Buying from 1688 through an agent
1688.com is China's domestic wholesale marketplace — factory prices, no overseas shipping, no English. We stand between you and it: you order in your own currency, we buy, check and ship.
What 1688 is
1688 is the wholesale site of the Alibaba group, built for the Chinese domestic market. The prices are the factory gate prices that export sites resell from, and most sellers quote per variation — a price per colour, per size — with quantity breaks above them. What it does not do is sell abroad: sellers speak Chinese, take Chinese payment methods, and hand parcels to domestic couriers only.
What an agent adds
- The listing is read in full: per-variation prices, swatch photos, the declared piece weight and the seller's courier charge (运费) — a wholesale price without the courier charge is not a cost
- The courier charge enters the cost basis, so the quote you see is the price the goods actually arrive at
- Payment in ¥ is made by us, in China, at the moment of purchase
- Parcels from several sellers are consolidated into one shipment before freight is booked
- Goods are photographed and checked before they leave the China warehouse
Two ways to buy from 1688 here
- From the catalogue The catalogue on this site is imported from 1688 wholesale offers, with the variation picker, quantity ladders and landed-cost calculator already attached — add to cart and check out like any shop.
- From a link Paste a 1688 product link into the bulk quote form with the quantity and your target unit price; the desk quotes factory cost and landed cost per freight mode.