in this video I'm going to show you how to use the latest and brand new features of 1688. com to create a million dooll dropshipping business online now those of you who followed me for a long time are probably thinking to yourself Steve don't you hate Drp Shipping isn't Drp Shipping not a great long-term e-commerce business model and the answer is yes I'm not a fan of Drp Shipping in the traditional sense the main reason why I believe this 1688 opportunity is a viable one right now is because there are very few people using this meth method to Source Products and drop ship online the features of 1688. com that I'm going to teach you about today are brand new and implementing this strategy is not that userfriendly at the moment I'll explain more in this video but I view the lack of user friendliness as a good thing because there's very little competition and if you're willing to do the work you can make a lot of money but first off what is 1688 1688 is a Chinese online wholesale and Manufacturing website that is a division of the Alibaba group and and like alibaba.
com the platform connects Chinese suppliers with buyers in fact 1688. com is often referred to as the Chinese version of alibaba. com but the biggest difference between 1688 and alibaba.
com is that the site caters primarily to a Chinese audience and is designed to help small to medium-sized businesses in China Source Products at wholesale prices directly from manufacturers in fact if you go to the website it's actually 100% in Chinese but what most people don't know is that 1688. com is actually the primary database that drives alibaba. com Teemu alexpress and countless other online dropshipping services and compared to all these marketplaces including alibaba.
com the prices on 1688. com are by far the lowest because they are the primary source of suppliers every Marketplace including alibaba. com Teemu and AliExpress is powered by 1688.
com on the back end and and all they're doing is adding a markup to the products listed and then keeping the difference in price as profit for example this air fryer on 1688. com costs 82 R&B which is about $11. 40 now the exact same air fryer is listed on Ali Express which is owned by the same parent company as 1688 for $127 meanwhile this air fryer is on teu for $52.
99 1688 is by far the cheapest in terms of price because both teu and AliExpress drop ship from 1688 and mark up the price here are just some other examples I found online these wireless earbuds cost 14 R&B which is about a buck 95 in us do the same exact earbuds are being sold on teu for $6. 29 meanwhile these earbuds cost $814 on AliExpress so basically sites like teu and AliExpress are essentially Drp Shipping from suppliers on 1688 and applying their own markup now some of you watching this video are probably thinking to yourself isn't alexpress and alibaba. com part of the same company as 1688 and the answer is yes but alibaba.
com AliExpress and 1688. com are all completely separate entities within the Alibaba group that operate independently the other big difference between 1688. com and alibaba.
com is that you can buy products from 1688 in single unit quantities and drop ship from 1688 directly as well and if you are techsavvy you can literally create your own Teemu or AliExpress on your own and instantly drop ship millions of products online don't worry I'll explain how everything works later in this video so make sure you keep watching but the key question is why does this matter to you and how can you make money well with 1688 you can list 1688 products directly on your website and bypass the metlan so basically anyone can start their own Teemu or their own AliExpress Source Products from 1688 apply a markup and have these products drop shipped directly from China now on this channel I've spoken about Drp Shipping from AliExpress before I've also talked about how teemu's low prices are allowing it to grow like Gang Busters well thanks to 1688 literally any business can Source Products direct from China at the lowest prices possible and drop ship them to any customer in the United States just for fun let's check the prices on Amazon for the exact same products I I found earlier the air fryer that I showed you has a price of $11. 40 from 1688. com and you can sell it on Amazon for $75 and if you choose to take a lower profit you can even undercut companies like timu as well by the way if you're enjoying this video so far make sure you sign up for my free 6-day e-commerce mini course below which will teach you the ins and outs of e-commerce now that I've gotten you excited I want to be transparent and talk about the negatives first off the 1688.
com website is in Chinese which is a huge turnoff for most people also 1688 only will ship to addresses in China so you'll have to sign up for a freight forwarder or a China 3pl forwarding service for example services like zq Drp Shipping and best fulfill will provide you with an address in China to send your 1688 products to for a small monthly fee then these companies will forward the drop ship products from China to the End customer and you just cover the cost of shipping the best part is that you won't have to pay any customs duties or taxes because of the Dom Minimus rules more on this later does this sound like a hassle well it definitely is but this is actually a good thing because it means most people won't be willing to drop ship from 1688 also the fact that 1688. com is in Chinese is not a big deal either because of Google translate once you use Google Translate to translate 1688. com into English you'll immediately notice that shopping on 1688 is almost exactly the same same as shopping on alibaba.
com after all they do share the same parent company but the big difference is that the prices will tend to be lower and there are far more suppliers on 1688 than alibaba. com now you're probably wondering is buying from 1688. com safe and the answer is yes because 1688 also offers trade Assurance just like Alibaba as long as you use a trade Assurance supplier and you pay for your order on the 1688 website 1688 trade assurance program will act as an escrow service they'll hold the money and the supplier won't be paid until the product is delivered as a result you can never be outright ripped off shopping on the platform however you can get shipped lowquality products which is something that I'll discuss later in this video in the meantime here's a quick demo on how to place an order on 1688 to make things easier I always set my Chrome browser to automatically translate Chinese to English all you have to do is enter the product in the search bar then you'll see a listing of suppliers just like Alibaba there's information about every supplier and you can also filter by 1688 recommended suppliers response time minimum order quantity everything you can also see the supplier rating and how long they've been in business and in general I like to stick with suppliers that have been around for at least 5 years or more you can also take a look at their company page and view all their ratings directly on the 1688 website because it's translated the formatting might be off but the the site is quite usable you can also look at the company's various ratings such as their overall rating a rating for the return and exchange experience the quality the logistics and dispute resolution try to work with companies with a rating of at least 4.
5 or higher when you are ready to make a purchase press add to cart and check out directly on the site alternatively you can also search for a factory just like on Alibaba and contact them directly using the 1688 messaging service one of the biggest benefits of 1688 over Alibaba is that a lot of the suppliers found on 1688 cannot be found on Alibaba or any other Chinese Factory directory and they are almost always cheaper now in case you're wondering whether 1688 is a legit business it's actually been around for 24 years and Alibaba is a public company but you have to realize that 1688 is just a Marketplace of Sellers and there are many Bad actors on the platform so while it's true that the suppliers on 1688 offer the lowest prices and there are millions of suppliers with very small minimum order quantities the quality is going to be hit or miss trade Assurance will protect you from outright fraud but you might still get shipped a piece of junk now you might be thinking to yourself Steve why are you telling us to drop ship from 1688 is 1688 ships lowquality products well if you asked me this question two years ago I never would have even considered this business model but Chinese marketplaces like timu have shown that there's a lot of money to be made with 1688 Drp Shipping right now consumers in the US are up to their ears in credit card debt and the demand for cheap products is at an all-time high the fact that you can buy in single unit quantities on 1688 makes it perfect for Drp Shipping but what about shipping times all these products are being shipped from China right won't the delivery times be super long and turn off consumers well in the past I would have said yes long shipping times from China make this business model horrible compared to Amazon but timu is currently killing it with us customers and shipments typically take 7 to 15 days to deliver to the US from China in fact timu success has demonstrated that even though the quality isn't the greatest American consumers are willing to put up with it as long as the prices are low the best part is that you don't have to pay any import duties on the products drop Shi from 1688 in the US you don't have to pay any taxes on imported products that cost less than $800 because products are being shipped individ ually direct from China you are exempt from having to pay any duties whatsoever you also don't have to worry about carrying inventory either the main downside is that shipping from China can take a long time the quality control won't be that great nor will be the packaging but thanks to Teemu Americans have already been trained to have low expectations as long as the price is right okay so how do you get started with this business model the first step is to set up an online store by watching any of the many tutorials that I have on my YouTube channel if you're on a budget go with woocommerce and if you aren't tech savvy go with Shopify then sign up with a 1688 dropshipping provider like zq Drp Shipping when an order comes in you will make a purchase on 1688 through the zq Drp Shipping interface and then zq drop shipping will send the order to the End customer in your country if you're interested in giving this a try I encourage you to browse 1688 and compare prices with teu and AliExpress and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how low the prices are now I've given you a lot of information to process so let's take a step back and summarize 1688. com is the main source for Chinese suppliers for almost all these Chinese Drp Shipping platforms like AliExpress timu CJ dropshipping Etc by buying from 1688. com directly you can bypass the middleman and drop ship from these suppliers directly at extremely low prices low pricing is 1688 primary advantage because they are shipping from China you don't have to pay customs duties and you can be price competitive with any other company even timu however drop tipping from 1688 does require a shipping agent in China plus the website is in Chinese which is a turnoff to a lot of potential sellers if you are willing to get past these hurdles there's a lot of money to be made here because of the potential High margins don't get me wrong there's still a lot of work here and quality control will likely be a problem at some point but teu success has already shown that people are willing to live with lower quality merchandise if the price is right now that you understand how to use 1688.