I'm new to all this importation stuff and wanted to ask your opinion - Is Alibaba really a scam? As I have read that it's full of scammers. On the other hand, I can't believe this is true as I have seen a lot of reviews, Ads and a lot of people that has done business successfully on the site, or am I missing something?

These are the questions of a curious Importer-wannabe about Alibaba, The world's largest B2B Marketplace.

I'm glad I came across this question, as I will really love to clarify all the myths about Alibaba once and for all.

MYTH 1: Alibaba is a Scam
How funny! How can Alibaba be a scam when its just a platform that connects buyers to sellers? Well! I'm not saying there are no scammers on the site, but Alibaba itself is definitely not a scam. As popular as it is, Ebay also has its own fair share of fraudulent activities going on the site, but that is not to say Ebay is a scam.

Alibaba is a large, multi-billion dollars corporation, they have been around for a while now. I believe you don't expect them to still be in business since all these years if they were to be a scam.

MYTH 2: All Products on Alibaba are fake!
Exactly, You are right! But wait, that is only IF you are looking at buying branded products from China, you'll surely get fake products be it Aliexpress, Alibaba, everbuying or DHGate - if you are after branded products, you are definitely going to be in a not-so funny drama with your money. products like:


Clothings (Most especially Polo Shirts)
Shoes
Handbags
DVDs and Audio CDs
various Brands of Headphones E.T.C
These are popular products and the Chinese manufacturers knows that. That's why they manufactures them in their large numbers and sell the counterfeits to you. As long as you keep it in mind that Branded products from China are counterfeits, I believe you will be ok.

MYTH 3: Alibaba is the house of scammers
This is still down to what I said above, Don't go after branded products. You would be safe if you keep this at the back of your mind. if you are looking for branded:
ipads, ipods, iphones (even Steve Jobs would be laughing at you from his grave)
PCs, Laptops
Camcoders and Cameras
designer Footwears ETC
FORGET IT! It doesn't work that way. Scammers based their dealings on psychology. They know that we all believe almost every products are manufactured in China. So, that should be the place to get direct sources of popular gadgets. But Wait! is that true? Ok! let me say partially No. While it may be true that most branded companies produce their products in China, they are definitely not selling them there. They only manufacture in China as they have access to cheap labour which drives the cost of the product down.

So, are you Saying Alibaba is Good for Business Afterall?
What else are you expecting me to say, if not a big YES. Alibaba is a great platform to find suppliers/manufacturers for any product as long as it is un-branded. This way, you will realise that there are very few scamming activities on Alibaba and other similar Chinese sites.

- Source: http://importationwealth..com/