Diving into the world of Chinese wholesale marketplaces like 1688 can be daunting, especially if you don't speak Mandarin or deal with bulk orders. However, with Mulebuy, a China-based forward-and-reverse proxy purchasing platform, international buyers can seamlessly shop on sites like 1688 without requiring fluency in Chinese or handling large minimum orders. In this guide, we'll take you through the process of using Mulebuy to purchase a popular product—the Nike Free Run—and explain why this method is cost-effective for individual buyers.
1688 is Alibaba’s B2B domestic marketplace, tailored primarily for bulk Chinese buyers. While prices are unbeatable, most listings require large minimum order quantities (MOQs)
You won’t register directly on 1688—if you find an efficiency-focused sheet
The shoes we'll checkout for this walkthrough run at ¥399 bulk ($55 estimate before deliverables)—fractional of their domestic U.S. pickup rate. A protection markup is built instead outweigh multiple intermediaries attaching competing tack-on invoices.