What if I told you that you can shop from Chinese major e-commerce platforms – Alibaba.com, 1688, Pinduoduo, Taobao, and Tmall at a far cheaper price compared to what they sell on AliExpress, eBay, or even Amazon.

The additional good news is that you can effortlessly ship them from China to the United States at a cheaper shipping cost. There are no extra charges on customs clearance, VAT, or delivery fees to your doorsteps to any part of the world, US, UK, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Russia, Italy, Germany, France etc.

Here is how you can save cost by buying from Alibaba.com, 1688, Pinduoduo, Taobao, Tmall and ship within 7 days.

You might have heard about AliExpress. That is typically where you must have indirectly made your purchase online. AliExpress is a Chinese e-commerce app where you can buy any product at a cheaper price.

Sometimes shipping from AliExpress may take about two weeks unless you choose a premium delivery option called epacket.

On the other hand, other Chinese shopping apps like 1688, Pinduoduo, Taobao, Tmall allow you to do that at a smaller price compared to AliExpress.

There are a few basic differences between AliExpress, Alibaba, and other Chinese shopping platforms.

AliExpress

• An international e-commerce platform from China to the rest of the world
• A shopping platform from sellers to customers.

Alibaba

• An international e-commerce platform from China to the rest of the world
• A shopping platform from sellers to businesses (A wholesale platform).

1688, Pinduoduo, Taobao, Tmall

• They are Chinese-based shopping platforms in China to Chinese
• Their prices in most cases are way cheaper than the same product listed on ALiExpress or Alibaba
• You cannot shop on these platforms if you do not have a Chinese address on the receiving end. (You cannot add your home address)
• They are not in English, unlike Alibaba and AliExpress. If you cannot understand Chinese characters, you have some challenges buying from them. (We will address how you can deal with it)
• You may not purchase from these platforms with your debit cards unless you have an Alipay account, a Chinese Bank account, or a procurement agent in China. (We will walk you through how to achieve this).

These may sound so overwhelming to you right now. I promise you, it is so simple.

You can purchase from AliExpress either using Paypal or a debit card and ship to your country. It may take a few weeks or months before getting to you.

You will be left to tell about your experience after you have received your package. It could be fair or worse.

The same thing happens while buying from Alibaba to the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, or to any part of the world.

A major challenge with buying from Alibaba is that most sellers have a high minimum order quantity, MOQ. You could see sellers who cannot sell below 100 pieces, 1000 pieces, or 10,000 pieces.

If you are buying from China for personal use, Alibaba may not be a great choice owing to the limitation in th quantity a customer can buy.

Generally, you may be faced with sellers who ship to you a different thing as arranged. It is very common.

Let me explain

A customer may see the iPhone X brand new 64GB for $80. You as a customer truly know this is too good to be true.

It is far too obvious.

• iPhone X is no longer available as new.
• iPhone X was never supplied at wholesale at $80
• iPhone do not have official distributors on Alibaba.

It is a self-destruct bomb.

Another similar instance is seeing a Samsung S23 Ultra brand new at $120 on Alibaba.

How true can this ever be?

Sometimes you may not blame few sellers. Why? In few cases, customers do not read description nor ask questions. When you take time to read full description and possibly ask question, they will tell you.

When you finally get these products delivered, you begin to fume profusely.

Another instance is when a seller sends what you did not order to you. In a very few case, it could be mistake. Sometimes, you get to receive incomplete goods which could be as a result of that particular item being out of stock. In most cases, it is very intentional.

They ship out what is available. Of course they need your dollars.

Does that mean there are still no great sellers? There are many of them.

What about 1688, Pinduoduo, Taobao, Tmall?

No way!

Buying from online shopping platforms in China comes with challenges. You just have to identify the challenges and create a system of advantage. We will talk about this later in this article.

• Is buying from Taobao better than Alibaba?
• Is buying from 1688 better than Alibaba?
• Is buying from Pinduoduo better than Alibaba?

Sadly there are no better Chinese e-commerce platforms. You just have to choose a favorite.

1688 and Taobao

These two platforms are owned by the Alibaba Group which owns Alibaba and AliExpress. It still boils down to rotation of what works for you better.

1688 has a similar feel to Taobao. Both platforms work as if they are the same. However, the major difference is that 1688 is targeted as the wholesale platform for Chinese users while Taobao is seen as the retail platform from sellers to consumers in China.

See it this way;

• Alibaba is to 1688 as
• AliExpress is to Taobao.

This is also similar to Pinduoduo and Tmall. Tmall sells more genuine brands. There is a tiny chance of fake brands on Tmall.

You may still be faced with every challenge you face on either Alibaba, AliExpress, or any online shopping platform in China.

What can I do differently?

Before that, let me explain how you can purchase from 1688, Pinduoduo, Taobao or Tmall as a foreigner.

How do I purchase from 1688, Pinduoduo, Taobao, and Tmall as a foreigner outside China?

You need to open an account with any of the platforms. 1688, Taobao, Tmall needs your phone number. You can use any phone number. Pinduoduo needs a WeChat account. WeChat (Weixin) is a Chinese text messaging application like WhatsApp.

But the challenge now is that it is almost not possible to open a WeChat account.

• You need Alipay, WeChat Pay, Chinese Bank or a debit card.
• You need a Chinese address for your order to be delivered. You cannot use your UK address or US address to purchase from 1688, Pinduoduo, Taobao or Tmall. In this way, you need an agent to use their address and in turn, help you receive all your orders, package them, and ship them to your country.