AliExpress and Alibaba are extremely successful companies and they are operated by the same group, the Alibaba group. Which is why it can be a bit tricky for people to identify the difference between the two. There are a few differences to take into consideration, but the nice thing is that you will narrow things down and identify everything without that much of a hassle.
What is the main difference between AliExpress and Alibaba?
Maybe the major thing to note here is that they target different audiences. AliExpress is for the business to consumer market, so everyone is able to buy products from AliExpress without a problem. Typical buyers for Alibaba are business owners, this is a wholesale-focused marketplace and this is where only businesses are the main clients. One thing to note is that Alibaba has a fixed annual fee for sellers, but there’s almost no commission per sale for sellers. AliExpress has a commission of 5 to 8% for sellers, which is definitely something to think about.
Other important differences
AliExpress has sellers from only 6 countries, but for Alibaba you have 200+ countries. On the latter one you have a request for quotation, on AliExpress you don’t need that. Another difference is that the Alibaba shipping time is from 15 days to multiple months. In general, AliExpress shipping times are 1 to 4 weeks, which is certainly something to think about as much as possible.
Up to 70% Discount on AliExpress
Shipping for AliExpress products is usually free or very affordable, but on Alibaba it will differ quite a bit. Since the order sizes are usually huge, sometimes there will be an agreement between sellers and buyers regarding the shipping costs, which is quite impressive in its own right.
Other differences here are the fact that Alibaba has a minimum order quantity, private labeling and financing options for buyers. That’s not the case for AliExpress, which as we said is mostly focused on simple, small orders. That’s why you don’t really need any minimum order quantity or anything like that. Both platforms have order protection and dispute resolution too.
Another interesting difference is the fact that pricing can be negotiable on Alibaba just due to the sheer volume of general orders you can have here. And yes, products can range from ready made items to customizable products and raw materials. AliExpress is only selling ready made products and they don’t have negotiable prices.
Conclusion
As you can see, AliExpress and Alibaba are not the same. Even if they are owned by the same group, their target market is completely different. Because of that, the way they do business also varies quite a bit. In the end, they are both amazing, stellar platforms with great features and lots of amazing benefits. With that in mind, it’s important to understand that they are quite different from each other, and that’s why you want to avoid thinking they are one and the same. They are great for their respective audiences however, and that alone matters quite a bit.
