This article was first published on Yiwuagt.com. The site has a lot of knowledge about Chinese imports.
Looking for some great cheap products for your business? Then you should definitely check out what's new on Alibaba. You will find that buying products from alibaba is a good choice. Alibaba is no stranger to clients with experience importing from China. If you are still new to the import business, it doesn't matter. In this article, we will take you to understand alibaba in detail, help you better wholesale from alibaba.
The following is the main content of this article:
1. What is alibaba
2. The process of buying products from alibaba
3. Advantages of buying products from alibaba
4. Disadvantages of buying products from alibaba
5. Points to consider when buying products from alibaba
6. Products not recommended to buy from alibaba
7. How to Find Suppliers on alibaba
8. How to determine the most suitable alibaba supplier
9. Some terms abbreviations you should know
10. How to negotiate better MOQ and price
11. How to prevent scams when buying from alibaba
1) What is the Alibaba
Alibaba platform is a famous Chinese wholesale website with tens of millions of buyers and suppliers, like an online trade show. Here you can wholesale all kinds of products and you can also communicate with alibaba suppliers online.
2) The Process of Buying Products From Alibaba
1. First, create a free buyer account.
When filling in the account information, you'd better fill in some more information, including your company name and work email. The more detailed the information, the higher the credibility, and the higher the probability of cooperation with high-quality alibaba suppliers.
2. Search for the product you want in the search bar
The more specific you are about your target product, the higher the probability of getting a satisfied alibaba supplier. If you type basic terms directly into the search bar, many of the products and suppliers you find are the result of spending a lot of money on advertising.
3. Choose suitable alibaba suppliers
4. Negotiate transaction details such as price/payment method/shipping method
5. Place an order/pay
6. Receive the alibaba products
3) Advantages of Buying Products From Alibaba
1. Price
On alibaba, you can often find the lowest price for the products you need. This is because here you have the opportunity to find direct factories, and the supplier location is usually lower in labor prices and taxes.
2. Product range
Tens of thousands of products are waiting to be traded on Alibaba. Just "bicycle axle" has 3000+ results. You can also use filters to narrow your selection if you want a more precise range.
3. Complete functions, mature system, very easy to get started
It supports translation in 16 languages, the interface is clear, the functions are well recognized, and it is easy to use.
4. Alibaba can verify its suppliers for clients
Its inspections are divided into "Accreditation and Verification (A&V)", "On-site Inspection" and "Vendor Evaluation". The verification is generally carried out by Alibaba members/third-party inspection companies. Verified suppliers are generally classified as "Gold Suppliers" "Verified Suppliers 2".
5. Quality Assurance
The Alibaba team provides product inspection services for a fee, to a certain extent, to ensure that the products ordered by buyers from Alibaba have no quality problems. They will have a dedicated team to follow up on the product and report back to the buyer on a regular basis. And a third-party inspection company will inspect whether the product quantity, style, quality and other conditions meet the contract requirements.
6. Access to more supplier resources
Because of the epidemic, alibaba has played an increasingly important role. It provides more accessible supplier resources for many people who are just starting out importing from China. Although there may be some pitfalls, it is also possible to find the right supplier resources at the same time. Of course, it would be best if you could personally come to the Chinese wholesale market or meet the suppliers face to face at the exhibition.
4) Disadvantages of Buying Products From Alibaba
1. MOQ
Basically all alibaba suppliers have MOQ requirements for products, and some MOQs are far beyond the range of some small customers. The specific MOQ depends on different alibaba suppliers.
2. Asian size
Alibaba is basically a Chinese supplier, which also leads to the fact that many product sizes are provided in Chinese size standards.
3. Unprofessional product images
Even now, there are still many suppliers who don't pay attention to product display images. Feel free to upload some photos as sample images, a lot of information is not displayed completely.
4. The troubles of logistics and transportation
Uncontrollable logistics services are a concern, especially for delicate and fragile materials.
5. The chance of fraud that cannot be completely eliminated
Even though Alibaba has used many means to prevent fraud, fraud cannot be completely banned. Beginners should be especially cautious. Sometimes some clever scams can even fool some experienced buyers. For example, after receiving the goods, it is found that the quantity of the product is much less or the quality is poor, or the goods aren’t received after payment.
6. Unable to fully control the production progress
If you buy a small quantity from alibaba supplier, or communicate with them less, they are likely to delay the production schedule, arrange for other people's goods to be produced first, and may not be able to deliver your products on time.
If you are worried that importing from China will encounter many problems, you can seek the help of Alibaba sourcing agent. A reliable China sourcing agent can help you avoid many risks and make your importing business more profitable while also saving you time.
If you want to import from China safer, efficiently and profitably, just contact us - best Yiwu agent with 23 years experience, we can provide best one stop service, support you from sourcing to shipping.
5) Points to Consider When Buying From Alibaba
When you consider the type of products you buy from alibaba, we recommend you consider these directions:
· Product profit margin
· The volume and weight ratio of the product
· Product strength (very fragile materials may increase logistics losses)
6) Products not recommended for buying from Alibaba
· Infringing products (such as Disney-related dolls/Nike sneakers)
· Battery
· Alcohol/Tobacco/Drugs etc
These products aren’t allowed to be imported, they will get you into copyright disputes, and there is a high probability that they aren’t genuine.
7) How to Find Suppliers on Alibaba
1. Direct search
Step1: Search bar to search the desired product type by product or supplier option
Step2: Select a qualified supplier, click "contact us" to get in touch with the supplier and get a quote
Step3: Collect and compare quotations from different suppliers.
Step4: Select 2-3 of the best suppliers for further communication.
2. RFQ
Step1: Enter the Alibaba RFQ homepage and fill in the RFQ form
Step2: Submit an inquiry and wait for the supplier to quote you.
Step3: View and compare quotes in the message center of the RFQ dashboard.
Step4: Select 2-3 most favorite suppliers for further communication.
We can't tell you which is better because each has advantages and disadvantages. A direct search is faster than using an RFQ system to get a quote, but it ensures that you don't miss out on a supplier that might meet your requirements. In contrast, although RFQ can help you get several quotations in a relatively short time, not all alibaba suppliers will respond to the purchase requests we issue, which is also closely related to the quantity of our purchases.
When searching, it is recommended to check all three boxes - Trade Assurance/Verified Supplier/≤1h response time. The first two options prevent you from finding unreliable or purely scam suppliers. 1h response time guarantees the supplier's response speed.
8) How to Choose the Most Suitable Supplier on Alibaba
First, we should understand that there are three types of suppliers on Alibaba:
Manufacturer: that is direct factory, has the lowest price, but usually has a high MOQ.
Trading companies: usually specialize in a certain category of products, such as storage or electronic products. In their area of expertise, they can provide customers with some very good products. The price is slightly higher than the manufacturer, but the relative MOQ will also be lower.
Wholesaler: Offers a wide variety of products, with low MOQ, but higher prices.
We encourage clients to choose suppliers according to their own needs, because each alibaba supplier is good at different types of products. For details, please refer to our previous blog: How to find reliable Chinese suppliers.
After we have come to the conclusion of which type of supplier is most suitable for us, we should carefully check the existing suppliers in our hands to see if their products and prices are suitable for us. If you decide that these suppliers are enough to meet your needs, then you can place the order to them. If after your inspection, you think that these few professional products are not enough to meet the needs, then we can look for other suppliers according to the above process.
9) Some Terms Abbreviations You Should Know When Buying From Alibaba
1. MOQ - minimum order quantity
Represents the minimum product quantity that sellers need to purchase. MOQ is a threshold, if the buyer's demand is lower than this threshold, the buyer cannot successfully order the goods. This minimum order quantity is determined by the supplier.
2. OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturing
Original equipment manufacturing refers to the factory manufacturing of goods to the buyer's order, with designs and specifications provided by the buyer. If you want to customize your own products, you can find suppliers that support OEM on Alibaba.
3. ODM - Original Design Manufacturing
Original design manufacturing means that the manufacturer manufactures a product that has been originally designed, and the buyer can select the product from the manufacturer's catalogue. ODM can also customize products to a certain extent, but usually can only choose materials, colors, sizes, etc. independently.
4. QC Process - Quality Control
5. FOB - Free on Board
This means that the supplier is responsible for all costs incurred until the goods arrive at the port. After the goods arrive at the port until they are delivered to the destination, it is the buyer's responsibility.
6. CIF - Finished Product Insurance and Freight
The supplier will be responsible for the cost and shipping of the goods to the port of destination. Risk will pass to the buyer once the goods are loaded on board.
10) How to Negotiate Better MOQ and Price
After understanding the common terms of foreign trade, even a novice in the import business can communicate with Alibaba suppliers to a certain extent. The next step is to negotiate with the alibaba supplier to get better conditions, price and MOQ for your order.
MOQ is unavoidable
· Suppliers also have production costs. On the one hand, raw materials and packaging materials are difficult to control, and there is a minimum quantity limit for the operation of factory machines.
· Because alibaba products are all wholesale price, the profit of a single product is low, so it must be sold in bundles to ensure profits.
Most of Alibaba's suppliers have MOQ, but you can negotiate with alibaba suppliers to lower the MOQ, in addition to the MOQ, price, packaging, transportation, These can be decided by negotiating with suppliers.
So, how to get better MOQ and price in negotiation?
1. Research products
Know the market price and MOQ of the products you need. Do enough research to understand the product and its production costs. In order to gain the initiative in negotiating with alibaba suppliers.
2. Maintain balance
Cooperation is based on a win-win situation. We can't just bargain and offer some outrageous prices. If there is no profit, the alibaba supplier will definitely refuse to supply you with the product. Therefore, we have to take into account the balance between MOQ and price. Generally speaking, they will be willing to make certain concessions and give you a better price when your order is larger than the MOQ they initially set.
3. Be sincere
Don't try to deceive your suppliers with lies, a person who is full of lies cannot gain the trust of others. Especially alibaba suppliers, they have a lot of clients every day, if you lose trust with them, they won't work with you anymore. Tell alibaba suppliers your expected order target. Even if your order amount is relatively common, many alibaba suppliers may make exceptions and accept relatively small orders when they first cooperate with each other.
4. Select the spot
If you need customized products, then the MOQ you need will be relatively high, which is usually called OEM. But if you choose to buy stock products, the MOQ and unit price will be lowered accordingly.
11) How to Prevent Scams When Buying From Alibaba
1.Try to cooperate with alibaba suppliers with authentication badges.
2.When negotiating with alibaba suppliers, make sure that the terms guarantee that if there are unresolvable quality problems or other problems, you can apply for a refund or return or obtain other compensation.
3.Trade Assurance Orders protect sellers from fraudulent activities.
Buying from alibaba is a lucrative business, provided you don't run into any problems. Do more research and compare each alibaba prodcuts and supplier. You need to pay attention to each step of the import process. Or you can find a reliable China sourcing agent to handle all the import process for you, which can avoid a lot of risks. You can also devote your energy to your own business.
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