Buying from 1688? Define the order first.

Match the listing to your specification

A link is a starting point. Record the model or drawing, material, dimensions, finish, packaging and quantity. State any allowed substitutions and the evidence needed before release.

We may ask for a screenshot or Chinese listing text if a public link changes, requires login or shows different variants. We do not treat the lowest displayed platform price as an available final price; the selected variant, quantity and written specification have to match first.

This route is for a product you can identify. “Find me something profitable” is not a product brief and will not be quoted.

Five decisions before goods move.

1. Fit: we decide whether we can quote the request as seller and decline categories or requirements we cannot support.
2. Baseline: before payment, both sides agree the product, price basis, hand-off point, evidence, cancellation and refund terms in writing.
3. Payment: Payment clears before goods move. We do not extend credit, net terms or purchase-order financing.
4. Release: goods move only against the agreed written baseline. A platform listing alone is not that baseline.
5. Freight: we book export carriage to the destination you named and hand you the carrier’s tracking reference. The carrier’s charge is passed through at cost, and import clearance at the other end remains yours.

Use the first-order limits below when setting your quantity.

Service limits

We do not guarantee transit time or act as carrier. We arrange export carriage and pass the carrier’s charge through at cost, but the schedule, handling and liability limits are the carrier’s, not ours. Your destination also helps us reject an unusable specification before you pay.

We do not calculate customs duty. Product classification, import clearance, destination tax and regulatory approval remain with you and your appointed specialists.

We do not finance purchases. We do not extend credit, advance supplier funds for you or carry inventory on your behalf.

We keep selling separate from checking. We will never verify a supplier for you and then offer to replace them with ourselves. If you need an independent record check, use the verification service. It does not recommend us or another supplier.

What 1688 is, and what those facts do not prove.

Alibaba Group says 1688 was founded in 1999 and describes it as China’s leading integrated domestic wholesale marketplace. The same official profile says the platform had more than one million paying members in fiscal year 2024.

Those facts describe the platform’s scale and domestic wholesale role. They do not prove that a listing is accurate, that a seller controls a factory, that a product meets your specification or that an order will be delivered. Each order still needs its own written baseline and release evidence.

You may not need an intermediary at all if you can contract with the named seller, make the required domestic payment, resolve Chinese-language listing details and control acceptance and hand-off yourself. This route exists for a buyer who instead wants a seller-side quote for one defined order; it is not an agency relationship.

Have a supplier code? The free USCI checker checks its format and check digit. The payment-party checker compares the contract, invoice and bank names. Both run locally in your browser; neither retrieves a registration record.

For a dated record and its limits, see the verification service. It recommends no supplier and can also be used to check this desk.

Send your order brief

Email the product link or screenshot, specification, first-order quantity, destination country and required decision date to hello@currawongweb.com. Do not send passwords, marketplace login details, payment credentials or identity documents.

The first-order rules, before you pay:

The full trade terms control where this summary compresses them.

You will receive a quote, questions about missing details, or a decline.

Buying a retail listing rather than a wholesale lot? The Taobao buying route runs the same desk and explains shop identity disclosures. Need parcels sent one at a time instead of a lot? See per-order fulfilment from a wholesale platform. Still deciding who to buy through? What the register can and cannot tell you. Considering skipping the platform and the desk both? Buying direct from the factory sets out the export-side condition that decides whether you can.

A name search does not show who can fill your order

On 22 August 2026 we searched a Chinese business-information service for name endings related to buying and trade. These six selected results count matching names, not verified services.

A broad name ending may return more matches than the service displays. A narrow one may miss firms using other words. Neither result establishes which firms offer buying services or can meet your order.

Start with a written brief and compare the proposed scope, fees and claim terms. Then check the named party. These counts do not rank or recommend any company.

For listing identity, our 28 August 2026 profile study recorded name and principal fields on all 59 sampled 1688 category profiles. The USCI field was present on each: eight were blank and eight failed the study checks. Two control profiles were counted separately. A field label does not prove that its value is correct or that the principal is a legal representative.

Official source used for the platform facts

Alibaba Group — 1688 business profile. Checked 6 September 2026. It supports the founding year, marketplace description and FY2024 paying-member figure above; it does not support any claim about our service capability.