China Wholesale Suppliers Major Online Catalogs
- Alibaba
- Global Resources
- Made-in-China
- 1688.com
Alibaba
Alibaba is one of Asia’s largest retailers. It is one of the best ways to find Chinese suppliers online. It is a search engine-based online catalog that can reach thousands of suppliers based on their product tags.
Alibaba has a diverse China wholesale suppliers category of items and a very broad range of services, which makes it suitable to order just about anything.
Finding what you’re looking for is very simple since you simply have to type in the search bar and it will bring suppliers through a tag-based algorithm. Every supplier has specified MOQ and prices.
Once you select a supplier, you can request samples and place orders.
Alibaba has a very wide range of suppliers so there is a lot of room for exploring and finding the best-fit item. This does come with drawbacks to other retailers as the suppliers can often send you low-quality goods but Alibaba has a built-in protection service called Trade Assurance that ensures product quality control and shipment timing.
There is however a language barrier issue since you have to be in direct contact with the supplier, which can make the order challenging to place and difficult to accurately describe the product you want.
Alibaba can also involve lots of trade companies and middlemen, which is why many high-quality suppliers may not include themselves.
Global Sources
Global Sources is also a large online retailer that is a suitable contender for Alibaba. It has its differences from Alibaba since the focus of Global Sources is more on Quality Assurance and offers sourcing information to the consumer.
Due to this approach, it is fairly easy to find top suppliers on the website that deliver high-quality products and have a good reputation that may otherwise not be on Alibaba due to its high signal-to-noise ratio. Global Sources takes it a step further by also offering Integrated Marketing services that ensure product consistency.
The main Category Global Sources features in is Electronics and Gifts.
Global Sources however does have a High MOQ compared to Alibaba and also a high sample charge. This may make it not very suitable for the newer buyer but suitable for experienced or professional buyers
Made-in-China
Made-in-China has a very fast, low latency consuming website that is convenient to use. It is easier to verify vendors on the website since it is very user-friendly. Goods are requested through direct communication with the suppliers similar to Alibaba. While this is a good way to accurately describe products, the language barrier can be a drawback as well as making sure the products are of good quality.
Made-in China, however, is focused on customers. It tries to ensure good quality through multiple verification certificates that are displayed on vendor profiles.
Users can also request an authorization document from the vendor when purchasing a brand
However, due to these steep verification requirements, Made-in China has fewer Suppliers and products because many vendors are not willing to go through do many site-specific verification processes.
MOQ is also high for this company. In conclusion, Made-in China brands are more suitable for experienced buyers and importers.
1688.com
In order to get the best prices from the heart of China, 1688.com is an excellent website to get good prices along with excellent quality of products from Chinese Suppliers.
The website is in Chinese so you will have to use Google translate to navigate through it, but it is well worth it since it contains the full category of products in China and is one of the best ways to find real Chinese manufacturers cutting away middlemen. It offers the lowest price for the same product.
However, the language barrier can an issue since the transaction is handled by supplier-customer independently due to which the buyer’s safety is also at risk. It is difficult to maintain payment security in this scenario and the site also has no system to assure safety.
Individual Logistics Arrangement
- DHgate
- LightinTheBox
- DIYTrade
- AliExpress.com
DHgate
DHGate is very similar to Aliexpress and eBay in the sense that it also targets smaller retailers in China and delivery personnel, but unlike AliExpress, DHGate provides a money-back guarantee and a very user-friendly way to buy.
The prices however are higher here than when directly buying from the manufacturer and the goods can turn out to be low quality. They may also not have a big range of products but their MOQ is lower which makes them great for smaller specialized businesses.
LightinTheBox.com
LightinTheBox has 3 main categories:
- Clothing
- Gadgets
- Garden Products
LighinTheBox has very good return policies and verification certificates for their China wholesale suppliers to ensure safety. Any damaged goods received from the website can be returned within 15 days for a full refund.
They also maintain a good privacy policy where the customer’s details are not shared with any third-party services and are only used for order identification. Their Express delivery is one of the fastest but they also offer Standard delivery and economical delivery which are respectively slower but cheaper.
LightinTheBox is great for Medium Quality orders and both experienced and newer buyers alike can always offer a reasonable quality.
DIYTrade
DIYTrade is a diverse retailer company that claims to have more than 5 million products listed on its website.
- Biz Members
Biz Members are one of the most active and trusted suppliers on any website and DIYTrade also has Biz member badges on its website for transparency. They usually have fully established businesses with their own product catalogs and customer support management system.
- Biz Verify
Third-Party BizVerify is a system used by DIYTrade to verify China wholesale suppliers’ business licenses and onsite facilities. This is specifically done through third parties. Both Biz Verify and Biz members can be seen on the vendor profile
The Delivery (logistics) has to be arranged by the customer and supplier individually and the payment also has to be done on their own. Smaller payments however can be done through PayPal which then uses the PayPal refund policies too.
DIYTrade has excellent pricing since most of the transaction being done is individual their commission is also minimum adding less factor to the overall price of the item.
DIY Trade’s biggest flaw is that it has no Quality assurance system to consistently check the quality of goods being dealt to the customers. There are also no buyer safety measures implemented other than the Biz system that is supplier verification only.
Conclusion; is an excellent option after finding some reliable vendors, although the first couple of experiences may not be very pleasant.
AliExpress.com
Aliexpress and DHGate both market for smaller China wholesale suppliers and delivery personnel. A very close comparison to these would be eBay from the US.
Any Purchases done on Aliexpress are processed by Aliexpress and the seller will ship the goods. AliExpress provides a money-back guarantee. In product sourcing, the prices on Aliexpress are generally much higher than that of directly buying from the manufacturer but Aliexpress has a very low MOQ which can make it suitable for smaller startups or businesses.
The shipping fee is also very cheap and the buying procedure is user-friendly and easy. The delivery time however is slow because lots of middlemen are involved in the procedure.
Reliable and Safe Retailers
- HKDTC
- GlobalMarket
- Chinavasion.com
- ChinaBrands
HKTDC (Hong Kong Trade Development Council)
HKTDC is very reliable and well-advertised with multiple different verification certificates for their suppliers which include:
Premium Advertisers which includes:
- Product Highlights
- Factory Details
- Trading Activities
- R&D Capabilities
- Factory& product videos
- Dun & Brad steer Checked
- Compliance Verified
While the logistics and the payment for Supplies have to be done independently (small orders can be paid through PayPal), the robust certification check ensures great safety and pricing for the company.
The only real drawback is the number of verification certificates makes the buying procedure very complex.
Global Market
Global Market is one of the safest websites to order from.
It makes itself safe through its comprehensive quality control certificate the GMC (Global Manufacturer Certificate) which verifies that the following attributes:
- Manufacturing facilities and control
- Product quality control
- Company Size
- R&D Capability
- Social Environment and Responsibility
- Trustworthiness and reputation
- OEM/ODM capabilities
While the transactions and logistics are to be done individually by customers, the Product quality and buyer’s safety are assured by the GMC. The prices also are great and concentrated on product quality but due to high MOD, it is not suited for smaller-scale wholesale orders.
ChinaBrands
ChinaBrands is similar to Alibaba in the sense that it also has a broad category of suppliers and also is a very large retailer as it ships to more than 20 countries. ChinaBrands has multiple ways to reassure buyer’s safety in the process.
When a delivered product is damaged or has missing accessories you can submit a return request up to 30 days after signing. The time starts when the order is received. Computer products especially have a 3C warranty policy which gives a yearlong warranty for any Computer products bought off of ChinaBrands.
Despite these measures, if you want an even more secure delivery, you can sign up for shipping insurance.
Since ChinaBrands specializes in Logistics and distribution, the delivery time is the best for this company. Customer satisfaction and retaining value from them is important for any company and ChinaBrands achieves this through their superior logistics network as they have agreements with 200 of the world’s largest logistics companies.
ChinaBrands accepts payment from PayPal, Payoneer, and bank transfers.
China Brands is not very cost-effective when ordering large orders. It does have a diverse array of items and no MOQ limit which makes it more suitable for smaller startups or personal wish list orders, but still a very safe option for businesses.
Chinavasion.com
Unlike most retailers listed above, Chinavasion is not a retailer that gathers from multiple suppliers but is rather a single company that sells a wide range of electronics through its website.
Their focus is the confidentiality of customer’s privacy. Since the whole retail is under a single company, the orders can be made very flexible; they can be rescheduled or canceled at any time.
It isn’t like other websites, is a single company that sells different electronics through its website.
Any information shared with Chinavasion.com is just for identification purposes and is not shared with other 3rd party services being used by the brand. They also have a return warranty in case the item has missing parts or is damaged.
Their focus also is assuring high-quality goods make it to the customers since their policy states that the goods ordered will arrive on time and be in good condition.
A good example of their honesty to this claim is that they offer a 12-month guarantee of the electronic products ordered and will be returned in case of any damage as long as their tag has not been torn and the system has not been used.
Specialized Retailers
- LovelyWholesale
- TomTop
- Zaful
LovelyWholesale
LovelyWholesale is a very popular Chinese website that is focused on Women’s Garments and Clothing. It has excellent buyer’s safety as any items that are:
- Malfunctioned
- Ripped
- Have Stains
- Any Different from website photograph
Can have a return and refund ticket deposited to the Lovely Wholesale customer support team.
You simply have to send a picture of the damaged products to the support which will then after verification will either issue a discount to your next order or provide reshipping with either a full or partial refund which depends on the level of damage.
They have the 3 standard delivery time slabs:
- 3-5 days
- 6-10 days
- 15-20 days
With the fastest also being the more expensive option.
They have good pricing on their items and good Buyer’s safety but their website Style may be a little outdated and may need improvements there.
TomTop for China Wholesale Suppliers
Tom Top is a wholesale website that is suitable for a wide array of products. Concessionary prices for clothing, household items, and electronics. Their wholesale plan is very economical and can offer up to a 20% product discount rate.
While they do deal in a large collection of items, they mainly specialize in videogames, computer accessories, mobile phones and accessories, media players, car accessories, and much more.
Buyers can take advantage of free shipping on larger orders as the company has its own delivery facilities.
In general, TomTop is great for ordering in bulk as it ends up being much more economical.
Zaful
Zaful is a women’s clothing and garment retailer from China. They are very popular since they sell a lot of women’s fashion at reasonable prices with a diverse range of clothes that can be very unorthodox.
They redefine fashion and trends with exceptional quality with a very transparent business model that is easy to understand on their website.
They have also recently added a men’s fashion category too. Buying and importing on a large or small scale is feasible from this retailer.
Conclusion of China Wholesale Suppliers
| Platform | MOQ | Supplier Quality | Supplier Quantity | Takeaways |
| Alibaba | low | low | high | Diverse categories |
| Global Sources | high | high | low | Export Oriented |
| Made-in China | high | high | medium | Great verification |
| 1688.com | low | high | high | Language Barrier |
| DHGate | low | medium | low | |
| LightinTheBox | medium | medium | low | Reasonable prices |
| DIYTrade | low | low | high | Unsafe transactions |
| AliExpress | low | low | low | Supplier-Buyer |