It's a marketplace like eBay, so you need to do your own due diligence on the suppliers and select the most trustworthy. However, the platform does offer some insurance against delayed dispatch, poor quality goods, damage in transit etc. and charges about 2.5% for this.

Alibaba is not a scam, they have real companies and real merchandise. You as the buyer have to do the work to communicate your needs and make sure you are getting the products you are looking for. I just received my first order from Alibaba and I was satisfied with the quality, and I received all my merchandise within the time frame it was promised.

Absolutely not! I'm from the US and I couldn't be more happier with my transactions on Alibaba. At first, I was a little afraid, now after buying from their companies, I'm completely confident I would never be scammed here. Alibaba is to China, what Amazon is to America. Would you be afraid buying through Amazon? Then there is no need to think your going to get scammed here.

You can say sellers scam on Alibaba, however, I would blame Alibaba equally as it's Alibaba who introduce such scammers to buyers. Alibaba actually providing easy and free platform to scammers to run their business of robbing customers.