1688 is a Chinese wholesale marketplace where suppliers list their products and their own prices. It is also written in Chinese, priced in yuan, and set up for buyers inside China. This guide explains how buying from it works through Sourship, step by step, and what you pay at each point.
Why 1688 is worth the effort
On 1688 you see the supplier’s own listing: their price, their stock of each variation, the weight of the product and the minimum quantity they sell. There is no middle layer choosing products for you, and no catalogue someone else has picked. That is the whole reason to buy there, and it is also why it can feel hard to start: everything is aimed at buyers who read Chinese and have a delivery address in China.
Sourship removes both problems. You search in English, and our warehouse in China is the delivery address.
Four ways to find a product
Inside the app, the sourcing search covers the whole of 1688. You can:
- Type a keyword in English and see the supplier listings themselves.
- Paste a 1688 link to a product you already found.
- Browse a category when you know the kind of product but not the exact one.
- Upload a photo of the product, as a JPG or PNG of up to 5 MB, and see listings that match it.
Results can be sorted by best match, top sales, repurchase rate or price, and narrowed to a price range. Repurchase rate is worth a look: it shows which products buyers come back to.
Each new search counts against your plan’s search allowance, not your sourcing credits, and searches may also be limited per minute. Opening a product page costs nothing, and running a search again that you ran recently is free.
Know what you are buying before you ask
Every product page shows what the supplier shows, translated where possible:
- Every variation, such as each colour or size, with the supplier’s stock and its weight.
- The supplier’s minimum and pack size. The quantity starts at the supplier’s minimum and moves in their pack size. Many products start at a single unit, so you can try a product before you buy more of it.
- The weight. It is the weight your shipping estimate uses later, so you can work out your margin before you commit.
If the colour, packaging or labels matter, write it in the notes. Our team reads them before we buy.
What you pay
For a 1688 product, you see two amounts before you send the request: the price of the goods, which is the supplier’s price plus a small conversion adjustment, and the supplier’s delivery to our warehouse. No agent commission is added. Shipping to your customer is not part of this: it is paid later, with each order.
The request is paid from your wallet. A product new to your inventory uses one sourcing credit, whatever quantity you buy.
When the product is not on 1688
Some products are only on Taobao, AliExpress, JD or a factory’s own site. Send us the link with a photo from New Request. Our team finds the product, checks the supplier and prices the request within 48 hours, and you get a notification when it is priced.
The amount is then taken from your wallet if it covers it. If it does not, the request waits until you top up and pay.
What happens after you pay
We buy the product from the supplier. When the delivery reaches our warehouse, we check it against your request and weigh it, before it becomes your stock. Then it appears in your Products List, ready for your orders.
If an item is wrong or defective against the 1688 or Taobao listing, we notify you with photos, and you choose a replacement or a refund to your wallet. You pay nothing for supplier errors. Our check covers condition and match to the listing; it does not verify whether a product is genuine. The details are in our refund and cancellation policy.
Changing your mind
You can cancel a sourcing request within 24 hours of creating it, once, with a reason. Our team reviews the request, and if the cancellation is approved, what you paid goes back to your wallet.
Once we have placed the purchase order, you can still ask for a change-of-mind return within 7 days of that date. You pay the return shipping and any supplier fees, and we credit your wallet with what the supplier refunds. Some suppliers refuse these returns, and custom-branded goods cannot be returned once production starts.
Buying more of the same product
When a product sells and you want more, press Request More on it in your Products List. A restock is priced and paid from your wallet like any request, does not use a sourcing credit, and its units join the same product when they arrive.
In short
- Search 1688 in English by keyword, link, category or photo.
- See the variations, the minimum, the pack size and the weight before you ask.
- Pay the supplier’s price plus a small conversion adjustment, and their delivery to our warehouse, with no agent commission.
- Send links from other suppliers too, priced within 48 hours.
- Every delivery is checked and weighed before it becomes your stock.
Read more on how product sourcing works, or see what each plan includes.
