How to Buy on Alibaba - Useful Tips 2021

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How to Buy on Alibaba - 2019 Helpful Tips.
The Alibaba brand is associated with such platforms as AliExpress and Taobao. These services are part of the largest online corporation, but they all work in different ways. Alibaba.com itself is a primarily wholesale marketplace that brings together entrepreneurs and suppliers from different countries. Editorial PaySpace Magazine has collected a list of tips on how to buy on Alibaba in Ukraine.

What is Alibaba​

Alibaba is the largest international online trading platform, which is part of the Chinese corporation Alibaba Group, founded by one of the richest people in the world - Jack Ma. At the same time, the online platform is a place exclusively for bulk purchases, and it is used by millions of buyers and suppliers around the world. Thanks to the marketplace, many clients, most of whom are entrepreneurs, make bulk purchases of goods for their companies.


On the Alibaba website, transactions are carried out between suppliers - exporters, and buyers - customers, importers of products. So, the first category of users sells products. At the same time, the exporting company provides a description of its activities, talks about its products, confirming the information with additional photos of goods, quality certificates and other information. In addition, each supplier offers its own delivery terms. Therefore, it is worth carefully reviewing the exporter information before buying on Alibaba.

Buyers search for the goods they need on the website of the marketplace and reliable suppliers. The marketplace is characterized by convenient functionality, which allows the client to negotiate with the importer right on the website. It is important to always contact your supplier for product information. Also, during the correspondence with him, the client can solve price issues, delivery options. The buyer also has the option of requesting the supply of one unit of the product to determine its quality immediately before placing an order on Alibaba and concluding a larger deal with the supplier.

How to buy on Alibaba in Ukraine - site guide​

How to buy goods on Alibaba.
Alibaba is not an online store. It is a trading platform on which suppliers list their products for subsequent sale. To learn how to order on Alibaba and buy in bulk yourself, you first need to understand how the marketplace service works.

Key steps in the process of ordering goods on Alibaba:
  1. registration on the website
  2. Search for products that are of interest to the buyer
  3. Online correspondence with the supplier directly on the website to clarify information about the product, its price, delivery terms, etc.
  4. If the client is satisfied with the negotiations with the supplier, - the conclusion of the transaction
The main feature of Alibaba is that the customer does not add items to the cart, but only sends inquiries to suppliers. However, in addition to searching for and purchasing products, the buyer can independently place his ads for the sale of goods. In this case, he will already receive inquiries from suppliers.

How to use search on the Alibaba website correctly:​

  • The fewer words in the query, the more accurate the search will work. For example, you need to find a robot vacuum cleaner, but you do not know the specific model of the product. Then it is enough to enter “vacuum cleaner robot” and a wide range of such equipment will open before you. In this case, it is worth writing the request in as much detail as possible. After all, if you do not specify what kind of vacuum cleaner you need (and in our case, a robotic one), then the search will provide all the available options for technology.
  • If you know the model, the exact name of the product, then you need to write the full name in the request. Then the search result will be specific. For example, if you are looking for a vacuum cleaner-robot model LL for dry and wet cleaning, then you need to enter the name with all the details of the item - “LL-D6601 wet and dry”. If you just enter “LL wet and dry”, then the search will not find a specific product at all.
  • It is not necessary to write a request specifying the country, for example, “shoes poland”. To do this, there are filters at the bottom after searching for a product, where you can specify the region.

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How to order on Alibaba: search filters
  • It is not necessary to include in the request unnecessary words like “seller”, “supplier” and those that are not related to the product.
  • It is also often advised to write the query in quotes. However, this does not affect anything. After all, if you write the same “vacuum cleaner robot” in the search line using quotes, the results will be the same as without them.
To quickly find the required product and additionally “not dig” on other web resources in search of information on how to order on Alibaba, you can use the “Request for quotation” function. Thus, you can fill out an application in which you can describe in detail what kind of product you are looking for and place it on the trading platform for free. This request will be displayed to suppliers, who can later independently contact the client.

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How to order on Alibaba: Request to Buy feature.

Seller statuses on Alibaba​

StatusDescription
Free MemberSuppliers who have registered a free account. Scammers are often hiding among sellers with this status.
Gold SupplierSuppliers with whom you can cooperate, but there is no maximum guarantee about their reliability, since information about them is processed and verified only online.
Gold Plus SupplierPremium suppliers. Alibaba inspectors visited these companies and checked all the documentation related to their activities, as well as looked at the conditions under which products are manufactured.
Assessed SupplierSuppliers were verified by representatives of Alibaba, who personally visited the factories and familiarized themselves with all documents and certificates. Sellers with this status can rightfully be considered the most reliable.
After the “Search” line and various filters accompanying it, there are categories of suppliers that differ in status.

Choosing a supplier, you can also get acquainted with its activities in more detail. So, the client will have access to information regarding the legal name of the supplier company, status, certificates, the number of payment transactions carried out during the last time, as well as customer responses, the overall rating of the company.

For example, Jianghao Generator Set Co., Ltd, a manufacturer of diesel generators, has been a Gold Plus Supplier for 7 years, has 4 customers purchased in the last month, and responds to 93.5% of customer messages. Therefore, it is important to know all the details of the supplier immediately before placing an order on Alibaba. And to start a dialogue with the supplier, it is enough to enter the information of interest in a special block, and then click the “Send” button.

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How to place an order on Alibaba: company details.

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How to place an order on Alibaba: company details.

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How to place an order on Alibaba: company details.

Production cost​

The price of the goods is another important feature of how to buy on Alibaba and conclude a good deal. You can see that on the website of the marketplace, prices always vary: for example, the supplier indicates from $ 10 to $ 12. The cost depends on the number of units of goods - you can buy, for example, 50 units of smart watches, or you can buy 100. Moreover, the more you take, the lower the price. However, it is always important to clarify the cost of products with the supplier, since he may not update the price in time, or the client needs a specific number of products, and the seller did not provide information on how to correctly calculate their total cost.

How to correctly send a request to a supplier:​

  1. First, provide information about you (your name, surname, what position you work) and about the company you represent (name of the company and field of activity, in which region it is located).
  2. Then go to the description of the product you are interested in: ask about its quality, size, specification; let us know how many products you plan to purchase.
  3. Specify how much the amount of goods that you intend to buy will cost.
The supplier processes the client's request over a period of time - usually within one day. In the event that he replies, the buyer will receive an email from Alibaba to the email address provided during registration.

How to buy on Alibaba in Ukraine: the procedure for ordering goods​

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How to buy on Alibaba in Ukraine - helpful tips.

After you receive a response from the supplier, negotiations with him do not end. Next, you need to negotiate in the message center, which can only be accessed through your own profile.

It is the message center that is the main link between the customer and the supplier - this is where the question of how to buy on Alibaba and conclude a trade deal is decided . This "negotiation platform" works like e-mail.

Bidding with the supplier company takes place only in the client's account through the trade center. Therefore, you need to indicate the number of goods and the price per unit of goods, after which you must confirm the order. If the seller is satisfied with the wishes of the buyer, he will also confirm the order; if he does not agree to the terms of the client, then he will indicate his terms and will wait for a response from the buyer. This dialogue will continue until both parties meet all the conditions and they confirm the deal.

How to order on Alibaba: final steps​


Payment​

When it comes to payment methods on Alibaba, there are different options. In particular, suppliers accept Western Union, MoneyGram transfers; you can also pay with a Mastercard or Visa bank card, transfer money using the PayPal service. Each seller offers several payment options.

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Payment methods for goods on Alibaba

Delivery terms​

Before confirming the order, it is important to negotiate with the supplier the conditions for sending the goods. Suppliers generally conduct their wholesale business based on the FOB standard: the seller delivers the goods to the port and loads them on a vessel specified by the buyer. The buyer will take care of the further fate of the cargo. If he has no experience in logistics, then he needs to use the services of a logistics company. So, these companies can provide their own delivery scheme.

Buyer's algorithm of actions:​

  • Discuss all delivery terms with the supplier
  • Draw up a shipping document - a packing list in which to indicate the dimensions, weight of the cargo, the name of each product, price, etc.
  • Find a logistics service provider in Ukraine, calculate the cost of delivery and customs duties. Conclude an agreement with the company
  • Provide the logistics company with all the necessary information about the cargo
  • Waiting for delivery to the point previously agreed
In addition, you can deliver goods by mail or use express delivery services, which will be much longer and more expensive. However, if the buyer decides to deliver the order in one of these ways, then he needs to discuss the details with the supplier.

 
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