Alibaba Express India
Alibaba Express India – The Alibaba group founded by Jack Ma started off with Alibaba.com and then later a subsidiary called as Aliexpress.com was born.For users in India,this is a great channel to find sellers from China and other parts of the world that list their goods in online stores on Alibaba and Aliexpress.
The main difference between the two websites is that Alibaba.com is aimed at providing users a wholesale platform and constitutes a B2B – Business to Business sourcing portal whereas Aliexpress.com is more of a B2C – Business to consumer website.
Aliexpress is aimed at luring standalone customers from all over the world that would even be able to buy a single piece of an item that costs $1.
Alibaba on the other hand has something called as MOQ or minimum order quantity.This can be anywhere from 200 pieces to 1000 pieces or more of a single product.
Other charges For buyers from India when buying from Aliexpress vs Alibaba –
I have noticed that most people in India when buying from Aliexpress tend to other just one item at a time,which is good as prices are very cheap there but you need to keep in mind there might be shipping charges as well as customs charges depending in the item/items you are buying,the quantity and the HS CODE.You need to ascertain the customs duty rates of a particular product.
Read – Customs Duty rates and charges for items imported to India
Note that for most items intended for personal use,you can buy them directly without any customs charges if the value is upto Rs.2000.
If you decided to buy in bulk for commercial purposes on Alibaba will definitely attract customs duty charges as well as courier fees.Since this will be a bulk consignment,the courier will be through sea cargo,unless the items are small,like computer parts etc,then in that case it will be shipped by air.
Why should an Indian buy from Aliexpress.com
1.The best thing about Aliexpress is that all the items manufactured in China and Taiwan are so dirt cheap.Even though the prices are all in dollars,it is almost quarter the price of what you would pay from indian e commerce sites like Flipkart.com and Snapdeal.com.
2.Another good feature is that variety that you can choose from for a single product.There is so much competition by all the stores selling the same things,that each one tries to lower the price to beat the competition.You are literally spoilt for choice.
3.Now coming to a negative point of buying from these chinese websites.Since they use cheap air courier if you choose free delivery,there is a good chance that your parcel will get lost or take very long to reach you.It has happened to be twice so far.They give a refund but still, after waiting for 2 months you realize that it is never coming.
4.Another thing that Indian Shoppers love alot is Cash on Delivery or COD.This is not supported by Aliexpress or Alibaba and you need to have an online wallet or a credit card to purchase things.
5.In order to buy from Alibaba.com,you need to have an IEC – Import Export Code / Certificate and also a valid commercial account with Fedex or DHL etc.This account is not mandatory but it saves you alot of money by way of courier charges.