This is the complete guide to buy products from 1688.com.
In this new guide you’ll learn:
1. What is 1688.com?
2. 1688.com vs Alibaba.com
3. How can I see 1688 in English?
4. How do I sign up for 1688?
5. How do I find products in 1688?
6. How do I communicate with the suppliers?
7. How do I pay suppliers on 1688.com?
8. how do I calculate my payment on 1688
9. How do I verify suppliers’ licenses on 1688.com
10. how can 1688 agent help you
Let’s dive right in.
1. What is 1688.com?
In this chapter you will learn what it is 1688.com and why build it by Alibaba Group .
So if you want a know quickly why choose 1688.com instead of Alibaba.com, this intro chapter is for you.
1688.COM is a bridge that connects buyers with supplier in China.
In other words:
1688.COM is an B2B supplier directory designed to get information of products for buyers in China.
That said, you can find different factories, wholesalers and trading companies at 1688.com
.And if you want to buy product at 1688.com, you need to create a account of the website.
2. 1688.com vs Alibaba.com
In this chapter you’re going to learn difference between 1688.com and Alibaba.com, such as market, language, factories, price, payment and so on.
So if you want to get products with lower price, you must read this chapter.
Let’s get started.
Market:
1688.com, doing business is an Chinese electronic commerce
Alibaba.com is designed for international business trade with different languages to help small business in China to export goods to different countries .
Language:
1688.com is in Chinese
Alibaba.com is in different languages, especially English.
Trade companies vs factories:
Most of companies have factories at 1688.com
Most of companies are trade companies at Alibaba.com
Price:
Price of products at 1688.com is lower than the one at Alibaba.com, because most of companies at Alibaba.com use 1688.com to find the factories.
Payment methods
1688.com: Alipay, T/T (Bank Transfer), Wechat,
Alibaba.com: Visa, MasterCard/Maestro, T/T (Bank Transfer), Western Union, QIWI, Web Money, Yandex and TEF (Transferência Bancári), Paypal and so on.
3. How can I see 1688 in English?
In this chapter you’re going to learn how to see 1688 in English.
So if you’re ready to want to buy products at 1688.com, you’ll like the actionable tips in this chapter.
Let’s get started.
Install Google translate extension
Click the link to download Google translate extension
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-translate/aapbdbdomjkkjkaonfhkkikfgjllcleb?hl=en
This is the right Google translate extension you just add this to your chrome browser and choose this extension.
Now this Google translate is added to our extension bar.
If you look at 1688.com in English, we can tell the Google translate to translate this entire page
First, open the 1688.com
Next, click on the extension icon from the bar.
Then click TRANSLATE THIS PAGE
Finally, you can see 1688.com in English
4. How do I sign up for 1688?
Now it’s time for sign up for 1688!
In this chapter I’m going to show you how to sign up 1688 step by step.
Let’s start now…
Step #1: Open 1688 website
Go to https://www.1688.com using a web browser on PC or Mac
This is home page for 1688.
Step #2: Click free registration.
There are two types of account: enterprise account, personal account.
#1 Enterprise account
Hong Kong, Taiwanese companies or overseas companies can register for 1688 China Station in the same way as ordinary member registration.
2# Personal account
Click the “Personal Account Registration” button to enter the personal account registration page;
Any people from different countries can register as a member for free on 1688.
Step #3: Enter relevant registration information
Now, for personal account, I show you some details about registration information
Member name:
5-25 characters, need to contain letters or Chinese characters.
Do not include private information such as ID card/bank card, which cannot be modified once the setting is successful.
Type your desired password:
6-20 characters, the password cannot be the same username.
can only contain letters, numbers, and punctuation (except spaces).
letters, numbers, and punctuation include at least 2 types.
Re-type your password:
mobile phone number
Fill in the corresponding mobile number according to your country.
Step #4: verification code
Step #5: Return to the 1688 registration page
5. How do I find products in 1688?
Now that you have a account of 1688.com, it’s time to find products you need.
Specifically, I’m going to show you a third advanced strategies that will help you find product with good price .
Let me show you the first way is to use 1688 Image Search.
Step #1: prepare a image
Let’s use ladies bags as an example. You can download picture at Alibaba.com
Step #2:Click Search by image .
Step #3: Click Upload an image and then Choose file or Browse.
Step #4:Find the product you like.
You can see the similar product image on 1688.com similar to what you are looking for.
If you are Chinese or speak Chinese in other countries, you can find product by this way. But you can use Chinese characters to search product you need.
Second way of searching the Chinese characters in this field
Let’s use 女士包 as an example
Step #1:Enter 女士包 in this field.
Step #2:click the button to search
Step #3:click the picture you like
Third way of searching the English characters in this field
Let’s use ladies bags as an example
Step #1:Enter ladies bags in this field
Step #2:click the button to search
Step #3:click the picture you like
6. How do I communicate with the suppliers?
Suppilers at 1688.com sell products to on the domestic market. They rarely have employees who can speak English to operate their 1688 shop.
If you want to contact suppliers at 1688.com, you either learn Chinese, or hire a 1688 agent.
If you don’t speak Chinese and hire a agent, you also want to import products from China
You can go to Alibaba.com, because suppilers at Alibaba.com have English speaking sales reps to operate their shop.
7. How do I pay suppliers on 1688.com?
Suppliers on 1688.com only accept Renminbi (RMB) , because they have bank account in China with Renminbi (RMB)
But a few suppliers on 1688.com who also export product to other countries have separate bank account to receive US dollars.
If you want to buy from them, you can contact them by wechat and mobile number.
Instead, they never export goods to oversea. they don’t have a USD bank account
So, they don’t receive USD dollars
If you want to buy goods from them, you can hire a agent or have a bank account in China
8. how do I calculate my payment on 1688
If you hire a agent, your payment includes product cost, domestic shipping + taxes+ service fees +international shipping
If you can directly buy from suppliers on 1688.com, your payment includes product cost, taxes+ domestic shipping +international shipping
9. how do i verify suppliers’ licenses on 1688.com
Now that you will buy product from a supplier on 1688.com, you must verify supplier
Let me show you how to verify supplier.
I use Shenzhen Fuyong Hongda leather goods source as example
Step #1: open the company page
Step #2: Business Registration Information
10. how can 1688 agent help you
If you hire a agent to buy goods from 1688.com
There are several things with the following:
Arrange shipments
Manage payments
Manage export procedures
However, you must check the quality and quantity of the product before shipping.
That’s it for my complete guide to buy products from 1688.com.
Now I’d like to hear from you:
Which chapter from today’s guide was your favorite?
How to find products on 1688.com? Or 1688 vs Alibaba?
Either way, let me know in the comments section below.
