Someone mentioned elsewhere in this forum that I had rejected him from Trade Manager so let me explain so that he and others that I have also rejected can understand my decision.

First off it is not personal as I often don't know who you are, but you have your fellow country men to thank for the fact that I no longer accept Chinese members on TM.

The reason is.......abuse.

To my mind TM is for discussing business related matters, not for:

a. selling product;

b. promoting your company;

c. making friends;

d. practicing English;

e. abusing and stalking other users

I have encountered all of the above during my time here at alibaba and in almost every case it was at the hands of Chinese members hence my bias in this regard. Just because I am online does not mean that I have time for idle chats and I get a bit tired of offending people when pointing out to them that I am busy!

Of course I am fully aware that there are plenty of legitimate Chinese users out there but unfortunately I have been burned too many times before to accept any more Chinese users on TM.

The last straw for me was one Chinese user who asked me to admit him to my TM by sending me the subject line - Urgent Help Needed. Only to have him try and sell me some fake brand name product of some type or another. On questioning him he admitted that he uses that subject line as if he doesnt then people dont accept him on TM!!

Prior to that I have had one guy offer to hook me up with prostitutes in order to get a good business relationship going, one guy threaten me, and plenty of others who repeatedly sent requests for me to add them to TM after I had rejected their requests until I had no choice but to add them just so that I could block them.

So members from China, sorry to group you all in together, but please understand that it is the bad behavior of the ones that have come before you that have created this situation.

Comments and criticisms are welcome.

Quoting from [Egernia]:

I seldom come here before and today read your topics by chance. I am shocked by my

compatriots. I feel ashamed for them. But, please, believe me. It is a minority.

Most Chinese follow the rules.

And I am sure you will know that one day.

Thanks Howie.

Yes as I stated in my post I am fully aware that this is not true of all Chinese users, unfortunately it is true of far too many of them.

So now rather than giving Chinese users the benefit of the doubt and accepting in the hope that they will not break the rules I simply exercise my right not to accept them.

I am sure that I miss out on making some very good contacts with legitimate suppliers, but from my perspective this is worth it as I also no longer need to deal with the offenders.

So just a word for Chinese users. If you are finding that other members here reject your offer of adding to TM then perhaps they too have been burned in the past.

I agree with you! 100%

Quoting from [Egernia]:

Someone mentioned elsewhere in this forum that I had rejected him from Trade Manager so let me explain so that he and others that I have also rejected can understand my decision.

First off it is not personal as I often don't know who you are, but you have your fellow country men to thank for the fact that I no longer accept Chinese members on TM.

The reason is.......abuse.

To my mind TM is for discussing business related matters, not for:

a. selling product;

b. promoting your company;

c. making friends;

d. practicing English;

e. abusing and stalking other users

I have encountered all of the above during my time here at alibaba and in almost every case it was at the hands of Chinese members hence my bias in this regard. Just because I am online does not mean that I have time for idle chats and I get a bit tired of offending people when pointing out to them that I am busy!

Of course I am fully aware that there are plenty of legitimate Chinese users out there but unfortunately I have been burned too many times before to accept any more Chinese users on TM.

The last straw for me was one Chinese user who asked me to admit him to my TM by sending me the subject line - Urgent Help Needed. Only to have him try and sell me some fake brand name product of some type or another. On questioning him he admitted that he uses that subject line as if he doesnt then people dont accept him on TM!!

Prior to that I have had one guy offer to hook me up with prostitutes in order to get a good business relationship going, one guy threaten me, and plenty of others who repeatedly sent requests for me to add them to TM after I had rejected their requests until I had no choice but to add them just so that I could block them.

So members from China, sorry to group you all in together, but please understand that it is the bad behavior of the ones that have come before you that have created this situation.

Comments and criticisms are welcom

In a recent post,i mentioned that i was rejected by you.But it was not complainment.From my tone,you can tell.Let me explain why i wanted to add you to my TM.Your signature says :"Questions from new comers to trading are always welcome - just contact me via the Trade Manager."you gave good suggestions to many people.It seemed that you liked to help people.I  was a new member .That was why i sent you a requestment.I think many new users had the same thinking as me.

I am really sorry that you 've been bothered by some members from China.It is irritating.As you know,it is not all Chinese members 's action.

You can reject anyone you want.It is your personal action.Please don't group all Chinese people in all.Personal behavior doesn't stand for most of members in China.

Anyway,at least ,you  let many people know the bad behavior.Thanks.

By the way,Egernia,one way can help many new comers stop bothering you .I am afraid that your signature have misleaded people!The way is to modifiy the signature .

GOOD LUCK!

ALEX

Quoting from [samlxd]:

In a recent post,i mentioned that i was rejected by you.But it was not complainment.From my tone,you can tell.Let me explain why i wanted to add you to my TM.Your signature says :"Questions from new comers to trading are always welcome - just contact me via the Trade Manager."you gave good suggestions to many people.It seemed that you liked to help people.I  was a new member .That was why i sent you a requestment.I think many new users had the same thinking as me.

I am really sorry that you 've been bothered by some members from China.It is irritating.As you know,it is not all Chinese members 's action.

You can reject anyone you want.It is your personal action.Please don't group all Chinese people in all.Personal behavior doesn't stand for most of members in China.

Anyway,at least ,you  let many people know the bad behavior.Thanks.

By the way,Egernia,one way can help many new comers stop bothering you .I am afraid that your signature have misleaded people!The way is to modifiy the signature .

GOOD LUCK!

ALEX

Alex I realize that you were not complaining you were asking. I answered your question as I assume that other Chinese have the same question.

I get around 20 requests a day from Chinese users wanting me to add them to TM.

About a third of those put something in the subject line like "MP4, Mobile Phones etc." or "Shipping company with experience can help" etc.

Another third put a subject line like "Hi".

The final third are a mix of subject lines explaining a reason for actually contacting me.

I have stated very clearly that I realize that NOT ALL CHINESE users are abusing TM. I have stated very clearly that in my experience too many Chinese users are abusing TM and therefore I have chosen to no longer accept users from China. If you do not like that then you should encourage your counterparts to start abiding by the rules of the forum here.

As far as ammending my signature line I disagree. I welcome new comers to trade to contact me as I am only too happy to help. This used to include Chinese members but due to abuse no longer includes Chinese members. It does include users from other countries however.

Oh and for the record I live in China so am not anti-Chinese. I am just anti-annoyance!!!

Quoting from [Egernia]:

Quoting from [samlxd]:

In a recent post,i mentioned that i was rejected by you.But it was not complainment.From my tone,you can tell.Let me explain why i wanted to add you to my TM.Your signature says :"Questions from new comers to trading are always welcome - just contact me via the Trade Manager."you gave good suggestions to many people.It seemed that you liked to help people.I  was a new member .That was why i sent you a requestment.I think many new users had the same thinking as me.

I am really sorry that you 've been bothered by some members from China.It is irritating.As you know,it is not all Chinese members 's action.

You can reject anyone you want.It is your personal action.Please don't group all Chinese people in all.Personal behavior doesn't stand for most of members in China.

Anyway,at least ,you  let many people know the bad behavior.Thanks.

By the way,Egernia,one way can help many new comers stop bothering you .I am afraid that your signature have misleaded people!The way is to modifiy the signature .

GOOD LUCK!

ALEX

Alex I realize that you were not complaining you were asking. I answered your question as I assume that other Chinese have the same question.

I get around 20 requests a day from Chinese users wanting me to add them to TM.

About a third of those put something in the subject line like "MP4, Mobile Phones etc." or "Shipping company with experience can help" etc.

Another third put a subject line like "Hi".

The final third are a mix of subject lines explaining a reason for actually contacting me.

I have stated very clearly that I realize that NOT ALL CHINESE users are abusing TM. I have stated very clearly that in my experience too many Chinese users are abusing TM and therefore I have chosen to no longer accept users from China. If you do not like that then you should encourage your counterparts to start abiding by the rules of the forum here.

As far as ammending my signature line I disagree. I welcome new comers to trade to contact me as I am only too happy to help. This used to include Chinese members but due to abuse no longer includes Chinese members. It does include users from other countries however.

Oh and for the record I live in China so am not anti-Chinese. I am just anti-annoyance!!!

Hi!

I must say being in alibaba 2 years wery seldom met bad people from China.100% bad people was from Ghana or any African countries(or these people living in UK).Alibaba is not perfect-but who is? :)

Quoting from [sulevss]:

Hi!

I must say being in alibaba 2 years wery seldom met bad people from China.100% bad people was from Ghana or any African countries(or these people living in UK).Alibaba is not perfect-but who is? :)

I would not say that they are bad people. I would say that unfortunately too many Chinese users seem to abuse the TM function which is why I wont accept them any more.

Have you experienced similar problems from African users?

I would say it's a cultural problem. I see that a lot here in Mexico. If you don't give them a list of your daily activities, they won't even consider the possibility that you might be just as busy as they are. And they'll even doubt the list...

From my relatively few contacts with Chinese people so far I would say that some of them are definitely very nice people, but hardly ever understand that we also have our occupations, our time limits and... a life!

germex that is so true.

As a cultural thing you cannot fault anyone for mistakes that they may make but then again if their chosen profession is foreign trade they should be more aware of the way that foreigners (their customers) think.

So for any Chinese members that are reading this here are some pointers that may help you to establish better relations via TM and help you avoid creating a situation such as mine where foreign users just stop accepting Chinese users:

a. Initial subject content is limited at alibaba when requesting people to add you to their TM but try to let the person know why you are contacting them. Don't just write 'Hi' etc.

b. If for any reason the person rejects you do not keep sending them requests along the lines of "Why did you reject me?", "I just want to talk", "You are so rude" etc. It is the buyers right to reject you if they want and they dont need to give you a reason.

c. Once you have been added then ask the person if they have time to chat.

d. If they responed yes then outline what you would like to chat about. You are the one who made contact so you are the one who needs to lead the discussion.

e. If the person says no then ask them when you would be a more convenient time to chat.

f. Don't automatically contact the same users every day when you log on and off with hellos and goodbyes. Only contact them if you have something to discuss.

g. Respect the fact that just because the buyer is online does not automatically mean that they have time to chat.

Oh and finally, on TM you can see when the other person is typing something. So if they are typing then let them finish typing first. Don't keep posting comments while the other person is typing a reply to your previous comment.

Hope that helps.

Apparently the people who contacted you were sometimes more thoughtless than the ones who contacted me. And you mentioned an important point: "hear people out". That is, if somebody is already typing a response, wait to read it first before you go on "talking".

I'm using the concepts of "hearing" and "talking", because I hope that everybody knows that it is very rude to start talking before the other person has finished. Well, the rules for conversation via TM should be the same as for talking face to face. Hear the other person out!