If I owned Alibaba I would offer the buyers a point system where they can earn
points on the purchaces and with the assistance of the sellers I would reward
buyers for the business to Alibaba, this can be done in many ways, EG- A trip
to visit the seller or sellers, this will generate a great deal more online business
for Alibaba and It's sellers.
The only way i can see that is something like escrow, or Alibaba's own version, whereby funds are deposited with a third party who gets a small commission for his troubles, The seller dispatches the goods and provides details for the buyer. Once the goods are delivered safely the payment can be released. With todays technology and things like bidpay paypal escrow, instant transactions of buying and selling should be fairly easy to organise.
The only people who can do this is the people who own this site. It would also be a way for them to earn money, create employment, enhance the credibility of trading through Alibaba, and of course provide an alternative to T/T L/C etc. Funds need not be tied up for long periods and if the whole process is well cooerdinated, may even speed up most transactions. It would truely be a global way of doing business. It requires those that run this website to have vision, commitment and dedication to making this possible. At the moment there s too much fear as the website and the way it works leaves it very vulnerable to abuse, fraud, dishonesty and makes it impossible to trace out the rogues, until it becomes too late when they just change identity and start all over again.
I hope I have not offended anyone by sharing these thoughts. But experiences on this and few similar websites have left me thinking that I have to be extra careful before commiting any money, when in fact it should eb the other way round, whereby I should feel comfortable knowing that I can trade safely and concern free about the goods i buy, their quality and the right to refuse if wat i buy is not what is delivered.
I am going to post a new topic shorlty..
about talk to alibaba.com
Best Regards
Muhammad Aslam Memon
International Business Consultant
email int78692@yahoo.com
int768@cyber.net.pk
If I am Mr. Jack Ma, Then I would do the following to generate more income for my company:
1. Organize a year round physical (not Virtual) trade show targeting different industries that alibaba is currently serving, i want to make clear that this is not all industry under 1 roof, but each industry has their own schedule, maybe twice a year. So i will develop a management team to exclusively manage and market the trade shows that the company organized. Since my company is based in Hangzhou, China, i would also tie up with different city governments to promote my company in exchange for holding a big exhibition there, in this way, they can also promote their tourism. I will see to it that the exhibition will be priced at lowest possible costs, so that smaller companies (whether foreign or local) who have never joined any exhibition before would be able to participate as well, because if they are successful in the show, then they will also be my future clients online. Upon the existence of this trade show, all other income generating business will follow...like Advertising, Sponsorships, Hotel Partnerships (Ex-deals), Airline Partnerships (Ex-deals), Restaurant/Cafe Partnerships, etc. Not to mention, my trade show will also be generating more Seller and Buyer leads, so i can have a pool of database which i can also use to support the website.
2. Publish magazines and other reading materials for each industry, that will be beneficial to Buyers Only, Sellers Only or Both. Again, this can help my company to promote the website and the trade show. Also, it will generate more income for my company since i would be able to get some advertising spaces and the subscription fees of the readers. But during the initial stages of the publishing, i would give the magazines on low subscription rates or even free, this will serve as a sample copy so that readers and sellers would be able to feel the effectiveness of the magazine. And i will price the advertising space at a very low rate so that even small companies who have not made it on print ads before can be able to participate as well. And this will also generate database for my company.
3. Develop a WAP/Mobile Version of the Alibaba Site, so that those people on-the-go can also visit the site while they are on mobile and still get the much needed information in no time at all.
4. And since Mr. Jerry Young (YaHoo) is now my partner in Alibaba, i would like to develop several co-marketing agreements with his company, maybe like website banner ads exchange on both sites. When we play golf again, i will discuss with him how to do more promotion for alibaba in the areas that YaHoo has strong presence.
5. I will establish operations in areas of emerging economies (outside Mainland) like India, Russia, Brazil, Dubai and EU, this will be my top priority and i will leave USA market to Jerry. Other countries will soon follow after the successful regional operations. Upon each successful operation set-up, regional tradeshow will also follow depending on the market size.
6. I will develop an automatic SMS notification to buyers and sellers whenever their account receives an inquiry, SMS notification is subscription based and will cost an specific amount based on each message/notification sent, so this will again generate more income for my company.
Well, i still have a lot of plans for my company, and its really a pressure for me to drive this company upward now that some big companies like YaHoo have already invested in my company, but its really hard to enumerate all my plans for my company in this comment box, if you need to know more about my plans for my company, I can also be your consultant and would gladly be based on Hangzhou.
More power to my company ALIBABA !!!
Quoting from [AMR Global]:-Allow .Tiff and .Zip files to be sent at attachments, as well as multiple Jpegs. LOI and FCO, NCND documents are always more than 1 page.
-Allow paying English site embers to view and access Chinese site. I cant believe that I even after I paid to be a member I cant access the Chinese site w/o paying agian. This is ridiculous.
-Offer a Alibaba payment guarantee / Escrow service.
-Have an under-cover team of people contacting some of the Nigerian Frauds on this site and exposed.
-Offer a ranking/rating/reporting system like on E-bay where you can report positive or negative feedback about specific members and your experience with them. This service keeps e-bay running and could do wonders to the validity of your "GOLD MEMBER" status. If to0 many poor responses then the status is downgraded or suspended. Companies deserve to be rewarded for quality service and punished for poor service.-Do better marketing for . Very few Taiwan Companies are on your site or even know it exists with respect to how many there are here who would appreciate your service.
Quoting from [AMR Global]:-Allow .Tiff and .Zip files to be sent at attachments, as well as multiple Jpegs. LOI and FCO, NCND documents are always more than 1 page.
-Allow paying English site embers to view and access Chinese site. I cant believe that I even after I paid to be a member I cant access the Chinese site w/o paying agian. This is ridiculous.
-Offer a Alibaba payment guarantee / Escrow service.
-Have an under-cover team of people contacting some of the Nigerian Frauds on this site and exposed.
-Offer a ranking/rating/reporting system like on E-bay where you can report positive or negative feedback about specific members and your experience with them. This service keeps e-bay running and could do wonders to the validity of your "GOLD MEMBER" status. If to0 many poor responses then the status is downgraded or suspended. Companies deserve to be rewarded for quality service and punished for poor service.-Do better marketing for . Very few Taiwan Companies are on your site or even know it exists with respect to how many there are here who would appreciate your service.