Wholesale toys is becoming incresingly popular in the global market in recent years. As for most wholesale toys retailers or wholesalers, they try their best to find wholesale toys wich have very low price but high quality on many platforms,especially on Alibaba. Looking forward to find the desired items and then complete orders are the ultimate goals for each wholesale toys retailers. However, during the process of searching on Alibaba and communicating with wholesale sellers, there will be a problem for the most toys retailers. That means Alibaba scams are always be here which may bring big problems to wholesalers.
This article will list top 10 scams buying wholesale toys on Alibaba that everyone must know and pay attention to. Please remember that these 10 scams are not only be suitable to Alibaba, but also apply to all fashionable B2B platforms which involve many wholesale suppliers from China. But considering that Alibaba is the most big and popular B2B platform in China, this article will make an example of Alibaba. So let us begin it!
1.Sending Fake And Shoddy Brand Products
This scam is absolutely the most common scam taking place on Alibaba. However, the most surprising thing is that most people don’t even realize that they are treated unfortunately by wholesale toys supplier from Alibaba untill their toy products are warned by online platform.
The question is that why do this scam go into effect? In fact, these “star” brands sold by Chinese supplier on Alibaba are actually not authorized. And they are always sold in low price which are lower than true star brand products. The most common products are the following:
1.Shoes(especially like NIKE, YEEZYS etc.)
2.Cosmetics, fragrances (Max factor, MAC, Dior etc.)
3.Electronics (mobile phone replicas, airpods etc.)
So how to avoid it? The clear answer is that never buy any star brand from Alibaba, most of them are fake.
2.Selling Brand Product But Deliver Nothing
How does this scam work? Most people think this scam is similar with the first scan. Actually it is right. But there has a big difference. That means once you send the money to the supplier from Alibaba, you will lose money forever and the wholesale toys you buy will never deliver to you.
Sounds terrible right? Tell you a good news, this article will teach you how to avoid that scam. The truth we must remember forever is that never buy any brand products from Alibaba if you do not want to experience that irritating scam. For example, if you see toys with Disney branding sold in a very low price, be careful. Actually it is a very cheap fraud. Here are some following tips:
1.Never buy toys product undersold on Alibaba.
2.Check the domain name in the database. If you see it is registered in China, be careful.
3.Check the mode of transportation. If you find it is delivered by EMS, that is a fraud! Because EMS is a Chinese express delivery company.
4.Sell many unrelated toys products.Scammers often sell lots of unrelated toys on Alibaba.
3.Unverified UK or US company Alibaba profile
How does this scam work? In general, Chinese fraudsters used the details of legitimate UK/US/EU companies to open free Alibaba profiles. These free accounts are not properly verified. And the suppliers from Alibaba pretend that they are the licensed companies but actually they only want to cheat you money. After receive your money, they will run away and never contact you.
How to avoid it? The most important thing that you need keep in mind is that never trust any supplier without validation. Moreover, it is good for you if you only do business with gold supplier who has more than 7 years experience.
4.Remitting Money to A Private Bank Account
The most common situation is that when it is time to pay for money, Alibaba suppliers will provide their private accounts because they say there’s a problem in the official account. If you believe the lie, so terrible! You may lose everything.
How to avoid it? The easiest way is never deliver money to private account. But it is also possible that suppliers avoid paying taxes by providing private accounts. All in all, if there’s a supplier provide his private account, I will terminate the transaction.
5.Asking for Additional Customs Clearance Charges
How does the scam work? After paying you goods, Alibaba supplier may tell you that you need to pay other items to cover customs charges. If you refuse to pay, they will not deliver goods. Sometimes they even provide fake delivery tracking codes to show some severe situation like being detained by customs.
How to avoid it? Unfortunately, once you receive this kind of email, you have already be scammed. What you need to do is accepting the loss and do not pay money again. If you pay once, Alibaba wholesale toys suppliers will treat you twice!
6.Asking for Cryptocurrency for Payment
How does this kind of new scam being popular? The answer is that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are gaining popularity. Many wholesale toys suppliers from Alibaba will request you to pay via cryptocurrency. However, in most way, you even do not know where the money went. So believe me, never trust any words that justifies cryptocurrency payments.
7.Refusing to Send Samples
When you ask wholesale toys suppliers from Alibaba for toy samples,they reply that they do not accept sample delivery. What they only do is deal with a large order.
So how to deal with that scam? Keep away from that kind of suppliers. After finding a new wholesale toys suppliers, the first thing you should do is to confirm sample. If they do not provide samples, you need to be careful. For the most suppliers from Alibaba, they are willing to provide samples even without ask for freight because they want to do business with you to make money.
8.Only Accepting Payment Via Western Union
Many retailers say that they once received proforma invoice including information on who to send money to. And after they pay money, they can not find Alibaba suppliers. So how to avoid it? Do not send money to Alibaba supplier via western union. If you do that, you will pay money to private people, not a company. And you will never know the going of money. Anyway, when deal with Alibaba supplier, the only method you should be using are paypal, Alibaba escrow or company account.
9.Increasing the Quote After You Place An Order
How does it work? You may find that many wholesale toys product are in a very low price. Because Alibaba is a wholesale platform, retailers can only gain specific price after sending a quantity inquiry. At first, suppliers will give you a very low price to attract your attention. But after you confirm all the details for packing, they will give you a higher quote.
So how to avoid this kind of scam? The best way is to contact multiple wholesale toys suppliers at the same time. In that way can you deal with the scam.
10.Invoice Made to A Personal Bank Account
It is a scam which is similar to the boss’ bank account scam. On the proforma invoice, you’ll notice that the bank account is a personal account and not the company’s account. So how to avoid this kind of scam? Remember to not to transfer money to a personal bank account!
Here are the top 10 scams buying wholesale toys from Alibaba. Remember these 3 tips:
1.There are always risks in any business,including exportation.
2.If it looks too good to be true, be careful.
3. Remember to find gold supplier with more than 5 years experience.
Good luck to your importing deals. Hope all things go well~
