Sourcing glossary
1688
Also known as: 1688.com, Alibaba 1688, 阿里巴巴1688
Alibaba Group's domestic Chinese wholesale marketplace, where factories and wholesalers sell to Chinese businesses in RMB, mostly with delivery inside mainland China.
1688.com often shows lower prices and smaller minimums than export platforms because it serves Chinese retailers and online sellers. Listings and chat are in Chinese, payment normally runs through Alipay, and most sellers only ship to an address in China, so overseas buyers typically use a purchasing agent or a China-based forwarder and pay through a cross-border payment route.
1688 has its own secured-transaction and dispute rules; Alibaba.com's Trade Assurance does not apply. See how to buy from 1688 and 1688 vs Alibaba vs Taobao.
Related terms
Guides that use this term
Suppliers
How to Write an RFQ Chinese Suppliers Will Actually Answer
What to put in a request for quotation so a Chinese supplier can price it: the fields, the specs by category, a copy-paste template and a WhatsApp first message.
Updated 2026-10-19 · 7 min read
Compliance
Is Your Order Too Small to Import from China? A Break-Even Test
Why 20 units or a US$100–500 budget rarely pays to import from China: per-shipment fixed costs, a simple break-even test, and six options for small buyers.
Updated 2026-10-19 · 7 min read
Compliance
Buying Branded Goods from China: Counterfeits, Trademarks and Customs
Why Chinese sellers offer 1:1 replicas, what customs does with counterfeit imports in the US, EU and South Africa, and the legal ways to sell branded or own-brand goods.
Updated 2026-10-19 · 8 min read
QC
Factory Audit in China: What It Checks, What It Costs and When to Order One
Factory audits in China: audit vs inspection, the five audit types, what the auditor checks on site, published cost per man-day, how to order one and read the report.
Updated 2026-10-14 · 7 min read
Suppliers
Is My Chinese Supplier a Scam? 12 Patterns and the Checks That Catch Them
The twelve supplier scams importers meet in China, from the bank-account switch to the vanishing deposit, the check that exposes each, and what to do if you already paid.
Updated 2026-10-14 · 8 min read
Suppliers
China's Biggest Wholesale Markets: What Each Sells and Which One to Visit
The wholesale markets that matter for importers, by product: Yiwu International Trade City, Guangzhou's clothing, bag and toy districts, Huaqiangbei, Keqiao and Guzhen.
Updated 2026-10-14 · 6 min read
Part of 1688, Alibaba & Taobao.