What is AliExpress? AliExpress Review

Platform positioning

AliExpress is an online foreign trade trading platform that integrates orders, payment and logistics and is built by Alibaba to help small and medium-sized enterprises reach terminal wholesalers and retailers, sell in small quantities and multiple batches quickly, and expand profit margins. The core advantage of AliExpress is that under the new global trade situation, the purchasing methods of global buyers are undergoing drastic changes. Small quantities and multiple batches are forming a new purchasing trend. More terminal wholesalers and retailers purchase directly online and supply directly to terminal wholesalers and retailers. The shorter circulation and retail channels and direct online retail payment collection have expanded the profit margin of small-volume and multiple-batch products and created more income for wholesalers and retailers.

AliExpress adheres to Alibaba's philosophy of making the world's untapped business possible, and is based on building an international small-volume wholesale online trading platform that integrates orders, payments, and logistics. Whether you have foreign trade experience or not, AliExpress can help you put products on the shelves in three minutes, process buying and selling information in three hours, get orders, and send products to the world by express delivery in three days. After the buyer receives the goods and confirms the payment, you can immediately get the high profits that belong to you!

Advantages

1. It has been 10 years since the platform was established in 2010. It has developed rapidly and become increasingly mature.

2. Covering 220 countries and regions around the world, the main trading markets are Russia, the United States, Spain, Brazil, France and other countries.

3. Support 18 language sites in the world.

4. 150,000,000+ traffic attracted much attention, and the number of overseas buyers exceeded 150 million.

5. 2,222 industries cover daily consumer categories, and the products are very popular among overseas consumers.

6. 600,000,000+ AliExpress App has more than 600 million overseas installations, making it into the top 10 of the global app list.

Registration threshold in 2019

1. Enterprise

You can open a store as a self-employed business owner or a corporate identity. You must complete corporate identity authentication on AliExpress through a corporate Alipay account or a corporate legal person Alipay account. Please register a corporate Alipay or corporate legal person Alipay account first. Note: The platform currently has basic sales plans and standard sales plans for merchants to choose from. Self-employed merchants can only choose the basic sales plan at the initial stage of settlement.

2. Brand

If the seller owns or represents a brand, he can choose to operate a brand official store, a specialty store or a franchise store according to the brand qualifications. Click here to view the store type requirements. If you do not operate a brand, you can skip this step. Note: Only some categories require trademarks to operate. Click here to view. The specific details are subject to the display on the product release page.

3. Annual technical service fee

Sellers must pay an annual technical service fee. The annual technical service fee for each business category is different. Please check the fee standard. At the end of the calendar year, high-quality stores with good service quality and growing business scale will have the opportunity to receive an annual fee refund reward.

Prohibited Products

1. Firearms, military and police supplies, and dangerous weapons

2. Drugs, precursor chemicals, and drug tools

3. Inflammable, explosive and dangerous chemicals

4. Reactionary and other destructive information

5. Pornographic, vulgar, and aphrodisiac products

6. Personal safety and privacy

7. Medicines, medical devices, and beauty equipment

8. Illegal services and tickets

9. Animals, plants, animal and plant organs, and animal hunting and killing tools

10. Software, tools or equipment involving theft and other illegal gains and illegal uses

11. Tobacco and its products, electronic cigarettes

12. Collection

13. Virtual Class

14. Others

Registration Steps

1. Open an account

Please register a seller account using the identity of an enterprise or individual business owner.

2. Submit the entry information

Some categories require category qualifications and can only be operated after passing the review. Click here to inquire about industries that require category qualifications.

If you want to operate a trademark, you need to provide trademark information and wait for the platform to review and approve it. If your trademark cannot be found on the trademark qualification application page, please follow the system guidance to add the trademark. If you do not operate a trademark, you can skip this step.

3. Pay annual fee

Pay the corresponding annual fee according to the selected business category. For the fee standards, please refer to the "AliExpress 2019 Annual Technical Service Fee List for Each Category".

4. Improve store information

After payment is completed, please go to the seller backend - store - store asset management to set the store name and second-level domain name "AliExpress store second-level domain name application and usage specifications". If you are applying for an official store, please set the brand official direct access and brand story content at the same time.

5. Opening and operating a store

The settlement is basically completed. Please start publishing products and decorating the store. Congratulations on the official opening of your store!

Sales

In 2017, the top five categories sold on AliExpress were: clothing and accessories, mobile phones and communication tools, beauty and health, computer networks, and jewelry and watches;

In 2017, the top five countries for AliExpress sales were: Russia, Brazil, Spain, Indonesia, and the United States.

Platform Rules

In 2016, AliExpress released new operating rules, dividing the platform's industries into eight business scopes, each of which is divided into different business categories. Each AliExpress account is only allowed to select one business scope, and can operate across business categories under that business scope. For details, please see the "2016 AliExpress Business Scope List". (Note: "Special Category" does not implement separate merchant access. As long as the seller is allowed to join any business category, he or she can obtain the "Special Category" product release permission)

After sellers pay the annual fee, only those who operate until the end of the year will have the opportunity to get the annual fee refund. At the end of the year, AliExpress will return part or all of the annual fee based on the seller's annual sales and continuous operation period. For example, the annual fee for the mobile phone category is 30,000 yuan. To get a 50% annual fee refund, the seller's annual sales must reach 45,000 US dollars, and to get a 100% annual fee refund, the sales must reach 90,000 US dollars.

In May 2017, AliExpress issued a notice on brand closure management rules for three categories: footwear, wedding dresses, and mobile phone data cables. Taking into account the saturation of brands on the platform, the platform will suspend new applications for inviting brands (trademarks) from the date of the notice; however, it will accept applications for new brands (non-existing brands) from new stores, and new brands can be included in the list of invited brands after approval.

Sellers' Voice

After the new rules were released, many AliExpress sellers reported that they were unable to release new products on AliExpress, were often deducted points, and were even worried about their AliExpress stores being blocked. They lived every day in fear and trepidation for fear that their accounts would be blocked, and they were cautious and fearful every time they uploaded a product.

Business categories and related cost reference

References

• 1. AliExpress reveals platform data: Overseas buyers exceed 100 million: Yibang.com [cited on 2018-02-28T16:00:00.000Z]
• 2. AliExpress banned products: AliExpress official website [reference date 2018-02-28T16:00:00.000Z]