What do you do when a deal with an Alibaba.com listed supplier goes wrong? Perhaps you’ve received the wrong product. Maybe it’s damaged. Or, perhaps, you didn’t even receive any goods at all?
And, not to forget, what if you find your custom designed or private label product listed on Alibaba?
In this article, you will learn how to file a dispute on Alibaba.com and (hopefully) get your money back. But, you can only win a dispute if you have the evidence that Alibaba must have to decide in your favor.
Keep reading, and learn how to how win supplier disputes if you receive poor quality or damaged goods – and how to report intellectual property violations.
What counts as a trade dispute?
Many situations fall within Alibaba’s definition of a trade dispute. A few of the most common follow below:
- The products are defective or damaged
- The products are not as described (i.e., design, colors or functions)
- The products were never delivered
However, many disputes are not about defective, damaged or incorrect items all. Many, if not most, trade disputes relates to quality or product compliance – something that makes it very hard for Alibaba.com to act.
Alibaba.com cannot act based on the buyer’s perception of good quality. Hence, a dispute can only be won if the buyer can prove that the supplier failed to deliver a product matching the description.
Types of Alibaba disputes
In recent years, Alibaba.com has implemented eCommerce and online payment functions directly into its supplier directory platform.
That said, many importers only use Alibaba.com for supplier sourcing and initial communication. As such, the transaction takes place outside of Alibaba’s platform, and can therefore not be tracked or monitored by them.
When you report a dispute on Alibaba, you will need to choose between 3 categories:
- Trade assurance disputes
- Wholesale order disputes
- Offline order disputes
Depending on the setup, the procedure looks very different.
a. Trade assurance and wholesale order disputes
Alibaba has two separate trading systems within its platform:
1. Trade Assurance: Mostly used for products that are made according to buyer specifications (i.e., custom designed and/or private label products). The Trade Assurance program is based on a procedure that is followed by both the supplier and buyer.
For example, the buyer and supplier must sign a sales contract, and a third party inspection company must verify the quality of the products.
The payment can be made outside of Alibaba’s own payment platform (Alipay). However, the buyer must pay directly to the supplier’s bank account approved by Alibaba.
If not, the payment cannot be linked to the supplier that is covered by the Trade Assurance program.
That said, the process and paper trail is still within Alibaba’s platform, giving them access to the information they need to resolve a dispute – and offer compensation based on the trade assurance terms.
2. Wholesaler Orders: Some suppliers offer ready made goods (or wholesale products) directly on Alibaba.com. Wholesale products can be ordered directly on the site, and the payment is processed by Alibaba.com. Hence, the transaction can be easily tracked by Alibaba.com.
You need to provide less evidence when placing an order within Alibaba’s own platform, something that they encourage you do to.
As Alibaba has access to the product description and payment details, they can make a faster and more accurate decision when you file a dispute.
b. Offline (non-Alipay processed) trade disputes
You can still file a dispute, even if the transaction takes place outside of the trade assurance program or its payment system. As mentioned, it is likely that the vast majority of orders facilitated through Alibaba.com takes place ‘offline’.
Filing such a dispute is more complicated, and requires that you can prove that the supplier did fail to comply with the product description.
Alibaba.com cannot monitor the communication between the seller and buyer, that takes place outside of its platform. Neither can they check the product description, and assess whether the supplier did send defective products – or items that are not as described.
Thus, it is up to the buyer to upload sufficient evidence, supporting the claim. Alibaba.com cannot possibly decide in the buyer’s favor on their word alone.
How to win a trade dispute on Alibaba
We have received countless emails and comments from disgruntled buyers, claiming that Alibaba.com failed to act in their favor – even though the supplier delivered a poor quality product.
A few examples follow below:
a. The items had the wrong fabrics and colors
b. Machinery without the correct labeling (for usage in the United States)
c. The product is perceived as low quality by the buyer
Alibaba cannot act on the buyer’s perception of ‘good quality’, or their assumption that the supplier would be fully aware of all applicable safety standards and labeling requirements in the United States.
In order to win a trade dispute, you must be able to show that the supplier did fail to provide a product, matching the written and clearly defined product specifications.
For example, you need to provide the following when you file a dispute:
a. Product specification sheets
b. Design drawings and images
c. Sales contract
d. Transaction records
e. Images and video showing the defective / wrong items
f. Quality control and lab testing reports
Based on the documents presented above, Alibaba.com can decide if the supplier is at fault. Without documentation and other evidence, they simply cannot act.
The issue, however, is that many buyers don’t even consider sales contracts and quality inspections until after a situation comes up. But, by then it’s already too late to do something about it.
That is also something that we are trying to change, with our Starter Package. When you sign up, you will get access to tutorials, interactive task lists and videos (a complete roadmap) that guides you step by step through the entire process:
1. Draft product specification
2. Identify qualified manufacturers
3. Develop samples and tooling
4. Sales contract, payment, quality control and production
It is especially in Part 4 that you will prepare the documentation that you need to file a dispute, if the situation ever comes up. The good news is that you will most likely never get there, as most suppliers do a good job – as long as you work on their terms and provide them with clear instructions.
To further simplify the process, you will also get access to a set of document templates (i.e., product specification template, quality checklists and sales contract) and label files.
But, if you ever do have to file a dispute, you will at least have the documentation you need to support your case.
Yet, at the end of the day, Alibaba’s dispute filing system is one of many tools to use if something goes wrong. It’s not a perfect backup solution, or warranty, whenever you run into trouble with your suppliers or products.
Reporting intellectual property (IP) violations
Quality and compliance issues are not the only things that keep business owners awake at night. Intellectual property infringement is a constant worry for buyer’s, importing goods from Asia.
Many suppliers use their product catalog, on Alibaba.com and Globalsources.com, as a digital showroom, for products they have manufactured for other companies.
That said, a supplier will not necessarily sell a product, simply because they put it up as a product listing. Most suppliers hardly see it as IP theft, as they only consider it as a demonstration of what they can make for other customers.
I few years ago, that happened to one of our customers in the UK. Just days after their packaging supplier had completed the gift box sample for their new collection – it was listed in their product catalog.
Our client was not amused when they, by chance, found their branded jewelry box listed on their Alibaba page.
Luckily, it didn’t take more than a phone call to make the supplier realize they made a mistake.
Like many other suppliers, the factory did not once consider this as an attempt to counterfeit the brand or even design. It was only a demo product, and they took the listing down in a matter of minutes.
Contrary to popular belief, Chinese manufacturers are not constantly looking for brand names to steal and designs to replicate. In most cases, minor IP violations can (and should) be resolved with a friendly phone call.
Hence, in most cases it is not even necessary to file an IP violation complain to Alibaba.com.
But what if your design or brand shows up, and the supplier outright refuse to take it down?
Alibaba you to file an IP violation report online, via its Aliprotect system. You can, for example, report the following types of IP violations:
a. Images of your product
b. Products are violating your brand name/s
c. Products are violating your design and/or utility patents
As always, Alibaba.com can only act based on evidence. Depending on the nature of the IP violation, you may need to provide the following:
a. Trademark documentation
b. Patent documentation
c. Product images / documentation
d. Proof of identity (i.e., passport, ID and company documents)
e. The URL to the product that violates your IP (must be listed on Alibaba)
Suppliers are wise to take IP theft reports seriously, as they can result in account suspension or even a termination of the service agreement.
At a minimum, a successful report results in a listing removal, and possibly a warning.
Good Day
I need help, I brought one peace of Pioneer CDJs and mixer, from Musical experience limited at Block 648B airport road Florida Florida. I paid all the requested fees, the next day they send me WhatsApp that processing company made mistake, and shipped 10 items, so now I was asked to pay $1500 because the items are on hold by port entry of South Africa holded by custom. After the payment of Custom, I get another massage they say I must pay another $350.
When I ask them to connect me with shipment Company they don’t want to send proof they only want me to pay money again.
Please assist me
Shipping company is Swire express delivery.
I purchased a car on Alibaba and it seemed to be going ok. It’s a Fiat so customs isn’t a problem. However, they shipped my car in a 20′ trailer with a second car just like mine. And then they told me I had to buy the second car because the second car had not been paid for and customs was holding the entire trailer. I have to buy a second car to get the first car I paid for. Of course, I refused and then they said I was uncooperative and if I didn’t get my car, it is my fault. I have filed a claim but after reading these others, I am not very hopeful
It seems that Alibaba doesn’t care too much about safety either. I ordered a combination unit (steam, shower, jacuzzi ) for one person and it was delivered to me without the electrical schematic or wire diagrams. There were several wires not connected to anything at the back, just hanging loose, and no instructions were provided on where to connect them. There are several electrical components to this unit, and when I had an electricians and plumbers on the job, they were simply left to scratch their heads.
One wrong connection and there could be a fire, an explosion or an electrocution. I contacted the sales agent Jessica Sue every few days for over a month and including the store for which she did business from, and there was never a reply. I contacted Supervisors at Alibaba, I filed complaints, I informed the Canadian safety customs, along with several Chinese Consumer Protection companies. Not a single one replied back, even after I sent the full pictures to each one of them.
Alibaba just wants your money, and if you think otherwise, then you are only fooling yourself. I thought customer safety was a universal objective for all businesses, but I can see I was sadly mistaken. Don’t purchase assembly do it yourself electrical components from Alibaba. You many never get the chance to make another purchase!
I got scammed by a seller using Alibaba’s chat messaging and he ended up taking over 1400 dollars from me. I never received the product which was supposed to be some speakers. I disputed it with Alibaba and they said that they cannot do anything because the seller never confirmed their account number. The scammer used Alibaba’s chat messaging system under the supplier account and tells you to message them on WhatsApp. Alibaba won’t even investigate although I have all this evidence.
I opened LC on one of the OneTouch companies, owned by Alibaba for purchase of some food processing equipment. They guys have cheated on me sent sub standard equipment. It this covered in trade assurance?
Hello Fredrik, I contacted a verified and gold registered company via alibaba.com. I paid for for some galvanised steel tubes off-line I paid $19920usd
after a week the supplier said he can no longer supply the items and suggest the company will refund me back over two months the have refused to refund me. I filed a case via dispute team on alibaba.com 4 times now but the dispute team keep telling me I do not have the valid proof that will allow them to intervene in the matter I am really disappointed in the dispute team for not even contacting this Scam company also the company never deny I never pay them this money I have supplied all the necessary proofs requested by alibaba.com dispute team such as proof of conversation with seller via alibaba messenger, chat with seller via watsapp, email exchange, commercial invoice from the company, Payment Slip and more the dispute team want me to show evidence the seller gave me his email address and watsapp number via TM in which I told them he did not give me is contact information on TM but thr seller requests it was the seller that requested for my email and watsapp information on TM and I gave it to him, he now pass my contact details to his workmate so the workmate now contacted me via watsapp and email for further transactions. I am from Australia so what is your advice for me to get this fund back since alibaba dispute team is not willing to intervene in this matter and help get my funds back. Thanks
Hi, I need help recovering $12,000 from Gold Seller who never sends me the ASIC miners. Once we agreed on the price, I asked her many times to send me an invoice thru trade assurance which she deleted and edited the Alibaba messenger. She edited everything and it is impossible to understand what is being said in the message. What is more, the bazaar is that all of a sudden, I can not open my files of evidence of images and mp4, then it all disappears altogether. Her niche is that I short her $550 shipping fees which she agreed to pay if I sent her the money by bank transfer. So I decided to send her $550 in BTC. After I send her the money, she said that the price of miners went up and I told her that I only pay her with trade assurance when I can find the money. After I paid her $603 with trade assurance, she replied that she doesn’t carry ASIC miners anymore. How can I win this case when she can edit Alibaba messenger and delete my files at will?
Hi Fredrik,
I ordered for 2 units of crypto mining equipment for 2400 USDC (USD). They shipped 4 and asked for payment for the extra 2 units which I paid. After 3 days they said shipment arrived in Germany where I am and asked for 20% for customs and 1000USD for local shipment. Now it is 1 week and no delivery.
I tried complaining to Alibaba and was shocked to see the Supplier does not exist in Alibaba anymore.
Supplier Name:
Shenzhen Ao Qi Network Technology Co., Ltd.,
Contact Name:
Jamal Rama
+8616260467197 Whatsapp
I have screenshots of the results page with product, the chat window messages, Invoice he sent (looks fake)
Shipping company (i think fake)
https://www.horizoncourierlogistic.com/result.php
Not sure how to proceed.
Pls advise
Hi Satish,
How did you pay the supplier?
To all that have problems with Alibaba.
Do stay an individual. Let’s all gather our complaints and work together to do something about the scams on Alibaba and against Alibaba. We must force Alibaba to protect the buyers better and they must check if their sellers have all required permits and authorizations to sell their products in USA. If we complain as individual nothing will happen, but if we complain as a group something will happen. This is USA and we will be protected by our government as long as enough people file a complaint. This can be such as the medical companies and tobacco companies get. Don’t think the government will not listen. They will, as long as we make sure it gets enough publicity. We must form 1 front and protect new buyers from being scammed. Imagine how many households lost all their saving becoz of this. Perhaps we won’t get our money back right away, but we can shut down websites as Alibaba in the USA and harm the suppliers by loosing a big part of their market.
Just send your name, email and Alibaba case number to my email:. Mention in the subject: Alibaba
Hey Roger Im in the same boat as you..I totally agree to fight for our money ALIBABA customer support is treating us as garbage..not fair
133313174501025775 Order number
Hi everyone,
I ordered one million (1000000) pet preforms from a company registered on Alibaba, since March, 2021 and unto this day I only received 651,320 pieces I am still waiting for the 348,680 pieces.I paid the cost for the items and all the seashipping freight.What happened is that I paid for a 40ft and a 20ft containers.I paid US$19800 for the 40ft container and US$17800 for the 20ft container.Mr. Zhang Zhuo who is the main person from the company called me and said that there is no 20ft container and that I can do LCL for the remaining pet preforms (348,680), where they can ship those remaining pet preforms in someone else container and the cost to do the LCL will be US$17300.I told them no that cannot work, if I am sharing a container with someone else we should split the cost.In the end I was able to get back US$6500, which I should I gotten back more because if I am using a space less than half of a 40ft container costing US$19800, I should be paying less than half of the US$19800.However, I had no choice, but to accept.The 348680 pieces of pet preform arrive in my country and the consignee for the 40ft container SEIZED all my preforms so I do not have my preforms .The consignee said that he paid for the whole 40ft container and that I need to pay him for the space in his 40ft container.A 40ft container is 68cbm.My pet preforms used up 28cbm space.I told Mr. Zhang Zhuo and Billy that I want back my US$11300.Billy said that I can only get back US $2000 from the shipping company. I tried calling and sending messages via whatapp ,but there is no answer.No one from the company is contacting me and I had passed my deadline to deliver all the pet preforms to my clien which is a government agency.Also, I have to repay a commercial loan that we took to ship the pet preform.The deadline to repay the loan is 11th April , 2022.And unto this day I do not have my remaining 348680 preforms.Please someone assist, this is bad business and buyers needs to be protected from these suppliers.
Alibaba. Not giving return address – constant chat to their agent and manager- always promise and email – nothing arrives- 500 GBP worth of products were sent to my family businesses uk bt all bad quality- even the seller agrees and is waiting fornme to send them back. Alibaba have been terrible.
ALIBABA SCAMED ME
david rich here i got scammed and im new to all this i need help. my number is of course im inusa soo its plusone infront of the area code. ineed help
After reading comments on here, it’s obvious who Alibaba represent, their own!!! They are NO BETTER than the scammers on their site and the worst parts is alibaba know it’s happening and they let it continue.
I have purchased 13 crypto mining machines through alibaba and I’m currently in the dispute process right now. I have submitted a mountain of evidence including photos, messages, reports and statements from third parties and I simply get a generic auto reply saying some bullshit about ‘not knowing the root of the problem’ and ‘communicate with the seller’ and I got the same reply after submitting 2 disputes and all I got was the same reply and awarding the seller the case AND releasing the funds as well!!!! Even without my consent.
Now I’m trying to lodge a complaint against the trade assurance team that is supposedly handling my case, but if you believe they will help me with this when they can’t even help me get my money back for broken, damaged and faulty miners after submitting tons of evidence and the supplier submitting a couple of lines as evidence, you’re wrong.
Alibaba states on its website ‘protecting you’ what a load of crap. Avoid Alibaba and China and you’ll be better off in both ways.
Hi All,
Not sure why Fredrick seems to be protecting Alibaba.com. My situation seems to be the echo of many above. Contracted with a store with trade assurances for 3 new crypto miners. They tried to get me to but with crypto. I’m not that stupid. One arrived broken which I was told by the supplier to open and fix. All three were second hand with forged serial numbers. All of which I proved to the Alibaba dispute team with dozens of images and movies. They want to know how they perform. Like a second hand Ford doesn’t drive the same as a new model. But you wouldn’t pay the same amount. Nor do I want machines that sat in a warehouse overclocking. Simply crazy. That is Alibaba.com trade assurances = scam no two ways about it 100% scam. I’d add especially if you are not Chinese.
Alibaba.com equals scam.
REFUND NEVER RECEIVED FROM ALIBABA OR TRADE ASSURANCE. I ordered 24 items through Alibaba with Trade Assurance. The MFG never shipped the items to me or gave me any information on the status of order. I requested a refund due to non shipment of merchandise. The refund was supposedly refunded more than a month ago through my PayPal account. PayPal will not honor their own purchase guarantee through Alibaba or Trade assurance. I am with out a refund and PayPal only replies that the case is close with no refund. I have since closed my PayPal account and will close my Alibaba account.
Hi there, I want to send alibaba a file showing the messenger feed of messages between myself and a seller. How do I download this please?
Print page as PDF or screenprint?
I negotiated with a gold supplier on Alibaba’s messaging for over a month and they asked for bitcoin to get the order delivered quicker. They said 5 day delivery and we had agreed all expense paid door to door. I tracked for weeks until it arrived in Mexico supposedly and then they said they had shipped 10 times as many as I had ordered and I need to pay extra customs and demmorage. I told them it was not in the agreement. I have filed a complaint with Alibaba and have escalated the complaint, however nothing seems to be happening. Plus the additional areas to add more information are no longer available and it has read under review by Alibaba for weeks.
EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME A FEW DAYS AGO! EVIL FUCKERS! I AM GONNA BURN THEM ALL!
A very bad shopping online application. More like a scam.
Alibaba stinks ! that is true.
hello do people really get their money back ? alibaba is protecting those svammers on its website
Yes, in the situations when they can. The problem is that these disputes are often rather complicated. Alibaba cannot just blindly refund everyone a buyer claims that “the product is very bad”.
No I have reported a Golden supplier 10 times in the Dispute complaint department and I think its a robot that gets back to me all the time named Mia. She asks for the same thing over and over. Its cost me about 50 000USD yes a food trailer and I cannot use it as its totally ruined and not Australian standards. I looked them up on several platforms and they have a good name, but they are bad and all I want to do is warn others. Do not use Qingdao Tranda Industry Co Limited and they also have other names. Tranna Industry Co Limited and only Tranda Industry Co Limited they are a bunch of scammers. Names are Bric and Ray.They take your money do not send you all products and they don’t do it to your country standards, so you can throw the whole thing away waste of your hard earned money they do not care and ALibaba dont wither
Just had issues with supplier who increased freight charges and have asked me to apply for refund which i am not sure if i apply will i get full refund.
Hello Fungayi,
Yes, right now freight costs are sky high. That said, I don’t think the supplier will accept to cover the product cost for this reason.
I payed for goods offline and i completely didnt receive them and i have been communicating with the supplier and he is telling me i have to pay more $400 for insurance for my goods to reach please help me .
This is almost certainly a scam. Don’t transfer more money to them.
Really, that is your reply and advice?
You act like you have concerns for the buyers who got scammed or tricked and don’t come with any solution for them. Your answers lead to nowhere and what you basically do is lure in potential customers to buy your product.
If you really have concerns for the buyers than why don’t you gather them all together and they can sue Alibaba or at least force Alibaba to check on their sellers, such as Amazon does.
Be a big man and really help them. Give me the email address of those people and let me contact them.
You only come with advice that doesn’t bring them anywhere, just becoz you think you worked and lived in China. Do really something about it than only telling people what they already know.
Hi Roger,
Then get a lawyer or consultant involved. We are not under obligation to help you sort out your problems for free.
I cancelled an order $1,800 from a supplier within the 5 working days period before shipment. Supplier refuses to refund my money, Alibaba Group arbitration ordered they return $500, seller refuses and went ahead and shipped goods. What do I do Fredrick?
Hello
I got a contact of a manufacturer of sword From Alibaba and it has been from one lie to the other from begging his company name is mag force in Pakistan company that advertise on Alibaba I gave him contract of 250 sword to supply he has supplied 200 in which one is missing one is bad he told me he will deliver by 18 of July from 18 to 22 July from then he managed to supply additional 50 to make totals 200 from their it has been from one lies to another I will like Alibaba to blacklist him and to look for a way to get my money or my goods as soon as possible his type should not be in your plat form he has no single truth in him mouths [EDIT]
I have just spent two weekends contacting dozens of Chinese gift box factories to remove images stolen from my website. I do it every few months. My images cost me over $50,000 and Chinese factories believe they are just free to take. They either steal them directly, or they steal them from each other.
I write to these companies to give them the opportunity to remove them before I report them to Alibaba direct. Most are compliant but many simply refuse.
Most are completely unaware that taking images from other websites is even a problem and many believe that a Google image search is a free image service providing them with images they can just use at will.
Keeping up with the level and frequency of image theft is hugely time consuming and frustrating.
The means of reporting image theft to Alibaba direct is deliberately difficult even to register. Alibaba has not cracked down on image theft or IP infringement, they have simply made it more difficult to complain about the culprits.
I have requested companies remove images and a few months later there’s a whole catalogue of new ones. It’s a never ending battle.
Some websites are entirely made up of images the company has stolen from other websites.
I have had customers contact me to advise they have ‘found my factory’, which of course they haven’t, they have just found dozens of my stolen images. In fact many companies actually watermark my images with their own company name!
Alibaba suppliers want to supply products to Europe and the USA, it is incumbent on Alibaba to ensure that suppliers advertising on their platform are aware of Copyright laws and IP infringement. Alibaba are condoning IP infringement by failing to ensure advertisers are using images of their own products.
If Alibaba want customers to be confident in the suppliers they list then customers should have confidence that the products being advertised were actually made by the company they are enquiring to.
If suppliers want to show products they can make, rather than ones they actually have made then they should make samples of the product and take their own photographs.
I would suggest that anyone purchasing from a supplier via Alibaba should have absolutely zero confidence that the factory actually made the item they are advertising.
If I had $1.00 for every Chinese gift box factory who claims to have made boxes for Victoria Secret I could retire!
Buyer beware…don’t assume that the item you see advertised was made by the factory you have contacted.
You can spot image theft because their catalogue of photos will be quite random, use different styling, different lighting and often ‘props’ that don’t look consistent.
If you are in doubt, do your own image search and you’ll likely find the same image on multiple sites. It’s impossible to know who manufactured the original product and photographed it.
The same is true of direct website contact. I just contacted a Chinese factory for having dozens of my stolen images on their site and advised I would report the image theft to Google. They responded by threatening to post hundreds of negative blogs about my company and registering my website on porn sites!
Image theft and IP infringement is a huge problem in China and Alibaba should be spearheading better education on this issue together with clamping down hard on companies that don’t comply.
Thank you for your for sharing your experience
Thanks Nicole
Thanks thats really interesting.
I am just starting out after finding my product in the manufacturers catalogue and for sale on a site in the USA.
Interesting road ahead by the looks of it!
I had placed an order through ali baba for hand sanatizer but the seller from day one giving wrong information regarding the dispatch status which I got to know from dhl, when finally dhl received the shipment 8 days later from his mentioned date, 4 days after he took back the shipment and now not responding to me nor giving me refund.
Feeling Alibaba is seller friendly platform buyer not at all protected.
Planning to contact my credit card company
Is there any thing else I can do.
Hi Alvin,
The seller took back the shipment from DHL? I don’t understand.
Hi Fredrick
Dhl told ,seller has asked for the shipment back and they had updated on there tracking website ‘shipment returned to the shipper’
I placed an order through Focus Herb Corp on Alibaba for CBD products after they assured me they ship to the US all the time with no issues. I checked their reviews and all looked fine, “customers” never stated any problems. After waiting weeks for my order I discovered the products were seized in US customs and it is illegal to ship CBD products internationally without documentation which customs requested from the seller. Focus Herb representative tells me to contact US customs again and that they did everything on their end providing the docs customs requested. I’ve been in contact with US customs several times they inform me Focus Herb never sent FDA docs and I contact Focus Herb again and then they send me documents that are not even for the products I ordered. The docs are for olive leaf extract and psoralea coryliforia extract and that is what they ship the CBD under. The products would not pass through US customs because that’s not what the products are and they tell me this all after I already paid them for the products. Now the representative has changed her name in the message app through alibaba and isn’t giving me my refund I requested. I placed my order back in April and it is now July. The representative isn’t responsible to my messages at all now. I lost so much money and clients over this mess. What do you recommend I do to get my money back and make sure this company doesn’t get away with doing this to other buyers?
This is why importers must NEVER assume that the supplier understands the product regulations in the importers country. This happens all the time, and I doubt Alibaba’s dispute resolution team is qualified to make decisions based on product compliance related matters. At best, they can make a decision based on non-shipment, severe and obvious quality issues, or an incorrect product.
Hi Fredrik,
Thanks for providing so much valuable information.
I’ve used Alibaba for several years and I have had all kinds of experiences. Right now, I’m having some trouble with a manufacturer which I payed him for an order advancement but he says he won’t be able to complete the order; so he offer me to send me the money back.
I depend on him and I really need him to make this happen but he refuses to deliver it.
Is there a way Alibaba could punish him in some way?
Best,
HM
Hello Humberto,
The best thing you can do in this situation is to get the money back
Thanks for sharing this informative article. I think many people didn’t know those information regarding alibaba.
Hi, we bought a dtg printer and accessories for $6200 from RFC that has not worked since we have received it mid-May. The transaction was offline but we didn’t realize it until we contacted alibaba for assistance. Their technician made himself available to help us set up printer via teamviewer the end of June but we were out of town on bereavement leave during that time. We retuned 4 July to get it set up. This far it has not worked. We’ve had to replace the print head and now the encoder which has required us to take machine apart to fix. We’ve asked for a refund immediately 5 July when we noticed the machine wasn’t working and they have ignored us and keep insisting we follow their technician’s directions to fix. They know we’ve never used machine because it has never worked and they required us to buy a new print head because it’s not covered under warranty. Please help us recoup our $6200 back.
Hi. I ordered 306 units of chairs from ISee Furniture. When the chairs arrived, the staff sitting on it started falling and had injuries. At present, more than 50 units had been broken and gas lifts not functioning. Most of all , The Father of Chairman & the President/CEO both fell from the chairs.
The Client has Rejected all these 306 chairs and has purchased another supplier the replacement
The workstations they also delivered had poor quality desks tops and Rusty frames.
Please help me collect REFUND from this factory. Or please give me china government agency contact informations where I can file Cases against this factory for Refusing to Refund this amount of $11,230,00.00 + shipment costs and miscellaneous expenses.
I have been buying a lot of products I. Your country for 16 years now since I started my business in 2013. And I Trust that the china government will protect my interest by helping me.
I know that our government has very good relations with your government thru our Beloved President Duterte and your President Xin Ping.
Please send me reply to my email: virgiemonton@gmail.com . My wechat is +639178888145
Thank you very much.
The total order I gave to this factory was more than $42,0000.00 last September, 2018.
Hello Virgie,
There is no mechanism for collecting refunds. As in any country, your only option is to take this supplier to court – in China. That requires that you have a contract and product documentation.
Hello,
I have purchased 310 items of glass charger plate through Alibaba.com.
I received products in November however I did not realise the fault of the product until I set up my first wedding in February.
I made contact with the supplier immediately the day after to advise them that the Charger plates were made with a mound of glass in centre of plate so the dinner plate you place on top of the charger plates do not sit flat. They rock from side to side which is not comfortable to eat from as not only do they move when trying to cut your meal they also make a huge noise banging glass on glass.
My bride demanded a full refund of my first ever wedding rental job.
Unfortunately the supplier would not help me and Alibaba.com also refused to help me because it was past 30 days from receiving goods.
Out of desperation I asked the supplier to remake the products free of charge as they were faulty and I would pay the shipping. Again they refused to help me.
I had no other choice but to purchase new products from another supplier as I have another wedding rental booking coming up.
I am now out of pocket over $500.00.
Hello Sue,
You must get every order quality inspected before shipment. That’s the only way to avoid these issues.
hi
i paid wuxi pinkie a seller in alibaba complete amount of 330$ for moulds under trade assurance. the delivery was done on time but the product i received is defective and not as per dimensions as ordered. but wen i go back to my order it does not give me any option to open a dispute . it says order closed.
i have tried to communicate with the seller. he is taking time to respond.
what can i do.
Hi Sudhesh,
You can still contact Alibaba to report this, but I don’t think is covered by Trade Assurance, as the mould is already shipped.
how to contact alibaba.com ?
I got fraud and i want somebody speak to me but no way to contact Alibaba
i have this phone number but even Thursday they still not working 408 785 5580, i need your help, I want 9950$ back.
Hello Tam,
We are not representing Alibaba or act as brokers.