Common Red Flags When Buying from China

Prompted by a recent phone call, where someone asked us which seller on AliExpress could be trusted, we decided to write this article.

We honestly don’t use AliExpress for one simple reason: from China, it’s not accessible. In other words, you can’t even access it while you’re in China.

Another person asked us whether they should buy an excavator they saw listed on Alibaba for €200.

We can’t help you if you think like that. Just ask yourself whether something like that is actually possible.

We’re writing this because, in a relatively short period of time, we received three emails – interestingly from Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia – all of them complaining that they had been scammed in one way or another.

All three cases had one thing in common: the buyers purchased on their own, without us.

Here are those letters.

Examples of online scams

Serbia

Goods were not delivered after payment

"Good day, Mr. Glušac,
We have a problem with that company because we paid for the goods, but they were never delivered.
To avoid paying VAT on that amount (***** USD), we need to officially sue them in our local court.
For that reason, we need a verification of the company’s details.
Can you help?"

Croatia

Fake unexpected charges (excavator/loader)

"Dear Sir,
As you explained online, the same thing happened to me.
This concerns an order for a mini excavator-loader that you inspected at the manufacturer’s factory.
I’m sending the documentation attached.
When the shipment arrived at the port of Koper, the agent informed me about the arrival and the charges.
Those charges are unbelievably high, and my ***** middleman says I should contact the supplier about any unclear unexpected costs.
The supplier has not replied, and this is quite urgent.
During the agreement process, I insisted that the destination should be Z**, which we agreed on. All costs up to Z** were supposed to be covered by the supplier, while I was responsible only for customs, VAT, and handling at *****.
I was misled and put in a bad position because of those Incoterms terms, which I only fully understood when it was too late."

Slovenia

An extra €3,800 for delivery (jet ski)

"Hello, following our phone conversation, I’m attaching the documents showing that we paid the purchase price to Mr. J** J**.
The situation is this: on Alibaba we found a jet ski that was listed at **€ with delivery to our door (or so we were told), and the seller sent us a proforma invoice for **€ because we ordered two units.
We received a tracking number and could follow the package on www.**.com, package number **.
When the package was supposed to arrive in Slovenia, or rather at the border, the seller J** J** contacted us and said we had to pay an additional €3,800 for the package to be delivered to us, and then they would refund the money together with the documents for the two jet skis. Since we didn’t understand why we had to pay extra, we of course refused. Within a few minutes, the seller’s Alibaba account no longer existed and we could no longer contact him.
So I’m reaching out to ask whether you can help us recover at least the purchase price.
I’d also like to know whether it is even possible that one jet ski, as shown on the proforma invoice, can cost ****€ with delivery?"
My question for you is whether anything can be done to exchange the goods, or whether we should try to negotiate with the supplier so that at least the three of us split the cost?

Safe shipment of goods from China (photo: private collection).

These are the newest examples, and interestingly enough, all three happened within a relatively short period of just 2–3 weeks.

Scams happen all the time, but people either don’t realize it or simply think, “It won’t happen to me.”

It’s never pleasant to lose money, but if you’re buying small quantities as a private person, the damage is usually limited. A scam in wholesale importing, on the other hand, can be a very serious problem.

The biggest scam and financial loss we know of was when a buyer from Sarajevo contacted us a few years ago and said he had been tricked out of €50,000.

Once you end up in a situation like this, there is very little that can be done. At that point, even we can’t help you. You should have contacted us before making the payment.

So if you’re buying on your own, keep your eyes open and be very careful about what you’re doing!

In addition to finding you better product prices and checking the goods and the seller, we are here to make your trade with China safe so these things don’t happen.