Our Verdict
In this contest, AliExpress emerges as the winner.
Make no mistakes, both AliExpress and Alibaba are popular platforms for dropshipping, but they serve slightly different purposes and meet different needs.
Think of AliExpress as an easy-to-use dropshipping platform where you can acquire products without requiring minimum order quantities, offer buyer protection, and locate products across multiple categories without holding inventory.
If you’re a retail buyer, dropshipper, or individual who wants to buy single items or small quantities of products, AliExpress is your guy. AliExpress offers various products across various categories, including electronics, clothing, home goods, and more.
On the other hand, you may consider Alibaba if you’re seeking a platform that’s better suited for larger orders, which is ideal if you plan to scale your business and purchase inventory in bulk.
With Alibaba, you can negotiate directly with suppliers, potentially getting better deals or customizing products to your needs. It may surprise you to know that Alibaba has better quality control compared to AliExpress. This is because since you’re dealing with manufacturers directly, you have more control over the quality of the products you’re purchasing.
Consider the reasons below to see why AliExpress is a better choice for dropshipping than Alibaba:
- No Minimum Order Quantities: You can purchase single items with no minimum order requirements, unlike Alibaba which typically involves larger minimum order quantities (MOQs).
- Buyer Protection: You can enjoy “extensive” buyer production, including refund policies and dispute resolution mechanisms.
- User Friendly: You can easily use AliExpress since its interface is designed for easy browsing, searching, and purchasing of individual items.
- Product Variety: AliExpress gives you access to various products across various categories, including electronics, fashion, home goods, and more. Alibaba’s wide range of products is focused more on wholesale products and business-to-business transactions.
- Shipping: AliExpress offers faster shipping through couriers such as FedEx, DHL, or UPS. This is usually good if you want to improve customer rating in terms of fast delivery.
Remember, AliExpress is best for B2C, while Alibaba is more suitable for B2B. You need to know, however, that the best dropshipping platform for your business depends on your business goal, customer base, and budget.
Why Choose AliExpress
Who AliExpress is Best For
Consider AliExpress if you’re a business person who:
- Wants to buy products for personal use or in small quantities.
- Utilizes the dropshipping model, as AliExpress offers a wide range of products with low minimum order quantities.
- Seek to source products without the need for large minimum order quantities.
- Appreciate minimal risks.
- Prefer convenience and flexibility in purchasing various items without committing to bulk orders.
- Runs a dropshipping business.
- Wants to run a dropshipping business without inventory.
- Sell to international buyers who seek to purchase products from overseas sellers.
- Seek competitive prices across the product range, affordable deals, and discounts.
- Want to leverage AliExpress’s free shipping feature.
Who AliExpress is Not Right For
Don’t choose AliExpress if you’re a business person who:
- Owns a large business that requires strict quality control measures or customized products.
- Requires bulk orders or specialized services.
- Seek primarily customized or personalized products.
- Need private labeling.
- Want a low-competition platform.
- Seek a high profit margin.
Why Choose Alibaba
Who Alibaba is Best For
Consider Alibaba if you’re a business person who:
- Runs a wholesale and distribution business looking to source products in bulk quantities for resale.
- Desire to negotiate directly with manufacturers and suppliers to secure favorable pricing and terms for large orders.
- Manufactures or supplies products; you can use Alibaba to showcase your products to a global audience and connect with potential buyers.
- Imports and Exports products and is seeking a global marketplace to connect with suppliers and buyers across the globe.
- Seek Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) services.
- Runs a Licensing Company that produces licensed products or branded merchandise.
Who Alibaba is Not Right For
Don’t choose Alibaba if you’re a business person who:
- Seek to purchase single items or goods in small quantities.
- Find it challenging to meet the minimum order requirements.
- Requires immediate or small-scale production.
- Have limited capital or inventory as the business model requires a significant upfront investment and adequate storage space.
- Runs a B2C business model.
- Need a cheap platform to run your business there.
Main Differences
Ideal For
Make AliExpress your preferred choice if you’re running a business-to-customer (B2C) retail dropshipping business model, where you allow buyers to purchase single items or small quantities of products at competitive prices. Meanwhile, Alibaba can serve you well if you run a wholesale business and require a platform for sourcing products in large quantities, negotiating directly with suppliers, and facilitating business-to-business (B2B) transactions.
Pricing
On AliExpress, your payment structure is straightforward: you don’t pay for a subscription to use the platform, you’re charged solely for the products you successfully sell. So, if you sell a toy at $10, you’re charged a commission by the platform. Commission rates fluctuate, spanning from 5% to 8%, contingent upon the product category.
Before you can trade on Alibaba, you’re required to purchase a subscription plan from any of its tier plans–each offering distinct advantages tailored to your business needs. The tiers beckon with enticing opportunities: The Basic plan costs nearly $2,000 annually. Mind you, the price isn’t fixed, plus you get custom pricing by contacting customer care, enjoying unlimited product listings, 10 product showcases, 20 Request For Quotation (RFQ) responses a month, and business verification support.
The Standard plan covers the feature to get custom pricing, have unlimited products, 20 product showcases, business verification support, 40 RFQ responses a month, full-service onboarding help for 60 days, and a dedicated account manager.
Account Integration
With AliExpress, you have the capabilities to streamline your e-commerce operations and elevate your business to new heights. You can effortlessly synchronize your product listings, inventory, and orders, ensuring consistency and accuracy across all channels. Some of the key platforms AliExpress integrates with include Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, OpenCart, eBay, Ecwid, and Amazon.
Similarly, Alibaba allows you to integrate with various e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Shopify, Oracle, Salesforce, and Magento.
>>> PRO TIPS : Alibaba Dropshipping: Waste of Time or Not?
Standout Features
AliExpress
- Designed for retailers like you who run the Business-to-Customer (B2C) model.
- Offers an extensive range of products across numerous categories, including electronics, fashion, home goods, beauty, and more, providing buyers with a vast selection to choose from.
- Comes with competitive pricing, with many products available at lower prices compared to traditional retail stores, allowing buyers to find affordable deals and discounts.
- Allows product purchases in single or small quantities, especially if you’re a dropshipper who does not want to buy in bulk.
- offers buyer protection, including a secure payment system, buyer feedback ratings, and dispute resolution mechanisms, providing reassurance to buyers and enhancing trust in the platform.
- Let you ship to over 200 countries and regions worldwide.
- Provides you access via desktop browsers and mobile apps, so you can make purchases anytime, anywhere.
- Allows you to access products from sellers around the globe and facilitate cross-border trade.
- Has a feature called AliExpress Pocket—a virtual wallet that allows you to store funds securely, make payments, and manage transactions within the platform, enhancing convenience and security.
Alibaba
- Offers competitive bulk pricing where you can benefit from lower unit costs when purchasing products in large quantities.
- Designed for retailers like you who run the Business-to-Business (B2B) model.
- Provides customization services, and allows you to request customized products, private label items, and OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) or ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) manufacturing services to meet specific requirements.
- Helps you facilitate international trade where you can engage in cross-border transactions, import-export operations, and global sourcing of products and supplies.
- Provides you access to verified suppliers through its Supplier Assessment program.
- Offers you safe payment options, including Alibaba Secure Payment (Escrow) and various payment methods such as credit cards, bank transfers, and online payment platforms, ensuring safe and reliable transactions.
Pros and Cons of AliExpress
- Pros
- Charges you no fee to sell on AliExpress for free.
- Allows you to sell in up to 20 countries, including Europe and Russia.
- Helps you to attract traffic compared to managing an independent online store.
- Allows you to control your prices.
- Let you benefit from automatic translations into 18 languages.
- Provides several customizations than most marketplaces.
- Cons
- Has a high rate of competition.
- Contains low-quality products.
- Has limited store customization.
- Comes with translation issues.
- Encounters product listing inaccuracy.
Pros and Cons of Alibaba
- Pros
- Helps you to expand globally to nearly 200 countries for growth opportunities.
- Tracks metrics and optimize your business performance with analytical tools.
- Lets you engage directly with a vibrant community of over 20 million active users, driving substantial traffic to your storefront.
- Allows you to connect with targeted audiences directly on Alibaba’s B2B platform.
- Gives you promotional opportunities for increased visibility.
- Offers tailored services like the 90-day welcome program.
- Helps you boost your sales with SEO, branding, and PPC tools.
- Provides personalized advice tailored to your business.
- Assists you in streamlining product management with bulk uploads and optimization.
- Ensure secure transactions for your business with “Trade Assurance.”
- Aids to boost credibility with Alibaba’s business verification.
- Increase your exposure especially if you operate a large store.
- Cons
- Comes with subscription plans before you can sell on Alibaba.
- Has high competition.
- Offers poor-quality translations.
- Experiences delays in shipping.
- Has expensive subscription fees.
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Customer Reviews
By outperforming AliExpress and having a high rating, Alibaba takes the trophy in this category.
On one hand, AliExpress has an overall rating of 2.5 stars out of 5, based on 142,890 customer reviews on Trustpilot. Notably, 75% of reviewers awarded it a 5-star rating, highlighting significant satisfaction, while 4% of reviewers gave it a 4-star rating, indicating a generally positive experience. Meanwhile, 2% of the customers rated it with 3 stars, suggesting some room for improvement, and another 2% gave it a 2-star rating, indicating some dissatisfaction. Finally, 17% of customers rated it with 1 star, indicating significant dissatisfaction among some users.
On the other hand, Alibaba scores 4.4 stars out of 5 based on 23,328 customer reviews on Trustpilot. It will surprise you to know that 80% of reviewers awarded it a 5-star rating, highlighting exceptional satisfaction, while 7% gave it a 4-star rating, signifying a largely positive experience. Meanwhile, a modest 2% of reviewers rated it with 3 stars, indicating some room for improvement, and less than 1% gave it a 2-star rating, suggesting few minor issues. However, it’s worth noting that 10% of reviewers rated it with 1 star, indicating significant dissatisfaction among some users.
If you need more customer reviews, you can check out sites like Google Reviews, Yelp, and ConsumerAffairs, among others.
Remember to factor in your business goals, budget, and preferences when choosing a platform for your business.
Competitors
eBay
Do your dropshipping business on eBay if you need one of the world’s largest online marketplaces to run your online business. Typically, the platform operates as a marketplace where you can buy and sell a wide variety of goods and services. While eBay might be a good alternative to AliExpress, it doesn’t hold inventory; instead, it provides a platform where you can list your products so buyers can purchase them.
Mind you, eBay has subscription plans which include Starter Store ($4.95/mo), Basic Stroe ($21.95/mo), Premium Store ($59.95/mo), Anchor Store ($299.95/mo), and Enterprise Store ($2,999.95/mo). Check to see which of the plans best aligns with your business goals and needs.
Amazon
Choose Amazon if you need one of the world’s e-commerce giants that offers comprehensive fulfillment services through Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). With Amazon’s FBA, you can store inventory in their warehouses and utilize its logistics network for order fulfillment. This enables faster shipping, streamlined operations, and access to Prime benefits, which AliExpress does not offer.
For the record, Amazon competes directly with AliExpress. While both companies are global e-commerce giants, Amazon has a stronger presence in Western markets, including North America and Europe. AliExpress, on the other hand, dominates the Chinese markets.
As an e-commerce merchant, you stand as a middleman between the buyer and the manufacturer. When a customer places an order, you contact your supplier, who ships the product directly to your customer.
JD.com
Pick JD.com if you need an e-commerce company that focuses on quality control, authenticity, and fast delivery. JD.com, also known as Jingdong, operates both a business-to-consumer (B2C) platform and a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) competing directly with AliExpress.
JD.com also offers direct sales whereby it purchases inventory from brands and wholesalers, stores it in its warehouses, and fulfills orders through its logistics network.
Finally, JD.com engages in an omnichannel approach by providing offline retail services through partnerships and investments in brick-and-mortar stores, supermarkets, and convenience stores.
Pro Tips
- Research suppliers extensively and pick those with a good track record of delivering quality products and reliable service.
- Communicate your requirements, specifications, and expectations with suppliers to avoid misunderstandings and ensure that you receive exactly what you need.
- negotiate prices with suppliers, especially when buying in bulk.
- Request samples from suppliers to evaluate the quality of the products firsthand.
- Read product reviews and ratings from other buyers to gauge the quality and reliability of the products you’re interested in.
- Use secure payment methods such as Alibaba Secure Payment (Escrow) or AliExpress Buyer Protection to protect your funds and ensure a safe transaction.
- Keep track of your orders, communications with suppliers, and product specifications using spreadsheets or organizational tools.
- Check the status of your orders and communicate with suppliers to ensure timely delivery and resolve any issues or delays promptly.
- Take advantage of buyer protection programs offered by Alibaba and AliExpress to safeguard your purchases.
- Optimize your product listings with clear descriptions, high-quality images, and competitive pricing to attract buyers and stand out from competitors.
- Seek advice from experienced buyers or sellers, if you’re new to the game.
Recap
Evaluate your needs before you settle on an e-commerce platform. Both companies offer a wide range of services that cater to different kinds of e-commerce businesses.
If you’re looking for a Business-to-Customer (B2C) platform, whether you’re a retail buyer, a dropshipper, or simply someone who wants to buy small quantities of items, AliExpress may be a good fit. There is no minimum order quantity requirement on the platform, so you can acquire products easily. In addition to buyer protection, you can find items across different categories without having to keep inventory.
Likewise, consider Alibaba if you’re seeking a platform that’s better suited for larger orders, offering B2B services, which is ideal if you plan to scale your business and purchase inventory in bulk. You get to negotiate directly with suppliers, potentially getting better deals or customizing products to your needs.
As well, Alibaba is a great platform for larger orders that offers B2B services, which is ideal if you plan to scale your business and purchase inventory in bulk. It gives you the opportunity to negotiate directly with suppliers, possibly getting better deals or customizing products to suit your requirements.
