Importing website like Alibaba.com

[anonymous-user]

Hi all, like most of you I hate paying over the top for things ( especially when time is on my side ) so from time to time I want something probably made in India or China which carries a high premium by UK sellers. I've seen Alibaba.com which seems to offer what I'm after but I can't get my head around it. . . Do others find it easy to use successfully or is there other ways to shop online easier around the world? Cheers

[L4CON]

Alibaba is more for business to business and often suppliers have minimum orders from what I understand, although I've never tried to purchase anything there myself.

You may find what you're looking for on AliExpress (owned by the same company as Alibaba I believe), which should be more straightforward to use.

Edited by L4CON on Tuesday 30th June 13:18

[danpalmer1993]

I've also found dhgate can be good for this kind of purchase.

[Gareth79]

Agreed with both of the above. AliExpress is good for random Chinese stuff that is sold here with a brand name at a huge markup. DHgate is more towards clothing/accessories (watches/sunglasses etc if you know what I mean) and has a different set of sellers/agents. Taobao is worth a try but you either need to know the language or use an agent's website to buy.

For all of them, sorting by number of sales and then reading the reviews is essential. People post photos of what they actually received, and how it was packed, which is very useful.

[i4got]

Not had a problem with AliExpress. Delivery has varied from a week to, in the worst case, 4 weeks. But other than that, fine.

[anonymous-user]

Thanks, all makes sense now ( I think )

[toxgobbler]

I have also had some success with https://uk.banggood.com/

[Plymo]

toxgobbler said:

I have also had some success with https://uk.banggood.com/

Yep, I've used them before for model stuff.
They have an interesting attitude to customs, for a very small fee you can "insure" against the cost of customs charges!
I've never actually had anything stopped though.
(Not dodgy stuff btw but no idea if they are pauit VAT or not!)