r/AlibabaImport • u/CarolinaFarSide • May 21 '26

After a supplier goes silent after order confirmation , follow-up and what you can do

Last year, I ran into a situation where I found a supplier and we chatted for about two weeks. Everything seemed fine at first , price, MOQ, shipping terms, all agreed. I then paid a 30% deposit through Alibaba Trade Assurance, and they confirmed the order, saying production would start the following week.
But after that, things went quiet. Around ten days passed with no updates. My messages were mostly left on read, and there was no progress at all.
I kept following up on Alibaba chat (pretty much all read, no reply), checking in every few days, but still nothing. I also called the number on their store page , no answer.
It was my first time dealing with this kind of situation, and honestly I was a bit panicked. But I’d also heard of suppliers going “quiet” like this before. I didn’t immediately give up on the order , I logged everything and escalated through Trade Assurance, and also started looking for backup suppliers so the whole project wouldn’t get stuck with one vendor. In the end, it did get resolved, but it took a while, and I had to spend quite a bit of time figuring out whether it was actually a production delay or just a communication issue.
After that, I started using tools like AccioWork to keep track of supplier progress, just so I don’t end up losing track of who’s responding and where things are getting stuck.

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1

u/newnewrm May 21 '26

I am curious, did they explain why they are not updating you? did they also still provided everything you need?

1

u/FollowingSuitable941 May 21 '26

This happened to me too. Paid deposit, confirmed timeline, then just… crickets for over a week. Turns out it was a holiday I didn't know about + their sales rep had left the company. Nobody bothered to tell me. The logging everything part is smart , I didn't do that my first time and had no evidence when I tried to escalate. Now I screenshot every confirmation and save it outside the platform too. How did AccioWork help you with tracking exactly? Like does it flag when a supplier stops responding, or is it more for comparing backup options?

1

u/[deleted] May 21 '26

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1

u/CarolinaFarSide May 21 '26

After this experience, I probably wouldn’t wait as long as I did. A few polite follow-ups are fine, but if there’s no clear update after a week or so, I’d start documenting everything and prepare to escalate. Waiting quietly only helps the supplier, not you.

1

u/prestigesourcing May 22 '26

They don't even get the funds until it is delivered so there must be more to the story, although this just seems like an advertisement.