Quick answer: DHgate is a real marketplace, but safety depends on the seller, payment protection, product evidence, and dispute terms. Verify those items before placing a larger order.
When it comes to importing from e-commerce wholesale platforms in China, most of the buyers must firstly think of some well-known websites such as Alibaba, AliExpress, Made-In-China, Global Source. DHgate is one of the earliest B2B marketplaces in China with the sixth in the world in terms of online foreign trade turnover.
In this post, we will focus on if DHgate is a reliable site and how to buy safely without scams.
1. What Is DHgate?
DHgate set foot in cross-border e-commerce in 2004 The platform is dedicated to creating an online Silk Road for Chinese sellers helping them realize their dream of “buy globally, sell globally” through simpler, safer, and more efficient online transactions.
DHgate had 31 million international registered purchasers, 2.2 million vendors, and also various buyers from over 220 countries and regions. The buyer group is mainly overseas small and medium-sized retailers and wholesalers, they are familiar with and rely on the online purchasing model, with high purchasing frequency and mainly in bulk.
The website offers numerous items, including a series of electronic devices, clothing, fashion accessories, and also health and beauty products, among many others.
The platform also runs physical locations called Digital Trade Centers (DTCs) in which prospective clients can evaluate goods before buying. DTCs are located in countless countries around the world.
2. Is Dhgate safe to buy from?
Just like other famous B2B websites, DHgate does not sell products by itself, but rather provides an opportunity to connect Chinese suppliers and overseas buyers to boost the deals. It acts as a third party to ensure the smoothness and security of the transaction between both parties.
When you select the product on DHgate and settle the payment, the money will go to DHgate instead of the supplier’s account directly. Then the supplier sends the goods to your address. DHgate will hold the money only once you receive the product, the fund will wire to the vendor.
If you are not satisfied with the goods you receive, then the buyer can contact the seller and reach an agreement with them. If an agreement cannot be reached, the buyer can initiate a complaint against the seller on Dunhuang.com. However, if buyers strictly follow DHgate’s buyer rules and adhere to secure transaction requirements, then even if they encounter problems, they will be able to resolve them easily.
So in the case of the transaction mode, you are safe to buy products on this platform. DHgate will never steal money from your pocket or credit card information.
3. Should I Buy On Dhgate?
When you visit the DHgate website, you can see 90% of the product basically can be sold in one piece. This website is more like AliExpress, better to be considered as B2C instead of a B2B website.
B2B is business to business, the company provides services or products to other businesses, B2C business to consumer, the company sells direct to individual consumers.
This platform has a wide variety of goods, especially consumer goods for daily use. For general merchandise, daily necessities are a very good sourcing channel, not so useful for customized products.
However, most of the sellers are trading companies, middlemen, wholesalers, and there are very few real factory sellers. Therefore, this platform is suitable for individual consumers, e-commerce start-ups, and individuals who want to purchase a small amount and a wide variety of goods.
Therefore if you want to buy a bit more quantity from one vendor, you can try to negotiate with the supplier, they may offer you a better deal.
As the commodities on DHgate and AliExpress are kind of homogenous, while you source on DHgate, also can look upon AliExpress, and try to find the most suitable supplier to buy the products.
4. How To Buy Safely from DHgate Store Without Scams?
In fact, in any business, on any platform, there is a chance to encounter scammers. Therefore as a customer, you need to strictly follow the rules of the platform, so that the platform will also maximize the protection on us.
In addition, we should also do some basic vetting of suppliers to try to avoid the possibility of meeting scammers. After all, it takes time and energy to deal with disputes and complaints.
4.1 Check the basic information of the supplier
When you are selecting items on DHgate, please try to choose suppliers that have been established for a longer time.
Check the store categories, see if the supplier offers all kinds of different products or focuses on certain categories.
Much better to choose focused vendors instead of a wide-ranged seller. By focused sellers, it indicates the vendor is concentrated on particular items. As well as by a wide-ranged seller, they probably offer plenty of products of different classifications.
A concentrated seller supplies items normally with better quality. As well as you won’t get ripped off. As a concentrated seller knows better about the items, and their services can be better.
But with a wide-ranged vendor, it’s truly hard for them to control the quality of every product. For instance, in a fashion accessory shop, you may find the handbag is high quality, however, the watch may not so good. As a result, pick a focused vendor over wide-ranged ones and also save yourself from faulty items.
4.2 Check the reviews and ratings of the supplier
Reviews and ratings are very important for an online store, if your supplier got a good rating and many positive reviews, that means they are should be reliable.
However, you need to check the history of the reviews. If the positive reviews got in a short time or certain period, then their positive reviews seem suspicious.
In the meantime, you should also pay attention to the number of supplier transactions. The higher number of transactions, the more time and experience this supplier has invested in this platform and the better it operates. Then the higher the chances that he is a good supplier can offer better service.
Best to choose a supplier that has the following recommended icons, the top superior suppliers, five-star service, and best service, high-quality products icons. Suppliers with these icons are better in terms of service and product quality. It is a supplier that has been rated and recommended by the platform.
4.3 Do not buy the luxury brand products
As we all know that luxury brands like LV, Prada, Nike, etc do not sell on third-party online platforms.
They have their owns official websites and sales channels. If you found them on other platforms, most likely they are fake. Especially the cost of the famous brand product is much lower than the original price.
From the website pictures, it may be hard to tell the difference from appearance, but once you receive the product, the quality cannot be the same as the original one. It is illegal to sell famous branded products on third-party e-commerce platforms. If caught, the products will be confiscated.
So, it is better do not to buy famous brand products on DHgate.
4.4 Do not buy a product which price is significantly lower than the market price
If the product cost is significantly lower than other suppliers, then you should be paying attention. Once you place an order, after receiving the goods, the quality is likely to be particularly poor or nothing near the pictures that show in their stores.
4.5 Order and pay on the platform, do not transact offline
DHgate provides buyers with a protected policy. They will hold your payment until you have received your products. Better to choose the main payment methods offered by DHgate. Never pay the supplier in other channels. Only you transact your order strictly to the platform’s rule, your money will be safe.
Also in case of disputes or problems with the quality of goods received, you can complain to the platform and the official will intervene to help you solve the problem.
4.6 Communicate with the supplier before placing an order
Before placing an order, it is best to communicate with the buyer. And confirm the relevant details of the product and delivery time. Through the process of communication with the buyer, you can learn whether the other party is more familiar with the product and whether the service attitude is good. If when you ask some questions, the other party can not give you a timely and satisfactory answer, then the probability indicates that this supplier is not professional.
4.7 Ask for physical product pictures
We suggest you always ask the supplier to send you the physical pictures of the product. As we know, images are very important in e-commerce sales. So basically, the images displayed in online stores are beautified by the vendors. To avoid too much difference between the real thing and the pictures, it is better to need physical photos. Make sure that the real thing is what you want.
5.DHgate’s Main Payment Methods
There are many different ways to pay for your purchases at DHgate. The most common method of payment worldwide is by credit card (Visa, American Express, Mastercard). Moneybookers, Western Union, and bank transfers are also available. In Germany, customers can also pay by Quick Transfer and Giropay. Unfortunately, DHgate does not offer PayPal as a payment method. This is a big shortcoming, but I hope that such a large online store will offer this payment method as soon as possible, as well as other online stores.
Credit Card
Payment is made in the same way as with a normal credit card – just fill in your bank details and you are ready to pay. However, it is worth noting that there is no buyer protection here.
Western Union
Western Union is an offline payment method that requires a fee and a bank branch.
GiroPay
It is also an offline payment method. As soon as you fill out the remittance information, it will link you to your internet bank, after which the normal bank remittance information will appear, and once you have made the remittance, DHgate will get your remittance information directly.
MoneyBookers/Skrill
This is also an online payment method like PayPal, which is a very common online payment method in the UK.
Bank Transfer
This form of bank transfer takes longer depending on the credit card institution. There is also a fee depending on your bank.
If some sellers ask you to send money directly to their account, don’t fall for it – it’s strictly forbidden on Dunhuang. This is because if a buyer is unhappy with the goods, then DHgate can’t get the money back for them. However, if buyers follow DHgate’s buyer Rules to the letter and adhere to secure transaction requirements, they can easily resolve any problems they encounter.
6. Dhgate Shipping Time
I believe most of the buyers are very concerned about the delivery time and want to receive the package sooner. most of DHgate’s items are free shipping. But you need to pay attention to the delivery time, the free shipping items are basically shipped by China post or ePacket, and the time it takes varies from country to country and region to region. But usually, it takes 2-6 weeks, sometimes it may be longer.
If you need the product urgently, you can pay extra to let the vendor ship by faster shipping channels, such as FedEx, DHL, UPS.
Or you can try to look for if the product you want has a warehouse in your destination.
7. DHgate‘s Pros and Cons
Every company and platform has its strengths and weaknesses. Understanding the advantages of each of the different platforms can be better for us to use.
Pros
- A wide variety of products, even more than AliExpress
- Simple and friendly used operation interface
- Can create a dropshipping system
- Fluent customer service
- DHgate Buyer protection
Cons
- Paypal is not available
- Product quality varies and takes time to screen
- Free shipping item takes a long time to deliver
Overall, if you are looking for products at good prices in online shopping that are not expensive luxury brands, then you will be easy to find them at DHgate. The affordable brands here are available at great prices from A-Z. And you can also have more detailed information about the products by communicating with the special friendly customer service about the details of the products and other issues.
Related Guides: Add Alibaba safety link Add verify supplier link
Related Guides: See also how to buy safely on Alibaba and 6 ways to verify your Chinese supplier to avoid scams on DHgate and similar platforms.
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