After talking with a member of our service team, I found out that some of our members were experiencing problems when trying to post new products. As successfully posting products is a vital part of your online success at Alibaba.com, this tutorial will take an in-depth look at the process of posting a product and illustrate examples of each informational element requested.

Products are posted from within My Alibaba. To post a new product:

1. Sign in to My Alibaba with your Member ID and password.
2. In the side menu click on Selling Tools.
3. Click on Post a New Product.

The Post a New Product page is divided into two parts: Required Information and Additional Information.

Required information is denoted through the use of a red asterisk (*) and you will not be able to post a new product without supplying all of this information.

The first item requested is a product photograph. Before uploading your product photographs check to make sure that they conform to the following rules:

1. Size: less than 100kb
2. Format: JPG
3. File name: in English

To select your product photograph:

1. Click on the button labeled ‘Browse.’
2. Using the drop-down menu located within the File Upload pop-up box, navigate to the location of your product photograph on your computer and select it.
3. Click on the button labeled Open.

Enter an appropriate name for the product that you wish to post into the input box. Be careful not to confuse model numbers, company names or brand names with your product name, as none of these will effectively differentiate your product to potential buyers. Product names must be between 4 and 60 characters in length.

Enter the appropriate model/article number for your product here. Model/article names must be less than 35 characters in length.

Choose three appropriate keywords or phrases that best describe your product and enter them here. Searching via keywords is the most common and efficient way for buyers to find relevant product information. When choosing your keywords bear in mind the following:

1. Keywords should only refer to their related product (which will improve the accuracy of product searches).
2. Do not use words such as "Alibaba" as keywords. Although certain words have emerged as popular search terms : Alibaba (or names of other websites, such as Global Sources)
3. Keywords should be listed in singular format (Alibaba’s search engine automatically assigns an ‘s’ to the end of the word)
4. Symbols and quotation marks should not be used in the keywords (e.g. “ ! & : * % $ # ^ < > etc.)

To enable your product to be found easily by potential buyers, it is very important to place it within a suitable category. As more than one third of buyers browse for products by category, an accurate product category listing will enhance your product’s chances of being found.

To select your product’s category:

1. Click on the button labeled Select Category.
2. Enter a suitable keyword into the input box and click on the button labeled Search.
3. From the list of suggested subcategories, choose the subcategory that you feel best represents your product by clicking on the radio button next to its label.
4. To submit your selection, click on the button labeled Submit My Selection located underneath the suggested subcategories.

Alternatively, if you do not agree with the suggested categories, you can also choose a subcategory for your product by browsing Alibaba.com’s category list.

To select your products category by browsing:

1. Click on the button labeled Select Category.
2. Click on the browsing the categories hyperlink.
3. Choose the appropriate top level category from the list of hyperlinks on the left.
4. Select a subcategory for your product by clicking on the radio button next to the appropriate label.

Once you have selected your category, the selected category name will appear below the button labeled Select Category.

In the Product Description text area, enter relevant information that describes your product. As product descriptions will influence the buying decisions of buyers. Time spent creating clear and concise product descriptions is time well spent.

For ideas of how to effectively present your product information, you may wish to read my "Making Product Descriptions Buyer Friendly’’ tutorial.

If you wish to add additional information about a product you can do so by clicking on the Additional Information link. Providing complete product information will help buyers with their decision making and save you and potential buyers a lot of time when dealing with inquiries. All of the information contained in this section is optional and if you decide not to supply this information you can submit your product by clicking the button labeled Submit.

Type the country of origin into the text box labeled Place of Origin. Remember that this information relates to the product and in some cases the products place of origin is not the same as that of the supplier.

In the Brand Name input box, enter the brand name of your product. You do not need to include the word "brand."

Displaying your product's price terms is easily accomplished:

1. Use the drop-down selection menu labeled Currency to choose the appropriate currency.
2. Enter the price per unit into to Unit Price input box.
3. Select the appropriate price terms for your product using the drop down selection menu labeled Price Terms.
4. Enter your port of choice into the input box labeled Port.

An additional input field has been supplied so that you may add any further related price term information. Remember, this section is optional. If you do not wish to disclose price information, simply leave the Unit Price field blank.

The Packing text area allows you to outline to buyers how you package your products.

I would suggest displaying your packing information in list format and seperating them under the headings of :

1. Inner packing
2. Outer packing
3. Conveyance

Use your mouse to click the selection box next to the appropriate payment term for your product. You may add any additional information regarding payment terms into the input box labeled Remarks.

Delivery time information should be provided in days and can be provided to buyers by entering the number of days into the input field. Please remember to enter the number only and not include the word "days."

If you request buyers to purchase a minimum quantity of your product, supply that information here. Remember to add the appropriate units. For example, 1 piece, 1 box, or 1 FCL.

Enter the number of products that you can supply here. Don’t forget to state the time frame for your production.

Any quality/safety certificates that you have can be entered here. Please use a comma and a space between each.

To submit your product information, simply click on the button labeled Submit New Product located at the bottom of the page. If you would like to preview your product information before submitting it, click on the button labeled Preview. Clicking the Reset button will clear all of your information from the fields so don’t click it by mistake.

When you see the Your product has been submitted message, you can rest assured that your product has been submitted. You will also be offered the opportunity to submit a sell Trade Lead by completing the form underneath the success message and clicking on the button labeled ‘Submit.’ Alibaba will now review your product information within 24 hours and once approved you can choose to display it or not on your Alibaba.com website. To display your products, navigate to the Manage Products section within My Alibaba.

Note: If your product is not approved, it will be placed into the ‘Requires Editing’ section of Manage Products within My Alibaba for your attention.

I hope that this lesson has answered any questions that you may have had regarding posting products. If you would like to add to this tutorial or have any further questions, please feel free to contact using the feedback box below.

Milton