Alibaba.com ...?

[Leather by LOU]

Is anyone familiar with alibaba.com? they seem to want to do business in a manner that is quite suspect to me. I cant tell if they are just a listing service for overseas manufacturers or what the deal is. I cannot get the manufacturer info from them without creating an account and am quite surprised by some of the things they seem to be able to supply and how small of minimums. I want to believe but worry about sending billing information overseas if I don't have too.

[RoyalLeatherDesigns]

I have seen this website too, I believe this is a listing service and you most likely have to purchase a whole lot of the item or items. For example when I was looking for my first sewing machine this website came up through google. I contacted one of the brokers because I seen a Used Consew 206 rb-2 for $ 200, well when I finally got a respond from the broker via e-mail he said that I must purchase the whole lot of sewing machines wich was close to 500 of them they came from a factory that had closed overseas. So basically you buy the whole contents of the container. It did not seem fraudulent at all but I think this is more for like big companies that buy 100s if not thousands of the same item or lots of a certain product for re-sale. I am almost sure you cannot buy 1 item from the lotl if so it is too good to be true. I hope this helps I would not buy from them just because of the fact that it's a very large sale.

[Spence]

I believe they are a brokerage located in Singapore. True, you have to buy large quantities to qualify for the low prices. I question the quality of the goods they sell.

[veedub3]

The site is a place for commercial businesses to list their wares for sale targeting other commercial businesses. All of the sellers are owners of their own store, and they are located all over the world. I have dealt with sellers from India, United Arab Emirates, South America, South Korea, Thailand, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ecuador, and the UK just to name a few. Just like listing an item on Ebay, same thing. They open an account and list their items for sale, but their target market is Overseas Commercial businesses that do high volume, so yes the purchase quantity will high. Usually minimums are 1,000 pieces and up.

I started dealing with sellers on Alibaba in 2001 when I first entered the export business, I have had some good transactions and I have also had several bad ones. After being burned, I started doing more research on the site and looking into the reviews of other buyers. The ones I found were horrid. Wish I would have done the research before hand, because that was one expensive lesson I learned.

To find out more, do a Google search for "alibaba reviews" and read some of the reviews for yourself. Although I am sure after reading through some of them you will decide against doing business with this site.

The only thing I do with Alibaba now is use the information I find as leads. I am overseas several times a month, traveling all over the world, and I will sometimes have my driver take me to a business I found on Alibaba, and you will be surprised how many have been broken down apartments, vacant lots, or a legit business that have absolutely nothing to do with the person i had been conversating with via email and Skype. I will also say that I have found some great contacts this way, but had I not actually went and checked them out, I would have been skeptical and hesitant to do business with them.

I know every one does not have the ability to hop on a plane at a moments notice like I do, but this is what I tell everyone that wants to do business with one of the sellers. Send them an email, tell them you are interested in their products and want to check the quality by ordering samples. This way it is only a small investment and if for some reason you don't get the items, your loss is minimal. Plus samples will usually be way more than you need. Make sure you tell them you will pay for the samples, that will make them give in and agree to sending the samples, instead of having you make the minimum purchase amount. Because they want you to come back as a buyer, they will usually send the good stuff. Be careful when going back because they are known for the bait and switch. Use Paypal and ask them to send you an invoice to your Paypal email address, instead of you simply sending the money to them. This way if something goes wrong, Paypal will have proof the transaction was for the purchase of goods and can fight for you. Never wire money, difficult to trace who picked up the money on the other end. If they say they don't have Paypal, move on and quick!

Do your research, and be careful because their are a lot of scammers lurking waiting on their next victim.

Karina

[Leather by LOU]

Thank you very much for all of your replies. I kept coming alibaba.com while looking for custom hardware. I guess more research is in order. I really appreciate the warning as it is rough enough starting a business without being robbed.

[SeattleLeather]

If you want a cool site that's a lot less sketchy... Check out

http://www.thomasnet.com/

This is the same type of thing, but US based. They list tons of US based manufacturers, and I have found several companies I think I will be working with in the future on here. In addition to manufacturers, they do list many big distributors too. Fact is some manufacturers/distributors are only SUPER high volume, but some I've come across have what basically amounts to retail websites as well. Minimum orders of $30 and such.

If you're looking for truly custom hardware you will find companies that do it on there. And made in the USA, so no sketchy overseas madness to deal with. Plus I just like supporting US manufacturing as well. What kind of hardware are you looking for specifically? I've built an INSANE made in USA bookmark folder for various types of hardware, and I might be able to give you a good lead.

[brodenny]

I have purchased several items from alibaba.com. Like you, I was not too sure about using it so I started with a very small order. So far I have no complaints, most orders for me have been shipped from China so shipping takes about 3-4 weeks.

[wind power]

With only scan reading the posts, I can tell you my experience with alibaba. Much of it is website for Chinese hardware... I have bought a few things through various suppliers, one product was 100,000 pieces it took a few days for my supplier to make them but once finished and was shipped through DHL, it left Hong Kong and was on my door step with in 26 hours here on the east coast of the U.S.....as to my supplier on Alibaba I would not hesitate to buy from them again

[GoldenKnight]

For what its worth, an acquaintance who makes dog collars ordered the rivets, buckles, & D-rings thru a supplier on Alibaba. The quality was okay for mid-grade production for smaller dogs, but would not have met my personal standards for custom work with my name attached or medium to large dogs... but to each their own. I thought the strength of the metal in the buckles was brittle & weak. I would agree that if I was going to buy hardware, I would want samples first.