Before I get the list of stores, it’simportant to consider there are two types of stores:- E-retailers (B2C) – In this case, you buy directly from theretailer which collects payment, and handles shipping and support.Examples are DealExtreme and GeekBuying.- Seller Portals – The website then acts as a third party fortransactions between two parties: a seller (individual or smallbusiness) and a buyer. Examples is Aliexpress.If you purchase any item from an e-retailers, you’re likely to havethe same level of support and overall experience next time youpurchase a product. But if you buy from Aliexpress for instance,you may want to check the seller ratings and other buyers’ feedbackbefore committing to a purchase. There tends to be a wider range ofproducts and cheaper prices on sellers portals.There’s another type of sites using the dropshipping service ofsome e-retailers. They are just a website to allow people topurchase, but all product shipping and handling is done by theoriginal e-retailer. I believe none of the sites listed below aredropshipping websites.I’ll start by the ones that I regularly use by order ofpreference:Dealextreme – I do most of my purchases via dx.com, mostlybecause I’ve gotten used to it, the price are OK (most of thetime), they accept Paypal, and I clearly understand their variouspolicies in terms of shipping, and returns. If you have areasonable proof a product is defective, or not as described,they’ll either provide a refund (as dx points), or pay for returnshipping (amount limited) and refund later.. I’ll explain a bitmore in other sections of the post.Aliexpress – It’s a seller portal with a large number ofsellers, and an amazing choice of products. If I can’t get what Ineed from Dx.com, I’ll use Aliexpress where I’m pretty sure to findanything. It would probably be my first choice, if they acceptedPaypal. You have to be especially careful however with some trickssellers are using to deceive prospective buyers. More detailsbelow.There are three others e-retailers, I’ve either used infrequently,and/or who have provided samples to cnx-software.com in the past orcurrently:Pandawill – This e-retailer is relatively popular and sellsgadgets, clothes, and (cheap) jewelry. I’ve purchased once, and Idid not have any issues with their service or product.GeekBuying – I receive most of my samples for review fromGeekBuying, and although I’ve never purchased from them, they seemto be very popular, and trusted by the community. One reason couldbe because they try to release firmware for their devicesregularly, and they are involved in the community. They mainly sellgadgets, but I’ve recently seen some (cheap) jewelry too.Taobao is the biggest consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerceplatform based in China. You can get clothes, accessories, gadgetsand even computer hardware at very low (dirt cheap) prices.However, because the website is 100% in Chinese, this may be abarrier to those who want to shop.Before you shop on a website, you’ll probably want to know if it istrustworthy. One way is to use Google to find out if people mentionscams, bad customer services and so on. For every sites you’ll findsome negative reviews, as you can’t please anyone. But do not letthese scare, and try to find overall what people think about thesites, products and service. Another, possibly faster, way is checkthe sellers on Resellerratings and compare various sites.Once you’re happy with the site, but you’re using a seller portalyou’ll need to check the seller ratings on the site itself (e.g.Aliexpress). After each buyer receive a parcel, they’ll normallygive a mark between 1 and 5 stars depending on the shipping speed,if the product matches the description and so on. If a seller a nofeedback, it does not mean they are bad, but you’re taking morerisk than with a seller with 1,000 reviews and a 99% approvalrating.

Do you like online shopping and often buyingin eBay, Amazon and AliExpress? So, this app will help you to saveyour time and money. Realtime search in all shops and displayproducts in one search result.Alibaba: A Mix of Amazon, eBay and PayPal With a Dash ofGoogleAlibaba Group Holding Ltd.— which is preparing to launch perhapsthe largest U.S. stock listing ever of a Chinese company—dominatesChina's e-commerce market. But not everybody in the U.S. has agrasp of its scope.Perhaps the best way to understand Alibaba is as a mix of Amazon,eBay and PayPal, with a dash of Google thrown in, all with someuniquely Chinese characteristics.Unlike Amazon.com Inc., which buys goods from suppliers and sellsthem to customers, Alibaba has always acted as a middleman,connecting buyers and sellers and facilitating transactions betweenthem. While it isn't an auction company, its middleman role issimilar to the one played by eBay Inc.Taobao, Alibaba's biggest website, is like a gigantic Chinesebazaar, with about 760 million product listings from seven millionsellers. Merchants don't pay to sell products on Taobao. Instead,they pay Alibaba for advertising and other services to allow themto stand out from the crowd.That no-fee model is part of Taobao's appeal in China. Much as withGoogle Inc., the ads from merchants appear with Taobao'sproduct-search results.While Taobao is mostly for small merchants, Tmall, another shoppingsite run by Alibaba, is designed for bigger merchants, includingwell-known brands such as Nike Inc. and Gap Inc. Apple Inc. thisyear opened a store on Tmall. Unlike Taobao, Tmall, which has about70,000 merchants, charges each seller a deposit and an annual fee,as well as a commission on each transaction.What sets Alibaba apart is size. The company has said that Taobaoand Tmall account for more than half of all parcel deliveries inChina. In 2012, the combined transaction volume of Taobao and Tmalltopped one trillion yuan ($163 billion), more than Amazon and eBaycombined.Alibaba's revenue is about one-tenth of Amazon's because theChinese company doesn't sell products on its site. But Alibaba isfar more profitable. Alibaba's third-quarter revenue rose 51% froma year earlier to $1.78 billion. Net profit was $792 million,giving the company a profit margin of 44.6%, according toshareholder Yahoo Inc., which owns a 24% stake in Alibaba. Amazonposted revenue of $17.09 billion and a loss of $41 million in thesame quarter.Alibaba founder Jack Ma, shown last May, spoke at an event to markthe 10th anniversary of his company's Taobao Marketplace.ENLARGEAlibaba founder Jack Ma, shown last May, spoke at an event to markthe 10th anniversary of his company's Taobao Marketplace. AFP/GETTYIMAGESAlibaba, which could raise about $15 billion from its U.S. IPO,also has emerged as a huge player in China's creaky financialsystem. To solve the problem of buyers trusting merchants on itssite, Alibaba created Alipay, a payment system that protects buyersif sellers don't deliver. Alipay has become so ingrained in Chinathat when the company created a money-market fund, it became one ofthe world's largest in just eight months.Alibaba also makes microloans and is taking part in a Chinesegovernment program to set up five private banks on a trial basis insome big cities. Run by an affiliate of Alibaba, the payment systemhas allowed the company to accumulate a vast amount of informationon Chinese small businesses, consumers and their onlinetransactions.Even though Alibaba remains by far the biggest player in China'sfast-growing e-commerce market, the company faces stiff competitionas more Chinese consumers use smartphones. Social-media andonline-games company Tencent Holdings Ltd. is emerging as apowerful competitor because of its ability to use its popularWeChat mobile-messaging application as a platform to offer servicessuch as e-commerce.