Summary:This blog talks about the new regulations and policy published by alibaba.com since September and its impact for China suppliers who use alibaba.com as main tools for global marketing.
Most of suppliers have noticed things about alibaba.com keeps changing since July, and the most common circumstance is a new regulation begin to take effect before we could fully understand how the last one works which is updated weeks ago. Change is a constant of the world as well as alibaba.com. I will not talk about the change before September, and only after.
1. RFQ are not free any more.
Previously, the more RFQs you summited to your buyers, you may get more RFQ opportunities as return for positive marketing activities and quick responses.
Things are different now, RFQ get premium upgraded, and golden supplier only get 20 quotation opportunities every month, if you need more chances for quotation, you have to pay for it. Every exceeded quotation for RFQ inquiry will cost you about ¥40, you may feel that’s some kind of daylight robbery as everyone does.
Alibaba explains RFQ comes with pay rate because of golden suppliers haven’t performance good enough for buyers’ request, and there is a strong demand of opportunity for quotation from small company who can’t afford the cost of member fee to be golden supplier and the demand is still rising. In order to maximize the output of RFQ channel, RFQ are not free any more. It also means, alibaba said, hi supplier, it’s all your fault making things go this way. Actually the real problem of RFQ channel is never supplier’s mistake, you actually couldn’t get a decent order from RFQs with good profit rate despite you have to filter the true demand from thousands of fake inquiries published by your competitors.
The service representative of alibaba.com said alibaba.com will keep taking measures to bring more traffic and buyers to RFQ sourcing, however compared with other marketing approach, cost of a single inquiry through RFQs is far more than expensive. It’s good news in another way, signing up a RFQ account and starting international business is cheap and easy now. It’s also about time for the small company to face the dog fights within RFQ channel and good luck. 🙂
2. Trade Insurance order complete ratio matter your rank now.
For convenient purpose, Trade Insurance order shorted as TIO instead below.
TIO ratio is official on-line and affects on all suppliers and becomes one of the main products rank factors. In early days, the total amount of your complete TIO in us dollars is one of main rank factors, things are different now. You got 2 main rank factors came from Trade Insurance Orders’ performance.
Affect date: October 14th
TIO Complete Ratio = TIO numbers within 180 days / (TIO Shipped+TIO Delivery Delayed+TIO Canceled )
TIO Complete Ratio Index and your total TIO amounts matters how your products rank among thousands of other suppliers’ products which mean it matters how many inquiries and what kind of inquiries you will get from alibaba.com.
TIO Complete Ratio Index impacts your transaction ranks and company credits shown as 1-5 diamonds on the page, because only a completed TIO counts and would increase your credits index, undelivered TIO is invalid and adds you negative grade.
Tips:
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If possible, completing your orders through trade insurance and one-touch, which could ensure your inquires reach larger quantity and better quality.
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Do not cancel TIO after payment collected or in anther way, cancel TIO and refund the buyer through other payment method.
3. Supplier fakes TIO will receive deduction as warning or even ban for rude violation.
Definition of fake TIO activities:
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Suppliers buy their own products through faked alternative accounts.
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Buy and sell between colleagues, friends, school-mates or family members for mutual benefit.
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Boost sales through third-part agent or deal negotiation for buy and sale exchange.
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Other illegal activates to upraise transaction amount and credits.
4. Free site building tools is available within alibaba.com
These tools are designed for small business, so what could you get from this “onesite” thing?
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A website to display few amount products of yours with very basic functionality.
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A sub-domain under alibaba.com, you are free to bend with your own domain.
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As for SEO and overseas ADs service, sorry, they are premium and you need pay for it.
Why alibaba.com comes with this free site idea? Why this doesn’t happen 10 years ago when alibaba.com is founded?
The traffic level and user population decrease keeps happening in the past a few years, which means alibaba need more ways to keep revenue increasing in acceptable rate, so small business the less important group gains its priority.
Free tools are never cheap. As you publishing products and trying hard to get orders, you just lead your clients to alibaba.com and thousands of your competitors, why just spend a little to build your own website but your own brand, your own database, and most important, less competition and better chance for success.
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You must know that alibaba.com are ascending itself to be an on-line wholesale market based on credits rank, and international business relies more and more on Internet, not only for gathering information before purchase, the world web also expedite the progress of buying decision, and most important, more and more payment transact on-line.
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Encourage your customer to order with TIO, and try your best to complete the order. The more orders your complete, the more inquiries you will get.
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Use onetouch for delivery if possible, keep adding values to your credits index.