DH Gate vs Alibaba: Which is the Best for Sourcing Products?

Introduction

DH Gate and Alibaba are two of the most popular platforms for sourcing products.

Both have their pros and cons, but which is the best platform for you? In this article, we’ll compare DH Gate and Alibaba so that you can decide which is the right platform for your business.

We’ll discuss prices, quality, shipping, and other factors to help you make the best decision. So, which platform will you choose? DH Gate or Alibaba?

The blog will include the following content

The history of DH gate and Alibaba

Pros and Cons of Alibaba

Pros and Cons of DH Gate

Comparison between two platform

Common Steps of Sourcing products from Alibaba and DH gate

FAQ

The history of DH gate and Alibaba

Alibaba

Founded in 1999 as the first business segment of Alibaba Group, Alibaba International Website has become the main platform to drive the digitization of foreign trade.

It serves over 26 million active business buyers in more than 200 countries and regions

It is one of the preferred online platforms for exporters to expand their international trade by showcasing and promoting suppliers’ businesses and products to overseas buyers, thereby obtaining trade opportunities and orders

On September 20, 2014, Alibaba was listed on the U.S. New York Stock Exchange and closed at $93.89 on its first day, up 38.07% from the issue price, and its market capitalization broke $230 billion at the closing price.

It took Alibaba 15 years to reach a market capitalization of about $230 billion from its initial start-up of 500,000 RMB to its listing.

DH gate

DHgate is the first e-commerce platform for Sourcing quality Chinese goods. It is revolutionizing cross-border trade.

The company is focused on providing global small and medium-sized business (SMB) and consumer customers with the best value and buying efficiency for a wide range of goods, and has been growing at an accelerating pace.

Today, it has nearly 1 million sellers from 33 Chinese provinces; 5.5 million business and consumer buyers from over 227 countries; 25 million product listings; and a transaction every 3 seconds.

Conclusion: there is no doubt that Alibaba is a more powerful company than DH gate if we only compared them by the company size.

Pros and Cons of Alibaba

Pros

Wide choice of products: over 6000 categories, from car parts to clothes, you can find any products you want on Alibaba.
With Alibaba, you can offer your customers a wide variety of goods at low wholesale prices. This means that not only will they be getting high-quality products, but also an excellent price point which increases their potential for profit!
Alibaba’s reviewing system can help you decide which product to buy. Alibaba’s reviewing system can help you decide which product to buy.
The Trade Assurance System can help you assess potential suppliers and make sure they meet all your quality standards.
With so many payment options to choose from, you’re guaranteed a safe and secure transaction. For instance, Alipay Paypal, Wire Transfer, and Debit/Credit Cards will ensure that your money is never lost in transmission!
The companies will be able to track the quality of their products before they’re shipped out by checking them against samples.
To ensure that your products arrive on time and in good condition, some manufacturers will offer tracking services.
You can make your company stand out by customizing products and packaging to create a unique brand identity.
RFQ requests when you choose one product in the categories, the system will automatically send the requests to all product suppliers which will contact you lately. You can collect all the prices and compare them.
CouponAlibaba will provide coupons for buyers and the sellers also provide discounts, which enable you to get the lower price of products.

Cons

With Alibaba being a wholesale provider, the minimum order quantity is quite high.
You cannot place an individual purchase without investing in many items at once and because of this you may have some risk with your investment
Selling fake products is illegal. Sometimes you will find some product suppliers which copy other companies’ products and sell them to you. Be careful!
False advertisements. Suppliers on the Alibaba platform often have different product quality/ appearance than what customers see online. The refund policy can help you in this trouble, read the full items before making a decision.

It can be difficult to get a refund or exchange on your purchase. Doing more research to find a reliable product supplier can help you avoid this.
Slow process and delivery
The Product manufacturers are mostly located in China, and the process of manufacturing and delivery are hard to estimate.
Unclear price, The price you see on the product page sometimes is not the exact price manufacturers will charge. You have to contact the suppliers for it.
On the other hand, the price can be higher for the suppliers considering that you are a totally fresher in the product niche. So you have to negotiate with them for a lower and clear price.

Image Use for the Topic of DH Gate vs Alibaba.

Pros and Cons of DH Gate

Pros

New users coupon

DH Gate will provide a coupon for the new customers

All day service

DH gate Provides all-day service for the users, just contact the service agent to ask your questions.

Without MOQ

The whole company size is not as big as Alibaba, the product suppliers in the platform mostly are mid-size, You may have no need to worry about MOQ.

Payment

DHgate has a variety of payment options for your convenience. You can use any major credit card, debit card, or even PayPal to make purchases on the site with complete security that all data is encrypted before being sent over an internet connection!

Feedback from customers

Suppliers need to provide feedback on their application and authenticity before they can get started. Supplier fraud prevention pages are helpful in verifying that the company is legitimate, as well as providing you with ways of communicating any issues or concerns about them directly to this provider’s team.”

Cons

Limited choice of products

The products you can choose in DH gate are less than the Products in Alibaba.

You can never be too careful when it comes to product quality. Mid-size manufacturers are easier to provide products with low quality or even fakers.
DHgate only offers two contact options for suppliers, which can be a problem if you need more than just email and chat. On Alibaba, there are four total ways. This isn’t an issue though because of how quickly responses come from these vendors.

Comparison Between Two Platform

Product Quality

From https://www.sitejabber.com/, we collect these two platforms’ reviews for comparison.

DH Gate’s 6723 reviews provide an average of 3.51 stars for Their Service.

Alibaba’s 41 reviews provide an average of 3.59 stars for Their Service.

From Trustipilot.com, we collect the same data.

Reviews about Alibaba from Trustipilot — Reviews about Alibaba from Trustpilot

Conclusion: From the review of these two platforms, Alibaba will be more trustworthy.

User experience（UX）

DH gate Allows you to sign in by Facebook or Gmail account. Which would be easier to use.

Alibaba has a very obvious language selection. It also supports LinkedIn and Twitter other than Facebook and google accounts.

Conclusion: Alibaba can provide a wide choice for Users to login into the platform. For the other operation, Two platforms are in the same standard. This part has no need to be worried about.

Difference Kinds of Product Suppliers in DH Gate and Alibaba

Product categories from Alibaba

The product categories from DH gate

Conclusion: From the image, we can see that the product categories of Alibaba are more than the Categories of DH gate. Users can have a wider choice.

Price and MNQ

The cost of a product is determined by the supplier and MOQ.

If you want to take only small orders, Dh gate would be an ideal choice, but the price unit would be higher!

When looking at Alibaba search results–the larger scales are usually found here where there will always be some reliable manufacturers who meet any size requirements one might need(especially those wanting large numbers).

Buyer Protection

DHGate is a trustworthy marketplace that provides buyers with protection. They will hold your funds until you’re satisfied and once the order has been delivered, they’ll release payment to the seller only after confirmation of delivery via signature on receipt or photo ID

– This prevents fraud by ensuring complete trust between both parties

Trade assurance is a service that provides protection to buyers in case their products don’t arrive on time or meet quality standards. If you have an order covered by trade assurance, Alibaba will help resolve the issue and may refund some of your costs or find another supplier for this product if necessary- all at no cost!

So both Alibaba and DHGate have their buyer protection process. The most important is that you do enough research on the product suppliers.

Pay option

Alibaba

Paypal

Credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and others.

Wire transfer

DH gate

PayPal

Credit card

Bank-to-bank wire transfers

Western Union

Delivery option

DH gate

HK Post

DHL

EMS

FedEx

Post Link

Singapore Post

TNT

China Post

Alibaba

DHL

UPS

FedEx

China Post

DH gate can offer you more choices in the Delivery options. If you have any requirements in delivery, you can negotiate with the manufacturer’s suppliers.

Return and exchange policy

DH gate

If you reject shipped merchandise, the buyer has 10 days to ship it back. You are responsible for paying any service fees and shipping costs associated with this process but other than that enjoy your new item!

Alibaba

30 days after delivery, if you don’t think the product is high-quality enough to your liking then please contact us for a refund. We’ll help investigate and resolve any issues so that it meets all of your expectations!

one hand holding a packaging above four packaging

Common Steps of Sourcing products from Alibaba and DH gate

When looking for a reliable manufacturer on DHgate or Alibaba, there are a few key steps you should take to ensure you’re getting the best quality product at the best price.

First, make sure to ask about MOQ (minimum order quantity) and prices. This will give you an idea of what kind of quantities you’re looking at and whether the price is within your budget.
Next, ask about quality control and the manufacturing process. This will help you understand how the product is made and what kind of standards the manufacturer has in place.
To avoid working with a middleman, try to contact the factory owner directly. This will help you get a better price for the product.
Once you’ve found a few potential suppliers, be sure to check their reviews. This will give you an idea of their customer service and quality levels.
Keep negotiating with the manufacturer until you get the best possible price for the product.
Make sure you have a secure payment method in place before placing your order.
If possible, pay a visit to the factory to see the conditions and meet the people who will be making your product. This will give you peace of mind and help build a relationship with the manufacturer.
Make sure the time of manufacturing and delivery is in the contract. This ensures that you’ll get your products on time and as expected.

By following these steps, you can be sure you’re getting the best possible product at the best price from a reliable manufacturer.

Sample product — a shipping box with fragile label on it’s surface

Common FAQ

Safety of DH gate

Yes, DH gate is safe for product sourcing. The company has a strict verification process for all suppliers, so you can be sure that you’re getting high-quality products. In addition, DH gate offers a buyer protection program to further protect your purchase.

Safety of Alibaba

Yes. When making a purchase on Alibaba, be sure to check the supplier’s ratings and reviews to ensure a positive transaction. Alibaba also offers buyer protection services to help you resolve any issues that may arise during a purchase. With these safeguards in place, you can shop with confidence on Alibaba.com.

Fake products in DH Gate？

There is no simple answer to the question of whether or not DHgate sells fake products. This is because it depends on the suppliers that are selling products through DHgate.

While some suppliers may sell authentic products, there are also those who may sell counterfeit or knock-off products. As such, it is important to do your research before purchasing anything from DHgate to ensure that you are getting a product that is genuine and not fake.

Alternatives of all these products

GlobalSources

DHGate

Supplier Database

all.biz

Chinabrands

Lightinthebox

Made in China

1688

IndiaMart

TradeIndia

EC21

ECPlaza

eWorldTrade

QualityTrade

ThomasNet

Europages

Solostocks

China.cn

AliExpress (aliexpress.com)

Chinabrands (chinabrands.com)

Made-in-China (made-in-china.com)

Gearbest (gearbest.com)

Why are they cheap on such platforms

There are two main reasons why Alibaba and DH gate is able to offer such cheap prices on their products.

The first reason is that they source their products directly from manufacturers in China. This allows them to bypass the traditional retail channels and middlemen, which saves a lot of money.

The second reason is that they operate on a very large scale. They have millions of products and thousands of suppliers, so they are able to get volume discounts. This allows them to pass on the savings to their customers.

Conclusion

So, which platform is better for sourcing products?

Alibaba or DH Gate? The answer to this question is not straightforward. Both platforms have their own pros and cons.

However, if we take a closer look at the two platforms, it seems that Alibaba has some clear advantages over DH Gate.

First of all, Alibaba is more popular than DH Gate and it has a larger product selection.

Additionally, Alibaba offers lower prices and faster shipping times.

Finally, Alibaba is a more established platform with a good reputation. If you are looking to source products from China, then Alibaba should be your first choice.