1688, also known as 1688.com, is a domestic B2B procurement platform in China; therefore, its main service target is domestic buyers. Correspondingly, the platform, which also belongs to the Alibaba Group and serves foreign buyers, is well known as Alibaba.com.
Why Are More And More Foreign Buyers Preferring to Purchase on 1688 Overseas?
Because the price on 1688 is the factory’s domestic price, it is very competitive! This price has no export premium or exporter’s service fee.
Many exporters on Alibaba.com also search for high-quality products and suppliers on 1688. If a foreign purchaser can bypass these exporters and obtain goods at domestic ex-factory prices, it will greatly increase profits.
Why Is It Difficult for Many Buyers to Purchase on 1688.com?
For foreign buyers, there are three main difficulties in purchasing goods on 1688:
- Language: As mentioned earlier, 1688 serves domestic buyers, so the website content is entirely in Chinese. Almost all supplier salesmen do not speak English and are not familiar with international trade rules. They are unable to offer additional post-purchase support to foreign buyers.
- Payment: 1688 currently only supports Alipay and other bank accounts in the Chinese Mainland, and foreign purchasers do not have these payment methods.
- Shipping: Because domestic suppliers don’t offer international logistics, after the purchaser pays on 1688, the goods can only be delivered to a location in China.
Next, please follow the instructions below to solve the above three problems and other problems that buyers are concerned about in the 1688 procurement step by step. We will provide you with the best advice for each step.
If you can patiently complete the entire process according to the guidance, you will gain a brand-new understanding of Chinese supply and become a half-China expert!
Setting Up Your 1688 Account
Now, let’s start registering for a 1688 account. Please enter 1688.com in the address bar to access the website. Since the website content is entirely in Chinese and there is no on-site language-switching setting, we recommend using Google Chrome to translate the website into the language you need using the browser’s built-in translation feature. Here, we will use English as an example for demonstration.
Click the login button in the upper right corner of the homepage, and after the login box pops up, click the registration button in the lower left corner.
Choose to register a personal account.
Agree to the registration agreement.
Fill in your account information, provide your phone number for receiving the verification code, and agree to register.
Enter the verification code.
At this point, you have successfully registered a 1688 account.
Solving the Payment Problem (The Biggest Hurdle)
After creating a 1688 account, you need to complete verification to ensure full functionality.
Once verification is complete, you will need to configure your payment settings. For international sellers, the only officially supported payment channel on 1688 is World Pay. If you want to handle the entire payment process independently, this is your only option.
To complete both the 1688 account verification and the WorldPay payment setup, please follow the tutorial on the webpage below. This is an official guide provided by World Pay, featuring detailed steps that are easy to follow:
https://www.worldfirst.com/sasia/help-center/making-payments/make-purchases-on-1688/
Tips:
- The tutorial requires the use of three official payment tools: Alipay, WorldFirst, and World Pay. Please ensure you understand the specific function of each tool to avoid errors.
- Using World Pay as your payment method incurs two separate types of fees: WorldFirst charges a 0.8% transaction service fee, while World Pay charges a 0.2% cross-border transaction fee. Please note this: if these fees are a concern, you may consider using a China sourcing agent to simplify the process and save time.
How to Find and Communicate with Verified, Reliable Suppliers
With our preliminary concerns resolved, we officially began the search for products and suppliers.
How Do You Identify The Correct Chinese Name for A Product?
You can translate the product name into Chinese, search for that term, and check whether the results match the specific product you require. If the results do not match, you can ask an AI tool to suggest potential correct Chinese translations for the product; then, enter these suggested Chinese names into the 1688 search bar one by one to locate the accurate search results.
For even greater convenience, if you already have an image of the product you need, you can click the “Search by Image” icon located to the right of the search bar.
Identifying High-Quality Suppliers
For illustration, let’s take “socks” as a search example. As shown in the search results below, four distinct badges appear preceding the supplier names to distinguish their respective capabilities:
Super Factory (超级工厂): Indicated by a purple badge; these are typically industry-leading manufacturing facilities with a required factory floor area exceeding 1,000 square meters.
Source Flagship (源头旗舰): Indicated by a red badge, this category emphasizes “direct supply from the source” and “ready-to-ship inventory.” Its primary objective is to convey a message of “origin” and “quality” to buyers. It is important to note, however, that merchants in this category are not necessarily actual manufacturers, so careful vetting is advised.
Verified Merchant (实力商家): Functionally identical to the “Source Flagship” category; this represents the legacy version of that designation.
Standard Merchant: Does not bear a specific badge. Unless you are sourcing a rare or niche product, it is advisable to exercise caution when selecting a supplier from this category.
Additionally, we recommend selecting “Cross-border Certificates”; suppliers in this category typically have experience in foreign trade and can provide robust support to international buyers.
Next, let’s assume the first pair of socks displayed in the previous picture is our target product; click it to open the product page.
First, hover your mouse cursor over the supplier’s company name located on the main product image. This will display the supplier’s performance metrics regarding orders, allowing you to use this information to make a comprehensive assessment of whether they are a suitable partner for you.
Now, turning our attention back to the product itself: once you have verified that all specifications meet your requirements, scroll down the page to the “Reviews” section. If you observe a high volume of positive reviews—indicating that product feedback is generally favorable—you can click the small blue icon on the right to initiate a discussion with the supplier about your order. Clicking the blue icon prompts you to choose between the web and apps; we recommend the web version, as it offers a more convenient experience.
When discussing products with suppliers, we recommend that you first inquire whether they engage in international trade and if they can assign a dedicated foreign trade manager to assist you; this will fundamentally resolve communication issues and significantly boost efficiency.
If they do not, please take extra care to avoid misunderstandings that could result in the delivered goods not matching the specifications.
Additionally, before making a bulk purchase, please make sure to order samples to test the quality.
And when the product leaves the factory, it is necessary to conduct a quality inspection of the goods through video or dispatch a third-party on-site. For on-site inspections, you can consult China purchasing agents, who usually offer this service.
International Shipping from China to Overseas Buyers
When signing a contract with a 1688 supplier, the delivery location—in addition to the products themselves—is a crucial factor to consider. Since 1688, suppliers have catered exclusively to domestic buyers and can only ship goods to addresses within mainland China. So, how can international buyers arrange for goods purchased on 1688 to be shipped to their own destination countries?
The solution is to let the 1688 suppliers ship the goods to a freight forwarder in China, and let the freight forwarder handle the international shipping. Furthermore, these freight forwarders serve a valuable consolidation function: imagine you have purchased items from over a dozen different suppliers on 1688, with the goods originating from various regions across China.
By having these shipments sent from their disparate locations to a single domestic warehouse—operated by a freight forwarder of your choice—the forwarder can then consolidate them all into a single logistics shipment bound for your final destination. Doesn’t that make the entire process incredibly simple and convenient?
You can click the link below to learn how to find a reliable freight forwarder in China:
https://www.yqn.com/intro/blog/post/china_freight_forwarder
Key Factors to Consider When Consulting a Freight Forwarder:
- Certifications and Other Import/Export Documents: Please confirm with your freight forwarder exactly what certifications or other documents are required for the export of your purchased products from China and their subsequent import into the destination country. If your 1688 supplier is unable to provide the necessary certifications and documents, you will have to handle the application process yourself—a potentially costly undertaking. Therefore, we recommend working directly with suppliers who can readily provide this documentation. Unless you are making a bulk purchase, you may wish to consider foregoing this specific product.
- Understand import duties in the Destination Country: Import duties vary by product and destination country. You may consult your freight forwarder regarding this—a step that is essential when calculating product profitability.
The Role of a Sourcing Agent (The Shortcut to Success)
We have now concluded our comprehensive tutorial on sourcing from 1688. We recommend you start by ordering samples and handling the process yourself to see if this sourcing method works for you.
If you encounter any difficulties below while navigating this process, we suggest seeking assistance from a China sourcing agent:
- Language: English is a basic requirement for sourcing agents, and communicating with them can help avoid order losses due to language misunderstandings.
- Registration on 1688 and Payment: Working with sourcing agents eliminates the tedious 1688 registration and payment issues we discussed earlier and avoids the 0.8% and 0.2% transaction fees foreign buyers incur when making payments.
- Inspection and shipping: Sourcing agents can inspect product quality via video or on-site inspection after completion. After the goods are delivered to their warehouse in China, they can also conduct a box inspection to ensure worry-free quality. And it can integrate goods purchased from over a dozen different suppliers and ship them together to your destination country. The entire process only requires communicating with the one sourcing agent, avoiding the hassle of dealing with multiple suppliers simultaneously.
- Friendly to beginners in international trade: The sourcing agent is aware of all aspects of exporting from China to overseas, including initial project feasibility assessment, mid-term product procurement, final quality inspection and delivery, and document processing. Especially beginner-friendly! You can even collaborate with them a few times and have some experience before operating on your own.
How a China Sourcing Agent Adds Value?
Sourcing agents offer different service fees based on the needs of different purchasers.
Please send the product link selected from 1688, along with the product requirements and quantity, to the sourcing agent. They will negotiate the price for you, provide a quote, and inform you of the commission fee.
If you do not have a selected product, you can also inform the sourcing agent of your requirements, and they will help you find the product and provide a quotation.
Overall, hiring a sourcing agent is more expensive than self-purchasing, but they can help you establish a seamless, secure end-to-end supply chain, allowing you to focus on the sales side of your business. If the quotation is appropriate, it is considerable.
Conclusion
We sincerely invite you to follow this article to experience the entire overseas 1688 procurement process, starting with samples as the first order. Although this may not immediately make you a procurement expert, we hope our article provides a wonderful start to your procurement journey.
If there are any omissions or errors in the text, please feel free to leave a message to correct them, and we will correct them as soon as possible!
FAQ
Can I buy from 1688 without an agent?
Absolutely possible, please follow the instructions in this article, and you can achieve it step by step. I recommend using a sample order for testing.
Does 1688 ship directly to the US/Europe?
In most cases, it is not possible. 1688 is a domestic procurement platform that can only deliver goods to addresses within China.
You can contact a freight forwarder or sourcing agent to help you deliver the goods to the destination country.
Is 1688 cheaper than Alibaba?
Basically, the products on 1688 are usually the EXW prices of Chinese factories, without export premiums, but also do not include other export miscellaneous fees. Please carefully calculate (such as international shipping fees, export document fees, customs duties, etc.) to determine the product cost.
