DHgate is an international marketplace based in China that enables people worldwide to sell and buy different products. Having started locally, dealing with exporting Chinese products out of the country, it is now a fully-fledged, legitimate, wholesale international marketplace catering to all countries globally.
As is common these days, many international marketplaces have scammers or dishonest sellers who aim to take advantage of the unknowing general public. Our blog post seeks to demonstrate that DHgate is a secure and trustworthy platform for your business transactions. We will also guide how to navigate the site carefully to avoid unscrupulous sellers selling you substandard or counterfeit products.
What makes DHgate safe to use?
While DHgate is a legit company, like all similar international marketplaces, some people do not do business honestly. However, the site has been set up in such a way as to protect you (the buyer) if you happen to come across any shady seller. One of these ways is through their established Returns and Refund Guarantee.
This policy is meant to help you deal with a circumstance where, after your goods have been delivered, they differ from the description or pictures showcased or are of lower quality. In this case, DHgate personnel will become directly involved to ensure your satisfaction as a buyer who has been taken advantage of.
If there is a failure to settle your issue, and it’s seen by the company that you were not in the wrong, it will refund the money you have spent. Excellent, right?
Another policy that makes it safe to use the site is the Buyer Protection Program. This service is the proverbial middleman when buying goods from a stranger or untrusted person. Essentially, DHgate will keep your money safe and untouched until you verify having received the goods and that they are of the quality you ordered and expected. After this has been confirmed, the site will pass the money to the seller. This is one of the best available scam protection programs on an international marketplace and is not offered by many others. It puts the power of the transaction in the buyer’s hands to avoid any potential scam by the seller.
Not happy with the quality or amount of goods received from the seller? Inform the site, and your money will not be released to the unscrupulous seller. It will even temporarily halt any transactions occurring to the seller the moment you suspect foul play.
Being cautious on the site.
In truth, DHgate is only a marketplace, a way for buyers and sellers to agree on what one wants to sell or buy. As most of the sellers are from China, it is prudent to realize that the site has many sellers joining and leaving DHgate.
This means that a similar product you may have purchased some months or a year on the site, may not be being sold by the same person, and this will inevitably lead to a difference in quality with a higher or, most likely, even lower rate than you have experienced before. Furthermore, the quality of products that come from China, if we were to have an example of a carpet, a carpet from China cannot compare to a carpet from Turkey or any other carpet-focused Arab nation. It’s essential to keep this in mind as you navigate the site.
If you are used to a certain level of quality shopping outside of China, you may get a different level of quality, and let’s be honest, it’s provided at a much lower price.
DHgate also provides further complimentary services to keep your goods safe. One of these is shipment/order tracking. This enables you to stay right on top of your order as it moves from the store to you. Through the site, you can accurately estimate when your order will be delivered to prepare for its arrival correctly.
How to avoid scams on DHgate.
To properly buy from DHgate and avoid scams, I will show you how to properly steer your way across the site as you make transactions with minimal risk. In the first place, create an account on the site. When you visit the site, you will see a profile icon near the top of the page with the option to join/sign in. Please hover your mouse over it and select the join free option.
Next, after registering, type the product of your choice into the search bar, click on it, and it will open it up. Choose an option for the product, the quantity you want, and where to ship to, which includes an option for faster or standard delivery and will show an estimated time according to your choice. Add the item to your cart and click Go to Cart on the side of the page.
Once on this page, you can click on the seller profile, denoted with a little house icon.
Clicking on it will take you to the seller profile, where you can adequately see the seller’s reputation through the feedback and service score from DHgate by hovering your mouse over it. You will know the score of above or below average depending on several items, including: the on-time delivery, the response time, the repurchase rate, the location of the seller, and how long they’ve been part of DHgate.
Using this, a buyer can tell whether the seller is trustworthy or not. It is recommended to buy from a seller that has been on the site for at least three years and has above average in all their service scores from the site, as this will help prevent an inclination of fraud. You can take it a step further and read the former buyer’s reviews to determine whether to buy from this seller.
On the seller profile page below, the words store home is their store categories. It’s advised to carefully look here to determine whether the seller is selling similar or unconnected products. This should give you a clue as to whether to trust the seller, as a professional seller usually sells products within an ecosystem or similar products, not different items.
Following the above suggestions, you can safely navigate your way across DHgate and buy from a trustworthy buyer.
However, if you are a victim of a scam, this is where the Buyer Protection Policy will come in handy. If you have not received the items at all after the buyer shipped and the estimated time has passed, you are eligible for a full refund of your money. If the quality of the items is not what you ordered, you are eligible for a partial or full refund if you return the items.
How does the policy work? If you don’t receive your goods on time or if they’re undelivered, you contact the seller. If the seller fails to solve your issue, you submit a dispute through DHgate’s return and refund policy.
If you’re unhappy with the seller’s handling of the situation, you can request DHgate to step in and mediate between you two by collecting evidence from both you and the seller, and it will then come to a favourable decision.
Conclusion.
Overall, this blog post is meant to show you, as a buyer, how to safely navigate through the DHgate site, buy your product from a trustworthy seller, choose a timely method of delivery of your choice, check out reviews and service scores from the site to the seller, check out their store categories to find out whether they’re selling similar or interconnected products, all in order for you to make a safe choice of who to buy from and avoid any scams that will impact you and the reputation of the site. As an added precaution, buyers are advised to use NextSmartShip fulfilment service to ship their orders where they want them to go as it is one of the most trusted and money friendly carrier services that you can use to ship from China from DHgate if you want real value for your money.
In conclusion, through following the above, you will be able to safely buy your products through DHgate, ensure they’re of a satisfactory quality and ship them on time and through a trusted service like Nextsmartship to your location of choice.
