How to Buy From 1688: Factory Prices, One Item at a Time
| Step | What you do | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Find the item and copy its full 1688 link | A spreadsheet, a seller or 1688 |
| 2 | Paste the link into a shopping agent and pay | Your agent, or /converter |
| 3 | Check the QC photos at the warehouse | Your agent, or /qc-finder/1688 |
| 4 | Submit the parcel and pay for shipping | Your agent |
What makes 1688 different
1688 is Alibaba's domestic wholesale platform. Factories and trading companies sell direct to businesses, which is why it is usually the cheapest source for the same item — and why the site is written for trade buyers rather than shoppers, with listings, pricing and minimum orders all set up for people buying stock.
Finding a 1688 item you can buy one of
1688 is searchable, but in Chinese and for businesses, and the same product often appears under dozens of factories and traders at slightly different prices. An item link looks like detail.1688.com/offer/ followed by a number and .html; mobile links (m.1688.com) open the same listing.
Look for listings marked 一件代发 — single-item dropshipping. Those sellers will sell and ship one unit rather than a case, which is what most rep buyers want.
What goes wrong on 1688
Minimum order quantities are the classic 1688 surprise: a headline price may apply only from 2, 10 or 100 units, with a higher per-unit price below that. Prices are often tiered by quantity, and some sellers quote a separate sample price. Domestic shipping inside China is charged by weight, so budget a few extra days before the item even reaches your agent. And a trading company can list the same factory product at a markup, so the cheapest listing is not always the direct one.
Checking a 1688 item before you pay
1688 items have the deepest QC coverage per item in our data: 6,623 items at an average of 46.5 photos each, more than Weidian or Taobao, and several of the most-looked-up individual listings rep.tools has served are 1688 items. /qc-finder/1688 takes a 1688 link directly.
The rest of the process
The steps after you have the link are the same on every marketplace: paste it into your agent, pay, check the QC photos when it reaches the warehouse, then submit the parcel and pay for shipping. /guides/how-to-use-a-shopping-agent walks through each one in full.
When 1688 is worth it
For one item, compare the 1688 price — including any minimum-order premium and the domestic shipping — against the same product on Weidian or Taobao. For several of the same item, 1688 usually wins. /guides/taobao-vs-weidian-vs-1688 compares all three.
1688 is the cheapest source when you buy the way it is built for — in volume. For a single item, filter for 一件代发 sellers and compare the real per-unit price against Weidian and Taobao before you pay.
Disclosure: the KakoBuy link is an affiliate link — it costs you nothing and supports rep.tools. Every fact above is stated the same way regardless.
Frequently asked questions
Can I buy from 1688 outside China?
Yes, through a shopping agent. Paste the 1688 listing link into the agent; it buys the item and ships it to you once it has passed QC at the warehouse.
Can you buy one item from 1688?
Often yes, but not always — some listings have a minimum order quantity or sell only in packs. Look for sellers marked 一件代发, which sell single units.
What does 一件代发 mean on 1688?
It means the seller does single-item dropshipping: they will sell and ship one unit rather than requiring a bulk order.
Is 1688 cheaper than Taobao?
Often, because factories sell direct at wholesale prices — but minimum orders and tiered pricing can erase the saving on a single item. Compare the total including domestic shipping.