What is 1688? 

As a local Chinese, let me explain 1688.com. 1688.com is the biggest Chinese online wholesale B2B website. It was established by Jack Ma in 1999 and is part of the Alibaba group. Most sellers are Chinese. You can easily wholesale and source products from direct factories.

China 1688 sourcing agent dropshipme

More interestingly, let’s look at how 1688 officially introduces itself.

Alibaba (1688.com) Wholesale is a famous global business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce brand that provides the world’s online business people with many business opportunity information and a convenient and safe online trading market. We select new hot products and high-quality goods from many goods and provide wind vane for buyers to purchase Wholesale. High-quality discount sources, explosive clearance to grab, more worry about purchasing goods, and wholesale procurement on Alibaba!

  • Is it the same with Alibaba?

    • No, they are different websites, and they are aimed at different target customers. 1688 is focused on China’s local market, while Alibaba focuses on the international market. But they are from the same Alibaba group. Their previous CEO was the famous Jack Ma.
    • Some large, established factories will have Alibaba and 1688 to open their local and international markets.

alibaba sourcing agent Dropshipme

  • 1688, better than Alibaba?

    As one local businessman, I want to say yes. Most Chinese e-commerce businesses, Like Amazon sellers, Shopify sellers, Chinese trade companies, Taobao, JD.com pinduoduo sellers, and factory buy material, will come to 1688, not Alibaba. It’s not the language reason. Here are some top reason

    • One of the key advantages of 1688 is its competitive pricing,

which is often 5-60% better than Alibaba. This cost-effectiveness is a major draw for many businesses. we all know that Alibaba.com has some trading companies and sourcing companies, what’s their supply chain? They are both from 1688. Those middlemen just add price and MOQ and show on Alibaba to get foreign customers and gain profit. Just like the pictures showed, we found random, Hebei Factory, one cute bag, 0.1 RMB (0.014USD), MOQ 1pcs. Selling 630,000pcs one year. 

1688 sourcing low price

By the way, in those years of hot selling Temu.com and tiktok.com, 80% of Temu sellers bought from 1688. Cause Temu will invite e-commerce seller to sell on their platform. TEMu has an intelligent price comparison system through the picture to determine whether your supply price is too high, and it is a daily pop-up window for you to quote a better price! That’s the reason some price seems unreal on Temu. Anyway, from Temu, we can see the real orgial factory is from 1688

    • There is a low MOQ, and most are just 1pcs,

Which are more friendly to small batch wholesale. Some local retailers like Taobao, Tmall, JD, and Pinduoduo will be dropshipping from 1688. Cause the low MOQ; some young personal users are likelier to buy from 1688 than Taobao and Pinduduo. (Local Temu). They’ll find the factories and supply chains behind the big brands, like Sam’s Club, KFC, IKEA, and Philips. But it was really cheap, and most importantly, it was SAME quality. This is Amazing but true.

    • They showed a exact price

since the MOQ was low. So their price and shipping cost must be exact, no confusion. Unlike Alibaba, where you put the order on the Cart, the supplier says their price is wrong and they are out of stock.

    • Find the treasure factory that Alibaba doesn’t have.

      They still have a lot of factories that only have their 1688 and do not have Alibaba. Cause they can’t build their overseas selling team, opening Alibaba also costs about 6000USD/per year for the basic one and 13000USD/per year. Both do not include the per-day advertising cost. So, it would be a great thing if you could find a really good brand factory; it would enhance your supply chain and help you beat your competitors. To be honest, if they can not build their overseas team, you also can not find them at the Canton fair and HK fair since they can not afford to take this budget to attend the fair. Personally, I think most Chinese suppliers are very simple and honest people; they are the real face of Made in China.

  • Disadvantages of 1688

    • Language The biggest problem is that he has a Chinese interface.

Ninety percent of sellers can not speak English, while we can use Google Translate or Deepl. The language barrier does exist, and we can’t communicate or talk to him on the phone very well.

    • International payments.

      • It is not that easy to pay like on Alibaba. 2025, 1688 supports logging in and paying by Alipay International, while still one problem when you want to pay

    • Reliability

      • Because of the language and our experience in the Chinese market, we are not really able to certify the reliability of this factory. However, we can check their company information, year of establishment, and positive feedback.
      • Just so you know, in 1688, the annual membership fee for the basic version was 6688 yuan, about 1000 USD; thresholds and costs were not high, so let’s be careful when the seller is just 1-2 years old.

    • Shipping

It only offers shipping to local markets and cities. So they can not send the items directly overseas like Alibaba, so they usually offer EXW terms. It would be wise to have one sourcing agent or shipping agent to collect your items from different factories and arrange the shipment to your country. Most sourcing agents can offer an all-in-one service; they will arrange the shipping customs clearance and provide door-to-door service. If you are interested in shipping services, you can click this link to learn more.

  • How to source from 1688? In a simple step-by-step manner?

    • Go to 1688.com and use the Google Translate plug-in.

1688 sourcing agent Dropshipme

Sign in and select a company or personal account—both are okay; the functions are the same.

Enter the username, passport code, and phone number. Done.

how to sign up on 1688 dropshipme sourcing

    •  Image Serch

Just like searching on Alibaba and Amazon, you can use keyword or image search on it, while it needs to put Chinese characters. We highly recommend using image search; just like Google image search, you will get all the 1688 suppliers selling the same items, and you can quickly check the selling price and selling quantity and compare the price with Efficient methods. You can easily have an overview of the actual price and talk with 2-3 factories with reasonable selling amounts and quick reply rates.  

    • Use WeChat In China,

The fastest way to get a reply from a supplier is through WeChat. Everybody uses WeChat just like WhatsApp so that you can find their phone number from their profile contact info. 

As we all know, you can get an excellent price when you see the key person.

 

    • Find a China sourcing agent.

      • Google to find some reliable Ones.

Remember to test a small amount first and then a bulk order. Select someone who will offer you a safe payment method for the first cooperation, like an Alibaba trade assurance order. If they are not willing, try to find another one.

      • Friend recommend:

If you have some friends who use sourcing agents, try to let them recommend them. Your friend has tested them as safe and reliable sourcing agents.

      • Upwork,  you can also find some agents at reasonable prices.

To be honest, Upwork will offer the price case by case; they will offer 50-300 USD for one project first, which you do not need to pay first. Since the sourcing agent only charges by commission, they are transparent and reliable; when you make the payment, you are charged by the fee. For Upwork, they will earn an Offer fee, commission, and price difference. So, I recommend using a real sourcing agent to save time and money.

Who is Dropshipme Sourcing?

Dropshipme sourcing has been growing since 2017. We have 9 years of sourcing agent service. If you have any questions or differences, just email us; we are open to helping. We aim to help customers easily use strong supplier Chains in China.

How Dropshipme sourcing can help you?

  • Reliable and 9 years 1688 sourcing agent

Dropshipme sourcing has over 9 years of sourcing experience. We also have our Alibaba online store. We can use Alibaba trade assurance orders to protect both sides.

  • Offer all-in-one service

We will help you by offering sourcing, inspection, packing, labeling, and shipping to managers. customer clearance service.

  • Transparency price

We totally offer same price on 1688 and real MOQ, no hidden fe.

  • Save 5-60% cost compared to your right now seller.

We have confidence that we can help you Optimize the supply chain for cost savings.

You can send your PI or quotation to review, we can offer free price compare.

If you are looking for new products from 1688, contact us.

If before you are buying from alibaba, contact us to compare the price, you will get one surprise.

If you it is hard to let your supplier reduce the price, contact us, just a few click and compare. We will help you cut the price down or find a better price. Contact us support@dropshipme.com