Sonia N.

I decided to import a small amount of toys to try out the market. I have little money myself. Knowing Alibaba reputation, I searched carefully and looked into the sellers, found some were actually non-existent or impersonating genuine sellers whom I emailed and they knew nothing about the product I was looking for advertised in their name.
Then I found a genuine company that sold on a large scale, seemed professional,, they were responsive, kind, seemed to care. I paid for the toys and they arrived promptly but were delayed at the customs as there was no date, value etc on the dispatch form, something you do not expect from a professional company. It took me about 7 days and many phonecalls and emails to the company to rectify the problem and I got my toys. I then checked the box and the toys were fine, started selling them, it worked well, then as I edged towards the bottom half of the huge box, I realized that 50 packages of the toy were not the ones I bought but Eastern European, in their language, plain packaging and, practically, unsellable. They wanted to get rid of what they could not shift by hiding it underneath the genuine order yet including it in the number I paid for.
I contacted them and they said they would not send me 50 genuine samples or reimburse me for those, but they will "give me some discount when I order from them next time". Blackmail!
I have lots lots of money on the unsellable pieces and am stuck with them.

I tried to raise the issue with Alibaba, yet found it so complicated that it took me hours to find the way how to complain, then it would not accept any of my photo formats for evidence of conversation and invoice... I felt like crying. Finally, I somehow "escalated" the complaint, but within a couple of weeks they asked for all the evidence again in an automatically generated email.
I tried the messenger, it did not work, and I could never talk to or email anyone for help, I still cannot find that option at all.
I doubt it will ever come to anything and it seems to be con people or greedy companies know they can easily get away with anything they do, that Alibaba do not care and take advantage to the maximum.
It is like swimming in a sea full of sharks and I would strongly advise that people stay away from the website.