Alibaba Trade Assurance protects online orders when payment is made through Alibaba. It works like an escrow service. If either Product Quality or Ship Date varies from what you have agreed to in the Trade Assurance online order, Alibaba will offer you assistance in reaching a satisfactory outcome, including getting your money back.

Alibaba Group

Alibaba is a global e-commerce company. They specialize in the field of wholesale and retail. The company was founded by an 18 year old student, Jack Ma, in 1999. The company was originally called Alibaba Group with Alibaba being the name of the online business-to-business trading platform that the group operates. The name Alibaba is used to show that it has roots going back to they first started out as a business-to-business platform.

The company has come a long way since it first started. They have grown to become the largest online and mobile commerce company in the world, which is an impressive feat given that they had no outside investments during their initial years of development. Alibaba’s accomplishments include having over 500 million active buyers, with $150B worth of goods transacted daily through their marketplaces, which makes up 80% of all consumer-to-consumer online shopping in China.

The Alibaba group is a world leader and innovator in the internet economy with unparalleled reach within china, 192 countries across six continents. They are committed to bringing sustainable economic development opportunities to small businesses and entrepreneurs around the world.

Alibaba is a global e-commerce company specializing in wholesale and retail businesses.

Can you get scammed on Alibaba?

Yes, you can get scammed on Alibaba if you are not careful. There have been instances of suppliers not sending the products that were ordered, or sending products that are fake or of poor quality. It is important to do your research on a supplier before placing an order, and to communicate with them frequently throughout the process to ensure that everything is going smoothly.

I have used Alibaba before and I was generally satisfied with the experience. I did my research on the suppliers that I was interested in and communicated with them frequently to make sure that I was getting what I wanted. There were a few hiccups along the way, but nothing that couldn’t be resolved with some good old fashioned communication.

Alibaba trade assurance is a great way to protect yourself from scams and poor quality products. If you are not happy with your purchase for any reason, Alibaba will work with you to reach a satisfactory resolution, including refunds.

To find out more about Alibaba scams make sure to read our post dedicated to fraud on this platform:

Beware – Most common Alibaba Scams

I have used Alibaba Trade Assurance on a few occasions and it has been a great experience. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to do business on Alibaba.

What is Alibaba Trade Assurance

The Alibaba trade assurance program was introduced in 2015 to protect Alibaba’s customers from their goods not arriving on time or being of poor quality. This was a solution for common problem when ordering products from China. Quite often importers were not happy with the products and didn’t trust Chinese suppliers. The Alibaba Trade Assurance program was created to ensure that this wouldn’t happen in the future and to make the ordering process easier for international buyers.

How does Alibaba Trade assurance work?

In simple terms Alibaba holds your money until you receive the goods and have no issues with the delivery date and no quality issues. This is a free service offered to create trust between supplier and importer. With a trade assurance order, your supplier agreed product specification and agreed shipping time should meet your expectations. Trade Assurance will allow you to file a dispute and claim a 100% refund in the event of any problems with product quality or shipment date.

This trade assurance program works like an escrow service. If either the product quality or ship date varies from what you have agreed to in the Trade Assurance online order, Alibaba will offer assistance in reaching a satisfactory outcome, including getting your money back. The Alibaba Group has come a long way since it first started and has grown to become the largest online and mobile commerce company in the world. They were the first b2b companies to offer payment protection with trade assurance orders.

Alibaba Trade Assurance is an escrow service that protects online orders when payment is made through Alibaba.

You’re covered if:

• Your products are not shipped on time as per the contract with your supplier
• Your products do not meet the quality standards as per the contract with your supplier”

Alibaba will offer you assistance in reaching a satisfactory outcome, including getting your money back.

How can I benefit from Alibaba Trade Assurance?

The service Trade Assurance provides customers with the peace of mind for purchasing decisions. It is free service and requires no premium plans to use it. If you have an active account you can purchase from any supplier that has the trade assurance icon. You will get support from the platform if you are having an issue or something goes wrong with your purchase. Your payment will be protected through Alibaba Secure Payment platform.

How do I use Alibaba Trade Assurance?

After you have received the samples and you feel everything looks good, you begin the final work. As we have explained before you’ve sorted out the suppliers who provide trade assurance today we’re going to show you how to make your order through Alibaba trade assurance. The cheapest way to pay suppliers on Alibaba is via bank transfer using a low cost bank. We covered this topic in another post here:

Here’s how it works

Alibaba’s Trade Assurance Covers pre-shipment and post sales. This is on the details you and your supplier stipulate in your purchase agreement. You are required to be as explicit and clear about your contracts. It makes your expectations clear and it simplifies your supplier’s job. And it’s vital and both for the inspection and for the resolution of any doubts.

No claims can be made over delivered late orders unless the order is on your delivery address. And you can’t have a colour right without specifically giving a color to each product. In your purchase contract make sure you are clear about the product specifications, product quantity, payment terms, payment method, quality requirements, shipping date and any other details that might be of importance to you and your order.

Alibaba Trade Assurance Payment

Most of your suppliers require you to pay 30% deposit of your total amount (initial payment). Pick the payment method and proceed. There may be transaction fees as per various payment methods.

To ensure protection, make payment online at Alibaba.com’s secure payment platform.

The protection you receive is based on an Alibaba.com online purchase order and only applies to purchases made through Alibaba’s platform. You will not receive the trade assurance cover if you pay directly to the supplier of the product or factory.

The payment should be done to a bank account designated by Alibaba.com.

Payment options are Trade Assurance limit:

• debit card or credit card payments up to a limit of $12000
• PayPal – (previously not available, currently paypal payment are eligible for trade assurance cover) purchase up to a limit of $12000
• Western Union purchase up to a limit of $2500
• Wire T/T International bank transfer – suggested method no purchase limits

Read more about Trade Assurance payment limits.

In most cases the suppliers after receiving initial payment will manufacture and prepare the goods. The balance payment will be due before final shipment. The trade assurance protection covers you from the moment you transfer the initial payment (30% deposit).

Can all Alibaba suppliers offer Trade Assurance payments?

Trade assurance is only provided to Alibaba Gold Suppliers that fulfil certain requirements. The available vendors are currently limited but this trend seems to be likely in the coming months. As mentioned above the amount in the scheme is also restricted and typically ranges between US$10,000 and US$30,000. For 2015 the maximum transaction limit has removed from this program.

How much are trade assurance fees?

Trade Assurance is free of charge. Transaction fee varies depending on the payment method.

Alibaba Trade Assurance Refund and Dispute Resolution

Alibaba appoints a quality assurance and manufacturing firm to ensure that products meet the specifications. If the Quality Inspector rejects the batch the buyer can then file a complaint to Alibaba. The supplier has 15 days to clear the problem or Alibaba will be involved. If Alibaba does have to intervene they first review a contract first then compare it to the quality inspection report to identify if the supplier failed in this. Alibaba may again refund the deposit if the supplier fails to comply with specifications of products. Or it has to be reviewed.

Why Alibaba may reject a refund?

Alibaba guarantees a reimbursement except in the following cases:

• Your product description hasn’t been clearly specified
• You failed the inspection on the order form.

Alibaba Trade Assurance Refund can not offer unconditional refunds just because the Buyer says so.

Alibaba trade assurance review

Within thirty days of placing the order the Seller calls the buyer and asks them to review order. In these terms the purchaser can examine the order after 30 days. The sellers can copy the comment management link to the store where they store the link and send the link to the buyer directly. In the event that the buyer does not respond on an invitation to come in, the seller shall copy the link to the store where the link was located.

I always ensure that my manufactures accept payment by Trade Assurance, as it is the safest way to do business on Alibaba. I’ve made around 30 orders using Trade Assurance and have never run into a problem, I’m not saying that it can’t happen though.