When it comes to sourcing products on Alibaba, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of finding the product you want at the price you’re willing to pay. However, when you get your order, you might be shocked by the cost of shipping. The truth is that shipping from China can be expensive; here’s why! Let’s learn about ‘Why Is Alibaba Shipping So Expensive?’.
Why Is Alibaba Shipping So Expensive?:
Alibaba Shipping Services
If you’re like most small businesses, you don’t have a lot of time or money to spend on shipping. Unfortunately, shipping reliability, speed, and security often come at a high price point. However, Alibaba’s global freight forwarding service can help your business avoid expensive pitfalls and costly mistakes when transporting goods from one location to another.
Alibaba distributes to more than 35,000 zip codes around the world, removing the need for a middleman to handle your logistics.
Employees are highly-trained and competent, ensuring that your products are delivered securely and on schedule, as well as providing excellent customer service.
You may be able to follow your package in real-time on the company’s website to see how far it has progressed. As a result, Alibaba shipping is fairly pricey because the firm delivers some of the finest negotiating in the industry.
Reason 1: Individual Sellers
The thing to understand about individual sellers on Alibaba is that they set their shipping rates. That means that sometimes if a seller thinks that you’re important enough to their business, they might offer better shipping rates to entice your business. But, in general, expect shipping from China to be expensive!
Alibaba has tens of thousands of different vendors. If you purchase things on the Internet from multiple merchants, your shipping expenses will be higher.
This is because each seller’s merchandise must go through its logistical procedures before being dispatched to you. Furthermore, each Alibaba seller has its processing factory or storage.
For all of the items sold on the Internet, there is no centralized warehouse. As a result, purchasing various things from different merchants on the Internet will raise and diversify your delivery expenses.
Reason 2: High Seller Fees
Alibaba charges vendor fees on its platform to run its website. The costs also cover all of Alibaba’s support services, including technical and customer assistance, marketing tools, and knowledge. The fees are still rather substantial, even if they are lower than what would be charged to open a real business.
Alibaba now offers three membership levels: basic, standard, and premium. Premium is more expensive than the other options, but it includes more features. Alibaba also receives a fee on any sales made through their platform. This boosts the vendor’s cost of conducting business, resulting in higher fees to maximize profit.
These factors lead to higher shipping prices for goods sold on Alibaba. The company has been forced to respond with explanations as to why their shipping prices are so high, though they say that all costs associated with packaging, storage, insurance, and delivery will increase when goods move from one region or country to another.
Reason 3: High Marketing Fees For Sellers
While there are some expensive goods sold on Alibaba’s platform, many users are frustrated that they end up paying a great deal more than they expected to, including shipping fees. One of the reasons for expensive shipping is high marketing fees for the seller.
Alibaba’s e-commerce platform features over 150,000 vendors. It’s difficult for a seller to stand out among thousands of merchants in every category and across multiple sectors. Alibaba handles this problem by charging vendors a premium to be at the top of their platforms’ searches and adverts.
However, most sellers cannot afford these costs, which range from $3,500 to $10,000. They are, nevertheless, compelled to pay since they would not generate much revenue if they did not promote their stores by developing websites or physical locations.
Alibaba gives them a platform with millions of prospective clients, so it’s a great investment. They must, however, account for these costs in their price. One area where these stores may make up for their higher costs is shipping rates. To be able to sell their stores on Alibaba, they will charge you additional fees for delivering your shipments.
Reason 4: Shipping Incoterms
An Incoterm is a standardized legal term used in international trade to specify when and how a good will be delivered from a seller to a buyer. A shopper can choose from four different Incoterms, which are: FOB (Free on Board), CFR (Cost and Freight), CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight), and DAT (Delivered at Terminal). The choice of Incoterm determines who pays for shipping costs along with other fees such as duty charges for importing goods into certain countries.
When purchasing on Alibaba.com, you’ll come across a variety of merchants with varying delivery terms. As a result, you need to become acquainted with them to select the most cost-effective and easy option for you.
Reason 5: Long Shipping Distances
The further your item has to travel, the more it’s going to cost. Distance-based shipping (also known as dimensional weight pricing) doesn’t just cover how far away a customer lives from your warehouse—it also factors in how big your package is.
In practice, what all of that means is that if you want to ship large items cheaply, you need a local warehouse near where customers live and shop. This will help minimize shipping costs and allow customers to get their goods quickly.
Conclusion
Shipping goods internationally can get pricey, especially when you take into account that a lot of e-commerce companies avoid handling such shipping. The reason for Alibaba shipping being so expensive is because it’s not Alibaba shipping that’s expensive; it’s just that other logistics services are more expensive.
FAQ
- What is the cheapest shipping method on Alibaba?
When shopping for your product on Alibaba, you have a lot of shipping options to choose from. One of them is Sea freight — sea freight is by far the cheapest delivery option, so if you’re searching for a bargain, this is the way to go.
- Can you get free shipping on Alibaba?
On Alibaba and AliExpress, shipping fees vary depending on who you buy from—manufacturers and sellers establish their prices. Many providers advertise “free delivery,” however, like drop shippers, they just wrap the expenses into the unit price.
