25% of everything you see in the world is made in China. People from all over the world can now get in touch with these companies and place orders online. This became a lot easier when Jack Ma started Alibaba for wholesalers. When Alibaba started a website called AliExpress, it made it much easier for small businesses to use Alibaba.
AliExpress is an online marketplace where you can buy and sell almost any manufactured good. Here, the sellers are the people who make the goods, and they sell them on AliExpress for a very low price. Not everyone, though, has a great time on this site. Some people get bad products, and some people don’t like how long it takes to get their orders.
If you are one of these people, especially if you are a dropshipper, you should look for an AliExpress alternative. All told, we can recommend seven things.
- DHGate
- Banggood
- LightintheBox
- Chinabrands
- Made-in-China.Com
- Yaaku
- TinyDeals
Before you look at these options, you should also know that there are a lot of fake websites out there. You need to know how to spot scammers and criminals and how to keep yourself safe from them.
How to Tell If a Website is a Scam
If you find a website that has really cheap items and really fast shipping, you should think about whether or not it is real. Remember that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Here are some things you can do to stay safe:
- Read reviews. You should look for reviews on consumer review sites and blogs. Take your time to look into things. Also, just because a blogger said it was a legitimate site doesn’t mean it is. Some bloggers are paid to write press releases, so be careful and smart.
- Contact the customer service department. Take the time to talk to them. If there aren’t any, it must be a trick. Ask them where they are, what the legal name of their business is, and if they are registered.
- Check the site’s security, or look to see if the site is safe. Go to the URL bar on your computer to find this out. If it starts with only HTTP, it is not secure. The URL of the site must begin with HTTPS. “Secure” is what the letter “S” stands for.
The Best Sites Like AliExpress
Now, let’s talk about the 7 best sites that are like AliExpress. All of these websites let you buy wholesale, and you can also do dropshipping, which is when you order a product and the supplier sends it to your customer.
DHGate
DHGate is not a brand-new business. It’s been around for 15 years and sells a lot of different kinds of things. The site looks like AliExpress, and it does offer Buyer Protection as well. Here, you can buy products in bulk or at regular prices. If you only buy one, you’ll have to pay more.
For example, if you bought a basketball jersey by the piece, it might cost $15.40. But if you buy 11 or more, each one will only cost $14.30. That is a 7% price drop, and if you buy 36 or more pieces, you can get even better deals.
The site is a good alternative to AliExpress because the price will be lower if you buy through the app. If you buy that basketball jersey through the app, the price drops to $13.37 per piece.
All of these items are shipped all over the world. Here, there are thousands of suppliers and manufacturers from all over the world, not just China. Some of the products here are from Canada, which you can see if you look around at random.
As a way to protect the buyer, you will get a full refund if you don’t get your item. If the item you receive is not as described, you can either keep it and get a refund for half the price or send it back to the seller and get a full refund.
Banggood
AliExpress’s biggest rival is Banggood. You can buy products in bulk on this site. The best things to dropship from this site are electronics and accessories for motorized vehicles. Banggood always has sales, so you need to move fast before they end. You can also take advantage of promotions that give you a chance to win money that you can use at Banggood. All you have to do is invite your friends to use it.
You can dropship more than just electronics. Here are some examples:
- Drones, cars, and helicopters that can be controlled by a remote are popular hobbies.
- Things for the kitchen
- Decorations
- Garden supplies
Chinese companies like Huawei make the phones that are sold here. There are more than 20 payment gateways to choose from, and PayPal is one of them. This is great, since AliExpress doesn’t let people from many countries use PayPal.
The company also protects its customers. If you return an item within four days of getting it, you can get your money back. You can also change your mind about an order and cancel it. But you can only cancel an order if the item hasn’t already been shipped. Once the order has been shipped, you have to wait for it, return it, and pay for the shipping both ways.
LightintheBox
Lightinthebox is mostly about retail sales, so you won’t find many wholesale deals or prices here. But the goods are actually cheap, and there are sales and discounts all the time. There is always a flash sale, which you can find by clicking the Flash Sale link on the site’s menu.
During these flash sales, you have to decide quickly before the stock runs out. This is not the best choice for dropshippers, but it is one of the best options for people who want to keep their own inventory. Most flash sales last for five days. As a dropshipper, you can put the product on your site and check to see if it is still in stock. Once the flash sale is over, take it down from your site.
As a way to protect yourself as a buyer, you can get a refund if the item you bought was broken when you got it. If the item is also not as described, such as being a different color, you can get a refund if you send it back within seven days.
Every item also has a warranty. The warranty on appliances and home improvement items is one year, but the warranty on everything else is only 30 days. If the 30 days are up, you can’t ask for a refund anymore. You can also ask the seller for a replacement by getting in touch with them.
There are more than ten ways to pay here, including major credit cards, PayPal, and Western Union. The products are sent all over the world by UPS, EMS, and DHL, and the site has programs for dropshipping and selling in bulk.
Chinabrands
Online, Chinabrands is a very busy business. It is in China, but it has warehouses all over the world, which makes it a great alternative to AliExpress. If you order from this site and the product you want is in a warehouse near you or your customer, you can save money on shipping. You can buy a lot of the same things on Chinabrands that you can on AliExpress.
Here are some things you might find:
- iPads and cell phones
- Toys and things to do
- clothing
- Bags, shoes, and other items
- Jewelry
- High-tech tools
When you shop here, you can go to the areas where things are on sale or on clearance. Here are two links that will lead you to good deals. But you have to be quick, or else someone else will get there before you. Just look through the different categories for everyday items, and you’re sure to find something you can sell in your store.
This site is helpful because it tells you how much you can sell it for. On the right side of the website, where the Chinabands price and the ideal market price are shown, you can find this information.
Chinabrands takes PayPal, Payoneer, credit cards, and wire transfers as ways to pay. You can also get a CB Wallet by signing up. It is an electronic wallet that the company owns and where you can put money. Use this cash to buy something from the site.
You can return the items and ask for your money back as a buyer or a dropshipper. But you have to ask for a refund before you send the item back. If you don’t, the management won’t consider your claim for a refund.
Made-in-China.Com
Made-in-china.com is a great alternative to AliExpress because it has so many items for sale. You can find suppliers through the site’s special channels. This is great if you want the things you sell to have your brand on them.
You’re wrong if you think this company is new to the market. It has been around since 1998, which is before AliExpress started doing business. Because it has been in business for so long, it has a long list of sellers and manufacturers.
Here are some examples of what you can find here:
- Electronic components
- Clothing and clothes
- Motorcycles
- Machines used in industry
- Materials for building
- Home improvement
- Gardening Textiles
This one has everything you want, and it works with different business models like dropshipping, white-label, and private label. The suppliers who post their products will ship them anywhere in the world, and you can get wholesale prices by contacting them.
But you can’t buy anything from this site whenever you want. You need to contact the supplier and ask how you will pay for the item and how it will be sent to you. There is no protection for buyers here, so you have to be very careful when you buy.
Yaaku
Yaaku is a great alternative to AliExpress if you want to dropship clothes. There are thousands of pieces of clothing on the site, and you can find clothes for any event. It has clothes for men, women, and children.
Here are some of the things you can buy on this site:
- Dresses
- Underwear
- Tops
- Skirts
- Shoes
- Sports
- Coats
- Pants
- Pajamas
If you want to buy in bulk, you need to talk to the seller or supplier. If you buy at least $1,000 worth of goods, you will get a discount. You can pay with Western Union, PayPal, or major credit cards.
Three main shipping companies are used by the site. These are FedEx Express, DPEX, and DHL Express. They don’t offer free shipping, and the cost of shipping would be more than what you paid for the item. The cost of shipping ranges from $ 16 to $22. All of these items are shipped all over the world.
If you want your money back, you must return the item within seven days of when you bought it. Since shipping can take up to 12 days, this is a bit of a problem. The 7-day grace period is over by the time you get the product. If you have a special case, you might want to contact its customer service, since one week isn’t enough time.
TinyDeals
This is another market in Hong Kong, which is in China. A watch can be bought for as little as $3. This site lets you do dropshipping, but you have to add the products to your store by hand because it doesn’t have an app that you can add to your online store.
Here are some of the things you can buy:
- Mobile phone accessories
- Tech that can be worn
- Toys and things for hobbies
- Sports
- Home and garden improvement
- Beautiful and healthy
You can pay for things you buy on the site with PayPal and major credit cards. It ships all over the world, so it accepts Qiwi, WebMoney, and eBankX as well. All items come with free shipping, and Hong Kong Airmail is the company that does the shipping.
If the item you got was broken, you need to tell the seller or the site’s customer service. They will tell you what you need to do in order to get a refund. If you tell the seller about the problem within 30 days of getting the item, you don’t have to pay for the return shipping.
What’s the best site like AliExpress to use instead?
So far, DHGate is the best. It has the best prices, and if you buy in bulk or through its app, you can get even better deals. You can choose one of these seven options. DHGate is the best because it has warehouses all over the world and a good program to protect buyers. If you want the item, you can get a refund for half the price. This saves you money on the return shipping and is like getting the item for 50% off.
Conclusion
AliExpress isn’t the only place to buy and sell things online. Even though it’s one of the biggest, it’s not the biggest and best. The biggest one is Taobao, which we didn’t include because Alibaba still owns it and it only sells in China.
Each customer has his own tastes, like free shipping, which you can get from TinyDeals. Some people only want clothes, so if you want to, you can shop at Yaaku. Try one of these seven other ideas. If you look through the sites, you might find cheap items that you can sell.
