AliExpress is an online global retail marketplace where sellers are located in China.

Non-Chinese individuals are not allowed to open stores and residents of China are not allowed to purchase from the platform.

The site offers thousands of brands and millions of products for factory prices in small quantities.

The wholesale platform targets small to medium sized buyers and suppliers to provide very affordable prices.

Minimum orders can be as low as one unit per product, and in most cases, express and free shipping is offered.

AliExpress and Alibaba.com are both owned by the Alibaba Group located in Hangzhou, China. The difference between the two are the users they cater to. AliExpress is a business to consumer (B2C) platform similar to Amazon. ^[1]It connects Chinese companies to buyers anywhere in the world. Product prices are fixed, but incentives and subsidies drive down the prices. Unlike Alibaba, each seller on AliExpress is issued a unique store number.

Alibaba is a business to business (B2B) shopping portal that connects Chinese manufacturers with overseas buyers.

^[2]Quantities ordered here are much larger and are typically negotiated.