Alibaba vs AliExpress: Which Is Best for Importing & Dropshipping?

Alibaba has a wholesale pricing model designed for business customers. Wholesale pricing is the cost of a product before any retail markup.

For businesses looking to resell products, buying directly from manufacturers typically offers the lowest pricing—which means businesses can make a high profit margin on sales. Alibaba connects buyers directly with manufacturers. AliExpress has some of the same products as Alibaba, but at higher prices.

Alibaba has low wholesale pricing but higher minimum orders.

Minimum order requirements are the smallest amount of product you can purchase. Sometimes this is a dollar amount, but on Alibaba it’s usually a specific number of products. Alibaba and AliExpress are made up of independent sellers, like on eBay and Amazon, so the exact requirements vary.

Alibaba sellers typically have minimum order requirements that range from 50 to 1,000 pieces. Since the products are being sold at such low prices, MOQs ensure that the supplier maintains profitability on all orders. Recently, however, many suppliers have lowered their minimum order quantities to 10 or fewer.

AliExpress doesn’t have MOQs, so you can purchase single quantities of each item.

Alibaba now offers dropshipping to trade directly with factories, manufacturers, and international wholesalers. Dropshipping through Alibaba provides you a free marketplace to find suppliers to source products without minimum order quantity. This is exceptionally beneficial to test out product ideas before committing to significant inventory investment.

All sellers on the Alibaba dropshipping centers are top-rated or verified suppliers, and many support Alibaba’s Trade Assurance protection policy.

As this is a relatively new service, Alibaba is very upfront about its current limitations, and acknowledges that search filters are lacking compared to the Alibaba.com marketplace. It also only connects to Shopify and WooCommerce platforms.

Additionally, AliExpress’s market analysis tools provide a more in-depth view of trends and sales volume. Anyone who uses Alibaba Dropshipping must either analyze the data themselves or use a partner service provider—such as Modalyst, Syncee, Dropified, Sesam, or Sprocket.

So, although it is possible to dropship through Alibaba, we still recommend AliExpress as the better dropshipping solution.

Alibaba is the better choice for purchasing custom and private label products because the items come directly from the manufacturer. With Alibaba, you can easily get products with your logo, store name, or custom sayings for a very low price because they are added during the manufacturing process instead of afterward by a third party.

Many suppliers on Alibaba will manufacture products according to your design, so you are getting a truly unique product. With AliExpress, the products are typically pre-made, so there are limited customization options and they’re usually more expensive.

The specific lead time for your orders can vary significantly depending on the supplier, the product you are purchasing, how big your order is, and if anything is being customized. Thirty days for product production from the time of payment is typically a safe bet.

It’s important to keep in mind that it can take a long time to find the right supplier, negotiate a quote, receive samples, and finalize your order. Plus, if the product is being shipped from overseas, delivery can take a few weeks to a few months. So, in total, expect the process to take a few months.

Alibaba has freight procurement integrated into the platform. Powered by Freightos, Alibaba Logistics is a new marketplace that allows US retailers and businesses to compare pricing, book, manage, and track ocean and air shipping for their wholesale orders. Before Alibaba Logistics, available shipping costs, methods, and time would vary depending on the supplier you were ordering from and was a fairly opaque process.

Some Alibaba suppliers have warehouses in the US. So, if you are purchasing pre-made products from one of those suppliers, they can send you products directly from their US warehouse, which will be faster and much less expensive. With AliExpress, your products will generally ship via air since they are small quantities.

AliExpress offers products from third-party sellers in a variety of categories, similar to Alibaba. The main differences with AliExpress are slightly higher pricing and anyone can place an order directly through the website—you do not need to contact suppliers directly and negotiate a quote. Although the per-item costs on AliExpress are higher, buyers can place much smaller orders and often receive free shipping.

AliExpress has no minimum orders and offers free shipping.

Although many businesses use AliExpress to source products, the website functions more as a retail site in the sense that there are no minimum order requirements and anyone can make a purchase. Alibaba sellers typically have higher minimum order requirements, and while anyone can contact a seller for a quote, the sellers typically only work with businesses.

AliExpress is the best choice for dropshipping because you can order one-off products instead of massive shipments.

Dropshipping is a feature many AliExpress sellers offer. You can also find AliDropship apps on many third-party solutions, such as Shopify, to sell dropship AliExpress products. Additionally, AliDropship offers plugins for WordPress and WooCommerce to sell dropship products from AliExpress.

Alibaba is the better choice for sourcing custom and private label products because you are purchasing directly from a manufacturer that can create products according to your specifications. With AliExpress, you purchase pre-made products that typically cannot be customized.

Since the products bought through AliExpress are already manufactured, the lead time is much shorter for AliExpress orders than Alibaba orders.

AliExpress orders are generally shipped right away, though they are usually shipped from overseas. So, you would typically receive orders within 30 days of purchasing with free shipping.

AliExpress offers a one-stop shipping service through AliExpress and the Cainiao Network. This method provides:

After placing orders on AliExpress, the seller will send the package to the AliExpress shipping center. From there, you will get tracking information to follow your package.

The arrival time for AliExpress Shipping depends on the shipping option you choose. It offers AliExpress Standard Shipping, which usually takes 15 to 45 business days, or AliExpress Premium Shipping, which estimates delivery time from 7 to 15 business days.

Costs depend on your location and the shipping service you select. However, most products will offer free shipping.

Since AliExpress purchases are much smaller than Alibaba wholesale orders, the shipping logistics are easier and less expensive—though it still takes time.

There are over 150,000 suppliers on Alibaba, so you want to be specific when searching for a product. For example, instead of “women’s sneakers,” search “women’s lightweight running shoes.”

To avoid any counterfeit or trademark issues, do not purchase brand name goods from Alibaba. If you are interested in selling name brand goods, source directly from the brand itself to ensure you purchase authentic products and avoid any potential legal issues.

Trademark owners can report and remove unlicensed or counterfeit listings from Alibaba. But there are thousands of suppliers on the site, and not all brands monitor/report counterfeit reproductions. Because of this, many counterfeit listings go under the radar and remain available for purchase on Alibaba.

When finding suppliers from which to purchase products, price is probably the first thing you’ll consider. However, there are a number of other things to look for, including:

• Trade Assurance: Some suppliers support this feature, which allows you to submit a claim to Alibaba if you are not satisfied with your shipment. Alibaba reviews the claim and may offer a refund. Look for suppliers that offer this as they are more likely to be reputable.
• Gold Suppliers: Suppliers can pay Alibaba to be listed as Gold Suppliers. If a supplier is not Gold, that doesn’t mean they aren’t reputable. However, it is a safer bet to choose suppliers that are investing in their Alibaba listings.
• Verified (Assessed) Suppliers: Verified suppliers have had their factories inspected by Alibaba’s third-party service, which has deemed the suppliers reputable. Always look for Verified Suppliers.

When searching supplier listings, you can check off boxes to only show suppliers that have Trade Assurance and Verified Suppliers. It’s a good idea to use this feature, especially if you are new to purchasing wholesale products. The individual listings will show if they are a Gold Supplier or not.

Always look for suppliers that offer Trade Assurance, are verified, and carry the Gold Supplier designation.

When it’s time to submit an inquiry or request quotes, there are a few ways you can do this.

First, you can contact individual suppliers directly. In this initial contact, just introduce yourself, say what products you are interested in, and inquire about samples. Keep it short, simple, and professional.

Buyers can contact suppliers individually to request samples or additional information.

Alternatively, you can use Alibaba’s Request for Quotation (RFQ) service to request quotes from many suppliers at once. This form requires a little more information, but you will end up with a list of quotes to compare, which can be faster than selecting and reaching out to suppliers individually.

This service is free, but you can pay for faster results or more quotes. Keep in mind that there is no option to only select Assessed or Trade Assurance suppliers when submitting this form, so you’ll have to check for that after receiving your results.

Request for Quotation (RFQ) forms allow buyers to collect quotes from many suppliers at once.

Request samples from the suppliers in which you are interested. You’ll typically have to pay for your samples as well as shipping—but it’s a worthy expense to ensure product quality.

You can sometimes negotiate for the cost of a sample order to be absorbed into the price of a larger order if you decide to continue. If a supplier does not offer samples, consider that a red flag and choose a different company. Samples allow you to assess and compare product quality before placing large wholesale orders.

RFQ stands for Request for Quotation, which is a tool buyers can use on Alibaba to collect quotes for a specific product from many suppliers at once.

Filling out an RFQ form can be a lot faster than finding and contacting suppliers individually, though you will have less control over the results you receive.

Generally, yes, it is safe to buy from Alibaba. But, since it’s a marketplace hosting independent sellers—like eBay or Amazon—there will always be sellers who aren’t offering what they claim. It’s important to take precautions to help ensure you are purchasing from a reputable supplier.

Amazon is strictly for consumers. AliExpress sells to consumers, but also has dropshipping tools for businesses. Some businesses actually source products from AliExpress to sell on Amazon.

From a consumer’s perspective, the biggest difference is in shipping time. On Amazon, most products are available with free two-day shipping. On AliExpress, most products are coming from China, or (another overseas location) and will take 12 to 25 days to arrive.

Yes, you can dropship directly from Alibaba. However, the new service is still growing in its capabilities. Additionally, not all suppliers offer dropship services because they prefer to sell in bulk.

If you want to offer dropshipping, it’s best to source from AliExpress. The prices are higher, but you can purchase individual items and most suppliers offer dropshipping.

There is no shopping cart on Alibaba’s website. You need to contact suppliers directly through an inquiry form, email, or chat to place an order. Or, you can also submit a Request for Quotation (RFQ) form to receive information from many suppliers.

You’ll need to negotiate price and payments directly with each supplier, and then navigate the Alibaba Freight marketplace for shipping—so the ordering process is longer and more complicated than on a retail site.

Alibaba Trade Assurance is a buyer protection program that suppliers can elect to offer. It’s free for buyers to use and is designed to help build trust between buyers and suppliers.

Trade Assurance can help buyers get a refund if their orders ship significantly later than promised or if the products don’t match the specifications outlined in the order agreement.