DHGate is a wholesale market with its headquarters in Beijing, China. It lets small businesses in China sell directly to buyers and e-commerce business owners around the world.
AliExpress is the company that is most like DHGate. Like AliExpress, they have a huge range of products in almost every area you can think of, such as clothing, electronics, computers, jewelry, and more.
Most of the Chinese sellers on DHGate are not real companies. Most of the items for sale on DHGate come from small businesses that sell a wide range of goods.
Some sellers on DHGate are one-person businesses, while others are stores that want to get rid of their extra stock at a price.
So, DHGate is not the right place for you if you want to start your own private-label business or need a steady supply of products.
DHGate sellers come and go all the time, and it can be hard to find a steady supply of the same product.
But DHGate can be a great place to find different goods with low minimum order quantities (MOQs) so you can test a market you want to get into.
Is DHGate Legit?
DHGate is a real business that makes more than $9 million a year by connecting sellers in China with people and online business owners all over the world. If you make a purchase on DHGate, you will get the goods you bought.
But whether you “expect” to get what you want is a different story. Because DHGate is such a big platform, there are a lot of different sellers who sell goods of different quality.
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As was already said, DHGate has a lot of bad reviews on respected review sites like the Better Business Bureau and a 2-star overall rating on TrustPilot.
But if you read the reviews closely, you’ll see that almost every complaint is about a dishonest seller on the site and not about DHGate itself.
DHGate is just a place where buyers and sellers can meet. They don’t sell their own goods, and they have a lot of protections in place to stop scams.
Is DHGate Safe To Buy From?
Contrary to the negative reviews, buying from DHGate is very safe because of their “Returns & Refund Guarantee”. When a product is purchased on DHGate and is not as described, DHGate will step in to help resolve the dispute.
If the dispute can not be resolved and DHGate rules in your favor, DHGate will refund you your money.
DHGate also provides a “Buyer Protection” program that essentially acts as an escrow service.
DHGate will hold the funds for your purchase until your order is completely received. Once you’ve confirmed the delivery and satisfaction for your goods, only then will DHGate release the payment to the seller.
DHGate’s Buyer Protection program is key because it takes fraud out of the equation altogether and DHGate will freeze the seller’s funds in the event of a dispute.
Overall, it is completely safe to buy from DHGate because…
- DHGate tracks your shipment and verifies that it was delivered.
- DHGate will help resolve any disputes regarding product quality.
- Sellers are not paid until the buyer accepts the merchandise.
It’s important to note that these protections are only provided if you conduct transactions through DHGate. If you deal directly with the seller, you will not be protected.
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Why DHGate Has A Bad Reputation For Quality?
DHGate has a poor reputation online because buyers often have unrealistic expectations for quality.
Remember, 90% of the sellers on DHGate are from China and they may have a different standard of quality than what you are used to.
For example, when you buy a product from a department store in the United States, every product sold goes through a rigorous quality control process.
Sellers on DHGate however, are often just trying to offload excess product at a major discount. They usually don’t perform much quality control and as a result, you have no idea what you’ll receive in the mail. It’s almost like gambling!
As mentioned earlier, DHGate is not a great place to find wholesale suppliers for your e-commerce store. Quality control will always be a problem and most sellers come and go so there’s very little stability.
However, there are many great products and deals to be had on DHGate. You just have to understand the right way to shop on the platform.
How To Buy From DHGate Safely Without Getting Scammed?
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to make your first purchase from DHGate safely and how to mitigate your risks.
First off, it’s essential that you create an account on DHGate. Remember, in order to qualify for buyer protection, you must conduct all transactions through DHGate directly.
Go to DHGate.com and click on the “Join Free” button.
Then, type a product into the search bar and start shopping. When you find something that you like, simply click on the “Add To Cart” button.
Once you are on the shopping cart page, it’s important to click on the seller’s profile and see what else they sell.
How To Evaluate A Seller On DHGate?
On the seller profile, you should pay attention to 3 different areas.
On the upper left corner of the page, open up the seller profile.
In general, I prefer to buy from sellers with the following metrics.
- Has been a seller for at least 2-3 years
- 95+% Positive Feedback
- Product quality above average
- Customer service is above average
In the example above, I would be hesitant to work with this supplier because the product quality is below average despite a 98+% positive feedback rating.
You should also read the seller reviews in depth to get an idea of the seller’s customer service practices. In general, I only read the negative reviews and skip the positive ones.
You should also pay attention to the quality of their home page. In the example below, this seller did not even bother to add their logo or change their splash page from the default.
This is a red flag that you are dealing with a small time seller on DHGate.
The next section of the seller’s page you should pay close attention to is their “Store Categories”.
Most professional sellers specialize in a specific product category and are experts in their niche. For example, the seller in the photo above specializes in cell phone accessories.
But if you see a seller that sells a bunch of random products in their store, it usually means that they are just buying whatever junk they can find at a great deal.
Check DHGate Delivery Times
Most products on DHGate are shipped out of China using ePacket shipping. However, the larger DHGate sellers have warehouses in the United States.
If you can find a seller with a local warehouse, not only will shipping be cheap (or free), but it also means the seller sells a high volume of products and is likely more reliable.
Most sellers on DHGate don’t have local warehouses so you can expect shipping times to vary from 2 weeks all the way up to 2 months for delivery.
In the example below, shipping for this product is free but will take 2 months for delivery.
Make sure you check the delivery date on all products BEFORE you place the order. DHGate’s buyer protection program guarantees that you’ll receive your products by the end of the promised date range on the listing.
DHGate Payment Methods
Once you’re ready to checkout, click on the “Proceed To Checkout” button and fill out your billing and shipping information.
DHGate accepts many different forms of credit card payments but Paypal is notably missing.
Overall, DHGate accepts…
- Visa
- Mastercard
- American Express
- Diners Club
- Discover
- Union Pay
- Maestro Card
- Bank Transfer
In general, you should pay by credit card over a bank transfer so you can build up points and mileage for your card. Paying by credit card also gives you the option of disputing the payment in case DHGate’s buyer protection refund takes too long.
Either way, you are protected by DHGate’s buyer protection as long as you pay on the DHGate platform. And by using a credit card, you are doubly protected from fraud. There is no risk.
How To Cancel A DHGate Order?
If you have buyer’s remorse, you can cancel your order on DHGate quite easily but it depends on the timeframe.
If your order is within 2 hours of your “Item Being Processed”, you can simply click the “Cancel Order” button on your order page.
The order will be cancelled immediately.
However if 2 hours have already elapsed, you must use the “Request Refund” button instead. From there, you must wait for the seller to reply.
If the seller doesn’t reply within 7 days, you are automatically issued the refund.
However, the seller has the option to reject the refund and ship out the package before the shipping deadline. As a result, if you are thinking about cancelling your order, make sure you do it within 2 hours!
How To Use DHGate Buyer Protection?
As soon as you receive your DHGate order, you must inspect it for quality immediately. Make sure you examine your goods very closely and take action right away if you are shipped a piece of junk.
In the event that you are not satisfied with your order, you must act within a certain timeframe in order to get your money back.
According to the DHGate website, the Buyer Protection window is 90 days. But to play it safe, you should contact the seller immediately if there are any problems with your order.
If the seller does not reply within the Buyer Protection window, you can apply for a refund by opening a dispute.
From here, DHGate will help mediate the dispute.
What To Avoid On DHGate?
As you shop on DHGate, you’re likely to see brand-name goods on the platform. For example, you might find Gucci bags, Ferragamo shoes, Nike products and more!
These are all fake!
Whatever you do, do not buy these products and try to sell them because it’s illegal to do so. In fact, your products can be seized in customs and you may face criminal prosecution.
You should also be wary of re-selling any product that involves the safety of the customer. For example, I would avoid selling bicycle helmets or any product that could result in bodily harm or injury.
Remember, the quality standards of the sellers on DHGate may not match the standards of your home country. Listing photos also may not be representative of the actual product sold because sellers copy images from legitimate sellers on a regular basis.
The only way to tell the quality of a product is to buy a single item first before placing a bulk order.
Should You Shop On DHGate?
DHGate’s poor reputation is the direct result of unrealistic expectations. If you see a super cheap product on DHGate, then it’s probably a piece of junk.
As long as you don’t expect superior-quality merchandise, you’ll probably be happy with DHGate.
Overall, you can think of DHGate as a poor man’s eBay and a worse version of AliExpress. The DHGate marketplace is a random mishmash of individuals and small companies in China selling their products online.
It’s highly unlikely that you’ll find real factories or suppliers on the platform and if you base your e-commerce business on DHGate, you might make a few bucks here and there but it’s not going to lead to a long-term business.
That being said, it’s 100% safe to buy on DHGate if you know what you are doing. And there’s practically no chance of getting ripped off and losing your money because of DHGate’s buyer protection program.
However, quality control is a huge problem and it’s generally not worth the headache if you want to start a long-term ecommerce business.
