I have multiple years experience on the Alibaba platform, and they actually offer the best protection, hands down. Their are scammers and bad actors everywhere, but any reputable company will do their due diligence... and as Steven said, Alibaba makes that easy.

I have made purchases using alibaba.com numerous times and all purchases were fulfilled successfully - all products high quality and in excellent condition. All business representatives were polite, respectful, professional and efficient at fulfilling my orders.

If you had a bad experience (s), then this must have been a fluke. I don't believe any business using the services of Alibaba.com would want to do anything that upsets their customers, because there own success depends on satisfied customers. However, I do choose the most reputable companies to deal with. And Alibaba.com makes that an easy task.