How to Buy from 1688.com Outside China: A Step-by-Step Guide

1688.com is Alibaba Group's domestic wholesale marketplace, where Chinese factories and wholesalers sell to Chinese retailers and online shops. Prices are often lower than on export-focused platforms, but the site was built for buyers with a Chinese bank account, a Chinese address and Chinese-language skills. This guide walks through each step for a buyer based outside China: account, search, payment, delivery and checking suppliers.

Step 1: Decide how you will buy#

You have two realistic routes: buy yourself with your own 1688 account, or let a purchasing agent buy for you. The right choice depends on order size, how often you buy and how much time you can spend on Chinese-language communication.

Many buyers start with an agent and move to their own account once they have a few trusted suppliers.

What a purchasing agent charges#

Agent pricing follows the same structure as for Yiwu agents, and the numbers are similar: a commission on the value of the goods, commonly between 3% and 10% with smaller orders at the high end, plus a minimum fee per order. Everything else is billed separately, so ask for the full list before your first order.

A "zero commission" agent is not free; the margin sits inside the supplier price. The test is whether you can see the original 1688 order and its price. For a fuller breakdown of how agents charge and how to compare quotes, see Yiwu sourcing agent fees, which applies to 1688 agents as well.

Step 2: Set up an account (if you buy directly)#

A 1688 account is tied to an Alibaba/Taobao login and, for payment, to an Alipay account that has passed real-name verification. Overseas users can register with a foreign mobile number in many cases, but the verification steps and accepted documents change, so expect to upload ID and complete identity checks.

For businesses registered outside mainland China, 1688 runs an official cross-border payment program called Cross-Border Pay (跨境宝), built with Alipay. According to 1688's own setup page, the process is:

1. Open an Alipay international business account for your overseas or Hong Kong entity and submit documents for review.
2. Authorize it to link to your 1688 buyer account.
3. Fund it with offshore RMB or USD, which is converted to RMB.
4. Choose a secured (escrow) transaction at checkout and pay with Cross-Border Pay.

Payment providers such as WorldFirst (part of Ant Group) also offer routes to pay 1688 sellers in RMB from a foreign-currency account. Fees, eligible countries and limits differ by provider and change often, so check them before you commit to one.

Step 3: Search in Chinese, or search by image#

Listings are written in Chinese for Chinese buyers, so English keywords return thin or odd results. Three approaches work better:

• Chinese keywords. Translate your product name and try several variants, including the material and use (for example "silicone" plus "baby spoon" in Chinese). Look at the titles of good results and reuse their wording.
• Image search. 1688 has a built-in search-by-image function (以图搜款). Upload a clear product photo and you get visually similar listings from many sellers, which is often the fastest way to find the source factory of a product you have seen elsewhere.
• Official browser extension. As of September 2026, 1688 publishes a Chrome extension (listed as "1688 AlphaShop", previously "1688 AIBUY") that translates product pages, converts currency, finds similar items from a screenshot and translates seller chats.

Filter by seller type where possible. Listings marked as source factories (源头工厂) or "powerful merchants" (实力商家) are a starting point, not proof; you still verify the company yourself (see Step 6).

Step 4: Place the order and pay#

On 1688 you pay the platform, not the seller directly. Under a secured transaction (担保交易), the platform holds your payment and releases it to the seller only after you confirm receipt, which is what gives you leverage in a dispute under 1688's transaction dispute rules.

Before paying:

• Confirm the price tier. Prices on 1688 usually drop at quantity breaks, and the listed price may exclude custom packaging or logos.
• Check the MOQ per variant. A "2 pieces" minimum may apply per color or per size.
• Ask for a lead time in writing in the order chat (Wangwang/AliWangWang). Stock items often ship within days; made-to-order goods take longer.
• Ask whether the price includes a VAT invoice (含税/开票). Prices without an invoice are common and are not a problem for export, but know which price you are being quoted.

Never move payment outside the platform to a personal bank account or QR code the seller sends. Off-platform payments lose the escrow protection entirely.

Step 5: Ship to a China address, then export#

1688 sellers ship domestically, typically by express courier or freight line, to an address in mainland China. That address is usually your freight forwarder's or agent's warehouse. From there the goods are checked, consolidated with your other orders and exported by air, sea, rail or express.

A typical flow looks like this:

1. Seller ships to your forwarder's warehouse, with your customer code on the label.
2. Warehouse logs arrival, counts cartons and (if you pay for it) opens and inspects items.
3. Goods from several sellers are consolidated and repacked.
4. The forwarder books international transport and handles export clearance.

Confirm your receipt deadline. Because escrow releases automatically after a set period, a parcel sitting unopened in a warehouse can pass the point where you can still dispute it. Ask the warehouse to check goods on arrival, not when you are ready to ship.

For choosing the international leg, see sea vs air vs rail vs express and, for small mixed orders, LCL vs FCL.

Using a 1688 shipping agent#

A 1688 shipping agent (also called a forwarder with a China warehouse, or a consolidation warehouse) is the minimum service a self-service buyer needs: it gives you a mainland address for sellers to deliver to, and it exports. It does not buy for you, so the seller is paid by you and the dispute window on 1688 stays yours.

Choose an agent with a warehouse in the province where most of your sellers ship from (Zhejiang for Yiwu goods, Guangdong for electronics and clothing), a contact who answers on WhatsApp or email in your language, and published rates. The agent should never be the payee for the goods themselves; if a "shipping agent" asks you to pay the sellers through it, you have moved to the purchasing-agent model described in Step 1, and the fee structure should change accordingly.

Step 6: Check the supplier before a bigger order#

1688 has buyer-protection rules, but they are designed around domestic Chinese transactions. Once goods have left China, getting a remedy through the platform is much harder, so checks before you pay matter more than claims afterward.

A practical checklist:

1. Business license. Every 1688 seller is a registered Chinese business. Note the company name and unified social credit code, and look it up in China's official company registry.
2. Years on the platform and store ratings. Look at response rate, repurchase rate and dispute history shown on the store page.
3. Factory or trader? Traders are fine for mixed small orders but mark up prices and may not control quality. See factory vs trading company.
4. Samples first. Order a small quantity to your forwarder and inspect it before committing to volume. More on this in ordering product samples from China.
5. Brand and IP risk. 1688 carries many unbranded and "same style" (同款) products. Do not buy anything that copies a trademark or patented design; it can be seized by customs at import.
6. Compliance. 1688 goods are made for the Chinese market. They may lack the certifications, labels or plug types your market requires.

Common mistakes to avoid#

Most problems with 1688 orders come from a few repeat mistakes:

• Ordering many small items from many sellers with no warehouse check, then discovering missing or wrong items weeks later.
• Assuming "free shipping" (包邮) means shipping to your country; it means domestic delivery inside China.
• Accepting the seller's product photos as the specification instead of agreeing materials, size and packaging in chat.
• Ignoring whether the product is legal to import and sell in your market, including listings that copy another brand's logo; see buying branded goods from China.

If you are deciding whether 1688 is the right platform at all, compare it with the export-focused alternative in 1688 vs Alibaba vs Taobao.