Thread: alibaba.com

Originally Posted by Silver Violet

Still- not All businesses on Alibaba are bad. There is just a lack of other good trade sites, so many people are using alibaba. A good alternative to alibaba is tradekey.com

I signed up with Tradekey and placed a request for quotations - restricted with Silver members and above. So far, nothing but suppliers from China, everything from jeans to shoes to iPods. *All* of them wanting wire transfer. Nothing wrong with that - it's just that everything I've read said "Never do wire transfer". But I haven't been there long enough to give a good opinion.

nothing wrong with wire transfer, that is most of trade that use but refer to use L/C letter of credit. which is issue by both bank parties. this is the most secured way to import and export that people refer to. of course, we have better way more secured the payment method when we import or export.

The problem with Wire transfers is that they put the companies accepting them at risk. They are giving you their complete banking information... routing number, account number, and all. I am a seller- I spoke with my bank about accepting wire transfers for extremely large orders (to avoid the fees that come with accepting credit cards) and they advised me Not to do it. They said that once I have given my account information for someone to Put money in- the person also has the information they need to Take money out.

I represent a manufacturer in India- and transfer funds to them on a weekly basis using wire transfer. In a lot of foreign countries, wire transfer is the best way to go. Paypal is not accepted in every country, and each country has different regulations regarding International trade. Also- some payment processing services (paypal and even credit card processors) may not give a good rate of exchange on the funds- and also charge such high fees. In order for these companies to keep costs down, and prices low, it makes good financial sense for them to accept wire transfers only.

My advice before transfering money is to make sure you have a good relationship with your local bank. Ask their advice about risks and safeguards. Some banks may even offer insurance on these transactions... mine does. And- you may be able to transfer funds through your bank from your credit card- in which case you may be protected under your card's fraud protection policy.

good to know you have a bank like this. only you know your seller well use the wire transfer which save a lot of fees. but they should tell you use L/C if large import

On wire transfers - I know of a company that has set up a second bank account just for wire transfers. They only place enough money in it to make the transfer work. That way, they help minimize the risk of someone taking the money. And, if someone does, the amount taken is minimized.

Yeah alibaba is a scam and waist of your time( if you are a buyer ). Alot of these trade sites are horrible. Listen, they try to sell things cheap. Why? So, someone for the first time will be intrigued and lurd in by their sweet tooth. Know what that is? Greed. Everyone has it, but they do like to have success off it. I have not been scammed, but I have read many posts. Look what they try to do is have you T/T, Wesern union, or Money gram. You will find this sort of payment relevant with China suppliers( mainly ). These are unsecured forms of payment. They even offer a tracking number. Don't buy that either, they send false tracking numbers. Also, one thing to look for is fake escrow. They will say that they take escow. However, what they don't tell you is that they built up a fake escrow site, then they will have you send funds to that site( being that it is escrow; a third party that acts and transfers funds and goods for both parties ).Then they take your money. Far as paypal, there have been scams there too. Paypal from what I have read, doesn't cover wholesale sales. When typing in that site( alibaba ), type in escrow, COD, D/A, L/C( with secure forms ), and see the references to selling companies go down. What are the two main sources this companies go after? Electronics and nike shoes. For nike shoes, most are fakes. They will mostly say AAA quality, or some sort of lingo insinuating that they are of authentic. However, they are fake. They are able to sell fakes for this reason. They will go to a Nike factory and pay a worker( who is only getting paid $2.80 a day ) to get a mold of a nike shoe. Then in getting the mold, they try to recreate the shoe. Sure, they have the nike symbol at the bottom, but what they don't have is the quality material. This is ilegal. Even if they tell you otherwise. Hey, even if they say they are fakes. It doesn't matter, it is copyright infringement and therefore illegal. Also, Ipods are a big one. Until this past month, i seen people selling Ipods for $110. Well, seeing in an article that it costs $90.00 to make an ipod 2gb nano, they could not be possibly be able to sell them for $110. No way. Also, just because a company is from Indonesia or china doesn't make it cheaper all the time. If they don't make the product in that country, it cannot really be cheaper. With the xbox 360, it took over 200 manufacturers to make it. Don't get trapped into thinking that someone from Indonesia can sell it for $210. Look, it cost more to make. Also, if the xbox 360 is not made in Indonesia, it would cost them even more to get, Importing them, taxes, shipping, ect,ect.... Anyway, what I am saying is, you will spend more time reading, then doing business on that site. I can go on and on about it, but really it is for scammers. I have had people giving me fake addresses in the U.S. Well, i reference them, and it turns out that they ar fake, or out of a pizza place....lol. Yeah, they will even say they are from America, I don't know how they get their money this way, but they can scam you from other countries as well( U.S.A included ). Also, what is tricky now, is that these scammers are catching on, so instead of offering bad rock bottom prices, they offer what seem to be far prices. They do this to get the people who know about scams. Also, for sellers, buyers are now scamming Money orders. I really don't care because I don't look to sell, but even selling is a bit iffy on that site.................but what is this really hurting though, the buyers, the sellers, or how about the actual real legit companies. think about it. Real legit companies have to combat with these scammers. They have to compete with low prices because the fuads can sell them for cheap because they are fake. Also, in cases like ebay. What is the primary goal or target that buyers o on ebay for? Is it the quality? Is it the customer service? The fast timing? No, it's to find the cheapest price( again, doesn't relate to me ). That is also why these scammers have success. Also, it hurts the honest seller or buyer. So, you have people bidding on fakes and sellers under selling to compete. you have buyers now not sure about buying, ect,ect...... It all happens becuse people jump on these sites and pay into the scammers profits. Also, did i mention a sweet tooth. Well, I gtg,... I think I am about to have some sweet tarts( offline ).....lol..j/k....This may help you with your Q, or how it really works.....

very nice comments, first time i saw these as detail as like you to show us the points, and thank you for posting this, and welcome to post more in our forum

for these scammers, basically you cover everything i want to say. just a little thing, T/T is still the major payment for cargo importing business from China, only if you have know that factory and visited them in China. this is not for small order, it is only for at least one container. Escrow, a lot of faked service like this, we know that. That is why our legit company register in NY, USA offer this escrow service to all members trade in our forum. we can do more security escrow service if you afraid seller give you a faked tracking number or send you an empty package or not a real package. these we can inspect the package before arrive buyer. only cost more on shipping. but more secured. that is the point of our company escrow service.

Regarding the Alibaba site. Absolutely there are scams going on. 99% of these though are so obvious that they only manage to stay up there for a few days before being kicked out. As with all online trading there are risks! It is the old "Caveat Emptor". Your reponsibilty to check into the people you are dealing with. It's called research.

I have done trading on Alibaba and have had no trouble at all. I looked into the companies I waqs dealing with (ALL in China btw) and also got myself an agent in China to handle my business on that side of the world. Requested samples, received samples, agreed on pricing, made a TT to each supplier and had my product delivered to my agent.... No problems at all with the 5 suppliers I have dealt with.

However I WILL say that 3 other suppliers I dealt with gave me a "bad feeling" by not giving me accurate addresses or not replying to requests for information that I wanted about various matters. These suppliers I stopped talking to because it just felt "wrong". Simple as that.

The Gold Members on Alibaba (for Chinese suppliers) is a fairly good system as far as I have encountered. I am batting 1000 so I think, personally, that Alibaba is an ok site as long as you are careful (but that applies to EVERY deal you do, online or in person!!!!)

Regarding the payment methods. Telegraphic Transfers (Wire transfers in the US) should ONLY be conducted thru a BANK!!!!!! Any supplier who mentions using any other method of TT is a problem. 99.9% of Chinese suppliers will give you an account number woth BoC (Bank of China). This is a good bank and it is owned by the government. Agricultural Bank of China is the only other big one over there. Either of these 2 banks are acceptable to deal qwith. If you are TTing money to a sullier in China they need to be able to give you a SWIFT CODE. IF they don't give you this then there is a problem somewhere. Always TT money to a COMPANY ACCOUNT, never a personal account. With my dealings I always made a deposit of less than US$25.00 as a first payment to test the account to make sure it was legit. (It helps if your bank does free Transfers like mine!)

Any supplier in China asking for more than 30% of invoice value to do the production run is someone to be wary of. 30% is considered the normal "part payment" to have a production run made. Once you find a good supplier they will usually make this amount less (around 20%) for future orders.

If you are looking to buy COPYRIGHTED items like Ipods and Nike. what makes you think you are NOT going to be ripped off??????? Nike is Nike.... PERIOD! NOBODY has access to true Nike products except Nike. Of COURSE you can get knock-offs... anyone can.. but yes they are illegal and you deserve to be hit if you think they are legit......... Not to mention what customs will do if they find your shipment!

So I would say Alibaba is no better and no worse than any other online site. I have had zero trouble on there, but then I am probably over-cautious who I deal with.

I don't think TT in advance is wrong for a seller. Because there have many scam within international trade. Both seller and buyer should also be careful. Buyer not always be victim, many times seller will be gotten into trap also.

The right process is start small amont order from begining. You can ask supplier to send sample COD. I alwasy send sample with USD300. For a real dealer, it can not use money to buy their credit.