!! AVOID !!
!!! AVOID! I seriously think Alibaba should be shut down or heavily fined. Even my Chinese friends tell me that Alibaba is not a good platform to use. A year ago, I ordered a sample of 10 batteries from a company on Alibaba. The sample was good, so I ordered another 50 same batteries from the same company. Unfortunately, the new order was nowhere near the same quality, and many of my customers experienced problems with the batteries. The seller completely ignored me. The only thing they sent me was a picture of some random box, probably while they were busy scamming someone else. Eventually, I opened a case with Alibaba because the seller refused to respond. I then spent around three months uploading pictures and videos as evidence, following Alibaba's instructions. They even asked me to open the batteries to provide further evidence. Not a single word from the seller throughout this entire process. No single contra-argument from seller for 3 months. After three months of wasting hours and hours of my time, the seller finally came up with one counterargument: that I had damaged the battery by opening one to provide the evidence Alibaba had specifically requested! And guess what? Alibaba sided with the seller. Their customer service was an absolute joke. I kept receiving repetitive, automated emails that made no sense. They asked for my phone number about three times and promised to call me, but nobody ever did in that time ... ( till I made them to call me....) The case was closed, reopened, put under investigation, and then closed again, hard to follow what is going on. I was repeatedly told that a higher-level team would respond within three days. The same cycle continued over and over again. At this point, I completely lost my patience. Out of frustration, I started sending ugly, explicit pictures I found online to Alibaba's customer service chat. I figured that might finally get someone's attention, as I suspect the office staff all became familiar with me after that! Eventually, I even received a random phone call from Alibaba's New York office. A guy with a strong Indian accent was trying to persuade me to stop sending explicit pictures of people's genitals through Alibaba's chat. Honestly, I don't even know how to describe this experience. If I could give Alibaba zero stars, I would. I genuinely believed that if you purchased goods that were not as described, you could contact Alibaba and expect some help. Apparently, that is not the case. What an absolute joke. Now, seven months later, I contacted Alibaba about a completely different matter. They apparently didn't even read my message properly, as it had nothing to do with those faulty batteries. Today, they replied with the following: "This email serves as formal confirmation that the higher team is now handling the matter. We understand the frustration this has caused and want to ensure you that it is being dealt with accordingly. Since the escalation is complete, you can expect a response as soon as possible. Thank you for your continued trust." Seven months later, and they are still sending me the same meaningless promises. Based on my experience, I would strongly advise anyone considering buying from Alibaba to think twice. My advice is simple: AVOID!