Anyone who has at least a little interest in purchasing goods from China must come across Alibaba sooner or later. Alibaba, as you know, is the largest platform for trade with China. However, year after year we receive emails in which you complain that you bought independently through Alibaba and that you were damaged in one way or another. The peak was probably in 2022, when a customer from Bosnia and Herzegovina complained to us that he was damaged for €50,000. Unfortunately, once you send the money and pay for the goods on your own, without us, we can no longer help you. For this reason, we did not write about the complaints you have about Alibaba. However, now we have to, since it has become personal.
We have been dealing with procurement, control, inspection and shipping of goods from China for almost 15 years, but when we work for our clients, we do not use Alibaba, but directly cooperate with manufacturers.
Of course we are fully familiar with the way of working on Alibaba. What's more, we had our company represented on that platform. You can read the text about it on our blog Alibaba sales an inside look
So, we know what to pay attention to when choosing from whom to buy goods, from the basic information: that the seller has been on the platform for many years, that he has a large number of transactions, that he has good ratings, to detailed information that is not available outside of China see.
For the personal needs of Mr. Glušac bought a gift for his brother for his birthday from a Chinese company that is registered in China but has warehouses in America and the EU. It was an electric bicycle valued at $950. If the company has its own warehouse in Europe, it is to be expected that the goods will be according to EU standards and that there will be no problems, but...
The warehouse is in Poland and after payment, the goods arrived on time at their destination (Vienna-Austria). However, when the bike arrived, problems immediately arose during assembly.
The pipe of the pipe and the pipe of the column into which the pipe of the pipe should enter do not match, the widths deviate significantly. He got over it somehow, our man managed to solve that "little thing".
The next day, the first ride of the new bike, on "electricity". Everything was working until suddenly the vehicle started to lose power and stall. The battery is full but the bike does not work. Apparently there is a malfunction in the electronics. The bike hasn't even traveled 10km!
Of course, we immediately called the company and complained about the product. As it should be, we first tried to resolve the dispute with them, but since that did not work, we turned to Alibaba for help. For those who were lucky and never saw it, it looks like this:
When you open a dispute on Alibaba, the person you are communicating with first directs you to resolve the dispute mutually with the seller
And then some time passes while waiting for the seller to call, and there is no sign or voice from the seller:
After a month you are already really annoyed, the replacement parts have not been sent, and you agree to any option, delivery of a new bike or let them carry it and return the money.
You expect Alibaba to protect you, of course. And then the second month of your agony passes and you think, the seller didn't get your money because you complained about the product within the warranty period and you expect a full refund from Alibaba. That's what you're looking for from Alibaba, but. But... then you get an offer from Alibaba, a refund in the amount of $100!!! Think what, how, why?
After two months of agony, you have had enough of everything, so you agree to the offer, whatever you give.
In the end, the question remains, how is the buyer protected by Alibaba? What would happen if it were a larger order? Who can you trust on Alibaba if there are sellers like this who sell across America in EU countries? This was our recent experience with Alibaba.
Fortunately, this order was for personal needs. We say this because some of our customers insist that we get them from a seller they found on Alibaba or some other platform.
Anyone who has worked with us knows that we do not purchase goods and products from Alibaba. And why would you?
Would a company from, say, Serbia buy in Serbia through an Alibaba-type platform or directly from the manufacturer without intermediaries? There's no logic in using an intermediary, is there?
In order to avoid these and similar problems, please contact us in time, before embarking on the adventure of buying goods from Alibaba!
Contact us and for any other help in purchasing goods from China, we will be happy to help you.