How to Dropship From 1688 in 2025: An Ultimate Dropshipping Guide for Beginners

Dropshipping is a retail fulfillment method where merchants don't need to purchase inventory in advance — goods ship directly from suppliers to customers. Thanks to its low barrier to entry and strong profit potential, more beginners are entering the industry every year. This guide covers almost everything a beginner needs to start dropshipping from 1688 in 2025.

What You Must Know About 1688

1688 is an e-commerce site focused on domestic Chinese wholesale trade, and an affiliate of Alibaba Group. While Alibaba's other marketplaces serve international buyers, 1688 targets small and medium-sized Chinese enterprises and retailers — connecting them directly with manufacturers to secure better prices and lower procurement costs.

How 1688 compares to other platforms:

• Alibaba.com — the international wholesale platform, supporting multiple languages with typically higher minimum order quantities, aimed at global buyers.
• AliExpress — a global B2C platform well suited to small quantities and dropshipping, multilingual and popular with cross-border sellers.
• Taobao — a C2C retail platform focused on Chinese consumers, offering the most affordable prices but with less of a wholesale focus.
• 1688 — focused mainly on B2B transactions, connecting Chinese wholesalers and retailers directly with factories at wholesale prices — the best fit for anyone prioritizing margin.

Main functions: product search and comparison across a huge catalog, direct supplier contact to negotiate price and MOQ, bulk purchasing support, and customization services from many suppliers.

Target users: small and medium enterprises reducing costs through direct procurement, e-commerce sellers wanting competitive prices (especially those running a dropshipping model), and wholesalers sourcing large quantities for resale.

Market advantages: lower prices direct from manufacturers, falling MOQs in recent years, and a platform actively adapting to support the dropshipping model.

How to Register Your 1688 Account

1. Install a translation tool (Google's official web translate extension works well) since the site is primarily in Chinese.
2. Go to 1688.com and find the registration link ("免费注册").
3. Choose a personal account (fine for individual buyers) or a business account (for companies, requiring more verification).
4. Fill in your member name, login password (using letters, numbers, and special characters), password confirmation, and mobile number.
5. Select the correct country code — an incorrect one can cause registration to fail — and enter the SMS verification code to complete signup.

Finding and Ordering Products

1688 supports both keyword and image search, similar to most modern marketplaces. Once you've found a product, you can choose between two procurement modes:

• Direct procurement — order directly from the supplier as needed, ideal for small sellers avoiding inventory backlog risk.
• Bulk purchasing — suited to wholesalers needing larger quantities at lower per-unit prices, negotiating price, MOQ, and delivery time directly with the supplier.

For beginners, self-managing purchases on 1688 can be time-consuming due to payment methods and logistics. Two options simplify this considerably:

• A procurement Chrome extension (like "1688 dropshipping pro") — lets you image-search any product you see online directly on 1688, and purchase in US dollars with built-in translation, quoting, and logistics support.
• A dropshipping agent — brings market expertise, saves you time on communication and logistics, reduces risk through supplier vetting, negotiates better terms, and simplifies the entire procurement process.

Importing Products to Your Store

Manual import: select products on 1688, copy the title, description, images, price, MOQ, and inventory details, then create the listing on your e-commerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, etc.) and publish.

Automated import: Chrome extensions like AliScraper can pull product data from 1688 and fill it into your store automatically. Dedicated platforms like ZQ Dropshipping go further — letting you enter a product URL to import directly into your store, with additional tools for image processing, text editing, page design, and even AI-generated advertising images, making it especially approachable for sellers with zero prior experience.

Data processing: whichever method you use, keep product data organized (accurate titles, descriptions, prices, and SKUs, with no duplicates) and, if importing via CSV, make sure the file includes all fields your e-commerce platform requires (name, description, price, inventory, image link, etc.) in the correct format.

Conclusion

1688's wide product variety and low prices give e-commerce sellers a real way to cut costs, enter the market quickly, and strengthen their competitive position. If you're new to dropshipping, it's well worth the initial learning curve to get set up.