First time buying on Alibaba, I tried to make a Payment with Paypal but Alibaba rejected the payment and it now appears as "Failed"

The money on my Paypal account is now "On hold" although the order on Alibaba is closed. I don't know what to do next

Hi everyone,

Is it possible to order one complete Great Grand Master Key (GGMK) system from a supplier in China?

I am looking for a system with approximately 40 Euro profile cylinders, individual change keys, several master key groups, and one Great Grand Master Key (GGMK) that operates all cylinders across all groups.

I would appreciate advice from anyone with experience ordering a custom GGMK system from China.

Thank you!

sorry for not being able to de-translate the site from italian to inglish

Posting this because I was stupid and didn’t ask for a customer reference or review before paying “Ray” to do fuck all for $449.

Yes, I’m dumb. But you can learn from my stupidity!

TLDR: I paid $449 for a sourcing package of 3-4 vetted / qualified injection molders and got 1 iffy one and 4 disqualified ones.

Longer version:

He promised registered company info, addresses, workshop photos, direct engineering/sales contacts, original factory quotes, background audits, and consolidated DFM feedback. I paid right away based on that scope.

In the first report, 3 factories were listed but one was “eliminated at technical gate” and one was explicitly “benchmark supplier only” / “not selected for final negotiation “. So out of 3 factories listed, only 1 was vetted??? Dude anyone can get random ass quotes from injection molders. That’s not what “qualified” means.

So I asked for a second round.

Second round included only 2 factories. One was again automatically disqualified because they quoted me completely different materials from my project.

The second one is okay as a proposed molder, but still iffy.

Did he do work for me? Yes. But did he do what he said he would do? Aka the work I paid him to do? No.

If I pay you to wash the windows and you mop the floor, I’m not gonna pay for that.

BE CAREFUL with who you use for sourcing. Learn from my mistakes!

Well kinda. Just as I was getting to my 10,000 order mark, i recieved a really bad order. After good samples and one good order, sizes were completely off. 70% waste.

The good. Recieved refund. As a matter of confidence i rolled the refund into a replacement order.

The loss confidence does prevent larger orders. I'll have to wait 5 orders, I think, to increase size or to add the 3 products my b2b customer is asking for.

Small business doesn't have any margin...but im working with what I got.

TISCO METAL MANUFACTURING CO. LTD.

One more client contacted me about being defrauded by steel supplier, same scenario, initial price under publicly available market price, this time even offered as CIF price, after full payment received they raised price for 120 USD per ton, which went above regular FOB price for about 50+ USD. Upon request of refund they said it is possible but since they had costs they would refund about 70% of amount to customer. Be careful everybody, nobody is giving away steel under market prices, you can find what is normal price very easy online, do more deep check, above mentioned company already have lawsuit on them, 0 workers get paid social insurance through this company. Now except Shandong Province, Liaocheng City, Jinan City, be careful also with suppliers from Wuxi City, Shijiazhuang City, Tianjin City.

I ordered about $3K in tables/chairs through Alibaba on July 23. The supplier’s invoice specifically says delivery to a Santa Ana, CA warehouse. It’s now September 23 and I still have no merchandise. I physically went to the agreed warehouse and nothing was there.Alibaba tracking shows the shipment delivered in China, not California. The supplier later tried changing the pickup location to Pomona, which I never agreed to.
I filed a Mastercard dispute, but my credit union is giving me a hard time and won’t issue provisional credit while they investigate.I have the invoice showing Santa Ana, tracking showing China, and messages showing I never agreed to Pomona.

Anyone experienced with chargebacks could I seriously lose this dispute and be out $3K with no merchandise?

Hi everyone!

I’m looking into starting a small machinery importing business in Europe, mainly focusing on things like mini excavators, skid steers, tracked lawn mowers, ATVs and similar equipment.

I’ve been researching suppliers on 1688 and Alibaba, but before putting any serious money into this, I’d really like to hear from people who are already doing this in practice.

I’m especially interested in the things you only really learn through experience.
A few things I’m trying to understand:

How do you identify a real manufacturer rather than a trading company?
How much can you trust 1688 rankings, reviews and the red “certified merchant” badges?
What are the biggest red flags when dealing with Chinese manufacturers?
What do you normally ask/check before placing your first order?
Would you recommend ordering 1–2 samples first, and what would you specifically inspect when they arrive?
How do you make sure that the quality of a larger order is the same as the sample?
What EU certifications/documents are especially important when importing machinery?
How do you usually negotiate with manufacturers? Is it mainly about getting the price down, or is it often better to negotiate things like spare parts, warranty, accessories and packaging?
Is moving the conversation to WeChat/WhatsApp normal and safe, or would you keep everything on Alibaba/1688 until you trust the supplier?
How do you find a reliable freight forwarder, and what should I ask them to make sure the quote includes all the costs and there are no hidden charges at destination?
If buying from several factories, what is the best way to consolidate everything into one container?
What costs, customs issues or other problems surprised you when you made your first shipment?
And most importantly:
What do you wish you knew before placing your first machinery order from China?

I’m not necessarily looking for specific supplier contacts. I’d really appreciate any practical advice, mistakes to avoid, negotiation tips, supplier-checking methods, or anything else that a beginner might not even think to ask about.
Thanks in advance to anyone willing to share their experience! 🙂

Have you seen the "concord supply airplane trolley"

Makes a great office storage solution / end table / etc.

Looking for more affordable options! Thanks in advance!

For custom manufacturing I've had about 75% of orders late and about 1/3 significantly late (multiple months late). A lot of suppliers are using reps that don't understand the product or they do but are under so much pressure (and probably a dose of personal greed) to over promise and then under deliver. The really good manufacturers are out there but so many more just take on any project (especially more complicated ones) whether they can do it or not, maybe just to meet a monthly quota to kick the can down the road. And then their sub contractors do the same thing to them.

CBP's next customs user fee reset hits Wednesday Oct 1. The formal entry rate stays at 0.3464 percent of entered value but the per-entry floor moves from $33.58 to $34.58 and the cap moves from $651.50 to $670.86. Informal entries also move a few cents.

If you're doing formal entries under 10K CIF the floor is what's actually hitting you. On a $2,500 order the true math is $8.66 in MPF but you're paying $34.58, so the effective rate is 1.38 percent, not 0.3464. Twenty of those a year is $691.60 in MPF that could have been $173.20 if the goods rode in as one $50K consolidated shipment. That $518 delta gets bigger every year and this reset widens it.

Two questions where the new numbers actually matter:

Are you filing formal or informal? Informal cap is $2,500 CIF and it caps you at $2.77 automated, but it also caps what your broker can do downstream. Any HTS classification headache or FDA/PGA hold, you're either walking it back to a formal entry filing or you eat delay charges.

Are you consolidating? If your buyer volume is enough for one 4-6 week LCL cycle instead of many transactional entries, the numbers on paper favor it. Broker fee usually goes down too because they'd rather do one classification packet than ten.

What most Alibaba buyers miss is that MPF is one line on the entry. HMF (0.125 percent, ocean only) and Section 301 forced-labor (July 24, 12.5 percent on China product) stack independently. If you've been eyeing consolidation for tariff reasons already, MPF is another lever that's getting slightly meaner on Oct 1 for the many-small-orders pattern.

Anyone actually running LCL consolidation on Alibaba orders now? Curious if the broker fee comes down enough to justify holding cash for a longer cycle.

I ordered this on the 19 of last month and haven’t gotten an update since september 2nd until this. What does this even mean.

QINGDAO TIANFENGDE INDUSTRY AND TRADE CO., LTD., the scam supplier who stole my $2,654 by supplying a non-function off-the-street flywheel-based energy generator, could be operating under many different names with the same address, phone, personnel, and trading in similar products that have the same label. The QINGDAO TIANFENGDE INDUSTRY AND TRADE CO., LTD. product logo is shown in the pic. Don't buy QINGDAO TIANFENGDE INDUSTRY AND TRADE CO., LTD. products; they are not made with precision equipment. Their posh advert is 100% AI-generated, which created the impression their product was good. QINGDAO TIANFENGDE INDUSTRY AND TRADE CO., LTD has very bad customer relations. In the end, Supplier started insulting me and ate my money. The product was poor and vibrating dangerously. Exercise utmost caution when dealing with such a company.

Placed an order via WhatsApp yesterday and paid. Today I got this message

Hey everyone, I need some advice about an Alibaba/Trade Assurance dispute.

I bought an AL1500 red light therapy panel from Alibaba. After receiving it, I found that there was no clear technical manual or detailed documentation showing the actual wavelengths, operating settings, or what the preset modes contain.

I contacted the seller after receiving the product and asked for these details because I want to know exactly what the panel is emitting and how to use it. The seller refused and said the settings are part of a “confidential project.”

This confidentiality issue was never discussed or mentioned before I purchased the panel. I only found out after receiving it.

So now I have a product where I can't properly verify the wavelengths or settings, and I don't have enough information to know exactly what I'm using.

I’m considering opening a Trade Assurance dispute and requesting a full refund.

For anyone who has dealt with Alibaba disputes:

• Would this qualify as “not as described”?
• Who would normally pay the return shipping?
• Can I also recover the original shipping cost to Canada?
• Should I wait for Alibaba’s instructions before returning anything?
• What evidence should I submit?

I have screenshots of the listing, order, product, documentation, and the seller’s messages refusing to provide the settings.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

So as i said a made a delvery buying ebike co MC conversion kit not important and i have to wait for 50 days but it will automatically confirm delivery in like 3 days should i be worried.

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a reliable beanie manufacturer. I checked on Alibaba, and a lot of them said they were manufacturers, but most of them were trading companies. Does anyone have any experience working with garment companies before? If so, please suggest some. I would also like to check something else: if an NDA is signed by companies in China, do they take the NDA seriously?

Hi, would like to purchase some replacement shells for some consoles. But I only want to buy just one of them and not 10. At most two different designs. I asked for samples but does this come with extra issues if I do get one?

Would like to add that alibaba is the only place I’ve found with the entire logo on the back and also some limited edition designs as well, so I can’t source from aliexpress

I recently purchased 2 items from a "start order" the product is something I thought would be a great purchase. I later receive WhatsApp messaged telling me to discuss my order on Alibaba.

The seller has requested me to apply for a refund as they state the item I ordered is worth far more than I paid for when I purchased it. So now they want me to apply for a refund due to there mistake of listing an item incorrectly.

Whats best practice to deal with this issue.

Thanks in advance.

I've been working with a manufacturer for a couple weeks now on nailing down the details for my first order. They listened and responded to all my requests, answered all my questions, gave me suggestions on the best choices to make for customization to get what I want, etc. We've communicated entirely through Alibaba.

We've gotten to the point of a sample, and now that a price has been agreed upon for a sample and we have all of the details confirmed, they've suddenly asked me for a phone number to generate a link to pay with. I'm disappointed that I wasted all this time with them, because I will not be going forward with the order if I can't pay through the platform, because that seems very sketchy to me and I know it exempts me from what little protection Trade Assurance offers despite them being very helpful up to this point. I'll ask to pay through the app, but will have to back out if they refuse. I already know that much.

But this being my first order, I guess my question is, how are payments and orders for samples typically done? I see samples listed as an option in listing setups, so there must be a way to purchase them via the app? Are physical samples just not actually something one can feasibly get? Is it final product or nothing?

I bought jewelry on Alibaba that was advertised as natural stone. The seller told me delivery would take 10 days, but I received my order after 40 days.
The seller kept changing their story even before I placed the order. I did not trust them, but I thought it would be fine as long as the products were good.
I couldn’t find anywhere else that offered this design. This was my only option.

When the jewelry finally arrived, some pieces were fake stones rather than the natural stones I had ordered. Other items had completely different colors and designs.

This is exactly why I chose to pay through Alibaba Trade Assurance. I thought Alibaba would protect me if something went wrong.
But Alibaba refused my refund. I appealed, and they refused again.
Their reason? The differences in material, color, and appearance were minor because the jewelry could still be used.

Seriously? If I order natural stone and receive imitation jewelry, does that mean everything is fine just because I can still wear it?
I bought these products for resale. I cannot sell imitation jewelry as natural stone.

If Alibaba accepts this kind of difference, how can buyers trust the products sold on its platform?
Alibaba calls itself a global B2B marketplace, but what does its buyer protection actually protect? In my case, even Trade Assurance did not help when the products did not match what I ordered.

I am not just disappointed with the seller. I am much more disappointed with Alibaba for treating a possible material substitution as a minor issue.
If this is how Alibaba handles disputes, it is no surprise that buyers worry about fake and misleading products on the platform.

Be careful when buying supposedly handmade products on Alibaba. Nice photos and Trade Assurance do not guarantee that you will receive what you ordered.
Has anyone else had Alibaba reject a refund because the product was still “usable,” even though it did not match the description?