Is DHgate Reliable? Although our blog has many articles about shopping on AliExpress, many of you have asked us about this new website. Below we explain how to shop on DHgate.
DHgate has become very popular in the past two years: the great growth of AliExpress around the world has spawned other very similar online sales platforms of Chinese origin to the one we are going to talk about today. Although DHgate has been online since 2004, due to the large number of replicas and imitations they have for sale, it has become popular because, as you know, AliExpress has completely eliminated these products. Hence, DHgate has emerged as an alternative for those who are looking for cheap brand name sports or other imitation products like watches, makeup, jewelry… Although we can also find many other original Chinese products like Chinese branded phones: Xiaomi, Huawei, Lenovo, Meizu…
How does DHgate work? Is It Safe To Buy From This Chinese Site?
The way this website works is very similar to that of your compatriot: the products that appear on their website are offered by private sellers who open their shop on DHgate and, like before AliExpress, the website does not impose as many product restrictions on sellers with the good and bad sides this can have: On the one hand, we will find more products and replicas, but we can also find unreliable sellers.
Hence, this website is reliable as an online sales platform. However, DHgate is only an intermediary between the seller and buyer. In order to buy safely, we need to select trusted sellers in order to have a good shopping experience, before buying, check the opinions and reviews of the products and the seller himself so as not to be disappointed later.
How to Find Reliable Sellers: Rating System on DHgate
In order to buy safely on this site, it is important to choose a good buyer. Therefore, when searching, we recommend that you sort your search by the number of sales: the best-selling products tend to have the best ratings. To filter your search for sales you need to do it as shown below.
Once you are in the product that interests you, we recommend that you access the reviews of other users to see their positive and negative points. All you have to do is go to the “User Reviews” tab. In addition, some buyers also upload photos of what they received.
Finally, if you found a product with low ratings but you are interested, we encourage you to also look at the seller’s rating: it may be a new product, but it has experience selling other products on DHgate. All information can be found on the right side of the ad, if we move the mouse over it, we get the detailed rating.
Payment Methods and Buyer Protection
In the same way as AliExpress, we do not give the money directly to the seller upon payment, but DHgate will hold it until the order is received and you confirm receipt and your satisfaction with the product. Only then is it delivered to the seller seller. Your payment details will never reach the seller. This payment system is called Escrow and it is used by AliExpress and other online sales platforms such as Amazon, Ebay… It is the most reliable payment method as it prevents the seller from holding the money and not sending you the product that you bought.
But how can I pay on DHgate? We warn you in advance: you cannot pay with PayPal, although there is a good range of payment methods, the most popular are these:
- Credit card: Visa, Mastercard, American Express … it is the best payment method as there are no usage costs
- Bank Transfer: As this is an international bank transfer, you may have to pay commissions, so we do not recommend this payment method.
- E-wallet: DHgate accepts payments through Skrill Moneybookers. It is a similar platform to AliExpress that is used for paying in stores and online platforms.
But they also accept local payment methods. Here you can see all the payment methods that DHgate accepts.
And How do I know the DHgate platform is safe?
This is another question to ask when shopping on a new website. Even if DHgate uses an escrow account, how do we know our data is not being stolen? Well, this website initially uses the https protocol or “Hypertext Secure Transfer Protocol”, which makes it possible to encrypt the data sent to the server and thus prevent our data from being intercepted by third parties. However, this website also contains a 3D security system that uses the Visa or Mastercard SecureCode verification system. See this link for more information on how it works.
Disputes and Complaints on DHgate
DHgate is committed to refunding the purchase price in the event that you have not received your order, your package is damaged, or the product you received does not match the description. They offer you a partial refund for less serious problems such as: flaws in color or style if you ordered 2 products and received 1 (they will refund the amount of the product you did not receive) if it arrives partially damaged …
The time limit to open a dispute varies depending on the problem you want to open it for: if the package has not arrived, you can open a dispute after 10 days – up to 90 days from the date of purchase – and if you have already received the order , but are not satisfied, you can open the dispute up to 7 days after receipt (also by pressing the confirmation button).
In terms of the dispute settlement system, it is very similar to what you already know from AliExpress: we have to go to our account to find the order and click on “Returns and Refunds“. First we will try to reach an agreement with the seller, but if you can’t get it, please ask DHgate to intervene by clicking on “DHgate Mediation Request”.
How long does it take to receive the money for a return?
According to the website, the time to receive money for a dispute may vary after the dispute is resolved. If you paid with a credit card it can take anywhere from 10-15 working days, while if you paid with Skill or a bank transfer takes a long time. fewer.
Additional refund for the inconvenience.
One of the things we liked the most about this website is that their system offers an additional refund in the following two cases. If the order is canceled due to the fault of the seller and the seller has the “guaranteed guarantee” stamp on their listing, they will refund us an additional $ 20 for the inconvenience. If the seller gives us a fake tracking number and it is verified by DHgate, they will give us an additional $ 30.
Product prep and shipping times
As with all online sales sites, shipping is not immediate because the seller has to prepare the package. Therefore, the seller has an order preparation time, which may vary depending on the product category and package volume. It’s usually between 3-15 working days, you can see it in the ad for yourself before buying, as you can see below.
In this case, it will take the seller 2 days to prepare your order. After shipping, the time it takes to get to your home depends on the country you live in and the shipping method you choose. You can calculate the approximate time on the ad yourself by accessing the “Shipping Time and Cost” tab, where we can see how long it will take and what different shipping methods the seller offers for your country.
How to correctly enter the delivery address
To add a delivery address we need to go to our Profile> Address Book. When adding the address, we need to provide our country, name, address, city, etc. As with AliExpress, we cannot use accents (as they do not exist in the international alphabet and when printing the shipping). You can enter your address as usual, you don’t have to translate the address into English or anything like that. Remember that at the end of the day, the postman will have to read your address.
If my order is stopped by customs, who will pay?
As with all online sales sites (and not just those of Chinese origin), the buyer is responsible for paying customs duties. So it is important to check your country’s customs policy. Our recommendation is that you buy products that are not very bulky and weigh less than 2kg to avoid customs, and private courier companies like DHL, Fedex, etc, usually always charge customs regardless of the weight or size of the package.
