Many people start looking for Chinese goods on Taobao because they know it first, then notice that the same product runs noticeably cheaper on 1688. That gap is not accidental, and understanding why helps you go to the right place from the start.
What 1688 is
1688.com is a domestic Chinese B2B wholesale marketplace owned by Alibaba, the same group behind Taobao and Tmall. It launched in 2010 to serve business-to-business trade inside China: factories selling to distributors, distributors selling to retailers, not the end consumer.
Because it was built for buyers purchasing in volume, 1688 has structural features Taobao does not:
- Listed prices are tiered wholesale prices. Most products carry a table like: under 10 units at 45 yuan, 50 or more at 30 yuan, 200 or more at 22 yuan. Volume pricing is the default, not a special deal.
- Sellers are mostly factories or first-tier traders. Far fewer middleman layers than Taobao. You are buying closer to the source.
- Listings focus on specs, not lifestyle. Less aspirational photography, more technical detail, production capacity, MOQ, and delivery terms.
This is structurally different from Taobao, where the goal is to sell one or a few units to an individual buyer, priced per unit with no volume discount.
Why prices on 1688 run lower than Taobao
The short answer: Taobao prices include costs wholesale buyers do not need to pay.
No retail marketing spend. Sellers on Taobao buy ads inside Taobao to put products in front of shoppers. That cost goes into the price. On 1688, buyers search by product category and volume, not through paid placement, so marketing costs are far lower and do not inflate the unit price by much.
Simpler packaging. Retail goods on Taobao are often packed in printed boxes with full branding because the end buyer sees the box when it arrives. Wholesale goods on 1688 typically ship in plain polybags or plain cartons because the buyer (a shop or a seller) will repack before it reaches a customer. Lower packaging cost means lower product price.
No retail customer-service overhead. Managing thousands of individual buyers, handling returns, and answering chat messages costs time and staff. Selling to a few dozen business partners is far cheaper to service. That overhead is not baked into 1688 prices.
Fewer middleman layers. Many products on Taobao are traded goods: a middleman bought them wholesale, repackaged, and now sells retail. When you buy on Taobao you pay the trader's price. On 1688 you are often buying directly from the factory or a first-tier distributor, skipping at least one layer.
Put together, the same product typically runs 20 to 50 percent cheaper on 1688 than on Taobao, depending on the category and the quantity. The gap widens as you buy enough units to reach the better pricing tiers.
MOQ and minimum quantities
1688 does not always let you buy small. Most suppliers set an MOQ (minimum order quantity). The range is wide.
For small accessories, simple toys, or basic household items, an MOQ of 10 to 50 units is common. You do not need to order hundreds to get started. For electronics, mechanical parts, or custom-production goods, MOQ may sit at 100 to 500 units or higher.
In practice, most new importers worry about MOQ more than necessary. Most products that sell well on TikTok Shop and Shopee fall into everyday consumer categories where MOQ is small enough to run a test batch. Filter for low MOQ first when searching, check the tiered pricing and quality, then scale up after you have a sales signal.
Domestic 1688 versus the international version
This is a common point of confusion. 1688 has two distinct interfaces for two different buyer groups.
Domestic 1688 (the original 1688.com) is for buyers inside China. All payments are in Chinese yuan through a mainland Alipay account, with domestic shipping only and no direct support for overseas buyers. This is where prices are lowest and selection is widest.
1688 international (global.1688.com) is for overseas buyers, with support for international card payments and international Alipay, plus an English-language interface. Prices on this version tend to run slightly higher than the domestic site because of the extra cross-border service layer.
What do most Vietnamese shops actually do? The majority go through a local order-agent service in Vietnam: you place the order through the agent's platform, they hold a domestic 1688 account, pay on your behalf, consolidate at a China warehouse, and ship to Vietnam. This is the most practical path because it handles account, payment, and logistics in one step. Order-agent fees are typically a few percent of the order value, varying by service provider.
Shipping from China: know the broad picture before building cost
A common mistake is taking the 1688 price and estimating profit without adding freight. For cross-border imports, shipping often costs nearly as much as the goods themselves.
Two main routes:
- Air freight: Faster, typically 4 to 8 business days from when the goods are picked up by the shipping service. Higher per-kilogram cost, suited for light, high-value goods or urgent restocks.
- Sea freight: Slower, roughly 18 to 30 days from when goods load onto the vessel until they reach a Vietnamese warehouse (not counting customs clearance time). Much cheaper per kilogram, suited for heavy, bulky goods and orders that can wait.
Both routes charge by actual weight or volumetric weight, whichever is higher. Volumetric weight uses: length (cm) x width (cm) x height (cm) divided by 5,000 (or 6,000, depending on the carrier). Big, light products such as pillows, hollow plastic items, or bulky kitchen goods hit volumetric weight and cost more to ship than the actual weight would suggest.
When building landed cost, add: domestic China shipping to the consolidation warehouse, freight from the consolidation warehouse to Vietnam, and customs handling fees. Convert everything to VND at the current exchange rate. Around VND 3,600 per yuan is a rough reference, but the rate moves, so check it each time you calculate.
Is 1688 right for every product
No. 1688 is strongest for everyday consumer goods: accessories, household items, toys, basic apparel, stationery, light sporting goods. These cover the bulk of what sells well on TikTok Shop and Shopee.
1688 is not the right answer when you need:
- Goods requiring serious certification (food, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment): these categories need complex compliance paperwork to enter Vietnam legally, and a cheap factory on 1688 does not change that.
- Complex electronics or industrial equipment: quality risk is higher, warranty terms are unclear, and resolving problems after the fact is difficult.
- Branded goods: if you see cheap items on 1688 that carry recognizable brand names or registered designs, that is a serious legal risk, not just a quality risk.
Bottom line
1688 is cheaper than Taobao because it was built for wholesale buyers, not retail shoppers: no retail marketing cost baked in, simpler packaging, closer to the source. For Vietnamese sellers importing goods to sell on TikTok Shop and Shopee, it is the natural starting point because base prices run lower and selection is broad. The number to remember is that the 1688 price is only one part of landed cost: freight, agent fees, and the exchange rate stack on top, and the sum of those is what you actually price from.