
The only exception to this rule is IF the brand itself is a Chinese brand. There are some groups of products where Chinese brands actually lead the market, for example electronic cigarettes. In niches like these, yes, you can get genuine CHINESE BRAND products from Alibaba.
But even then be very careful as guess what? YES! Chinese scammers do also copy even the Chinese brands!! So you always want to get in touch with the brand owner first and ask whether the company you’re dealing with is an authorised re-seller of their goods.
Alibaba Scam #2 – Selling BRANDED goods but delivering nothing!
How does this scam work?
This is a very similar scam operation to the first one we covered but with one major difference; in this case once you send your money to the supplier, you never hear from them again. Yep, that’s right – you receive NOTHING in return for your money.
How to avoid this scam?
By following the same, simple rule – DO NOT buy branded goods from suppliers listed on Alibaba.com or from any supplier based in Mainland China!
Scammers are very smart and are always on the lookout for the newest hot product coming out, so they can build an entire website ‘selling’ that product. Even when the iPhone 12 was not yet released, there were already dozens of Chinese wholesale iPhone 12 websites up and running selling it for $300-$400. Or even better – buy 5 and get one free, plus free shipping! What an amazing deal to miss out on!
On Alibaba itself it is very easy – just stick with the rule of NOT buying branded goods and you have protected yourself from the 2 most common Alibaba scams in China. But what if you have found a website selling branded products? Here are a few simple rules to follow:
1. If it looks too good to be true, it is. iPhones for $300, MacBooks for $600 – these are typical scammer prices. They’re UNREAL! They want people to believe that they have found a superb deal while in reality it’s a very cheap scam.
2. Check the domain name in the WHO IS database. If registration shows China, you know for sure it’s a scammer’s operation.
3. Check payment methods – if credit card or PayPal is not an option AND only Western Union or Money Gram is accepted, it’s a scam.
4. Check shipping methods – if they say shipping is via EMS, it’s a scam! (As EMS is a Chinese courier company).
5. Product variety – very often scammers sell a huge number of unrelated items, all on one website. With experience you can easily spot such scammers by taking a quick look at the product categories offered. If you see products like these selling on one website with too good to be true prices, it’s a 100% definite SCAM:
- iPhones
- Pioneer DJ Decks
- Designer Handbags
- Yeezy Shoes
- MacBooks
Usually genuine wholesalers selling designer handbags won’t also deal with iPhones, so this is a clear sign that you have found a scam.
To sum it up – branded goods and China just don’t go together. Just stay away from Alibaba and Chinese suppliers altogether if you’re looking for branded goods as you have an extremely high chance of getting scammed and receiving fake goods (or none at all).
Alibaba Scam #3- Unverified Alibaba profile for a UK or US company!
How does this scam work?
Chinese scammers open a FREE Alibaba profile using the details of a legitimate UK/US/EU based company. They pretend to be that legit company to sell branded goods (any goods for that matter, even unbranded) and basically just take your money and never send you anything. These free accounts are NOT verified so there’s no guarantee that you’re dealing with the company whose name is on that particular profile.
How to avoid this scam?
NEVER deal with FREE/unverified suppliers on Alibaba! Simple!
I have said this many times before, you only want to deal with Gold Suppliers on Alibaba and the more established they are, the better. I personally try to stick with 3rd year + Gold suppliers and if you manage to find a 7th or 8th year supplier then the chances of you being scammed are incredibly small, provided you follow the other rules of course.
This isn’t as common but another trick scammers try is to clone the website of a genuine company, but change the contact details and try to scam people this way. The easiest way to spot these scammers is by doing a Google search for that company’s name as usually the genuine website will show up first and not the scam page.
Secondly, they will usually use Gmail or another free email service. Thirdly, when it comes to paying for goods, they will only accept payment via bank transfer to some weird bank account or the same old Western Union or Money Gram only.
Alibaba Scam #4 – Sending money to the boss’ bank account
How does this scam work?
When it’s time to make payment for your order, your supplier informs you that there’s a problem with their bank account and asks you to send money to the boss’ account, which is of course a personal account. You may get lucky and receive your order but in most cases they will simply scam you and send nothing.
How to avoid this scam?
This scam can happen even with legit suppliers sometimes when they try to avoid taxes by funnelling money to personal bank accounts. Either way, you DON’T WANT TO DO THIS so simply never send money to a personal account!
And even if there was a slight chance they are still legitimate, if any supplier offered this to me I would instantly stop communicating with them as the likelihood of it being an Alibaba ripoff attempt is just too high.
Alibaba Scam #5 – Asking for additional payment for customs clearance
How does this scam work?
A few days after you have paid for your order, your supplier will contact you and ask for additional payment to cover customs fees. If you don’t agree to pay, they say that they can’t get the goods out of China. Quite often they may also provide you with fake courier tracking numbers that have fake information about your goods being held in customs.
How to avoid this scam?
There are no such customs fees to pay when exporting goods from China so if you receive an email like this from your supplier, you have already been scammed and can say goodbye to the money you have already paid. Just accept the loss and move on. DO NOT pay anything extra as it won’t make any difference.
Very often these scammers go even further – once you pay that first additional payment, a few days later they will come up with another excuse that requires yet more money from you. They know that you’ve been played twice by them and they’ll try to milk you for everything they can!
As I said, as sad as it is, if you get emails like these, you have already been scammed and there’s nothing you can do about it apart from accept the loss and move on, and just try to learn from what happened.
Alibaba Scam #6 – Asking for payment via cryptocurrencies
How does this scam work?
This scam is becoming more and more popular recently, coinciding with the rise of Bitcoin and other crytpocurrencies into the mainstream. It’s very simple, suppliers will ask you to send payment via crypto to their wallet.
How to avoid this scam?
DO NOT under any circumstances pay your suppliers through ANY cryptocurrency. There’s no way to retrieve your money once it’s sent like this. And in fact you can’t even find out who you sent it to (after all that’s one of the selling points of crytpcurrencies) so it really is an Alibaba scammers dream come true.
Alibaba Scam #7 – Refusing to send samples
How does this scam work?
When you contact a supplier to ask for sample availability and they say that they don’t do samples and only deal with bulk orders.
How to avoid this scam?
While this may not be a 100% sure sign it’s a scam, I would personally stay away from any such company that doesn’t offer samples.
Getting a sample is the first thing you want to do when you have found a new supplier – just to test the quality of the product and in general verify that this supplier is the real deal and can provide you with products you’re interested in. If they don’t provide samples, something dodgy is going on and it’s really not worth taking any extra risk in situations like these!
With most legit suppliers, they will happily send you a sample of their product if you cover the shipping fee. If the product is very cheap, they often won’t even charge for the product. If the product is more expensive, they may charge a premium price on the sample + shipping, which is understandable as they don’t want retail customers to simply purchase ONE item from them at the wholesale price.
Either way, a genuine supplier will have no problem sending samples over to you and if they don’t want to, for whatever reason, look for another supplier!
Alibaba Scam #8 – Only accepting payment via Western Union!
How does this scam work?
When you receive the Proforma Invoice, it says Western Union under payment terms, with information on who to send money to. This is a CLEAR sign that something dodgy is going on!
How to avoid this scam?
Do not send money via Western Union to a Chinese supplier!!! Period.
When you send money via Western Union, you send money to an individual, NOT a company, so you don’t really know where your money is going to end up. It could even be that a sales person working in a legit company is trying to scam you or simply that the supplier is a scam altogether.
Either way, the only payment methods you should be using when dealing with Alibaba suppliers are:
- PayPal (ideal)
- Alibaba Escrow
- Bank transfer (wire transfer) to a company bank account (not a personal one).
The only exception to this rule is when you pay for samples. For samples, if the company looks totally legit to you and you’re not dealing with high risk items, you can use WU, yes, as it’s cheaper and quicker than bank transfer.
Alibaba Scam #9 – Selling FAKE memory products!
How does this scam work?
A supplier sells storage products (SSDs, USB sticks and similar) for great prices but when you receive them, you find the capacity is actually much smaller than advertised. For example, you buy 64GB USB drives and receive 8GB ones instead.
How to avoid this scam?
You have to be extremely careful when buying memory products from China as this scam is very, very popular. Everyone knows that the more GBs you get in the product, the higher the price is. But not everyone checks the REAL size of these products! Often, with this scam, the first people realise what has happened is when they get negative feedback from their customers on eBay!
To minimise the risk of getting scammed in this way, here are a few rules to follow:
1) Deal only with established, 5 year + Gold Suppliers.
2) Order samples and check the memory size for each product.
3) Make your first order as small as possible, check the size for all products and only if everything is fine, increase your orders gradually.
As for testing the actual capacity/memory size – it’s not enough that you put the card/USB in your computer and see that it shows 64GB. Scammers are smarter than that – they modify the electronic chips within the product so that it shows the inflated/fake memory size when it’s plugged into your computer!
What you need to do is use specialised software to check the actual memory size OR simply attempt to transfer the maximum capacity to see if it fits or not. So for example if you have 64GB USB sticks, transfer a 63GB file to it – and yes, this would take a LOT of time so if you’re serious about buying and reselling such products, I strongly suggest you invest in some decent diagnostics software.
Lastly – the same NO BRANDED GOODS rule still applies here! Don’t buy SanDisk, Sony and similar branded memory products from China, they will all be fakes! You can only buy unbranded memory products or your own brand memory products from China.
Alibaba Scam #10 – Invoice made to a personal bank account
How does this scam work?
Very similar to the boss’ bank account scam – on the proforma invoice you’ll find that the bank account you need to send money to is a personal one and not the company’s account.
How to avoid this scam?
NEVER send money to a personal bank account!
If wire transfer is the only payment method available, make sure that it’s the company’s bank account ONLY and ensure that the company’s details matches what you see on their Alibaba profile.
Sometimes it can be different though – when a manufacturer uses a sister company, registered as a Trading Company, to deal with all export orders. In such cases, you should still be able to verify this information on their Alibaba profile or company website.
Conclusions & Summary about Top 10 Alibaba Scams
Well there you go – The 10 Most Popular Alibaba Scams! There are of course many more, smaller scams going on, but if you learn these 10 and stick with the rules published in this guide, you’ll reduce your chances of getting scammed to an absolute minimum.
A lot of people ask me where they can find a confirmed Alibaba scammer list online, but unfortunately there is no such resource. Think about it – scammers don’t use the same name or website for long – they scam as many people as possible and then move on, so creating a scammer list like this won’t be of any help and it won’t save you from being ripped off by shady Alibaba suppliers.
Here are some final, general guidelines to follow when dealing with suppliers on Alibaba:
1) Do your homework. Follow my Alibaba SCAMS Exposed guide to filter out only the BEST suppliers. Cross check your supplier with all 10 scams listed in this post. Communicate with them, ask as many questions as you need to, order samples first and only when you’re 100% sure that this is the real deal and a genuine company; place your first real order.
2) If it looks too good to be true, it IS! I wish more people would follow this simple rule. Too often people get distracted by these impossibly low prices and the thought of the amazing profit they’ll make clouds their judgement… and the result is they’re easy pickings for the scammers out there.
As a general rule of thumb – you WON’T see miracle low prices on Alibaba unless you’re working with massive buying power (like ordering 10,000 units of the same product). In most cases you’re looking at an ROI of 20%-50% when re-selling these imported items. Sure, there are always exceptions but IF the price offered to you is ten times lower than what that item is selling for on eBay, then that’s a clear sign that something dodgy is going on.
3) If you don’t know what you’re doing, just don’t do it, seriously. I know that we all want to be successful and we all want to make good profits BUT some people forget that it takes some time and education to make the right decisions in business. If you’re totally new to this, don’t rush things by placing orders in your first few days. Take your time and gain some experience, even if it’s just via communication with your suppliers.
4) Any business comes with some sort of risk and importing is not an exception. You can follow all the guides in the world and still get scammed. That’s the sad reality and it’s something you have to accept when doing business of any kind. So please don’t use money that you can’t afford to lose (I’m talking about loans, credit cards etc. here).
5) Make informed decisions. Do not let your emotions rule any decision! I know how tempting it may be sometimes to just go ahead with the order, even if some things don’t quite add up. Don’t do it! Stick with my guides and do not make exceptions on your own! It’s better to let a potentially good deal go, than to be sorry later on when you get scammed.
Alright, that’s it for today! I really hope this post will be valuable for many people starting an importing business. And I really hope it means I won’t get any more emails starting with “I got scammed on Alibaba!”.
As always if you have any questions or want to share your personal experience when dealing with Alibaba suppliers, please leave your thoughts in the comment box below this post.
Good luck with your importing deals!
Stay alert.
Best Regards,
Andrew
Thank you
You’re welcome!
Thank you for the information
You’re welcome Allan!
“2. Check the domain name in the WHO IS database. If registration shows China, you know for sure it’s a scammer’s operation.” Wow.
Yes, that’s in case if website sells BRANDED products Pat.
Thanks,
Andrew
Is it true that Alibaba’s trade assurance doesn’t work for phones? I was trying to order phones and the supplier said that trade assurance doesn’t work for phones.
Hi Mark,
First time I hear about this, I don’t think it’s true, no.
Most likely you’re trying to deal with a scammer.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
What’s the best method of payment for purchasing the freight for samples? I have sellers on alibaba telling me that the samples are free, we just have to pay for shipping. Cool, that’s understandable. But they only accept money from WU and I NEVER do WU regardless of how small the price may be. Just being overly cautious.
I’ve read your post so I know you mentioned WU is an exception but is there typically other methods of payment to pay for freight when suppliers are sending samples over?
Supplier is in China, I live in the US so freight cost was estimated $38.
Hi Alan,
Usually PayPal is used to pay such small amounts to cover shipping for samples.
But as some suppliers don’t take PayPal, WU is often used too. Just like you I don’t like using WU at all but if the supplier looks very good and they can’t accept PayPal, WU is your only option.
You could do wire transfer too of course but the fee will be very high compared to amount you send.
Thanks,
Andrew
Thanks! I’ll keep that in mind.
Also, if they’re an “Assessed Supplier” on Alibaba then that generally means that they’re legit and has already had an inspection personally performed by whoever Alibaba sends, correct?
Yes, that’s correct.
What you forgot is the following scam
highest quality sample, even higher then requested – cheapest shit in bulk order. happens lot in fintess clothing sector
Hi Tim,
Very good point, yes.
Quality of products is whole another issue I should cover in a separate post.
This is more about pure scams of not receiving anything at all.
But thanks for your comment!
Andrew
Thank you very much for this post. It has helped me to understand more about scammers in Alibaba
You’re welcome Aldo!
Hi Andrew!
Thank you for doing this! I am contracting with AYSE food trade ltd. the man that I am dealing with claims to be the CEO Omar Atousi.
Is there a way for me to find out if this is real?
Thanks
Where is that supplier located, in China?
You can do a factory inspection on them and find out who runs the company:
http://andrewminalto.com/china-factory-inspection/
They are 7yr gold
Accept PayPal and sample is 60 dollars arrives in 7 days my order tota is 2000 I’m just a little worried also I don’t know how the shipping works out?
So I want to buy my stores customized paper bags from alibaba but I have no idea how picking up at a port works or how much they charge or process
please contact a freight forwarding company who can explain you how this process works, how much it will cost etc. etc.
Andrew
Hello I’m currently looking for a shopping bag supplier for my clothing a stores in Dominican Republic it’s very cheap to have them made with your logo I have quotes from different companies but I’m a little worried about placing an order since my total is almost 2000 dollars also I asked for a sample and the fee is 100 dollars they said they would refunded after I place the order I don’t know what to do should I get sample and see what happens
Hi Marie,
You need to verify supplier, if all looks good, proceed with samples, if they look good, then do factory inspection, if that goes well – then do the full order.
Andrew
agree with rest but first scams, If one is trying to get branded product from china, he does needs a lesson 😛
Thank you Andrew
But it’s to late for mw i got scamed a week ago they got me for $605.00
I wanted a electric tike after they got my money by wire transfer all communication stop have not receive confirmation at all .i was heartbroken.but move on i still looking for a electric tike
They give the fake ivoice .i have not told anyone other then my bank but there is nothing to be done .i don’t believe now that they were Alibaba.com. of did they get my info some how .but now that i have you guide i am better EDUCATED to how these people are.i believed that i did all my homework but i got an F.
Thank you
Hi Tammy,
Sorry to hear you got scammed and didn’t get my info on time.
Luckily it’s just for $605. There are people who get scammed for thousands.
Andrew
Hello Andrew,
Supplier ask me to pay USD 50 for the samples if I will pay through Money Gram , but if by regular wire the price come to USD 100….is is normal ?
Thanks & Regards,
Jack
Hi Jack,
Did they explain why there’s such a huge difference?
To me it sounds dodgy…
Andrew
Hello Again,
Thank You very much for a quick reply.
This is what they say ;
“The courier fee is USD 50.
For T/T,the bank charge is USD 50.Then the total fee is USD 100.
For Western union,the total fee is USD 50.
T/T and western union ,which one will be convenient for you ? ”
Is it possible that banks in China charge for incoming payments ? I have never seen sth. like that in Europe.
Thanks,
Jack
Hi Jack,
50 USD fee to accept bank transfer? Ridiculous.
It sounds like they just want you to pay them via WU, that’s all.
WU is going to person’s name, not business/company and probably they (for some reason) don’t want this money to go into books.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
I went with a supplier and they say they do not want to pay the custom clearance fees even though it was FOB . The reason is because they say they can’t use their company to export since I transferred the money to their company account in RMB instead of their USD account (which is a personal account and I refused).
So I say fine, since is a small number (the charges was given by my forwarder, not theirs). This was after the products are already on ship. For the cargo, I have sent someone to do quality check (but not loading check).
But now they asking if I can re-transfer the money to the personal account since they can’t close the account! This is not a problem, since balancing their account is not my problem, I can simply refuse.
Now what I’m worried about is they have yet release their Bill of Lading (which is another scam I read from other site). I really do hope nothing goes wrong with my shipment!
Gosh, exporting is really a non-stop thriller.
Hi Eric,
Yes, problems like these can happen to anyone and even with what seems like a totally legit company.
You really need to get that Bill of Lading. If they refuse to give it, it could be a sign of some sort of scam.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the reply.
Usually, how long does it takes for them to release bill of lading and what are the procedures involved?
It seems quite vague in this area since all the website just say “Then your supplier should release the bill of lading”.
I was like: “huh, like how?”
Hello, a gold member who has been on alibaba for 7 years want me to send 300 dollars to them via miney gram for an iphone 6 sample. Does this sound leget. I see res flags but theyve been around for 7 years. India seller btw. Not chinnese.
Hi Brian,
$300 for an iPhone 6?
Are you serious?
It’s a SCAM! You can’t get iPhones for that price and Alibaba is NOT the place to look for iPhone suppliers!
Andrew
Hi andrew,
This is my first time using Alibaba. I plan to buy solar charge controller from Shenzhen Hehejin industrial co. Ltd. (www.Y-solar.com). In alibaba their status is 1 year gold supplier. After having communication with them, we’re making a price deal by email and whatsap then they offer the transaction made directly to them (not under alibaba anymore) payment recomend use paypal. the reason is because they can give better price when shopping directly to them due to courier cost.
Is this common happened when we go through the supplier and they offer direct sell ? Which one is recommended (proceed through alibaba use trade insurance or directly to them)?
Hi Najib,
This is quite common practice but you still have to be careful, as they’re only 1st year Gold supplier.
Def. start with sample order and see how it goes.
As these are technical products, you want to make sure quality is there plus have to have solid agreement in place with supplier on what happens with defective items, how you deal with items under warranty.
Andrew
Thank you for your quick response,
I will check more details about thr product warranty and try sample first.
Regards,
Hi !
Thanks for this informative post.
I’m new to Alibaba and I asked for 6 sample of hinges. We agreed on a price and I placed a trade assurance order, paid by credit card and the supplier validated it.
They then sent me :
“Please be informed that we got a problem with shipping by the way of trade assurance. So please cancel this order immediately. We will contact with you by email, and deal with you by the other way. We really hope for your comprehension. Thank you.”
“We have a problem with the courier from alibaba. The price is so high, higher than we made for you. So we would like to use our forwarder to ship to you. We really hope for your comprehension, any inconvenience for you will be so sorry. ”
The seller called Dongguan Shengang is a 3 years gold member.
What should I do ?
Hi Alexadre,
You should probably just cancel that order and get your money back.
Then you can arrange another sample order directly with supplier or look for other suppliers, if this one seems dodgy to you.
Hinges is not exactly a high risk product, so it could be that they made a genuine mistake in shipping costs calculation.
Andrew
Hi Andrew
Thank you for your express answer it’s reassuring.
I opened a dispute and will see what happens !
Good continuation
Alex
no worries, you’re welcome Alex.
Well it looks worst and worst in my opinion. As soon as I opened a dispute they played dead. The 5 days are over now and I escalated the dispute.
Looks like I may have to pay 200$ for a quality inspection fee (to alibaba) even if it’s not the problem (they refuse to send the product, not a quality problem).
So wait and see.
Ok I wish I had found and read this first! Here is my story. About 2 weeks ago I reached out to a company on Alibaba called Beauty Centre Inc AKA SKS Cosmetics. They are located in the UK. We had started out messaging thru Alibaba message center than I was told to email them for further business. I reached out to them via email inquiring about the price on several different brands. My total for all was $825 but was told that $800 would be accepted plus I would be receiving 55 more pieces since I purchased 330 total. I made payment of $800 to a Jimmy White which was located in the USA?? I thought that was extremely odd. After 2 days of not hearing anything I sent email to a Philip Logan who I had been dealing with asking about status. I received a reply that I needed to send additional payment of $200 per their shipping company to ensure protection coverage for my goods?? I was upset and refused but he kept telling me that it was for my own benefit and that they were sorry this happened but assured me of getting my money back by the DHL carrier. I called DHL of course was told that their carriers do not carry cash to give receivers refunds of course I already knew this. However, I sent payment anyway again to this Jimmy White person cuz I wanted my stuff and than a day after I received email with tracking for advent freight service. I checked tracking and it seemed to be legit as it hit Canada than all of a sudden it showed arrived in Greenland than next day Iceland departure held by customs. I reached out again to Philip asking what was going on and he replied that he’s so sorry but customs is demanding $650 to release my goods?!? At this point I was very upset and I told them exactly how I felt and how they are nothing but a scam and that I filed a complaint with alibaba supplying them with all supporting documentation to back my claim up. They kept saying sorry and that he would contact his boss to see what they can do. He responded back me saying his boss will pay for $350 but I need to pay the $300 and my goods will get released ASAP. Sooo their I go again sending money gram of $300 but this time to United Arab Emirates. I than checked the tracking a day later and it says released by customs in transit. I guess I would like to know Andrew is if this Advent freight is made up tracking system of some sort. I know I got jipped but I’m hoping my goods are on their way and the status I’m showing is true.
Hi Sandra,
Thanks for sharing this with us.
I’m very sorry but this is a classical scam – you will never see those goods or your money again…
Costly mistake made by trusting wrong people.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
First off, thank you so much for this article. It’s been very helpful to read; I really appreciate your insight!
I am in need of a bit of advice. I’ve found a few companies on Alibaba that happen to be Indian ones, so I guess my first question is, does all the advice in your article apply to Indian companies as well? The product that I would like to source just doesn’t seem to be available in China, otherwise I would have tried to pursue it that way. However both of the Indian companies are Gold Star Members (one 8 years, and the other 2). I’ve done the research, so I know that the product would do well on Amazon, which is where I plan to sell it. I have been taking a private label class offered by a well known FBA private label podcaster and entrepreneur here in the U.S, who recommends only paying companies via PayPal or VISA and using Alibaba’s Escrow services. He also recommends only ever doing T/Ts with companies once trust has been fully established with them, preferably via several large transactions. So payment has been my biggest obstacle so far because all the sources I’ve found for this product only take L/C,D/A,D/P,T/T,Western Union, or MoneyGram.
I am currently looking into finding a Sourcing Agent in order to help me source with reputable companies in India for my product that I could trust doing a T/T with, since this seems to be the most common method of payment there.
Do you think this is a good idea or necessary? Any other thoughts or advice regarding my situation would be much appreciated.
Best,
Julie
Hi Julie,
Thanks for your comment.
It’s hard to give you definite answer but in general, you should be fine if they’re long established, Gold Suppliers.
For added piece of mind, do factory inspection (you can find such service in India by doing Google search) and of course get samples first.
As these companies can’t offer safe payment methods, it will be riskier than dealing with Chinese companies, yes, but if you can’t find those products in China, I guess you have no choice here but take that risk.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Thanks so much for your speedy reply!
Doing factory inspection does take out some of the risk, thanks for this advice!
So, I take it you don’t recommend using Sourcing Agents or Sourcing Company?
Julie
I don’t, no.
At least in my experience, it has been nothing but hassle to deal with another middle man.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
What a lovely post for newbees. Very discriptive. I am planning to import few car DVD players from alibaba.com. I contacted few sellers on alibaba. Although i recieved very economic quotes from many suppliers but none of them are willing yo pay for the shipment. I even asked them to ship the items through china post or HK post but they said that as the item weighs more than 2 Kg, the item cannot be shipped through regular mail but just express mail. The shipping charges are almost equivalent to the actual product price. One supplier i.e Guangzhou haoye electonic technology co. Ltd. Agreed to ship the samples through aramex without any charge(free ddu). He says that the payment through alibaba.com is somewhat hectic and we can use aliexpress as the sample order platform. I also agreed as aliexpress has escrow. The rates provided by haoyetech are almost 10-20% cheaper than any other competitor and nobody else is providing free express delivery. I plan to order few samples that will be nearly 200USD. Should I go ahead with the deal.
Hi There,
Why are you expecting free delivery on samples or real order for that matter?
There’s no such a thing as free shipping – even if it does say free shipping, seller just ads shipping costs to product price.
As business owners, we always want to know REAL product price and then shipping – separately, so we can calculate best shipping methods, how they affect landed cost etc.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
I really appreciate your promt reply. I want free shipping just for samples. I have a fair idea of the shipment costing. As I am odering just the samples currently for quality checking purpose I am expecting free shipment for the samples. Once I will finalize the products i will ask my importer to get the goods picked up from the sellers factory after third party inspection. As the quantity will be high I might order a full container of mixed materials which will cost me much less on freight charges. After the goods land at kolkata, India port, my custom clearing agent will do the rest. What I wanted was to shortlist the manufacturers to buy samples and then further shortlist to the final product and manufacture. I came across this company who have been exchanging mails and messages since a couple of weeks. Just wanted to check if they are legitimate or scammers.
Thanks a lot
Abhinav Gupta
Hey Andrew,
(This article seems very very wonderful! Chinese scammers and Pakistan scammers are the worst. I’m of Chinese descent and I am very ashamed of the bad Chinese people who are ruining good Chinese citizens. Actually. Chinese scammers are very common there because Alibaba’s HQ is in Hangzhou.)
I searched Alibaba for bluetooth wireless headset. This is what I found is very good. http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/SX-991-4-1-Sports-Stereo_60299378000.html?spm=a2700.7724838.0.0.NAIvfC ( sorry ) This is from Mainland China and Shenzhen Shuaixian Electronic Equipment Co., Ltd. is a 8yr gold supplier. Payment Terms:T/T,Western Union
Is this a scam? I need help!
Regards,
Mars
Hi Mars,
At first glance they look ok to me!
have you ordered samples from them?
Andrew
oops, I do apologise, I do believe I forgot to add the link.
http://tiankaichem.en.alibaba.com/
Regards,
Yas
Hi Andrew,
I’m looking to purchase 300 tons of Caustic Soda via Alibaba, only concern is that most suppliers appear to be asking for a 30% deposit. Whilst I understand this is normal practice in China, even the suppliers on Alibaba whom offer Trade assurance appear reluctant to do so despite it being free.
Their excuses make no sense so I wonder if this is a way to avoid paying tax? as with trade assurance a proper invoice must be produced and verified.
I was wondering if you could take a look at the supplier we have vetted – we sent a representative to see their warehouses and offices – the factory was in Inner Mongolia, which based on other suppliers appears normal since raw material costs are cheapest there. They offer trade assurance, are gold members and verified for 8 years but seem reluctant to do it as I said. There is also a possibility that they are a trading company, which isn’t too big an issue as we will arrange port testing with Bureau Veritas, the concern we have is more to do with the Deposit and safely sending it without the worry of the supplier running off with it or failing to fulfil its obligations! – afterall, it is in the region of 40,000 USD.
Here is the link to their alibaba account. Do take a look and let me know what you think? and if paying the deposit is okay even if it is done via TT and not through trade assurance.
Kind regards,
Yas
Hi Yass,
They look ok to me and if you have done on-site inspection, you probably should know better anyway.
As for payments and everything – you should INSIST that deal go through Trade assurance, period. Unless you can arrange a L/C option for this kind of deal, that should work too.
Andrew
What is a on site inspection i heard u do it when u are happy with samples. And about tocget a bigger order is that right?
Check out these two guides:
http://andrewminalto.com/china-factory-inspection/
http://andrewminalto.com/pre-shipment-inspection/
Hi Andrew,
Wow your such an inspiration. Thank you for all your time to put posts i personally infinitely appreciate. Im wanting to start but would you tell me how would it be easier to find business opportunities how to niche down and find a category that will sell ? And also the part of customs wasnt that clear to me should i even ask about the subject to supplier or just assume that everything is taken care off ?
Please check out other posts on my blog that cover your questions in detail:
http://andrewminalto.com/start-ebay-business/
I am looking to place my first order on Alibaba which comes to $600 for 100 pieces of goods including shipping. The supplier looks genuine everything checks out, 5 years on site, and verified with on site inspection and they specialise in manufacturing one type of goods. A few people sell the same product on eBay selling upto 10 of the item each day. Profit works out at £3.00 per unit after everything paid (shipping, cost of units, eBay fees, postage to buyer and PayPal fees). Everything checks out, doesn’t look to good to be true, not branded and I’m 99% sure these are the manufacturer not reseller)
They said payment either by western union or Paypal, obviously I choose PayPal, they want me to pay 5% to cover there PayPal fee which I think is fair.
My main question is when paying through PayPal what sort of information is needed on the PayPal invoice to be covered for buyer protection? I was sent an invoice with product title, unit number and total cost that was about it, with her address and name. What else should be on the invoice? I have asked her to put in the t&c’s, the shipping info and when the order will be shipped by and to what address and just waiting for a revised invoice.
Also when I talk on Alibaba through messaging and live chat always the same person and the PayPal account which sent the invoice is not a company one just her own one, but I’m sure that she owns the business through research.
What are your thoughts on this please.
Hi Luke,
The company looks ok to me, it’s not a branded product and not really a high risk niche.
So I think with PayPal payment & everything else you’ll be fine.
Andrew
Wish I had read this before I rushed into buying on alibaba. Lost $2,600 on a deal with a guy from Saudia Arabia that was clearly too good to be true. The person set up a fake escrow email that requested me to send money to an individual bank account in Germany. So embarrassed I haven’t told my family and doubt I ever will
Sorry to hear about that Paul.
At least now you’ll know exactly why things went wrong there….
Andrew
I am new to Alibaba and have a few questions that I hope you can help with. I am interested in purchasing 1000 wall mounted bottle openers for resale. This could be an on-going thing. After reading some comments, is the best possible scenario to find a manufacturer that is a gold supplier that is willing to send a sample first? Also, use someone that offers Paypal funded by a credit card and has Trade Assurance?
As far as shipping goes, do I need to worry about filling out any Customs paperwork, or is that done by the supplier? Does the shipment come directly to my address?
Sorry, a newbie!
Hi Jim,
Thanks for your comment.
YES, to part one.
Shipping – I guess that you’ll be shipping these via a courier company? Then you don’t have o worry about anything as courier company will get paper work done and deliver package right to your door, yes.
Thanks,
Andrew
How about using a pre-paid “credit card” that is not associated with my bank account?
Hi Jim,
What difference does it makes? You mean to protect your credit card safety when dealing on Alibaba?
Andrew
When placing an order, it also requires to upload the contract. Is this something we create? Any suggestions?
What do you think about this website and product? It’s not a knock off from what I can tell because no other companies make this board and the website only sells skateboards. I want to request a sample and they do offer those so right now I’m not seeing any issue. What do you think? Thanks!
http://www.skateboard-china.com/china-cheap-customize-electric-skateboard-best-e-skateboards-factory-adult-skateboards-sale-online-shop-st-manufacturer.html
Hi Alex,
It looks ok to me! You should be safe ordering a sample from them.
But before you do, make sure you do some research online to find if there are no patents on this kind/type of skateboards.
Thanks,
Andrew
Hi!i just try to order iphone 6 s plus 64 gb,5pcs.each pcs cost $350..they said 2 pcs free also..but its from germany,yet i didn’t send money through escrow,i fell like scam this,can you please sugest mr.
It’s 100% SCAM!!!
Stay away.
Andrew
Hi man
I really appreciate your valuable post
i contacted a manufacturer on alibaba, hey agreed on sending a sample. and they said tha they accept Escrow. They 7yrs Gold membership with trade inssurance. They’re putting their manufacture video.
Whats your opinion about them.
Hi Josef,
I can’t tell you whatever supplier is safe or not from just this info.
But they sound safe enough to order samples from, then you can do further investigation in them.
Andrew
Cant EMS deliver to the Uk? As company im dealing with said they will send via EMS or if over 25 pieces, DHL.
Thanks in advance.
EMS can deliver to the UK, sure.
EMS packages in the UK are handled by Parcel Force.
Andrew
So EMS is fine? You said “if they say shipping is via EMS, it’s a scam”.
Regards
Calum
Hi Calum,
There’s nothing wrong with EMS as a courier service.
BUT if you see an online wholesaler, selling BRANDED products and shipping via EMS, it means they sell Fakes. As EMS is a Chinese courier service basically and this means that goods are sent from China. Branded goods from China = FAKES!
Hope this explains it.
Thanks,
Andrew
Ah I see, thanks for confirming. I didn’t notice that section was referring to branded goods.
Enjoying reading your site, thanks for the great content!
Regards
Calum
You’re welcome Calum! 🙂
I have bought cca 10 different items – flower seeds – for example peony, rose hyacinth, bamboo – and ALL 10 WERE FAKE!!! They sent me fake seeds of industrial crops how the flax-seed etc. But my hobby is my garden and I can discern seeds. So I wrote it them that the seeds were fake and ALL of them answered me: “Sorry, here is a new worker who make mistakes…” Simply disgusting lies. All 10 were a swindlers. It is immoral and very coarse.
Hi Anna,
If they acknowledge their mistake, did they offer to send a replacement or refund?
Andrew
Also, after a bit more research it appears that they have a facebook page that has been updated about every week with new damascus products since january 2012. Seems a bit elaborate for a scam right ?
Hi,
I’m thinking about buying custom damascus steel billets to make motorcycle parts from a 1 year gold certified supplier in pakistan, and after he first asked me to pay with westernu union or moneygram (the account he gave me is to his personal name and not to the company’s) I ran into your article, and told him I wouldn’t use any of these payment methods.
I asked him wether he could use a safer method such as T/T, Alibaba Escrow, Trade Assurance, wire transfer or credit card (I’d already asked to use Paypal but apparently that doesn’t work in Pakistan) and he said he was ok with T/T, but the bank info he gave me is still to his name and not to the company’s.
Now, I know it refers directly to at least two scams you exposed, but it has nothing to do with branded goods usually used as scams. This company as far as I can tell only deals in damascus knifes and knife supplies.
He is a bit cheaper than other suppliers I’ve had quotes from, so it’d be a shame for me not to do business with him, but of course I don’t wanna lose $200 and some time to some stupid scam.
What do you think ?
Hi Arthur,
Thanks for your comment.
Dealing with suppliers in Pakistan can be tricky as they don’t take PayPal by default (PayPal is not available in Pakistan) and it’s hard to verify these suppliers too.
Personal bank account info still seems suspicious to me – this means that he takes money on his own name and NOT the company. This increases chances of you getting scammed.
$200 is not a lot of money but still, I would personally pick a different supplier, maybe more expensive but one that takes solid payment methods and can be verified.
Thanks,
Andrew
Ok, thanks a lot, your advice is priceless for noobies such as myself !
You’re welcome Arthur! 🙂
Hi
I was on alibaba so I seen this company it’s called sonnetstone private limited company so I clicked on them they are 8 years gold suppliers so their page came up and I clicked on view all products so iseen a mac book pro for $500 but I don’t know if its a scam I called the supplier and said I will order 1 just to test and he said pay by western union and I said it’s risky then I ask him what if I buy goods worth of 20000 dollars he said then u can use PayPal is this a scam please answer asap. Thank u
of course it is a scam Dave, don’t even think twice about it!
Alibaba is NOT the place to buy branded goods, especially mac books.
And $500 is simply UNREAL price to be true anyway, from any supplier.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
I am thinking about ordering some pants. The agent is sending a free sample for me without shipment payment. Does this sound too good? All other suppliers wants me to pay shipment fee. The supplier is 5 years Gold. I can’t seem to find any reviews about them on any websites! In addition, Alibaba has an on site for there web page and Alibaba says that they did a third party check up to see if the place does exist and according to them it does.
The place is Nanchang Oh Young Fashion. Have you heard of them
What do you think?
Hi Dev,
That is not un-common. Some suppliers on Alibaba indeed send out free samples without even charging a shipping fee. They just realise how important acquiring new customers are and invest in this by covering all costs associated with samples.
I quickly checked their Alibaba profile and they look ok to me!
If samples are good, I would recommend you do factory inspection and then decide on whatever you want to place order with them or not:
http://andrewminalto.com/china-factory-inspection/
Thanks,
Andrew
Hi andrew,first of all i want to thank you for this helpuful article and second thing i need an advice about alibaba. I never tried alibaba but i want to start … so i`m planing to buy some playstations 4. i found a 8 yrs gold member and get in touch with him on skype. he said that for 2 pcs i have to pay 150$each but with moneygram or western union transfer, but for 20 pcs i can pay trough paypal 125$ each. also he assuerd me that is not a rip off by telling my this :
“You are 100% guaranteed of receiving your order after payment confirmation,if you don’t get it within 2 days of shipment,we will refund your money back to you.
to make verification about our company you visit the following websites and search with the company Registration number 05861227 or company name SALES ASSOCIATES (UK) LIMITED
http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/info”
So what do you think ? Kind regards !
Hi Alex,
Thanks for your comment.
It’s a 100% SCAM!!!! Stay away!
$125 or even $150 or even $200 – that’s a clear sign of a scam going on. Those prices are simply UNREAL!
PLUS Alibaba is NOT the place to look for Play Station consoles! 99% of listings for such items on Alibaba will be scams.
Andrew
I need your advice on this, looks like a scammer to me:
He wanted to pay him via WU, then he agreed to pay him via alibaba secure payment ( formerly escrow). He has one year gold supplier icon and trade insurance and 10 transactions in total.
Hi Jimmy,
The link you posted – it doesn’t work anymore, nothing comes up…
Andrew
He must have changed it or deleted it…anyway this is a new link from the same seller…
He changed orders from one piece to three now and and now laptop costs $350 (was $300). What do you think?
That links still doesn’t work – 404 error pages comes up.
And I dont know if it would be of any help but I asked him (just for fun) if I can personally meet him and pay for laptop and he agreed. Odd dont you think?!
I’ve just started contacting a few suppliers on alibaba, seems very long winded to actually get an order! Go through all the steps then just says waiting for the trade assurance contract! How long does this bloody take! I always use gold suppliers and would never use western union! Scampers them self’s haha
Really depends on the supplier – some are very fast with replying etc. while others can’t be even reached.
That’s why I recommend using Live Chat on Alibaba to communicate with suppliers and get things done faster.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
I recently made a purchase over Alibaba, with our firm arranging the shipping right from the manufactures door to our door, so the Chinese supplier does not have to worry about anything else. Now, about 2 weeks later, the goods have just been collected 1 day ago, and now the supplier is asking me to cancel TRADE ASSURANCE as the order is small otherwise it will need to declare at customs?? It is not even dangerous.
What she is asking is – “Because the total value is small,DHL tell me that it doesn’t need to customs declaration.But in the beginning,the order is by TRADE ASSURANCE,which must declar at the customs.So would you like to cancel the TRADE ASSURANCE and “reexchange amount ” fill in zero?Please kindly noted that it doesn’t have any effect at all. The goods export by DHL,without customs,tax rebate. When you cancel the TRADE ASSURANCE,please fill zero in the reexchange amount,please. Because it doesn’t means canceling the order,but the form(TRADE ASSURANCE).I would like to know if you can understand my meaning.Sorry”
Can you made head or tail of that? I am not too sure what to do, I have the tracking number of the goods, they have been collected and on their way. Well I presume it is the right goods on their way!!
I have also been speaking to our freight agents, and they say as the order is relativity small it will fly through customs without any declarations anyhow!! I’m not sure if the supplier is trying this, and when the product comes if it is the wrong thing I won’t have a leg to stand on!
Regards
Hi Terrence,
To me it sounds like supplier is playing some games with you….
Do NOT cancel Trade assurance contract for whatever reason they’re pushing forward. Just wait for goods to arrive and see what happens – whatever they have sent you correct items or not.
Andrew
Hello, I really liked the article! I’m going to be sourcing some electronic equipment from Alibaba in the next couple of months. I would like to purchase directly from a manufacturer and not a supplier. How can I verify that a company is a manufacturer and not a distributor? Thanks.
Steve
Hi Steve,
You can easily verify this by doing a factory inspection:
http://andrewminalto.com/china-factory-inspection/
I have just been scammed by a supplier on Alibaba for total cost of 199 pound. Does anyone no what I can do to get this back thanks
Hi Emma,
What payment method you used & what products you ordered?
Thanks,
Andrew
Western union and ordered perfume thanks for any help you may have
I’m afraid that money is gone for good Emma.
Please read my Alibaba scam posts very carefully to avoid such scams in future.
Thanks,
Andrew
Actually Aliexpress is a bit safer than alibaba..and I will recommend aliexpress for begineers..nice article by the way,if I hadn’t see this then I would have been scammed in a week time cos I already made an order which I promised them to pay next week..but they all just fall into everything you said above..
Thanks
Good for you! 🙂
Yes, Ali Express is safer for newbies, only downside is that for large quantities pricing there isn’t that competitive.
Andrew
Beware of this company , SGS Trade, http://sgs-trade.com/, contact information follows:
Contact information ?+++++++++++++
Skype: internationalsales01
Telephone: +0086-0755-33574231
Mobile Phone: +0086-15627494231
Email 1: flyfenginforcenter@gmail.com
Email 2 : goodbusiness1999@gmail.com
This is Scam Company,, many complaints of un delivered ordered items, including me i lost hundreds of dollars…
I just wonder why Alibaba.com can not identify which of the suppliers in their database which are legitimate or not, why Alibaba became famous what are their bases when it is flooded with scammers?
Hi Robert,
What is their Alibaba profile link?
Thanks,
Andrew
@ point #1: you’ve got it backward; the real scam is buying the branded good from the brand; the Chinese will sell you the same thing with a very modest markup above cost
Very, very rarely it is true Richard.
In most cases you receive low quality copy that is made of cheaper materials, lower overall quality and short life span.
Andrew
I advise people to stop reading this blog entry after the 1st tip which is probably the only thing useful in the whole article, some of the statements are completely untrue.
The thing is, you can’t be scammed out of your money easily because, just like eBay or Amazon, Alibaba/Aliexpress has a tight consumer protection, so tight that you can easily scam sellers if you wanted to, but that would hinder your reputation as a buyer, obviously.
Anyway, when you pay for something on Alibaba/Aliexpress the seller doesn’t get his hands on your money until you either confirm the reception of the goods or the buyer protection coverage reaches a deadline. Either way, you can always open a dispute whether it’s because you didn’t receive the actual goods or the goods aren’t what you expected or what was described. Furthermore, if the seller decides to change the description of an article after doing a deal, Alibaba will keep a snapshot of the page as it was at the time of purchase.
I have purchased there over 30 items in the past year and never once was I scammed.
Only once did I ask for a full refund and once also for an extension of the Buyer Protection – both as expected. The full refund was because I didn’t receive the goods and the seller was not answering my messages. Eventually he did answer the refund dispute in my favor and politely asked for me to pay him back directly through Paypal in case I ever got the product in the mail. I still haven’t got it, but if I do I’ll show the same honesty I have been shown. The Buyer Protection extension was requested because when it was reaching the deadline the product was still in customs. I was granted an additional 30 days extension and am still waiting for customs to release the product.
This isn’t to say that there isn’t the occasional scammer (which I never encountered) but I imagine it is very possible to have someone try to trick you into buying clones or pay to an external account. That’s all very possible and people should watch out for that, but don’t be fooled by this guy (oh, look, an eBay advert in this blog) who tries to imply that only western markets are capable of offering you the secure channel you need. That’s all BS and we actually need more serious competition in this area. Don’t be afraid to use it, start with something small and you’ll see it works pretty well. Free-shipping for almost everything. The 2 main nagging problemas with Alibaba/Aliexpress, products can take 30+ days to reach you and customs may apply taxes and fees for items that are more expensive, when shipped from mainland China. But a lot of the biggest “mainland China” sellers already have systems and partnerships with US/European couriers which will redirect the goods so that it doesn’t get caught up and delayed by customs.
Finally, I’m not affiliated with Aliexpress nor do I earn any money from this rant, the opposite from the owner of this website. I just think it’s wrong to tell people something without including valuable information, like the fact that there are buyer protection mechanisms.
Cheers.
You are then one of the people who have not been scammed and already know everything so bully for you.
Many have had bad experiences and appreciate the helpful advice from this blogger.
Are you serious? Did you actually read my article? Do you even know the difference between Alibaba and Ali Express? And what this article is about?
I’m NOT against using Alibaba/Ali Express – it’s the OPPOSITE!!!
You should really read the article and other Alibaba posts on my blog before leaving such comment.
Andrew
I have just lost £123 on aliexpress, seller said item shipped straight away but tracking not working after a week, he said item in production, after another week I raised a dispute, he said he would ship in four days and asked me to end dispute, I did this not knowing it would finish item and he would be paid, even though I have not confirmed goods.
Aliexpress already stated they not going to refund me as I accepted no refund but item shipped in four days, because closing dispute closed sale seller has not shipped he been paid.
Aliexpress know this and blame me but I stated he still not shipped but it’s finished as far as they are concerned, there goes my £123.
On top of this the seller is still trading.
I hope they go out of buisiness, full of fakes and scammers with no scruples,
I repeat Aliexpress know I had no goods and seller paid, they stated some sellers take advantage of dispute system, but still not refunding or helping me.
I will never shop there again.
Hi Derek,
I’m sorry to hear you made this mistake….
But you should have really read at least basic info on how Escrow works, before ending your dispute.
Also – if seller still trades and has good feedback, maybe there’s still a chance that they will ship your goods? Say that you will leave bad feedback if they don’t dispatch goods within x days.
Andrew
we know is a fake,thats why its so cheap,anyone who buys on ali and expects a original brand for a couple of bucks is an idiot.they dont even claim that ist a original.
Many, MANY people are not aware of the fact that all branded goods from China are fakes.
Trust me – I get emails rom such people all the time 🙂
Andrew