
Ask HN: What has been your purchasing experience on Alibaba - chiefofgxbxl
One of my managers at a company I used to work at would talk business with me, and encouraged that I start a business, no matter how small.<p>Given that I wanted to start with something &quot;easy&quot; and low-investment, I considered try selling soap.<p>I&#x27;ve checkout out Alibaba and even got some quotes that I&#x27;m happy with. Of course, buying in bulk makes me cautious because it would be several thousand USD up front.<p>Have you made any purchases on Alibaba? If so, how much money have you spent (rough figures)? Positive&#x2F;negative experience? Tips or things to watch out for? Alternatives?
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ganoushoreilly
I've spent probably $10k the past two years on Alibaba. I find their credit
card processing is all over the place with declines or Alibaba themselves
blocking the cards (which have been used before). Their solution is always
asking you to send in validation paperwork (photo id, passport, picture of the
card, etc.), which of course is sketchy.

All in, the products have always arrived close to as described. That said,
I've only dealt with high reputation sellers and I've seen others locally
burned pretty badly.

If I were selling anything consumable such as soap, i'd really want a good
test on the composition to make sure I wasn't importing something that would
cause serious harm down the road.

