Avoid Alibaba Scams: The Ultimate Guide to Finding Legit Suppliers

in this video you'll learn what the various scams are on Alibaba and four tips on how to avoid getting ripped off now Alibaba is one of the best platforms to find Chinese suppliers for your eCommerce business but is Alibaba legit and safe to buy from now the short answer is yes but you must understand how to use Alibaba correctly and do your own due diligence in order to find a quality supplier without getting ripped off in other words you can't just haphazardly perform supplier searches on Alibaba and expect to get good results now in this step-by-step video you'll learn how to avoid Alibaba scams middlemen and outright fraud on the platform now first off there's this common misconception that Alibaba is an e-commerce storefront that sells physical products online but in actuality Alibaba doesn't sell a single thing instead Alibaba is a supplier directory where you can find factories to build your products and in fact you should think of Alibaba as a matchmaking service as opposed to an online marketplace now overall most business owners use Alibaba to find factories when you build your own products you almost always get the lowest price by working with manufacturers you can be involved in how your product is made built and shipped you can also create a private label brand most Alibaba suppliers allow you to place your own private label brand on any product that's produced you can also create custom design products you can create your own custom products that you design and fabricate now why is Alibaba so cheap products in Alibaba are cheap because the cost of Labor and Manufacturing is lower in China which is where most Alibaba products are made you are also expected to purchase products in bulk on Alibaba which allows for better pricing and economies of scale in addition most sellers in Alibaba are factories and don't sell directly to Consumers as a result they don't have as much overhead associated with Marketing sales and customer service now is Alibaba legit and safe well Alibaba was 100 legit and finding suppliers and sourcing products and selling Alibaba is very safe and in fact Alibaba has many safety measures in place that allow you to thoroughly research every supplier along with an escrow service that eliminates fraud however you must take advantage of the resources that Alibaba provides in order to ensure a safe and legit transaction now if you ever decide to conduct your own private transactions outside of Alibaba you do so at your own risk because remember Alibaba is just an online directory of Chinese suppliers and it's your responsibility to perform your own due diligence Now by following the step-by-step guide and taking advantage of alibaba's secure payment features you'll almost never get ripped off step one filter out the non-verified suppliers now because Alibaba is such an enormous directory there will always be low quality suppliers on the platform some Alibaba suppliers are just middlemen who don't provide any value and just sell you marked up products some Alibaba suppliers just cut corners and specialize in producing cheap quality junk in order to avoid the middlemen and the poor quality factories Alibaba allows you to filter out the low Quality Companies right off the bat once you perform a search in Alibaba make sure you have the following three boxes checked off here's what these check boxes mean Alibaba verified supplier verified suppliers pay significant premium to Alibaba in order to be pre-qualified and this fee is high enough to weed out most non-serious companies now now here's a point by Point table what Alibaba checks for every verified supplier all these checks are made by an independent third party Institution basic profile Alibaba checks and supplier business license and ownership status their contact information and the location to make sure the supplier is legitimate it also provides a company overview Alibaba checks whether the business is a Trading Company versus a manufacturer they also inspect the premises with video that you can see on the company's profile page on Alibaba Alibaba will also display r d capabilities Alibaba makes a note of how many r d staff the factory employs and whether they offer Design Services you can also find out their production capabilities Alibaba checks the production capacity of the factory and the machines and automation they employ you can also check quality control Alibaba checks the Factory's Quality Management Systems quality control processes and testing capabilities so overall Alibaba performs a comprehensive list of checks that pretty much weeds out most smaller middlemen you should also look for trade Assurance A supplier with the trade Assurance designation means that your order is protected from fraud when you make a purchase using alibaba's trade Assurance program now in the event that the product quality or the delivery date is different than what you and the supplier agreed upon Alibaba will mediate the dispute and ensure that you are satisfied now if a resolution cannot be reached Alibaba will refund you your money now the trade Assurance program is what makes Alibaba 100 legit and safe to buy from I've had students in my course receive full refunds through trade Assurance when the merchandise they received from the factory was not as expected you should also check off the less than one hour response time box this checkbox is self-explanatory but you should expect a reasonably fast response time from every supplier that you contact if a factor responds within an hour it's an indication that they have a dedicated customer support team to help you in case something goes wrong now overall there's no guarantee of total quality but if you look for suppliers with all three of these boxes checked you are much more likely to find one that takes quality very seriously step two check the supplier's reviews and ratings now in the event you did not click on the verified supplier check box you should at a bare minimum look for the Alibaba gold supplier badge for every manufacturer you refer now what is a gold supplier gold supplier is the lowest paid membership for suppliers in Alibaba now I verified gold supplier in China must pass a detailed on-site check in addition to an address and verification check all background checks are conducted by a third party to ensure that the gold supplier is a legally registered business however it's important to note that the gold supplier badge does not guarantee a reliable supplier and it's relatively easy for a company to achieve gold supplier status some gold suppliers are legit companies but they provide lousy service or poor quality product some gold suppliers are just a couple random guys who set up a trading company and run in an office regardless the gold supplier badge is a good first pass way to screen most legit suppliers once you've verified gold supplier status the next step is to dig into alibaba's verified supplier reports now in Alibaba verified supplier has gone through a much more in-depth inspection than a gold supplier and every verified supplier has a complete company profile on the Alibaba website now here's what I look for in a potential supplier the year it's been established has the company been doing business for at least five years I also look at their main markets does the company typically export products to your country what is their on-time delivery rate does a company have a history of on-time shipments I look at number of employees does the company have a decent sized staff and then I look for facility images does a company have a legit facility to manufacture your goods a look at business type it's a supplier a manufacturer or a Trading Company manufacturers will generally offer lower pricing and higher minimum order quantities Now by only working with verified gold suppliers in Alibaba and analyzing a suppliers company profile you can quickly assess whether the factory is legit now just a quick note I'm often asked whether it's advisable to work with Chinese trading companies as opposed to real manufacturers now even though trading companies are just middlemen they make it extremely convenient to purchase different products from different factories from a single source trading companies often charge a premium for this service but it can be well worth the money after all if you can make a decent profit working with a Trading Company doesn't matter trading companies also typically have lower minimum order quantities as well step three use Alibaba trade Assurance now once you've finalized your first bulk order make sure you indicate to your supplier that you would like to pay using Alibaba trade assurance now as mentioned earlier trade Assurance is the safest way to buy products from Alibaba suppliers and it's 100 free trade Assurance ensures that your order is protected from outright fraud Alibaba will guarantee your money back if you are not satisfied with your order or if the supplier did not follow the agreed upon terms now alibaba's trade Assurance works I've had several students get their entire order refunded when their products didn't meet their specifications now the mediation process can take a while but it's extremely effective meanwhile with trade Assurance the Alibaba supplier is incentivized to deliver quality products because bad shipments affect their credit rating and they're standing in the Alibaba directory now here's how to pay with trade Assurance in order to pay with trade Insurance you must use a supplier that supports it and this is why checking the trade Assurance box is essential during your research now once you're ready to order just follow these directions to pay now just a couple notes a trade Assurance order must be placed directly on the Alibaba website otherwise there's no protection so what you want to do is you want to click on the orders button and select order with trade Assurance then fill out the form with as much information as possible regarding your order and the agreed upon terms quick note the product details area of the form is a place where you will work with your vendor to document the terms of your agreement and then finally enter in the payment information to place your order now what is the safest payment method for Alibaba well when you pay by Alibaba trade Assurance your order is 100 protected if you don't receive your products or if the supplier does not deliver as promised Alibaba will open up a dispute with your supplier on your behalf and then from there Alibaba will help you mediate with your supplier to reach an agreement on what to do next if no agreement can be reached you simply get your money back now while trade Assurance is safe and effective the mediation process can take some time for example your money could get tied up for several months until a resolution is reached as a result if you want the ability to dispute a charge outside of Alibaba the safest way is to just pay for your trade Insurance order via PayPal or credit card and again paying by PayPal or credit card is not explicitly necessary with trade Assurance but it will provide you with an extra layer of protection for your payment step 4 hire an inspection company now with Alibaba trade Assurance your hard-earned cash is protected but what about your time when you are shipped poor quality products it can take months to go through the the entire manufacturing process again and receive another shipment now while trade Assurance protects you from monetary loss delays in manufacturing can also hurt your business especially if you're trying to get your products in time for the holiday season now in order to ensure a high quality shipment on your first try you should hire an inspection service to inspect your products as they come straight off the assembly line Inspection Services like keema will send a representative directly to your factory in China and perform a detailed inspection of your products right off the line and at the end of the manufacturing build now the cost of your inspection will vary depending on how thorough of an inspection you need but in general expect to pay around two to three hundred dollars for just two to three hundred dollars you can fix your production issues immediately by finding manufacturing flaws directly on the line you can quickly make adjustments without losing time now for most bulk purchases in Alibaba the cost of your inspection will be a single digit percentage of your overall total which makes hiring an inspection a no-brainer alright so here are some Alibaba scams to watch out for 4. now if you follow all the steps that I just outlined you will save both money and time on your first bulk order with minimal risk of loss and overall Alibaba is 100 legit and safe but there are some cases where you can be tricked into paying higher prices for your products than they are worth here are some scenarios that aren't outright scams but they're evil tactics that A supplier might pull on you during the negotiation process after all trade assurance and inspections can only protect you after an agreement has been made not before all right so the first tactic I want to talk about is what I call the sudden price increase tactic the sudden price increase tactic is one that I see all the time the supplier quotes you a low price to get you in the door and make a commitment to place an order and oftentimes you'll spend a good amount of time going back and forth with samples until you refine the exact product that you want to buy then once you're ready to place a bulk order the supplier surprises you with a price increase now in most cases they'll mention the rising cost of materials of the high labor costs and ask you to pay more now the only way to combat this practice is to work with multiple suppliers at the same time if a supplier tries to screw you you have a backup just in case and if you have the means never put all your eggs in one basket now the next situation is when a supplier tries to sell you popular branded products now some Alabama suppliers will claim to be the original manufacturers for popular brands that you may recognize like Disney or Nike these products fell off the truck well I can say with 99 confidence that all recognizable branded products that A supplier claims to have for sale will be 100 fake Chinese suppliers that work with Disney Nike or any popular brand will not dare violate the terms of their agreement now here's something that happens all the time your samples and your final products have a large difference in quality now when you ask for a sample from A supplier the product quality is usually great because they want your business but once they have you hooked they may ship you lesser quality products when you first place your bulk order now the only way to combat this practice is to hire a third-party inspection service like Kemah and document every aspect of your product on a quality control checklist trade Insurance can help in this situation too but only if your product specifications are extremely detailed and well documented by hiring an inspector to examine your products as they are made you can spot low quality products immediate immediately and take action with minimal losses in time and money now the next situation that could happen is when a supplier promises certifications that don't comply now some products like toys and electronics must comply with your country's regulations and certifications but sometimes Chinese suppliers will claim to have performed their own independent testing to avoid you the expense never trust the certifications that any supplier provides you must do your own due diligence ask your Customs agent to help you look over the certification documents or contact the test lab directly to double check if you want to be 100 safe you should perform your own lab testing and certifications another thing that can happen is a supplier agrees to a lower price and then Cuts corners on quality and again this situation can be 100 mitigated with the use of an inspection service like keema trade Assurance can protect you from monetary loss as well but only if the expected product quality is well documented so for example one time we negotiated a 10 discount on our handkerchief order thinking we got a great deal but when our products arrived every handkerchief was super thin because we didn't hire an inspector nor did we specify the thickness of the product explicitly we were out of luck fortunately our supplier was willing to compromise with us to fix the order but in theory they didn't have to do anything so here is my Alibaba safety checklist Alibaba is 100 legit and safe to use as long as you follow a certain set of guidelines and perform your own due diligence here's a summary of Best Practices I personally use before placing any order on Alibaba document and save everything be as specific as possible with your product specifications and write everything down on paper make sure you save any and all correspondence with your supplier just in case a dispute arises use trade Assurance do not conduct your monetary transactions outside the Alibaba for your first order use trade assurance and pay by PayPal if possible to provide an extra layer of payment protection now once you trust your supplier you can forego trade Assurance to save money hire an inspector don't be cheap and pay the two to three hundred dollars for a third party inspection company it's an insurance policy that will pay for itself now from a psychological perspective your supplier will manufacture better quality products knowing that an inspection will be conducted always have a backup never depend on a single supplier for your goods otherwise you'll have limited negotiation power and then finally trust no one do not believe anything A supplier says regarding certifications or product authenticity do your own research only work with gold suppliers but remember that gold supplier status doesn't guarantee anything you still have to do your own due diligence now that I've gone over some guidelines on Alibaba scams watch this video now to learn step by step how to make your first purchase on Alibaba

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Views: 52,738

Keywords: alibaba tutorial, is alibaba safe, alibaba trade assurance, alibaba scams, trade assurance, alibaba scam, how to use alibaba, spot alibaba scammer, how to buy on alibaba, how to buy from alibaba, alibaba tips and tricks, alibaba suppliers, alibaba scammers, how to import from china, alibaba supplier tutorial, alibaba scammer, importing from china, import from china, alibaba tips, how to order from alibaba, alibaba trade assurance payment, alibaba trade assurance tutorial

Id: TgYK4sx3R3U

Length: 16min 23sec (983 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 08 2022