Back To Alibaba Trade Center >

Introduction of Trade Center

1.What is Trade Center ?

Trade Center is an exclusive channel for buyers to track inquiries, chat with suppliers, manage order details and place orders online—all in one place!

2.Why Use Trade Center?

a. Protection for your orders and account

If you contact a supplier using personal email rather than Alibaba.com Trade Center, we cannot guarantee that your content and details are secure.

b. Full payment and order protection

When you place orders online with Trade Center, you enjoy:

100% product quality protection
100% on-time shipment protection
100% payment protection
If you paid to your supplier directly outside of Alibaba.com, we can offer mediation assistance to you if there is any dispute happens, but we will have no authority to impose compulsory sanction on your supplier.

[Tip] Please make sure pay to the supplier’s CITIBANK account designated by Alibaba.com with credit card or bank transfer which is given to you on the payment page on Trade Center. Other payment methods are not protected by Alibaba.com Trade Assurance.

* If you have a dispute that cannot be solved with the supplier when this order was placed through Alibaba Trade Center, please file a dispute to the Alibaba.com Dispute team and we will assist you accordingly. You can file dispute here .

3.Video Tutorials

4.Trade Center Order Pipeline

1

Step 1: Go to Trade Center to find your newest
inquiries under “All Inquiries”.

2

Step 2: You can upload your contract to the
system by clicking “Place Order Online” or
“Upload Contract” when you wish to
proceed with your order.

3

Step 3: Click “Pay Now” to review and
confirm the payment details.

4

Step 4: Select your preferred payment method
Credit Card or Telegraphic Transfer. For security
reasons, please make payment through the Alibaba.com
payment page to the designated Alibaba.com bank account.

5

Step 5: Once you have received your order and
confirmed the quality of the goods, please log on to
Trade Center and click “Confirm Receipt” to complete
the order.

5.FAQs

1. Order Status

a. How can I quickly check out my unread messages?

When you log into Trade Center, please select the "Unread Message" box. You will find all of your unread messages here.

b. What's the difference between "Waiting for You to Confirm" and "Waiting for Your Partner to Confirm"?

"Waiting for You to Confirm" means the order needs your confirmation before it can be processed. "Waiting for Your Partner to Confirm" means this order needs your business partner’s confirmation.

c. What does the "Ordered" status mean?

The "Ordered" status means that both you and your business partner have confirmed the order.

2. Confirming an Order

a. Why should I confirm my order on Trade Center?

The faster you confirm an order, the faster your order can be completed

b. How do I confirm an unpaid order on Trade Center?

Simply follow steps below:

Step 1: Sign into Trade Center and click the
“Waiting for you to confirm” button

Step2: Fill in or modify your order information, or
upload a contract or pro forma invoice (PI)
and click the “Confirm Order” button.

3. Upload Contract

a. What is the Upload Contract function and who can use it?

The Upload Contract function allows buyers and suppliers who have their own, premade contract to submit the contract without having to use Alibaba.com order templates. Both buyers and suppliers can use the "Upload Contract" function to start an order, but both parties need to confirm the order for it to be valid.

b. Why use the Upload Contract function?

If you want to enjoy the security of using Trade Center and already have a suitable contract, uploading a premade contract can help you save time without going offline to negotiate and complete the order. You still enjoy 100% payment protection!

c. How do I use the Upload Contract function?

Once you and the supplier have completed a contract/PI, simply follow the steps below:

Step1: Select a method for drafting order (e.g. “Upload Contract”)

Step 2: Upload your contract from your computer by clicking “Upload Pro Forma Invoice or Contract”. Supported file types include: XLSX,XLS,DOC,DOCX,JPG,PNG,JPEG,GIF,TIF,PDF,TXT

6.Suggestion & Help