By the time you read this article, I’m sure you have the same doubts I once had. Why does this online store have so many low-priced Rolex or Hublot watches of global repute? I was even able to find designer handbags, and men’s and women’s clothing such as Gucci, Versace, or Prada!
If you have searched DHgate reviews, you will find that it has been known and notorious for counterfeit branded goods for many years, and of course, it offers all kinds of electronics or gadgets from China, you can even find “cloned” iPhones and Samsung phones, is this really legit?
In our Dhgate online shop review, you will find information about its pros and cons, as well as a guide to shopping safely in Dhgate, as in any marketplace, you must know how to navigate the waters and take the proper precautions when shopping to avoid being extorted.
DHgate Reviews
About DHgate
According to its website description, DHgate.com is a B2B e-commerce site focused on connecting manufacturers with SMEs.
That is, the company itself is positioned as a wholesale business, but in recent years it has slowly evolved to the point where the end consumer can get their products at retail from most of the suppliers or manufacturers in DHgate.
Extending the conversation on this, as DHgate gradually moved into the retail business, their parent company started wholesaling with the launch of DHport.com, a site that deals with a large volume of goods between manufacturers, or rather factories, and distributors around the world.
The relationship between DHgate and DHport is akin to that between another well-known Chinese company, Ali’s Aliexpress, and Alibaba are related to each other, one focusing on retail and the other on wholesale.
So in terms of the size of its business, DHgate is a huge company behind it. According to our profile search, they are based in Beijing, China, and are one of the top 5 e-commerce platforms in China, and the shop is also available in several different languages to support their multi-country trade.
Their main competitor is Aliexpress, which also offers a huge variety of products and has a large presence of Chinese sellers.
Finally, it is important to note that from my own shopping experience and numerous online reviews, DHGate sellers come and go all the time and you can hardly find a shop that offers a steady supply of the same products, which means that if you want to create a steady supply chain of branded products through DHgate it is impossible.
But if you want to buy different products in small quantities for market testing, or if you want to buy a batch of products for your use at a low price, DHgate will be perfect for you.
Is it safe to buy from DHgate? Is it 100% legit?
It is completely safe to shop from DHgate. I’m showing you why it’s safe based on DHgate’s description of its “Return and Money Back Guarantee” and “Buyer Protection”, which I’ll briefly explain to you.
“Return and Money Back Guarantee” guarantees that DHgate will step in to help resolve a dispute if the product you purchased on their platform is not as described and that DHgate will refund all of your money if the dispute cannot be resolved and DHgate decides to rule in your favor.
“Buyer Protection”, DHgate will act as an intermediary escrow and will retain the funds you paid for your purchase until your order is fully confirmed as received and you are satisfied with the goods, after which time the payment will be transferred to the seller.
This escrow service eliminates fraud, it can freeze the seller’s funds in the event of a dispute, and it’s a weeding-out exercise for poor-quality sellers.
In addition to the two most important points above, DHgate also offers an order tracking service, but from start to finish DHgate has always acted as a judge, hasn’t it? We can only avoid being cheated by the seller, but it is difficult to influence the decision of the judge, who is not always on your side.
We have counted some of the one-star reviews of DHgate on Trustpilot and more than half of the negative reviews are about DHgate’s inability to process irregular orders promptly, such as time-out orders, not receiving a parcel or receiving an empty parcel, and the likelihood of the referee fooling you is high;
Surprisingly, the remaining negative reviews are full of complaints about payment, trust and risk control. Users may still complain about failed verification or frozen accounts after payment.
DHGate is a legitimate company, otherwise, it wouldn’t be in the top 5 e-commerce platforms and generating over 9 figures of revenue per year.
I am not a legal advisor and cannot give legal advice. Each country’s laws are different and you will have to go back to your country’s local laws and regulations to find information about importing counterfeit goods by baggage and post.
DHgate, as a platform that has been doing business across borders for a long time, is the party that has received the most legal warnings and sanctions. I would therefore advise you to check the risk by consulting the retailer or customer support before placing each order.
How to shop safely on DHgate？
First, you have to have a DHgate account. Avoid direct transactions with sellers, most of them will mark their contact details, but please do not bypass DHgate for direct transactions, you will lose your protection.
A seller review must be carried out before shopping. From my experience, I have listed a few key points. You need to go to the seller’s profile page of the item and review these before you make a buying decision
- Time to become a seller on DHgate. There is no specific formula for this, but I usually go for sellers who have been on DHgate for more than 2-3 years, it shows that the seller has been baptized by the rules for a certain amount of time.
- Percentage of positive feedback. This is an important metric and I usually choose sellers with over 90% positive feedback. As I have screened sellers with a few years of experience, they already have a certain amount of feedback from reviews and still have 90% positive reviews, in this case, proves that they have no major problems.
- Items as described & communication should be above average. This is a soft indicator because I also buy products from sellers who are below average. If you are inexperienced and want to make an initial purchase attempt, I recommend spending more time screening sellers by these two indicators.
I usually buy some Xiaomi products on DHgate, and here I recommend to you the seller’s shop that I would spend there. I usually buy some Xiaomi products on DHgate, and I would like to recommend to you the seller’s shops that I would spend there.
The first one is Mi_flagship_store, but unfortunately for some reason, this shop no longer has any products on its shelves. A similar shop is xiaomiyoupin, where the seller offers many Xiaomi gadgets, shipped directly from the EU. The shipping time from the EU warehouse is 7 days and the shop’s prices are usually very good even without vouchers.
My advice before shopping at DHgate
You have to be a consumer who doesn’t count on trouble. Imagine a supermarket releasing a bunch of game rules to stimulate spending to guide customers to get their coupons or arrive at a low spending threshold, some people are happy with it and some are not, you have to be the former to be fit to spend on DHgate. Because you have to go through the following things.
- Complete the above-mentioned seller review to dispel any suspicions of fraud.
- Check the delivery times of products from different sellers in your shopping cart. In most cases, products are sent from China using ePacket and you may have to wait between 2 weeks and 2 months. If you are savvy and patient enough, you should choose a seller that has a local warehouse as this generally represents efficiency and a seller large enough to be trusted.
Lower your expectations that you will find a treasure at DHgate. Don’t try to buy ‘designer goods’ – these are risky items that don’t satisfy your vanity and are likely to be seized by customs.
Don’t try to buy products that involve personal safety, as the quality standards of sellers on DHGate may not meet the standards of your country.
Finally, if you are looking to build a supply chain through DHgate, I would advise you not to do so yet. Long-term and quality supplies are unlikely to be available as sellers from genuine factories are very few.
If you meet the above criteria then congratulations, DHgate is the place for you, in general, it still has a great range of products at amazing prices and I occasionally find specialists like Xiaomiyoupin who focus on a certain niche and reap the rewards of a good shopping experience.
