Alibaba horror stories? Good experiences?

**sukie** · 11-18-2008 03:43 PM

Anyone have any? I am doing business with two companies. First order placed... second one coming in a few days. Any experiences shared would be great.

**KPatel** · 11-18-2008 09:01 PM

A lot of suppliers only take telephonic transfer or western union, which is a little dodgy. I'm reluctant to do business with anyone who won't offer some sort of tracking of where my money is going. In an inquiry, someone wanted a direct transfer to their personal Western Union account. I'm not entirely convinced he wanted to do business! Be very very cautious, is my advice.

**HarveyJ** · 11-18-2008 10:10 PM

↑↑ I've heard of a similar story before.
Frankly, if they won't take American Express, I won't deal. I don't actually use American Express, but their chargeback policy puts fear into the hearts of shady operators... so if they take Amex, you're generally ok.

**sukie** · 11-19-2008 04:36 PM

Thanks for that advice.

**terryxu** · 12-05-2008 07:58 PM

usually ,Chinese like T/T or L/C. i do same.

**Fanatik** · 12-05-2008 11:24 PM

I have used Alibaba in the past, with both good and bad results. Good = I bought HID kits for a very low price and had great quality of the kits, as well as good communication with the company/dealer over in China.

Bad = I've been burned with a Nintendo Wii. Did I really expect to get it? Not really; it was more of a gamble than anything. Any "company" willing to only do a wire or western union you should avoid. Success has been had with T/T. Dont do Western Union; dont even deal with that 'company' if they accept Western Union; just shady as hell.

J

**terryxu** · 12-05-2008 11:57 PM

Just accept the Company account, not personal account.

**KRB ENT.** · 01-02-2009 05:05 PM

Hell No to western union.....Its a scam if a "company" wants you to send money that way. Get an invoice for everything before you pay. And avoid responding to random email, if you don't know how someone got your email, don't respond.

**Matagascar** · 01-02-2009 07:41 PM

I've dealt with a number of different Alibaba suppliers, and I haven't had a problem once. You just have to be on the look out and know what to look for. If it's too good to be true, it probably is.

**terryxu** · 01-02-2009 08:18 PM

my opinion
1.before do business, you should know who do biz with. so you should get some factory info. such as address, telephone, Chinese name, company bank account(not personal account), pictures of showroom, workshop and so on. you should ask them to sent you the pictures. i think they could do.
2. Paymet. maybe L/C is good, but some companies just accept T/T. they will send a copy of B/L to you and push you to pay the balance.
3.before shipment, goods should be inspected by buyer. I ever inspected some goods in a province begin with Z. oh, my god! goods were rejected,the rejected rate was too big. but the sample is good. so i would like sourcing from the Provinc begin wiht G

**discountedclothing** · 01-03-2009 03:27 AM

I simply don't trust this kind of service. I usually do a little research first before i order a certain product. Likewise, it is better if you communicate with them and ask for the company details like corporate accounts, business address and contact number.

**Aletheides** · 01-04-2009 03:21 AM

I send money mostly with Western Union and there's only been one time out of about 20 that my products didn't arrive, and it was a sample order so of course I never dealt with them again.

Western Union and T/T is a very common form of payment, so if you think any seller who accepts Western Union is a scammer you're ruling out around 99% of the sellers on Alibaba.

You just have to be careful with who you deal with - I don't deal with any suppliers who are using free email address such as yahoo, gmail, or 163. If they have an email for their own company name then chances are better that they're legit.

Right now I am working with an electronics company called Yahee that's sending me some MP4 players. Getting things imported to Mexico is turning out to be not as easy as it is in USA, so I am going to a customs agent this week.

Originally Posted by HarveyJ

↑↑ I've heard of a similar story before.
Frankly, if they won't take American Express, I won't deal. I don't actually use American Express, but their chargeback policy puts fear into the hearts of shady operators... so if they take Amex, you're generally ok.

I know plenty of local businesses that don't take Amex because they have high merchant fees. I'm sure there are suppliers on Alibaba that take Amex but its probably a very low percentage of them.

**terryxu** · 01-10-2009 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by discountedclothing

I simply don't trust this kind of service. I usually do a little research first before i order a certain product. Likewise, it is better if you communicate with them and ask for the company details like corporate accounts, business address and contact number.

that not enough.
also you need the pictures of their showroom, office, gate, workshops and so on.

how do you think they reply your mail, but not use company mailbox?