Is Dhgate Safe? How To Buy Safely From Dhgate In 2022

By Author: Tony J
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Due to DHgate is an online marketplace and just like any other market, you would always find dishonest sellers who always look to bilk money from the customers by offering cheap stuff.

So here is a detailed guide on how one can buy from DHgate safely without ripped off. So without further ado, let’s get started! We will cover every security risks for you to understand how to stay safe on DHgate.

What is DHgate?
DHgate is a global B2B marketplace founded in 2004 that enables the sale of wholesale products to overseas buyers. The slogan of DHgate website is: Buy Globally, Sell Globally!

As a leading B2B Cross-Border E-commerce trading platform, DHgate committed to helping small and medium-sized businesses through this E-commerce platform to the global market. It had sixteen years of accomplishment, is as yet developing each day; its user base developed from 1 million clients in 2005 to 33 million clients in 2021.

Many overseas buyers of DHgate website set up shops on eBay and Wish, they choose DHgate, since its small MOQ.

Is DHgate Safe? | Advantages of buying on DHgate
...
... Inexpensive products
Free shipping on most products
Safe payment method
Effective buyer protection
Is DHgate Safe? | Disadvantages of buying on DHgate
Standard conveyance is slow, yet you can regularly follow it or move up to quicker transportation for about $6-20.
Nearly all merchants are situated in China, so transportation is delayed to the USA, Canada, Europe, and so on.
Not all sellers accept PayPal.
Some sellers may take a few days to send your order to the carrier.
Counterfeit products.
Is DHgate Safe? | Suppliers’ Quality
A common problem of large B2B platforms is that field surveys of suppliers are not available on the site. Therefore, the composition of sellers is complicated. Except for a small number of factory direct sales, you will see a large number of individual sellers though they look like factory sellers. So when you place the order, you would better check the suppliers and research background carefully.

In general, I do exclusion by sellers profile. And we only recommend you buy from sellers with the metrics below.

97+% Positive Feedback

Do business on DHgate for at least 2 years

Service score must about or above average

Another important reference indicator, 99% of buyers will ignore. It is the province where the seller is located.

Different industries and different provinces in China have their own aggregation characteristics. For example, clothes, shoes and bags are generally the best in Guangzhou，Guangdong province and Jinhua，Zhejiang province. For electronic products and accessories, Shenzhen and Foshan in Guangdong Province are the most outstanding. If you are buying small toys or gadgets, then Yiwu sellers in Zhejiang Province are undoubtedly your best choice. For another example, Anhui Province is actually the largest producer of masks, because there are many textile factories in the city. However, you will find that DHgate’s masks are mainly from Guangdong sellers, and it is conceivable that many of them are not factory direct sales.

Is DHgate Safe? | How To Check A Seller Quality On DHGate?
On the upper left corner of the page, read the seller profile carefully.

Is DHgate safe?
Is DHgate Safe? | Why Do DHgate Products Have Such A Bad Reputation?
Main reason is, lack quality control process!

When you purchase something from a U.S based retail shop, you get the quality, because they follow a good quality control process, and so whatever you get is of top-quality. But as compared to this, DHgate is a whosale market of whole sellers where factory manufacturers sell their products, and so there is a very little quality process.

There’s no known brand there and quality standards vary. Sometimes the condition could be even worse, and you might get a fake product.

Is DHgate Safe? | The Big Danger of DHgate: Fraudsters, High Shipping Costs And Fake Product.
The seller deliberate sending empty envelopes to the wrong address is the most common DHgate scam. In this situation, you will loss the item and money. Because items was never shipped but service has release payments.

High shipping costs is a more covert deception. Some sellers will offer low prices items, but charge very high shipping costs to offset. So check the transportation costs before you place the order is necessary.

Another type of Dhgate scam is counterfeit products. Buy brand items from DHgate has high risk. These items is always much more cheaper than brand’s, but almost fake.

Is DHgate Safe? | DHgate Safe Payment Methods
In order to keep you relatively safe when shopping, DHgate has strict rules and regulations with secure encryption and buyer protection. Though DHgate is safe to buy from cos it holds the buyer’s payment and releases it to the seller after the buyer confirms the delivery of their order, Bluecatcher still recommend you use a credit card or PayPal as the first option so that you can even open a dispute if there arises any problem regarding buyer protection redemption.

Is DHgate Safe? | What is the Quality of DHgate’ s Products?

The quality of goods from DHgate depends on the seller you’re buying from, so there is no one-fit answer to this question. Generally, if you have reasonable expectations for the product and have already understood the details such as the actual pictures and materials of the product in advance, then you will be basically satisfied with the real quality of the product.

Is DHgate Safe? | How Long Does DHgate Take to Deliver?

Shipping times for most sellers on DHGate is from 2 weeks up to 1.5 months for delivery. And the shipping carriers require 7-10 days before the package can be tracked online. Please note, prepare goods still take times, so remember to confirm delivery date on all products with seller before you place the order.

Tracking number is important, if the seller does not provide you valid tracking number in time, then you need to open a dispute on DHgate in time.

A Complete Checklist: How to Find the Best Quality Products on DHgate.
Though DHgate has lots of Dangers, it is still a good platform to find a good supplier for your eCommerce business. Now competition is massive on the platform, so scams is everywhere.

Anyway, finding a reliable supplier that could provide good quality supplies is still works. Here we take a list of 6 gold guidelines you may have to follow if you want to buy from DHgate safely:

1. Choose Sellers With Positive Feedback:

This is the most basic and first step in making a purchase. So to find the positive feedback sellers, you can sort products by seller rating. We recommend you exclude bad reputation sellers and new sellers less than one year old.

2. Read Details Carefully:

We highly recommend you reading the product details carefully before place your order. You can find every detail of a product in the description, about the clothing material or manufacturing material, etc. Sometimes you can also view the real pictures of the product in the details, which is of great significance for judging the quality of the product.

3. Get To Know Sellers In The Communication:

Communication is key. Before chat, you should try to learn as much more details of goods as possiable. The good way is to write all item details to the seller, clear your doubts, and ask them about the item’s manufacture details, etc. This is a convenient way to filter out unprofessional sellers.With his responsiveness to his business and respond speed, you can figure out how attentive and professional a seller is easily.

4. Check For Product Quality:

There are many different qualities at DHgate, although they use the same product pictures, the quality varies wildly. With such a huge market, it could be difficult to filter out the quality ones. However, there are still a few ways you could identify if the product is good quality or not.

1.Product Feedback

If both the seller and product have high ratings, then it’s a good decision to buy. Sometimes, the product have both good reviews and bad reviews, which is most situation.Then a sample is necessary.

2.Check Sample

If a seller would like to offering you one sample, it’s likely much more easier to check the item details. Of course, good sample quality does not necessarily equal good product. Incorrect goods are the most common deception. So you need check seller carefully.

If a seller is offering more than one type of product, it’s likely a wholesaler instead of factory manufacturer . So you can check the ‘seller’s category’ and determining the size of the seller.

3.Compare Price

We do not recommend that you select products by price order, because many sellers will deliberately mark the price far below the cost price in order to obtain better traffic.This kind of seller will make a profit by charging additional fees to fill the vacancy.

You can filter the top quality sellers and then take the median of their product prices to find out the real wholesale price of the product.

4.Check Out Warranties

Anytime, you should pay attention to ‘seller guarantees’ on the product. Especially electronic products, such as phone screens. Product quality inspection is also very important, we recommend you choose a seller with professional quality inspectors.

Check the product immediately upon receipt

Many sellers offer short-term quality assurance, so whenever you receive items, check it as soon as possible for quality problems. Once you get junk goods, you must take action immediately. Otherwise, you may loss money.

5. Learn Custom/Import Duty

If you are the first time to ship items from abroad, you probably may not be familiar with import taxes.

Almost all countries have their own import tax. For example, in the EU, the VAT is almost 20%. So before buying a product, you need to know the tax in your country to determine whether your product is still a bargain after adding the tax.

It’s a legal responsibility to pay these charges. However, professional sellers can still issue reasonable invoices for you, helping you reduce taxes and fees. And ensure that within a reasonable range, there will be no fines.

We do not recommend sellers marking packages as low as a valuable gift, this is illegal and items has the possibility of being confiscated.

6.Check DHgate Delivery Time

DHgate is based in China, so most of products are shipped from China suppliers.

It takes around one month in shipping if you go for a free shipping option. But you can pay more to select a faster shipping way. You need to confirm the preparation time, delivery company and delivery time with the seller. And confirm the tracking number with the seller in time. 17 TRACK is a Chinese all-in-one package tracking platform. You can check all packages on it easily.

Generally, shipping time is at least twice as slow as usual by the fourth quarter, especially in the months leading up to Christmas and Black Friday. So you need to prepare items in advance at this time.

What Should I Do If The Product Quality Is Not Good from DHgate?
If you have already made a payment, then the chances are less to get a refund. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you understand the quality of the product in as much detail as possible before purchasing it.

One more thing is, you may want to return an item, but be very careful. Shipping fees back to China may cost more than your profit for the product, and the fee will be paied by yourself. Chinese customs is strict and your items may disappear without reason sometimes. Generally, experienced and capable sellers will have warehouses in Hong Kong to be responsible for after-sales service of returned products.

So, what should you do if you are not satisfied?

Judging Quality Problems

If the seller sends the wrong product, or the product specification and design do not match the actual detail, or the goods were not delivery to you. You can apply for buyer protection.

If the product description and photos are accurate, but you think the quality of the product is lower than expected, then you may be able to negotiate a partial refund only.

Buy from DHgate Conclusion
Overall, DHgate is a great option to buy items at a much cheaper price, composed of different businesses, manufacturer or wholesaler, working to sell their products. For payment protection, DHgate has enough security so you do not have to worry about it. PayPal and Credit Card will protect your money.

You need to keep above points in mind before dealing with the seller. The most big probem for DHgate, it is lack of quality control system. So you have to pay more appention on how to deal with it.

What is better? Alibaba, Aliexpress, Banggood, Wish, DHGate, Gearbest, Lightinthebox , 1688.com, JD.COM?
In China, there are many websites like DHgate. How to tell if DHgate is right for you? We provide you with these metrics below. First of all, you need to determine whether you are purchasing products as individual consumers or as enterprises. Individual consumers is best to choose B2C platform. Let’s first see the following table.

Website Business Model Pros Cons
Alibaba B2B Low wholesale price; Massive product Shipping is slow Product; Price is confusion
Aliexpress B2C No MOQ; Free shipping Slow response; Slow shipping
Banggood B2C Hot sell products; Fast delivery Limited goods, payment options and shipping way
Wish B2C Unique products and accessories; Wide variety of products Slow shipping; Quality and prices is a lot, and it takes time to choose
DHGate B2B Small MOQ; Good price when you buy in bulk A ton of fake products; Slow shipping
Gearbest B2C Good quality on gadgets and electronics; Promotions and discounts is a lot Limited product variety; Slow customer support
Lightinthebox B2C Unique fashion products and accessories Slow shipping
1688.com B2B Massive new products; Factory price Language barrier; Limited payment option
JD.COM B2C Good quality; Massive electronic products; Reasonable price ; Professional and fast customer service Language barrier; Limited payment option
So What is better for you? For customers without language barriers and payment issues, 1688.com is the best choose for b2b business and JD.COM is best for b2c customers. If you are looking for a long-term and stable factory supplier with a large order volume, we recommend you to buy goods on Alibaba, and if the order volume is small, we recommend you to buy it on DHgate. If you do dropshipping, then Aliexpress is a better choice. The other platforms have fewer products, but they are still worth checking out.

The most suitable is the best, please note to choose the website according to your own requirements, good luck!