Comment by rickdale | Hacker News Reader

Comment by rickdale | Hacker News Reader

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Having ordered about $30,000 worth of goods from ali baba this year, my experience has been an interesting one.

First off, I started selling electronic cigarettes with custom cartridges. When I found a demand I went to ali baba to get the e-cig kits for cheap. It was easy to find a supplier, but for sure the lady I am dealing with isn't the factory, but she has been good. Few qualms though.

For one, she didn't want to use the ali baba payment setup. So the first payment was a leap of faith. On my second order (for about the same amount of $) she sent me different kits than the first time because one e-cig was longer than the other. I didnt know I was getting a modified kit until I received about 500 of them.

My overall experience with this random company I met through ali baba has been a good one. Each time they have lowered my price and even dealt with the dead units I receive (Over 100 dead chargers thus far... I have been taking them apart and resoldering them myself, but they replace each one). Would be nice to talk to the factory directly, but the people on ali baba really helped me launch a company through an IM window.

Thanks for your feedback, rickdale! Congrats on launching your business under such uncertainty. We love hearing about experiences through B2B sites, especially Alibaba.com. Although you haven't had any horror stories, which we hear all too frequently, sounds like you've experienced a few curveballs. No more curveballs! Help us build a truly transparent purchasing environment.

The greatest challenge I have faced through this was transferring the money internationally. My first order I did an international wire transfer from my credit union and it took 7 days, went pretty smooth. My second order the credit union had switched companies for processing wire transfers. Took them over 30 days to finally return my money. They thought it was fraud; I tried to explain to the wire transfer company that I had made the same wire transfer 3 months prior, but they weren't convinced.

My next solution was to try Western Union online. Their system is awesome. Took a couple of days to get my business approved (faxing docs and such) but then I was able to make the transfer no problem. Coincidentally, I messed up the account number and so after a week of the money not showing up in my distributors account Western Union corrected my error within 15 minutes of me realizing it. My third order the money went through in 10 hours and all of the account information was saved from the previous order, making it really simple.

Right now I email back and forth with my 'contact' in China. She is very good and really all I need to order goods. I noticed your site is a lot about tracking the products. I get a DHL tracking number before the products leave the facility and can watch them from HK to US. I don't have photos, but I am sure I could get them. I sorta like the gamble...

How are you guys going to stop companies from intercepting potential customers and getting them to pay directly?

Awesome feedback re: payment methods, thanks again for sharing!

We encourage buyers to route their goods through our growing network of inspection locations. These locations are neutral 3rd party logistics service providers (think DHL, except specialized in value added services like quality verification). They use our high definition inspection technology (http://www.hdtradeservices.com/distributor.php#inspection) to provide buyers with the ability to verify quality remotely, in real time. If the quality of the shipment does not meet your agreement with your vendor, you should not complete payment. It's a very proactive way to manage trade risk.

Let me know if you want to learn more.

All the best, Daniel

Daniel,

Would like to send you an email about possibly using your company for my next order (which would be next year). I have some basic q's and some more input on my past experience I would like to share and really I would like to learn more. Let me know if you are open to a line of communication.

me=midler.dave[at]gmail

Hey Rick, you've been nice to share your experience. As someone in China, some free advice --

I'd be aware when paying upfront, that it's almost certainly a when not an if that a shipment won't go through and your broker will disappear. Standard operating procedure here is to always screw with the money in the last batch before closing out of work... it's not always even the provider's fault, it can happen anywhere in the supply chain that you don't know about, but you'll feel it. So just budget in cash/inventory, and probably mentally/emotionally too, for your contact to disappear with your cash someday and you getting no product. If it doesn't happen, so much the better. But it could ruin your day if you're not prepared for it.

(I love China anyways... it's just the standards/controls aren't there yet. Ten to twenty years from now it'll be a non-issue. But take a couple minutes to protect yourself in the now.)

First of all, I live in China (Beijing). Alibaba is mostly a C2C (or at most C2B) platform and is the method offered to foreign countries. It started as a way, similar to eBay, to sell your 'Buy now' products (called Taobao), however it easily enabled small 'business' to establish; individuals started to resell products and act as agents for the factories.

It is much harder to deal with the factory yourself. First of all, the quantities you have to buy are MUCH higer before they even wanna deal with you. Chinese agents mostly can get small quantities. Also, there is a language barrier. English language level is not really high, especially in the area where manufacturing happens. it is really YMMV... they often are not much better than the agents.. From what you tell here, it seems you are dealing with a good agent.

About the original article. What do they mean with 'safer' ? Security? Honesty?

gbraad, thanks very much for your insights! Your assessment of Alibaba.com's international marketplace is spot on.

Here's what we mean by 'safer'; our competing B2B International Marketplace (soon to be branded) is an integrated ecosystem of logistics service providers (neutral 3rd party logistics warehouses), suppliers and buyers. Our inspection, inventory management, and distribution management suite allows for real-time visibility (http://www.hdtradeservices.com/distributor.php#inspection), and facilitates a hyper-proactive approach to purchasing. The result is an unprecedented level of transparency and security when sourcing, as you can verify quality before your goods are paid for and shipped. Further, all suppliers on our platform will be rigorously vetted, and monitored via our inspection service.

I hope this helps answer your question.

I think you hid an answer somewhere in their, bit it is buried in advertising puffery and pablum.

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