Because Alibaba is a wholesale business for manufacturers, the prices on Alibaba are usually inflated, so that there is room for price reduction after customers make inquiries. Alibaba is a B2B model, which is not very advantageous for self-employed individuals because they do not have large volumes.

Many sellers on Taobao do not get their goods directly from Alibaba, they contact the manufacturers, take them out of the factory, or go to other cheap wholesale websites to get the goods, so they can sell them cheaply. But most of them are Taobao sellers who sell at a loss in order to increase sales, because after the sales of the store are increased, the store will have traffic, and then the price can be raised.