Alibaba is way tooo expensive

Hello Fello · Sep 30, 2021

I have recently started importing from Alibaba.

Today I got a call from an experienced guy as he wanted to discuss something and suddenly he started telling me that Alibaba has 95% of the traders only and the products that I am thinking is cheap is a lot more expensive actually and I can get a better deal if I go to the manufacturer directly.

I just wanted to know if someone here on bhw experienced the same or know any other trusted source apart from alibaba where I can get to meet direct manufacturers??

Cro7 · Sep 30, 2021

Interested.

Piss · Sep 30, 2021

Sure,
The manufacturers are way cheaper in most cases. But they're still the same factory, just pre-branded stuff they slap a random name label onto, before shipping it off to you or your customers.

You can use them but it means having to
- Negotiate prices yourself
- Buying in bulk. Huge bulks, spending thousands or tens or thousands of dollars at a time for decent prices.
Edit: to find these people you have to use search engines to look up whatever, find some company that made their site to return a search on their website for the product, to list what they have and for what price. They're weird, 1990's looking websites often, and go straight from a list of the product through a form to fill out how many you want with "negotiable" prices.

JessePinkmanBB · Sep 30, 2021

They're expensive due to the inflow of demand from Dropshippers and even direct retail to the US/EU.. People know of Aliexpress/Alibaba - they've increased their profit margins to get a piece of the pie.

You're gonna have to dig deeper; if you're serious about outsourcing the cheapest products, I'd look for agents that will locally find manufacturers for your product and negotiate for you.

Communicating with these Manufacturers is more difficult than you'd expect. That's why I recommend a sourcing agent who knows the game and can be your local representative.

Few links:

https://www.sourcingallies.com/https://www.supplyia.com/50-best-sourcing-agent-in-china/

IamNRE · Sep 30, 2021

Aliexpress/alibaba is mainly for foreigners.

Locals don't shop on those sites. Try taobao or something like that. Not quite the manufacturer, but you'll at least get local prices.

anatho · Oct 1, 2021

Are you doing dropshipping? If yes, no way to use manufacturers because they all have MOQ. So be prepared to order in buk and pay customs fee. Also you will have to pack and ship the products then on your own. Alibaba has a dropshipping department. The product prices are not very expensive. Problem is that shipping sometimes can be too expensive.

Durangoal · Oct 3, 2021

Try Taobao, 1688 or better still, get a chinese agent. You can find one on Fiverr or Fb groups ....

Kenobii · Oct 3, 2021

Taobao and 1688 are way better.

FIREBOSS · Oct 3, 2021

Kenobii said:
Taobao and 1688 are way better.

but they won't ship outside china?

IM Dude · Oct 3, 2021

Durangoal said:
Try Taobao, 1688 or better still, get a chinese agent. You can find one on Fiverr or Fb groups ....

Good information, bookmarking it.

John Tran · Oct 3, 2021

FIREBOSS said:
but they won't ship outside china?

They do, thats why people often use Agent, who can speak Chinese, to order from such sites.

FIREBOSS · Oct 3, 2021

gowiththeflow said:
They do, thats why people often use Agent, who can speak Chinese, to order from such sites.

that's good to know. I thought they won't offer outside of china. Can you pay them via Paypal?

roydan · Oct 3, 2021

I found that Global Sorces more suited for what I needed at the time, you should look into it.
Either way, the more you buy-the cheaper it gets, and there's always room for negotiations.

Kenobii · Oct 3, 2021

FIREBOSS said:
but they won't ship outside china?

There are a lot of services out there. The fee is actually very low, around 1-3% per order.

ygg · Oct 3, 2021

Yes, when looking for something, I usually get price ranges varying from x1 to x20 the price. A lot of marketers there apparently...

Last time I purchased items that costed me $0,50/piece, which was an amazing price compared to anything else I found. I was happy to find that item on this price, in my country this item costs $1,50+. However, when I got the box, there was an invoice from the original manufacturer inside, stating $0,10/piece lol! Looks like I ordered through an agent, who made x5 profit for himself, and managed to find me the absolute best price compared to anybody else.

Durangoal · Oct 3, 2021

2DHades said:
Yes, when looking for something, I usually get price ranges varying from x1 to x20 the price. A lot of marketers there apparently...

Last time I purchased items that costed me $0,50/piece, which was an amazing price compared to anything else I found. I was happy to find that item on this price, in my country this item costs $1,50+. However, when I got the box, there was an invoice from the original manufacturer inside, stating $0,10/piece lol! Looks like I ordered through an agent, who made x5 profit for himself, and managed to find me the absolute best price compared to anybody else.

haha really and this is from Alibaba? Or what platform are you talking about ?

Si72 · Oct 10, 2021

Durangoal said:
Try Taobao, 1688 or better still, get a chinese agent. You can find one on Fiverr or Fb groups ....

Yeah, they're all over FB groups about dropshipping. If you post there asking for an agent, you'll have your choice.

Si72 · Oct 10, 2021

Si72 said:
Yeah, they're all over FB groups about dropshipping. If you post there asking for an agent, you'll have your choice.

There are also groups solely for finding suppliers. So maybe that's a good idea as well.

Durangoal · Oct 10, 2021

Si72 said:
There are also groups solely for finding suppliers. So maybe that's a good idea as well.

ok got it!

Mrwhopy · Oct 11, 2021

Alibaba and aliexpress are already with profit margin for them, so the normal price would be at least 50-70% cheaper.

Alibaba is way tooo expensive

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