Alibaba.com, the business-to-business e-commerce company, is offering two new services to buyers and sellers — the Quality Supplier Program and the Gold Supplier Starter Pack — and is taking steps to protect its users intellectual property rights.
Under the Quality Supplier Program when suppliers apply for a paid membership service on Alibaba.com, they must pass an authentication and verification process conducted by an independent third-party agency. Alibaba.com will team up with VeriSign as an additional authentication and verification partner. VeriSign, a trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world, will provide authentication and verification services to verify the identity of suppliers displayed on the Alibaba.com web site. The presence of a VeriSign seal on the supplier's listings will indicate to Alibaba.com site visitors that this information has been verified by VeriSign.
Alibaba.com is also enforcing stricter policies towards the protection of intellectual property and ensuring a safer online trading environment by banning members that have a history of violating the rules and policies of its marketplace. For example, Alibaba.com's current policy is to respond expeditiously to written requests by intellectual property owners to take down items that the owners believe have infringed IPR. Under the Quality Supplier Program, Alibaba.com has established clear internal standards and procedures for de-listing products and terminating the accounts of non-complying members based on substantiated complaints.
Alibaba.com's new entry-level product — the Gold Supplier Starter Pack — is designed for exporters that plan to shift their business online to achieve efficiencies in the current economic environment. The product offers basic storefront display and unlimited product listings. Companies must obtain third-party authentication and verification under the Quality Supplier Program before they can purchase the Gold Supplier Starter Pack.
Alibaba.com's existing Gold Supplier membership, will be upgraded to incorporate value-added services such as additional virtual showrooms that will enable suppliers to substantially increase the visibility of their key products. In addition, the improved service offering will include corporate email accounts, a virtual factory tour as well as storefront management tools such as Traffic Analyzer and Buyer GPSTM to help suppliers maximize the effectiveness of their online marketing programs.
We used to work with Alibaba a lot. But we have found that barakkuda.com is less hassle and gives more direct access to Chinese suppliers
We have hooked up with two suppliers for our shoes and garments business here in SF on barakkuda.com. So far I'd say it's a good place to find reliable contacts. Nothing against AB, but sometimes it's hard to find what you're looking for there cuz ther site is so huge!
Alibaba would have to do a lot for me to ever trust any of their suppliers as it is demonstrated by the number of people being scammed that proves they have a totally inadequate system of checking ( some of these scammers operate from remote places in other Cities and areas to those claimed ( where their factories are supposed to be which are given Gold ratings by Alibaba ?? )
For the Chinese simple checks on the phone numbers confirm this but you would expect that Alibaba should also confirm from their IP address location
A very good friend was scammed twice for $10,000 and received a broken calculator for his trouble in one transaction
The second ( a larger order ) nothing
How Alibaba can operate like this is a total disregard for people taking the risk of using this service
The IP protection system of Alibaba is technically well set up. However, we have not had good experience with the enforcement of IP. As an example: One company has listed infringing products on Alibaba. Indeed the listings were removed within 3-5 days. But the infringing company was able to re-list the exact same products on the same day again. Within more than 3 months – until today – there has not been a single day where the infringing producs were not listed. A total of 322 listings on the same IP and by the same company were removed by Alibaba. But during that time there were no visible consequences for that company. For more information feel free to contact us: MT Derm GmbH, Germany, [email protected] .