Selling on 1688 as a foreign brand resolves to one legal fact: 1688 is a domestic wholesale marketplace, and its seller door opens only to a mainland-registered market entity
1688.com is Alibaba's domestic wholesale marketplace — the platform where Chinese factories, wholesalers and retailers trade with each other inside China. Listings are in Chinese, prices are in renminbi, delivery is to Chinese addresses, and the trading rules are China's domestic e-commerce rules. Its supplier onboarding requires a mainland China business licence in the seller's own name.
That single line answers most of the question "how do I sell on 1688 as a foreign brand?" The confusion is usually directional. Teams read "Alibaba" and assume 1688 is a Chinese-language mirror of the same shop — sign up, upload a catalogue, ship. It is not. 1688 is a China-inward channel, and a foreign company cannot open a 1688 store in its own name. What it can do is own or partner with a mainland entity that holds the licence and the storefront.
The entity question is settled before the strategy question. Until a mainland market entity exists — owned or contracted — there is no 1688 store to design, price or staff.
Gate one: China's e-commerce law requires every online seller to hold a market entity
The E-Commerce Law of the PRC, in force since 1 January 2019, is explicit. Article 10: 电子商务经营者应当依法办理市场主体登记 — online business operators must register as market entities. The carve-outs are narrow: individuals selling self-produced farm products or home handicrafts, individuals providing licensed convenience services, and 零星小额 (small and sporadic) trade.
How small is small was left open until the SAMR's Network Transaction Supervision Measures (Order No. 37, in force 1 May 2021) fixed the number in Article 8: an individual whose cumulative annual online turnover does not exceed RMB 100,000 — combining all stores on all platforms — does not need to register. Above that threshold, registration is mandatory; and where the activity requires an administrative licence at all, registration is mandatory regardless of size.
For scale, SAMR reported to the National People's Congress in 2024 that more than 15 million natural-person online stores on platforms remained unregistered — 59.1% of all platform operators — precisely because most sit inside that exemption.
1688's own supplier documentation follows the statute. Its onboarding guide requires a valid mainland business licence — enterprise or individual industrial and commercial household — whose business scope covers the goods being sold, the legal representative's identity documents, and, in higher-risk or high-ticket categories such as 3C and building materials, a corporate bank account bound for settlement and deposits. The platform validates the licence in real time against the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, so a mismatched or expired licence is rejected before a human ever reviews it. Category qualifications sit on top: food needs a food business licence; cosmetics need filing or registration depending on origin; listed electronics need CCC certification; medical devices need filing or registration. Some categories — cosmetics and fire-safety equipment among them — accept an enterprise licence only, not an individual household licence. The platform also charges a category-based deposit and a paid annual membership tier, and the amounts are set by the platform rather than negotiated.
Gate two: foreign investors cannot use China's cheap entity, so the vehicle has to be a company
China has a lighter vehicle than a company — the 个体工商户 (individual industrial and commercial household), a sole-trader licence that is far cheaper and faster to obtain. For a foreign-owned brand that door is closed by law.
The Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List), 2024 edition — NDRC and MOFCOM Order No. 23, published 6 September 2024 and in force from 1 November 2024 — states in its explanatory provisions that foreign investors may not operate as an individual industrial and commercial household, as the investor in a sole-proprietorship enterprise, or as a member of a farmers' professional cooperative.
The good news is that the sector itself is open. In the 2024 negative list the only entry under wholesale and retail is a prohibition on foreign investment in the wholesale and retail of tobacco leaf, cigarettes, redried tobacco leaf and other tobacco products. Everything else in wholesale and retail falls outside the list, which under the list's own terms means it is administered on a national-treatment basis — so a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) with a wholesale and retail business scope is the standard vehicle, and 100% foreign ownership is available.
The practical sequence for a foreign brand that wants to sell wholesale in China therefore runs: incorporate the mainland company → obtain the business licence with the right scope → complete tax registration and taxpayer status → open the corporate bank account and enterprise payment account → secure category qualifications → then the platform store. That is a project measured in months, not days. WFOE vs. representative office compares the entity options; China joint venture or WFOE covers what a Chinese shareholder is still legally required for.
Direction test: 1688 sells into China, Alibaba.com sells out of it
The two platforms share a parent and face opposite ways. Getting this wrong is the most common and most expensive error in a "should we be on 1688?" conversation.
| Dimension | 1688.com | Alibaba.com |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | China domestic wholesale (内贸) | Global cross-border trade (外贸) |
| Language and currency | Chinese / renminbi | Multilingual / US dollars |
| Who sells | Mainland-licensed enterprises and individual households | Chinese suppliers geared for export |
| Who buys | Chinese retailers, wholesalers, factories, live-commerce and cross-border sellers | Overseas importers and distributors |
| A foreign brand as seller | Not directly — a mainland entity must hold the licence and the store | Yes — this is the export-facing route |
| Do the goods need to be in China? | Yes — domestic settlement and domestic delivery | No — goods are exported from China |
1688 does have a cross-border face, but it points the other way. global.1688.com, the platform's "跨境专供" channel, is built for overseas buyers sourcing from Chinese factories. Xinhua reported that 1688's cross-border order volume grew more than 70% in 2024 and that the platform planned to enter 15 overseas countries and regions in 2025, serving overseas small and mid-sized B2B buyers — including cross-border purchasing agents, overseas marketplace sellers and independent-store operators.
In September 2025, at an "AI跨境·国货出海" event in Shenzhen, 1688 launched "超级工厂全球版" — a certification standard for factories with genuine cross-border capability, gated on cross-border transaction scale, an overseas warehouse or warehousing partnership, storefronts on mainstream cross-border platforms, and at least one further condition (original-equipment manufacturing for a known brand, inclusion in the 专精特新 "小巨人" list, or a high Sesame Credit rating). Approved factories receive a "超级工厂全球供" badge and priority in the cross-border buyer recommendation pool.
Every one of those moves serves overseas buyers sourcing from China. None of them creates a route for a foreign brand to sell on 1688 without a mainland market entity.
What a foreign brand actually needs to sell B2B in China
Five requirements, in order of when they block you.
1. A mainland market entity with the right scope. Typically a WFOE. A Hong Kong company is an offshore entity: it can be your trading counterparty, contract holder and IP holder, but it cannot hold a mainland business licence or a 1688 store in its own name. See using a Hong Kong entity to import into China.
2. Tax registration and invoice capability. Chinese B2B buyers expect a Chinese VAT invoice — for corporate purchasers, a 增值税专用发票 (VAT special invoice) so they can deduct input VAT. Under the VAT Law passed on 25 December 2024 and in force since 1 January 2026 (which replaced the Interim Regulations on VAT), the rate on the sale of goods is 13%, and a small-scale taxpayer is one with annual taxable sales not exceeding RMB 5,000,000, on a 3% simplified levy rate. The structural point for a foreign brand is blunt: an offshore company cannot issue a Chinese VAT invoice. Without a mainland entity — or a mainland partner that invoices — you cannot complete a compliant domestic B2B sale, whatever the platform.
3. Category qualifications. Platform-side listing permission is not product permission. Food, cosmetics, medical devices, listed electronics and other regulated categories each carry their own gate, and 1688's onboarding checks them per category. See which Chinese agency regulates my product.
4. The goods physically in China. 1688 is domestic trade. Your imported products must be landed in China, normally under general trade, with customs duty and import VAT paid, and held in domestic stock that a licensed entity can deliver from.
5. A person on the ground. Chinese wholesale closes in Chinese, on DingTalk and WeChat, and often in person. Store operation is not a listing exercise — it is buyer qualification, quotation, credit terms, after-sales and relationship maintenance. That is a headcount question as much as a platform question.
Why the goods question decides the model
Two ways to have sellable stock in China, and they lead to different structures.
If the product is made in China — your own contract manufacturing or an OEM factory — stock exists domestically and the 1688 route is a licence-and-operations problem: choose the entity, get the scope, list, staff it.
If the product is imported, the goods must clear duty before they can be sold domestically. General trade puts duty and import VAT on at the border, and the goods then sit in domestic stock. Bonded storage is different: goods in a bonded warehouse have not yet paid duty, and bonded cross-border retail — the 1210 model — is a business-to-consumer channel for individual end consumers, with per-order clearance and consumer-facing delivery. It is not a wholesale route, so it cannot substitute for landed, duty-paid inventory when the objective is distribution to Chinese business buyers. What 1210 bonded import is sets out the difference; China import taxes and landed cost covers the arithmetic.
This is the practical divide between a cross-border launch and a domestic wholesale build. A cross-border storefront can be run from offshore through a 1210 bonded structure with no Chinese company — that is the lean test. A 1688 distribution channel cannot: it needs the entity, the invoice capability and the duty-paid stock. Choose the channel and you have chosen the structure.
Cross-border tells you whether the market wants the product. Domestic wholesale tells you how much of it the market will take. They are sequential questions, not alternatives.
What the channel is worth — and what it costs in control
1688 is not primarily a place to sell single units. It is where you reach the Chinese resellers, regional wholesalers, retail chains, live-commerce sellers and cross-border merchants that then distribute your product onward. A single working 1688 relationship can put your brand into hundreds of downstream storefronts: Xinhua reported that 1688's distribution business grew order volume 70% in 2024 across 20 downstream marketplace channels, with one-click listing into multiple platforms.
The trade-off is real. An open wholesale channel means many sellers quoting your product, and price discipline has to be managed deliberately — through tiered pricing, authorised-seller structures and packaging differentiation — or the listing price collapses and gray-market leakage follows. The upside is data: you see end-buyer demand directly, keep the customer list and hold the brand relationship, which is what a pure distributor agreement gives away. For most brands the right answer is a mainland-operated store you control, not a distributor's catalogue you never see.
How GOODSINFINITE builds the China-side B2B layer
We run the mainland layer that makes a B2B channel operational rather than theoretical:
- China commercial presence. We help you establish a China office, recruit local staff, run market research and exhibit at trade shows — and we build and operate B2B channels such as 1688 for you.
- Buyer-side representation. We represent you in discussions and offline negotiations with Chinese distributors, wholesalers and platform buyers, in Chinese, on your terms.
- Hong Kong IOR plus mainland import operations. GOODSINFINITE TRADE LIMITED (Hong Kong) acts as the overseas principal and settlement layer, while a mainland-licensed operation handles declaration, duty and import VAT, and product registration — so the stock is sellable, not merely landed.
- Bonded and general-trade fulfilment across Tianjin, Shanghai, Ningbo, Guangzhou and Qingdao.
You keep the brand, the pricing decision and the customer relationship. We build the mainland presence that the platform, the tax system and the buyers actually require.
FAQ
Can a foreign company open a store on 1688 in its own name? No. 1688 is Alibaba's domestic wholesale marketplace, and its supplier onboarding requires a mainland China business licence held by an enterprise or an individual industrial and commercial household, with a business scope covering the goods, plus the legal representative's ID and, in several categories, a corporate bank account. An offshore company — including a Hong Kong company — is not a mainland market entity and cannot open a 1688 seller account directly. In practice the store is held by a mainland entity you own, or by a partner operating it for you.
Can I sell on 1688 as an individual, without a business licence? Not at the scale of a distribution channel. Article 10 of the E-Commerce Law requires online operators to register as market entities; the only practical exemption is small and sporadic trade, defined by the SAMR's Network Transaction Supervision Measures (Order No. 37, Art. 8) as cumulative annual online turnover of no more than RMB 100,000, combining all stores across all platforms. Above that line registration is mandatory, and 1688's onboarding checklist assumes a licence in the seller's own name.
Can a foreign investor register the mainland entity as an individual industrial and commercial household (个体工商户)? No. The 2024 negative list for foreign investment access (NDRC and MOFCOM Order No. 23, in force 1 November 2024) excludes foreign investors from operating as individual industrial and commercial households, as sole-proprietorship enterprise investors, or as farmers' professional cooperative members. A foreign brand therefore needs a company, typically a WFOE. Wholesale and retail sit outside the negative list except for tobacco products, so a wholesale/retail business scope is available on a national-treatment basis.
Is 1688 the right platform to reach buyers outside China? No. For buyers outside China, the export-facing route is Alibaba.com. 1688's cross-border channel, global.1688.com ("跨境专供"), is a buyer-side door for overseas purchasers sourcing from Chinese factories, and its "超级工厂全球版" certification recognises Chinese factories with cross-border capability. 1688 itself settles in renminbi, delivers domestically and follows domestic trading rules — it is a channel into China, not out of it.
Do I have to import my goods into China before selling them on 1688? Effectively yes. 1688 is domestic trade: orders settle in renminbi and delivery is to Chinese addresses, so imported products must first be landed in China, normally under general trade, with customs duty and import VAT paid, and held in domestic stock. Cross-border bonded retail (1210) is a business-to-consumer channel for individual consumers and is not a B2B wholesale route, so it cannot replace landed inventory if 1688 distribution is the objective.
Sources
- E-Commerce Law of the People's Republic of China (2018, effective 1 January 2019) — People's Daily Legal: Article 10, the duty for online business operators to register as market entities
- Network Transaction Supervision Measures, SAMR Order No. 37 — SAMR: Article 8 defines the registration exemption as cumulative annual online turnover not exceeding RMB 100,000; also reports over 15 million unregistered natural-person stores, 59.1% of platform operators
- Network Transaction Supervision Measures — Article 11 on year-end and Article 8 registration duty explained by a municipal government Q&A
- Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) 2024 edition, NDRC and MOFCOM Order No. 23 — gov.cn: foreign investors may not operate as individual industrial and commercial households; the only wholesale and retail restriction is tobacco
- VAT Law of the People's Republic of China (passed 25 December 2024, in force 1 January 2026) — Articles 9 and 10: 13% on the sale of goods; small-scale taxpayer threshold of RMB 5 million
- 1688 official supplier onboarding guide — wiki.1688.com: mainland business licence and legal-representative ID required, category qualifications, licence checked against the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System
- 1688 official guide: how to open a store on the platform — wiki.1688.com: enterprise or individual household licence mandatory, business scope must match the category, corporate bank account required in higher-risk categories
- 1688 cross-border channel "跨境专供" — global.1688.com: the overseas-buyer storefront of Alibaba's domestic wholesale marketplace
- Xinhua: 1688 buyer base grows from 65 million to 96 million and cross-border orders rise over 70% — news.cn: 2024 cross-border order growth, 2025 expansion into 15 overseas countries and regions, 20 downstream distribution channels
- 1688 launches "超级工厂全球版" for cross-border-capable factories — Shenzhen Municipal Government: certification criteria include cross-border transaction scale, overseas warehousing, and storefronts on mainstream cross-border platforms
Related reading
- Importing into China Without a Local Company: The Importer-of-Record Path
- Using a Hong Kong Entity to Import into China
- China Joint Venture or WFOE for China Market Entry
- WFOE vs. Representative Office in China
- China Distributor for Foreign Brands
- What 1210 Bonded Import Is
- E-commerce Operations
- China Import Glossary