2024 Update: Why 1688 is Now the Best Choice for Amazon Sellers Over Alibaba
Sourcing products from Alibaba.com and selling them on Amazon is known to be a popular entry point into e-commerce.Alibaba offers a wide range of source manufacturers at prices that are cheaper than the cost of manufacturing in the West, thus attracting a large number of Amazon sellers who want to source products at a lower cost. They can manufacture and ship their products to Amazon where you can sell them to a wide customer base.
However, did you know that Alibaba also has a lot of irrationalities, the most widely criticised is that there are many merchants on Alibaba who appear to be factories, but are actually agents, which means that you will pay a higher purchase price, and you may also be asked to order a larger starting quantity. At the same time, there are some agents who are not reliable, and the goods purchased from them may face problems such as poor quality or very long shipping time.
Nowadays, smarter Amazon sellers have set their sights on 1688.
What is 1688?
Accoding to 1688, It was founded in 1999. 1688.com is China’s largest integrated domestic wholesale marketplace.
1688.com is known as the "product source for Chinese e-commerce," bringing together wholesale suppliers and offering goods at competitive wholesale prices from various industries. As of fiscal year 2024, 1688.com had over 1 million paying members. 1688.com expanded from B2B business to procurement services for small and medium-sized enterprises and consumers. It is also a strategic innovative business of Alibaba Group.
Why find supplies from 1688 instead of Alibaba?
It has no doubt that most sellers know more about Alibaba than 1688. They are owned by Alibaba Group and are known worldwide. Alibaba is a global platform that connects global buyers and Chinese sellers worldwide, while 1688 is a B2B platform focusing mainly on the Chinese market.
As a local Chinese B2B platform, 1688 not only has more local suppliers, but also has better control over quality and price, as well as shorter delivery times. As a result, you can find Chinese factories with more sources, lower prices and smaller minimum order quantities on 1688. Some customers say that delivery times on Alibaba are long and that some manufacturers sell products that are not durable. These situations occur much less on the 1688 platform. As a result, 1688 is gradually becoming a new sourcing target for Amazon sellers.
How to sell on Amazon from 1688?
Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) is a service provided by Amazon that allows sellers to store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers. When a customer places an order, these fulfillment centers pick, pack, and ship the product on behalf of the seller. Additionally, Amazon provides customer service and handles returns for these products.
The basic concept of selling on Amazon from 1688 involves sourcing cheap products from 1688 and then selling them through Amazon FBA.
The flow typically includes the following steps:
①Finding products on 1688
②Contacting suppliers on 1688
③Shipping and logistics from 1688 to Amazon
④Listing products on Amazon
⑤Managing inventory and sales
While the flow is easy to understand, completely eliminating the risk and being diligent with each step is crucial to being successful. There are so many mistakes and hiccups you can encounter on each step that will cost you thousands of dollars, so don’t rush the process.
How can we find a good supplier on Alibaba?
Hire someone to conduct a factory audit to meet the manager, examine the facilities, production capacity, compliance certificates and so on. This will minimize your importing risks.
Don't worry if you have no idea how to find someone trustworthy, Tool4seller can help you solve the problem.
Tool4seller's recently launched feature——1688 Selected Supplies, helps you easily source products directly from 1688. By connecting with the API provided by 1688, we offer a selection of reliable suppliers and high-quality products, simplifying the process of finding quality sources, ensuring you get the best price for your goods and avoiding common sourcing pitfalls. Using 1688 Select Sources, you can optimise your sourcing strategy, reduce risk and focus on growing your Amazon business.
1. Find 1688 Selected Supplies feature in Tool4seller's Market Insights Function
2. You can search 1688 supplies by Image Search or Select Store Product to Search to Quick Search, or you can use Keyword Search to find the preferred supplies. (Please clear the Quick Search filters. You cannot operate Keyword Search if you already selected Image Search or Store Product Search)
3. In addition, you can meet your expectations by filtering product categories, manufacturers (including merchants' overall ratings, collection rates, whether they are certified factories, etc.), source information (origin, style, etc.), and more.
4. After screening, you will be able to get quality supplies that meet your set filters, and you can check their Annual Unite Sold , Wholesale Price, Repurchase rate and other data.
5. When you think a product meets your expectations or if you have any ideas about the product, you can click “Remove to Favourites”.
The product will appear in “My favourites”, so that you can check the product quickly in the future.
6. Click “Details”
You can see the specifics of the product, as well as information such as certificates provided by the manufacturer.
7. If you are satisfied with the supply and want to purchase, you can click on the bottom of the “Go to 1688 to Purchase”, the system will automatically jump to the 1688 of the commodity page, you can communicate with the manufacturer about it.We're about to update “Purchasing Agent” function with a proxy purchasing service to help you with language barriers and cannnot-register for paypal issues.
8. You can also conveniently find 1688 high-quality supplies on your mobile phone anytime, anywhere! You can find this function under Product Research, and the operation is similar to that of the web terminal.
So far, we have achieved to help Amazon sellers quickly find similar supplies on 1688. Buying on behalf function has been in preparation, please stay tunned！
Conclusion
In many cases, 1688 is a better fit for Amazon sellers than Alibaba.1688 not only offers more local suppliers at more competitive prices, but also has advantages in logistics and delivery times. However, when using 1688, sellers also need to be careful to avoid potential fraud.
Tool4seller screens quality suppliers directly from the 1688 platform to ensure that the quality and price of selected items are competitive. Whether you are a novice or experienced seller, this feature can greatly simplify the purchasing process, reduce the difficulty of finding sources of goods, while improving the efficiency of supply, helping sellers to achieve greater success on the Amazon platform.
About Tool4seller
A best-in-class Amazon seller tool that is specialized in sales& profits analytics, PPC optimization, keyword research, competitor tracking, instant alerts for listing hijacking, price changing, and inventory updates, etc.
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