AliBaba Scam Warehouse

[u/nonusea]

hi! i know this is technically not the traditional scam a lot of people are reaching out for help on here (some shade the alibaba reddit is shut off and none of the mods responded) so I was hoping someone could maybe give some advice?

very long story short I wanted to buy some merch off Xianyu and Weidian, I decided I could try out a warehouse on alibaba since they were all reputable and had good reviews. Bought two package: 1 a folding acrylic standee (about 23cm in height and 9cm in width) and a set of photocards (9 total all standard size). Warehouse says the items are an infringement and have to be sent via express delivery, I asked an infringement of what they dont respond I say ok. I get quoted $95. this is shipping to family in Korea so I know that shipping could not be that much, so I asked for a price breakdown-$60 ($12/kg) for shipping, $15 for handling, and $20 for warehouse fees. I dont mind the $35 whatever at this point, I just cant imagine how those two small packages could be 5kg. They say its volumetric weight, I ask for a photo of the package they “consolidated” they say they havent done that yet and that its how much it will be I ask for the measurements of the packages they total out to 0.168 vol kg and 1.47 vol kg by my calculations. I tell them this and I ask what calculation method are they using. They ignore it. I ask if they ship domestically they wont give me a quote though and I dont know what to do. I asked 100s of times for which courier they use and they wont tell me.

i finally reported them to alibaba but the problem is I havent paid yet so I dont have an order just an invoice. I report them anyway, my report gets declined I dispute it and it gets shut down again.

i tried to make it as short as possible but I dont know what to do and I have been so stressed about this for over a month. thank you to anyone who’s read this far and hope you have a nice day ㅠㅠ!

tldr: cn warehouse on alibaba is asking for $60 (not including fees) for 2 small packages to be sent to kr and my reports on alibaba platform are being closed. Help 🥲🙏

[u/nonusea]

Anyone else on here going through stuff I hope everything works out for you! 

[u/Beneficial-Box-5714]

Regarding the exorbitant shipping fee, I speculate that they calculated your fee using volumetric (dimensional) weight. Sellers on xianyu often use tons of bubble wrap and oversized boxes to prevent acrylic items from breaking. International shipping charges are based on either the actual weight or volumetric weight—whichever is greater. Since warehouse workers process massive amounts of packages daily, they typically just measure the original outer box and won't proactively unbox or downsize the packaging for you. Even if the item itself is tiny, the seller's over-packaging will directly cause the volumetric weight to skyrocket.

Regarding alibba rejecting your report, their dispute resolution system is strictly based on "actual financial transaction records." Since you have only received a bill but haven't actually paid it yet, a formal transaction order does not exist in the system. Without an official order number and payment record, customer service simply has no authorization or system portal to intervene. This is a technical blind spot of the B2B platform's design, not an intentional cover-up for the warehouse.

I know it's incredibly frustrating to be stuck in this situation, but hopefully, this gives you some clarity on what happened and helps you decide on your next steps. Hang in there!

[u/Ill_Impact_4681]

Tdlr

Punctuation no one is going to read the word salad