Alabiba.com Experience - Please share?

[Stocksdale]

I’m sure I’m not the only person to ask this question, but has anyone every placed an order through alibaba.com with an international supplier from China for e-cig supplies?

I’ve been reading the forums within the alibaba.com site and it is not without risk - many scammers that just take your money. On the other hand, there seems to be gold members, a list of years in business and site inspections that have been verified as good suppliers that accept escrow. That seems safe to me, but I’m not sure and wanted to ask some of the veterans and members on ECF before making an order.

I have to admit that purchasing 510 atomizers at $1.00-$1.50 per piece would be an unreal savings compared to US vendor prices.

I’m sure the US vendors are buying their stock from here, and thought why cant we?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for supporting our vendors and trust me – I have contributed my fair share to about each one.

Just asking if anyone has ever tried it, and what was the result or experience?

 

[live2vapp]

i have and havnt been ripped off but the whole experiance is shady sometimes i have had to wonder if they was ever gonna even mail the shippment in taking so long and one time my package got held up in customs for 10 days and shipping is outrageous and the pics dont always match what they send i once ordered a lavatube and when i finaly got it it was kinda like the pic but way cheaper i wouldnt recomend it most of the good wholesalers on there require a large min order quantity

 

[Uncle Willie]

Besides the support a USA business aspect ..

You can expect little to no customer support after the fact .. if you get bad units, you'll essentially be on your own ..

Good deals can be had without resorting to China ordering ..

 

[sailorman]

There are good wholesalers there, but like live2vapp said, they require a significant minimum order.
If you get a small amount as "samples", you'll pay so much shipping that you won't save anything.
If they sell small quantities with no minimums, they're probably too shady to deal with.
Most companies that buy from Chinese manufacturers either do it through distributors or agents.
They have a different way of doing business there and naive Americans can get burnt too easily.
If you want to save money and not get burnt, go through a place like Eastmall or Healthcabin. At least they're respectable and won't flat rip you off.
Ali-baba is, and always has been, a source for retailers who know what they're doing. There was an Ali-baba Express that was geared toward small vendors and consumers, but I don't know if it's still around anymore.
You can always try to get in on co-ops. Some people have the contacts or reliable sources to swing large orders from China.

 

[Smokalo]

I've had some bad experiences dealing with a few of the manufacturers at Alibaba, particularly Smoktech:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...9-smoktech-unresponsive-screwed-up-order.html

 

[kia2]

Just about anything you can find on alibaba you can find somewhere else with better quality and service.

Health Cabin is a company out of China that a few here have gone to without problems. I haven't used them personally, though.