The most popular B2B portal where you can source from China is undoubtedly Alibaba.com. Unfortunately, the portal also contains many listings of unreliable contractors and other traps. Many people ask what a “Gold Supplier” is. In this post, we will explain what it means and whether you can fully trust a Gold Supplier seller.
Alibaba Gold Supplier
Many importers think that if a seller has a “Gold Supplier” mark on Alibaba, it is evident that this company is verified, meets high-quality standards, and is certainly not a scam.
The problem is that sellers simply buy the “Gold Supplier” icon from the portal, which provides Alibaba.com with significant profits. The following is an email for a seller who had not even concluded one transaction, purchasing the certificate.
As you can see, a Gold Supplier mark is not very expensive.
We have often heard from our clients about Chinese suppliers that had this “certificate” for up to seven or eight years and were scammers. Buyers often say: “I haven’t checked this company before because it has been an Alibaba Gold Supplier for many years,” and struggle to get their money back.
It is true that in order to be a certified Gold Supplier, you need to be accepted once by Alibaba, but that does not mean that Gold Suppliers are credible. It just confirms that the company has the means to buy it.
There was a huge scandal with the Alibaba Gold Supplier mark. Some high-ranked employees sold many “Alibaba Gold Supplier” titles to unreliable operators. The employees were fired after the scandal broke, and the case was closed, but this, unfortunately, does not mean that similar procedures won’t occur in the future.
In summary, Alibaba is a platform that greatly facilitates doing business with China. Before you place an order on Alibaba, make sure to check the suppliers credibility to avoid potential lossess.