Has anyone used alibaba.com for buying bikes/parts from Asia?

Does anyone have any experience buying from Alibaba.com (or any direct sourcing from China)? (i.e. are the mfgrs legitimate, are the branded products "third shift" or bootlegs, has anyone been screwed altogether)??

thanks

steve

 

The thing to remember is that alibaba is just the online exchange for bringing international buyers and sellers together. You find your supplier, you do your due diligence and make your deal, and work out your shipping to port and to your door, and you pay duty, and you can leave feedback about how it all went through the forum. But alibaba is not like ebay. Also, these sellers want to deal in large lots. They'll build you a bike but you'd better order at least 20.

And the word is avoid all Indonesian firms claiming to sell cycling equipment. It seems that everyone who has tried to buy gear through Indonesia has been burned.

 

old bobcat - re: "doing due diligence on suppliers", is there somewhere on alibaba where suppliers are given feedback? thanks

 

No, just forums where you can discuss business. As a member I've only scanned the forums and, from what I could tell, there is very little dissing of individual members.

Alibaba certifies members, which means they are have a legitimate business that passes a credit check, but that's the extent of it. You do your own homework.

 

Alibaba certainly looks appealing to any consumer driven by the dollar. It seems as though you can purchase a genuine product for less than half the retail price at a local store. Or even a reputable online store.

I happen to know someone who did a background check on a Gold Verified Company, and all seemed to check out. However, once the money was transferred everything went down hill fast. Emails were not returned and eventually the company ceased to exist at all on alibaba.
This person then contacted alibaba with hopes that they would come through on their guarantee of chasing up illegitemate traders, and ali simply refered to terms and conditions that relinquished them of any wrong doing or responsibility.

A good idea is to check out the address provided by the trader and punch it into google and see what comes up. I'd say 90% of the time it will be a fake address and there's your final answer i suppose.

Like we have heard so many times in our life, "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Don't get too excited by the things you see on Ali, as they will no doubt let you down and leave your bank account slightly or largely depleted.

Hope you take this advice, and don't allow ali and it's traders to burn you.

 

I tried once purchasing from one of these "too good to be true" scammers. $411 for a Cervelo S1? Hot-diggety!
Well, thankfully I was wise enough to use Paypal in making the purchase.
Paypal makes gobs of dough on EVERY transaction - on the front and back side - but the protection should you never receive your item is comforting.

'Paypal - never make a purchase from S. Asia without it'...Bank transfer or Western Union? Please. And PT Barnum (yeah, the circus guy) had some wisdom long ago about a particular kind of person (IIRC, it rhymes with 'tool') being born every second, or minute - something like that...

 

i am akira from Shenzhen China i am sell auto-electronics on aliexpress
my store is http://www.aliexpress.com/store/813695
if any one like my stuff contact me free
my email is [email protected] thanks

 

aliexpress have more Cheater

 

Hello

I have bought some carbon bottle cages on the alibaba site. Good quality and fair prices. With my order everthing went correctly. You have to pay in directly when placing the order. The payment first goes toe Alibaba wich they hold until your order has arrived. You can follow your package on an tracking site.
In just 2 weeks time my order arrived. Then you simply have to answer the e-mail confirming the arrival of your goods so Alibaba can pay the firm buy whom you ordered.
Grts
Jofi

 

I saw some sites that were for getting together the retail market for resale but I did have experience with a Chinese company wholesalecarbonparts.com. I bought several things that were a good buy and was happy with them ...two shirts,carbon water cage ... but I did not like the handlebars and wanted to return it. I emailed them 5 times stating that I wanted a different one and all they said was that it worked and was made good ...... I gave up after them failing to respond .... you have no recourse that I am aware of. It, at least, taught me a lesson

 

Maybe it's due to cultural difference.They may thought that if you don't like it,you wouldn't buy it at that time. They may only return the products due to quality problems.

 

hello alibaba is a B2B website for gloable business It's the lagest and popular B2B website in China.You just have to send your inquiry of your goods you can receive the reply quickly.
The sellers on the alibaba always have a good reputation and always have a after-sales service.and the goods are relly cheap.

 

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