Is it safe to buy from DHgate?

In fact, people are often interested in goods with favorable prices, and DHgate is the same. People buy goods on its website based on the reasons for the favorable prices of their goods. But there are also many problems arising from this. Some consumers will leave negative comments after purchasing goods on DHgate. After a long time, people have left a bad impression on DHgate. Perhaps the most doubts you have about DHgate is: Is it safe to buy from DHgate? Is DHgate legal? In fact, DHgate does not sell its own goods, but it is a platform for others to sell online. Overall, DHgate is a successful company because they provide value to their customers. Since it’s impossible to police every listing, you might run into dishonest sellers, which lead to them selling you cheap and worthless items, and if you’re inexperienced or a new buyer, things like Same thing as a scam as stated in the reviews. As with any market, you must know how to navigate the waters and take proper precautions when shopping to avoid being ripped off. Therefore, the most important point is to find a reliable supplier before buying. As for the questions that people are wondering, my answer is: DHgate is definitely a legal platform. In today’s post, I will objectively introduce DHgate from several aspects, help you solve your confusion, and let you shop happily on DHgate. Keep reading, you will benefit a lot.

What is DHgate?

DHgate is a B2B online trading platform dedicated to providing commodity and supply information services for small and medium-sized enterprises. It focuses on small wholesale orders to help e-commerce sellers, which is different from Alibaba, Made in China, Global Sources, etc. Products on DHgate are generally in stock, and there is a clear MOQ requirement for product listings. So, one of the advantages of DHgate is that it can be a good way to source different products with low MOQ to test the market you want to enter. And for some high-value products, you can only buy one piece.

Is it safe to buy from DHgate?

Since DHgate has a “return and refund guarantee”, it is very safe to buy from DHgate. Of course, it is also important to note that DHgate will only provide these protections when you conduct transactions through DHgate. For example, if you trade outside DHgate, for example, if you trade directly with the seller, your rights and interests will not be guaranteed. In addition, starting from DHgate itself, we can learn from the following aspects that purchasing on DHgate is safe:

• DHgate is able to track your shipment and verify that it has been delivered.
• DHgate will help you resolve any disputes about product quality.
• The seller does not receive payment until the buyer accepts the item.

When there is a dispute over your purchase of a product on DHgate, DHgate will step in to help and resolve the dispute. If the dispute cannot be resolved, don’t worry, DHgate will also rule in your favour, and it will refund your money. Generally speaking, the reasons for applying for a refund can be summarized into 5 types: the actual product does not match the product listing description; defective product items; the package is damaged during transportation; the delivery time exceeds the promised time; the product quantity is short.

Why is DHgate so cheap?

When you browse products on DHgate, you may find that the prices on DHgate are relatively low compared to other websites, so why are the prices on DHgate so cheap? As we all know, China is a “world factory”. And 90% of the sellers on DHgate are Chinese. They sell high-quality products to people from all corners of the world at competitive prices through various online platforms such as DHgate. On the other hand, the goods on DHgate are shipped directly from China, and there is no middleman to make the difference, which saves a lot of expenses. If you conclude that DHgate is an unreliable website just because the prices of goods on the DHgate website are cheap, then you are wrong, and this is a very unwise judgment. We should understand clearly where the main commodities of DHgate come from, and what makes it cheap. After understanding these clearly, you may not feel that DHgate is unreliable.

How to have a good shopping experience and protect yourself?

In fact, some aspects of DHgate’s customer service did make buyers dissatisfied, but many misunderstandings occurred because buyers were not familiar with DHgate. If you know some details about the buyer protection policy before purchasing DHgate, it will also help you to have a good shopping experience and better protect yourself. I’ll list the 6 most common problems below and teach you how to deal with them. 1.Why is the tracking information not updated after placing an order? In fact, after 5/7/10 business days, the tracking information will appear on the carrier’s website, depending on the carrier used. If the seller ships via international express and special line, then you can view real-time logistics information. But if your goods are delivered by economical transportation, if the logistics information is not updated in time, then you will not even have detailed logistics information to see. That said, once you know your package was sent from China, you may not receive tracking information until the package arrives in your country. There is another possibility that the seller may have given you an invalid tracking number so you cannot track your order. In this case, please contact the seller and ask him to contact the shipping company for tracking information. If the seller does not respond to your request or does not provide you with the correct tracking number, you can file a dispute on DHgate. 2.How to cancel an order that the seller has not shipped? First, you can select the order you want to cancel and click the “Request Refund” button. After submitting a request, sellers generally have 7 days to respond to your request. Once the seller agrees, the system will automatically refund. Please note here: If the seller does not reply within 7 days or the seller still cannot reach an agreement with you in the system for more than 7 days, then the order will be closed automatically. If the seller rejects your offer, it should be shipped by the shipping deadline. However, if it is not dispatched within the delivery period, you can apply for a refund again. Your order will be canceled immediately and you will be refunded within 24 hours. So don’t worry about your refund, just manage your timing. The following are the rules about the refund time for your reference:

• The refund time of DHgate account is instant
• Credit or debit card refund time is 3-7 working days
• The refund time for local payment is 1-2 working days

3.What should I do if the seller asks for delayed delivery? When the seller requests delayed delivery, but you need the goods urgently, you can see “Apply for delayed delivery” and the details in the “Pending Delivery” link in “My Orders”. If you agree, the shipping period will be extended to the date suggested by the seller. If you do not agree, the original delivery date will not be changed. However, if the seller fails to ship within the original deadline, the order will be automatically canceled and you will receive a full refund. 4.What if you do not receive the item or the item is not as described? If you did not receive the item, or if the item you received did not match the seller’s description, then I recommend that you first communicate with the seller directly. If the communication is unsuccessful, you can click “Dispute” on the order to return the terms to the seller, exchange or refund (full or partial refund). From the date the seller provides the order tracking number, you can do so within 5-90 days after the order ships. However, after 90 days, you will no longer be able to file disputes. Of course, buyers and sellers have 10 days to reach a settlement. If no agreement is reached within 10 days, the system will automatically report the dispute to the platform, and you can also take the initiative to “request DHgate for mediation” after 8 days. If the order status is that the buyer has accepted the product or the payment has been released, the buyer can file an after-sales dispute within 30 days, and the VIP buyer can file an application within 60 days. 5.What evidence do you need to provide for different claims? Although the required evidence is different from the actual package, there is one thing in common, whether it is a short video or a photo as evidence, we should clearly show the problem. Only by clearly showing what is wrong can we use good evidence to better defend our rights. 6.Who will bear the customs duty and import tax? Generally, duties are not included in the item price or shipping charges. You may pay customs fees for goods you order from DHgate Online, and your purchase may be considered an import, after all, the package is shipped from overseas. To avoid any unforeseen events, you should take note of the following:

• If some sellers offer domestic delivery, it means they will send your order from their warehouse in your country. Then, you will not have to pay any additional duties and taxes.
• Find out by asking the seller if you need to pay any additional import duties, taxes, or other customs-related fees, such as inspection fees.
• The seller is not responsible for any delays caused by the customs authorities in your country.

Why some buyers think DHgate is a scam website?

After reading tens of thousands of negative reviews about DHgate, I have summarized 6 aspects as to why DHgate makes some buyers angry and think it is a scam. Next, I will explain them in detail. 1.The customer thinks that the customer service cannot solve the dispute between the seller and himself well. Buyers often encounter the problem that they cannot resolve disputes with sellers by themselves, and then they will request DHgate to mediate the dispute. Since DHgate is not a party, they just judge who should be responsible for the problem based on the evidence provided by the buyer and the seller. Therefore, the final result very often is that both the buyer and the seller are not satisfied with the judgment result. Therefore, as a buyer, you should retain enough evidence to protect your legal rights, including chat records, unpacking videos, pictures of defective items, etc. 2.It is difficult to get a refund if the product is not satisfied, the package is damaged, or the delivery time exceeds the promised time. Generally speaking, the reasons for applying for a refund can be summarized into 5 types:

• Defective items
• Package damaged during transportation
• Delivery time exceeds the promised time
• The actual item is different from what is described in the product listing
• Product quantity shortage

What would a responsible supplier do? Generally, if you encounter the above problems, responsible sellers will directly refund you in order to avoid disputes or bad reviews. But if the item is of high value, you may need to return the product to China or the seller’s warehouse in your country. After the seller receives the product, the refund will also be arranged. But if you just buy some low-value products, it is impossible for you to send the goods back to China due to the high shipping cost, after all, it is not cost-effective. Plus, shipping and customs clearance also take a long time. In the end, it will lead to spending too much time and money, which is not worth the candle. So for this type of product, responsible sellers will refund you directly or resend it to you. What will an irresponsible supplier do? There are responsible sellers, of course there will be irresponsible sellers, and those irresponsible sellers may ask you to return low-value products to China, and you need to bear high shipping costs, which are usually higher than the product value. At the same time, shipping and customs clearance will consume a lot of time, and these sellers are irresponsible, because they don’t want to solve the problem from the bottom of their hearts, and they don’t think about customers. All in all, low value products are not recommended to be returned. For such products, there are two common and reasonable solutions: first, you can negotiate the refund amount with the seller according to the actual situation, a full refund or a partial refund, which can also protect the interests of both parties big damage. Second, if it is not urgently needed, you can ask the seller to resend a new one. Usually, a reliable seller will be willing to resolve the dispute, because maybe your next repurchase will be because of his responsible attitude and behavior. In addition, although DHgate has many rules to protect buyers, DHgate will still handle it flexibly according to specific circumstances. For example, in special circumstances, although the delivery time has exceeded the promised time, DHgate cannot directly judge that the seller should be responsible for the time issue. In addition, DHgate allows buyers and sellers to settle disputes by themselves within the agreed time. 3.Customers do not get a timely reply, and are even ignored by the seller. In fact, when the buyer did not receive the package or the actual item is not as described in the product listing, many buyers immediately ask the seller, but the result of waiting is that the seller does not answer their questions in a timely manner or does not give any reply . The failure to respond to messages in a timely manner is generally due to the fact that many small sellers or individual sellers have opened e-commerce stores on DHgate, but there may be only one person operating the store and completing the entire process including arranging delivery and after-sales service, so it is impossible to reply Buyer’s question. There is also a class of suppliers whose e-commerce store is like an online grocery store because they display many different kinds of products in their online store. In fact, for such an online store, they cannot provide good after-sales service. Also, some sellers just want to make a quick buck by selling hot products, and they will remove those unpopular products from their eCommerce store. For such sellers, they may not pay much attention to after-sales service. Moreover, many suppliers on the DHgate website only use DHgate as an additional channel to clear their commodity inventory, so they don’t care much about the after-sales service of this platform. 4.The product listing shows free shipping but the seller charges shipping. The shipping cost as well as the shipping method are related to the weight of the goods, for the free shipping service on DHgate, it is usually shipped by ePacket, China Post and other economical shipping methods. But if you choose commercial express such as DHL, UPS, sellers usually don’t offer free shipping. Generally speaking, sellers will provide free commercial express delivery only for high-value products. Most sellers state in their product listings that they will offer free shipping, when in fact it is just a way to attract buyers in order to increase sales. But in fact, they don’t offer free shipping for all shipping methods. 5.The delivery time is too long. If you choose commercial shipping methods such as UPS, DHL, FedEx, etc., you can get a relatively accurate time, usually 5-7 days. But if you only buy 1-2 low value products, the shipping method will usually be economical shipping, such as ePacket. However, with economical shipping methods, there are some minor downsides, that is, the delivery time will be long and the package may be delayed, damaged or even lost. Here are some factors that cause package delays:

• Low customs clearance efficiency
• Transit flight delay
• The whole machine logistics warehouse takes a long time
• Major holidays and major shopping days and major events

But don’t worry, if you don’t receive the package within the promised time, the seller will usually arrange a refund, of course, except for some special cases. 6.The unit price in the product catalog does not match the actual order price. Some grocers and small traders may encounter this situation, that is, the unit price of the product catalog does not match the actual order price, when the buyer places an order, the seller will raise the price, it is because the seller uploaded the wrong price or product specifications. Sometimes it may be because the seller uploaded the wrong price information, and the seller did not find out the wrong information in time before confirming the buyer’s order. So, when they explain the mistake to buyers, buyers usually think it’s a scam. So what is the reason for this situation? That’s because many small sellers and grocery sellers employ staff who upload product images and information in batches to DHgate’s online store. Because they are not familiar with the product, they are unable to identify errors in product information and unit price in time. But for large sellers or factories, their staff are usually familiar with the products, so they seldom make such mistakes. Additionally, these companies have dedicated teams that check for errors to ensure the data is accurate.

How to find reliable sellers on DHgate?

Generally speaking, these problems usually exist in small sellers and grocery stores. Therefore, in order to avoid such risks, you’d better choose large-scale and professional sellers to cooperate with. At the same time, you are more likely to receive high-quality products and reliable after-sales service. Here are 4 tips to identify professional sellers on DHgate and help you find reliable sellers: 1.Product pictures or videos are natural and clear, and have detailed product information Professional and reliable sellers will provide buyers with detailed product information, including real and clear product appearance pictures, specific product specifications, and clear after-sales service and other service policies. 2.A category of products specifically marketed As professional and reliable sellers, they have one thing in common, that is, they only specialize in marketing one category of products. For example, if a seller sells data cables, then if you click on the store to search for information on data cables, all the products that appear are about data cables, and no other complicated products appear. However, if you see a seller selling a bunch of random products in their store, it usually means they’re just bulk buying whatever non-guaranteed items they can find, and often there won’t be premium quality in that clutter product. 3.The seller has a warehouse in your country Generally, only large-scale professional sellers rent warehouses in many countries, and most of them have long-term business plans. Also, their products may have a better potential market and be of good quality. 4. Check their bad reviews You should also pay attention to the negative reviews of the store, not just the good reviews. Sometimes negative reviews often tell the truth, because if people are happy with the product, they may not leave a positive review, but if they are not, they will leave a negative review because they want to explain the flaws of the product Or leave a purchase to remind people.

Is DHgate suitable for buying imitations of brands or luxury goods?

For luxury replicas with good performance and low prices, this will indeed attract the attention of many people. This is not only welcomed by the Chinese, but also favored by overseas people. There are many luxury or imitation sellers on the DHgate website, but there is no standard price for this luxury imitation. The price of the same product may vary greatly from different sellers, but in fact, the more expensive the product, the more authentic it is. After all, the most important thing is to find a reliable seller first. So when you first buy imitations on DHgate, don’t buy too much. It is recommended that you buy one from the seller as a sample to check its quality. If the product is satisfactory, then you can buy from the seller again. Most of the luxury goods or imitations that appear on the DHgate website are likely to be fake. When people see popular brands listed at extremely low prices, they often don’t notice a scam. Because they will think that they have picked up a big bargain, so there is the term “fraud”. Therefore, when you buy popular brand products or imitations on DHgate, remember to keep your eyes open and pay attention to distinguishing.

What payment methods does DHgate support?

DHgate supports global credit/debit card payments, such as Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners, Discover, etc., and can also use e-wallets such as Skrill (Moneybookers) and Masterpass. In addition to these general methods, there are other special payment methods for different countries. For example, if you are an Australian buyer, you can also use Poli, Bpay, and Apple Pay to pay. Since credit card is the most common payment method of DHgate, you may have such doubts: Is DHgate safe for credit cards? In general, paying by credit card is safe. Because you pay to DHgate first, and DHgate will transfer the money to the seller after you confirm receipt of the goods. Therefore, DHgate will not pay until it is certain that you are satisfied with your purchase. However, the premise is that the payment cannot be made directly to the seller’s account. If the seller suggests that you pay him directly instead of through DHgate, then please do not accept it, otherwise you will not be entitled to DHgate’s buyer protection. Due to the payment outside DHgate, when the item you received does not meet your expectations or fails to be delivered, DHgate cannot help you exchange or refund.

DHgate VS AliExpress, which one is better?

1.User Experience for Wholesale and Retail DHgate focuses more on small-amount wholesale, and the main buyers are foreign retailers and wholesalers. On the other hand, AliExpress is engaged in retailing, and it has a wide range of products, and its main buyers are foreign individual consumers. 2.Retail User Experience Even buyers can negotiate small wholesales with sellers on AliExpress, but strictly speaking, AliExpress is mainly retail. So, if you just want to buy products from China for your own use, you can try AliExpress. In addition, compared with DHgate, AliExpress is a relatively new cross-border e-commerce platform, so the user experience is better than DHgate. 3.Delivery time The shipping methods on DHgate and Aliexpress are the same, therefore, the shipping time required by both platforms is also almost the same.

Finish

Hope this article can help you understand DHgate more clearly and better so that you can use it more safely. If you have any questions, please leave us a message, we will be happy to answer you. OneStop-Import is a leading sourcing company in China, and today has helped many customers source various products from China. We can follow up the whole import process and guide you step by step. If you need any help in sourcing from China, please feel free to contact us, we are glad to serve you.