“I have been defrauded by Alibaba.” New importers often say things like this. But how is it possible to be duped by Alibaba? Which is among the biggest online markets, and is Alibaba a haven for con artists?
It’s critical to understand that Alibaba has fraudsters. The good news is that scams coming from China are uncommon and can be nearly fully avoided with minimal effort. You can dispute the rationale for this. It is unlikely that you will pay a Chinese company for a number of items and never receive them. On the other hand, what about receiving faulty goods? This occurs frequently.
Buy from Alibaba without getting scammed.
Scams and frauds are common in online markets. That’s why a new person can’t handle a large amount for the first time. That’s why we are explaining the key factors to avoiding fraud. A lot of these scams would be easy to avoid if buyers were a little more aware of the issue and how to avoid it. With that in mind, we’ve prepared this list of key points for staying away from scams on the Alibaba platform.
Tips for Averting Scams on Alibaba
- Go to Alibaba.com
- Provide a separate email address.
- Sign up for ALIBABA.
- Look for suppliers
- Alibaba search
- Price MOQ
Specifically, you should pay attention to the price and the minimum order quantity.
If you know your niche, go to Alibaba.com and click on the button that asks you to “Join Free.”
Join Alibaba. It’s not explicitly necessary to join Alibaba in order to perform a supplier search.
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Choose the appropriate niche.
Ideally, you should already know your niche before you use Alibaba. In fact, before you place a large order with a supplier you find on Alibaba, it’s important that you’ve validated what you plan to sell and from where you’re going to find a wholesaler. After all, Alibaba is way too large to haphazardly browse for product ideas, so knowing what you want to sell is a must. Take a look at pricing on Amazon and other marketplaces. Ideally, you want to have at least a 66% margin on your goods.
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Negotiate with suppliers on price.
You should negotiate prices with the seller. In fact, all suppliers anywhere expect to have some sort of negotiation. Your ability to negotiate largely depends on your order volume. If this is your first order and your order size is small, you will have limited negotiation power. If you are an expert in purchasing, you can do much more.
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Examine Your Order
Before shipment, you should contact an inspection company like Asia Inspection(QIMA) to examine your goods before they are sent to you. Once your goods are sent, it’s really expensive to ship them back to another country in the event of a problem. Once your order arrives, it’s important to completely check it. Count the items to ensure you have them. Also, examine each of the products. Are any of them damaged? Are they clean? Is the packaging acceptable? Most inspection companies only have time to examine a statistically significant sample size, so there could still be defects.
Stay away from free account holders.
A straightforward guideline greatly reduces your likelihood of being a victim of Alibaba fraud. A merchant who is committed to offering high-quality services or goods will spend the money on a gold account to demonstrate their commitment. In summary, employing free accounts indicates that the vendor is either disinterested in offering a high-quality product or is con artists hedging their odds with free accounts because they are such a low-effort tactic.
Many major brands, particularly those in electronics, are targets for scammers because of their high value and popularity, and brands are easier to trust than any random vendor:
- Major brands are not represented by items on Alibaba. If so, the minimum order amounts are quite high.
- If these branded goods were affordable at this price, everyone would be offering them at a lower price.
- Numerous branded products are made in China, but this does not mean that Chinese manufacturers are permitted to sell them.
Become Aware of What “Alibaba Gold Member” Really Means.
As was previously indicated, free Alibaba accounts should be utilised as a quick filter for subpar or suspicious offerings, as was previously indicated. However, that does not indicate that all paid accounts are trustworthy. It’s recommended to remain with Gold Member accounts, but keep in mind that you must pay a monthly fee and undergo an in-person inspection to get this position on Alibaba.
- Paying a recurring fee and
- Passing an onsite inspection
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Investigate the company profile
Before you select a supplier, remember, to check the reviews and ratings associated with them. You can check reviews on Alibaba. It’s also a good idea to branch out a little. Consider googling the supplier’s name to get an idea of what to expect. The first, most significant, and straightforward part of your investigation is this. Put the firm name you’re researching, put “scam” or “review” after it, and see what the results are. Numerous articles, blog entries, or forum discussions are likely to exist if a corporation has engaged in fraudulent activity.
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Avoid products with brand names or illegal brands.
Follow the steps one by one. When looking at suppliers to find a good one to work with, look out for those that purport to offer brand names. For the most part, licensed products are not available on Alibaba.
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When Buying on Alibaba, Common Terminology
As you look at product pages, there are some common terms you need to be aware of as you move forward.
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Free On Board (FOB)
You’ll see that there’s a FOB unit price when you look at a product page.
What this means is that the manufacturer will pay the costs that come with getting the product to the port in China, but you are responsible for getting the goods from the port to your warehouse. Most suppliers will send their products using ocean freight, which is the cheapest way to get items from Asia to the United States. However, it’s essential to realize that you, as the buyer, will be responsible for paying the cost associated with getting your products across the ocean to their desired destination. Be ready to pay those costs.
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Be careful when selecting payment options.
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Use Escrow
Escrow is a preferred method because it allows for protection for both buyers and suppliers. Your money is held in a separate account, managed by a third party. When delivery is confirmed, the money is released. With escrow
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Use your PayPal account.
Many suppliers on Alibaba accept PayPal, and many buyers already use it. As a buyer, PayPal’s protection offers some peace of mind for you.
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A Letter of Credit
A letter of credit, or LOC, is issued by your bank to your supplier’s bank to serve as a guarantee for payments made to the factory. The supplier verifies that the letter of credit is valid and then ships the buyer’s order. Following that, the supplier delivers the relevant papers to the bank in order to collect on the letter of credit. Finally, the supplier withdraws the money, and the issuing bank collects the money from the buyer.
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Bank transfer or wire transfer
Wire transfers are the standard way payments are made to Chinese factories. However, wire transfers do cost money, and it’s in your best interest to set up a business bank account that allows free transfers overseas. Many factories in China only accept wire transfers as payment.
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Western Union
It’s almost always a bad idea to send payment via Western Union. If you have a supplier pressuring you to send payment this way, it could be a major red flag that the supplier is actually a scammer. There is absolutely no way to get your money back if it turns out you’re working with a fraud.
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Work with verified suppliers
Being cautious, especially when you have a block trade, is a basic instinct. In a quick and easy way, our company verification service can help you verify the suppliers.
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Be Prepared to Walk Away.
Even where doubts exist, many are caught out by an Alibaba scam because the allure of a great price proves too high to resist. Everyone loves a bargain, but the feeling of having been scammed stays with you a lot longer than that of saving a few dollars. If you are having thoughts such as “The risk is worth it if we can get them that cheap” or “They seem really nice on the phone, so I’m sure it’ll be OK,” it might be time to reconsider and walk away from the deal.
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Ask for References Outside of Alibaba
A highly effective way to protect your company from an Alibaba scam is to ask for references from other firms and consumers they’ve dealt with in the past, preferably in your own nation. Contact these references independently and research them online.
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Ask for and verify documentation.
Asking for documentation from a company serves two purposes. Firstly, it can reveal untrustworthy companies if they do not accept to provide documentation. Legitimate companies will be perfectly happy to show their documentation. Secondly, you can verify the documentation you’ve been shown. If any of the details don’t check out, that’s also an indicator that something is amiss.
The key documents to ask for are a business license and, potentially, a bank account license for the account you’re being asked to pay into.
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Conduct background checks.
If everything about a seller seems to check out so far, it’s worthwhile doing a background check into the company. These are fast and inexpensive and will reveal a lot about the company in question. China Checkup arranges a range of convenient and affordable Chinese company verification services. These checks use official registration records to verify that a Chinese company is legally registered and to confirm its details.
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Consider the Requested Payment Option
Scammers want to rob your money, but they don’t want to get caught; immediate payment options make this much easier for them. Scammers like Western Union and bank transfers are favorites of scammers because they can often keep away from being caught by these methods. For obvious reasons, upfront payments in full are also demanded by scammers. These payment methods and arrangements should give you a reason to be extraordinarily cautious.
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Look for an Alibaba Scam in the Fraud and Scam Listings.
The more specific kind of research you should do is to check out different websites and maintain lists of known or reported scammers.
Don’t become the next victim – check the lists and forums.
Here are a few to get you started:
You must check with government agencies in your country who are responsible for importing and exporting. They will often post warnings about common types of scams and emerging forms that they are encountering in their work.
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Do Some Basic Research Online.
Following the above steps should already have gone some way to helping you avoid Alibaba scammers in most cases. The easiest thing you can do is to just search around for them and their products online. Do they have a website? Social media accounts? Are people saying things about them online? This may sound obvious, but it’s clear that a lot of buyers aren’t doing this kind of basic homework, which is why Alibaba scams keep finding new victims.
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Look at the age of an account.
Alibaba does work frequently to protect its users from scammers and fraudsters. The longer an account has been running, the less chance it has to be an Alibaba scam. In other words, scam accounts run a constant risk of being identified and banned, so the longer they operate, the more likely this is to have happened. By only considering accounts older than a certain length of time, you can eliminate the likelihood that you’re dealing with fraudsters. Imposing a minimum account age of two years should remove a lot of dodgy sellers from your shortlist.
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Avoid big brands, especially electronics.
A seller promises something, accepts payment for it, and then doesn’t deliver. This scam is as fundamental as it’s still being used today because it still works. It is the #1 Alibaba Scam. Big brands do not sell their products on Alibaba. If they do, the minimum order quantities are enormous. If these branded products were genuinely available at a particular price, everyone would be selling them at a more competitive price. In short, it’s possible that branded goods on Alibaba are genuine.
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Stay away from free account holders.
Free account makers are mastermind scammers. No one can understand how they are cheated by them. If a seller is serious about offering quality services or products, they will be willing to pay fees for a “Gold” account to demonstrate their commitment. Further, free accounts are not checked or verified in any way. Anyone with a computer can set one up and start offering “products” to the world via Alibaba. Free accounts are such a low-effort tactic that operating them implies the seller is either uninterested in offering something of quality or is a scammer hedging their bets with free accounts.
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Consider your gut.
Don’t forget to trust your gut. Does something seem extra reasonable? Take a step back. You don’t want to end up scammed. I am always extra careful when dealing with suppliers, and I’m always overly paranoid. Be careful who you trust!
Conclusion
In this article we have discussed the scam,or fraud, on the online market. I donate various scam points. We are confident that our readers will be alerted against fraud. We need much more research on this topic, but as much as I can write on this topic, I have written. Be careful before starting your journey; remember these key points. It is very risky to buy in this type of market because you can’t catch your hunter. Do more and more research and take guidance from experts in online marketing and teachers. They will definitely guide you. Don’t spend your whole amount on this work with some companies and then get some experience in this work. That would be much better than a big fraud or loss. This article might be helpful and it will give you confidence to start your work.