Top execs fly from Alibaba after supplier frauds Two top execs at e-commerce giant Alibaba have taken the fall for alleged fraud by some of the suppliers on its platforms. The Hong Kong-listed firm announced today that chief exec David Wei and COO Elvis Lee had resigned to take responsibility for the fraudulent actions of some of its B2B sellers, though they were not …
... and is to be applauded, even if it may seem a little over the top if the people concerned were genuinely not directly culpible.
When was the last time anyone in a US or EU company demonstrated they'd even heard of the word "honour" when things went the way of the pear on their watch?
When I am searching for a product I often use Alibaba but after that I investigate the sources and buy direct.
A while ago I built a mini-hotel and wanted to source a particular colour shade of marble. Alibaba allowed me to determine what area I could buy it from and afterwards I made a trip, selected the marble and 3 weeks later crates of the stuff were delivered.
I feel Alibaba has grown beyond it's original mandate, China, and now provides weaker coverage for more countries.
I've always suspected that much of what you find on there will be counterfeit anyway considering where it's coming from, but interesting to see them resigning over this - assuming they don't just come back in "consultancy" roles like they would over here.
Letting your sales people determine whether a site or supplier is legit is absolutely asking for trouble as they want their commission.
If someone could create an Ebay system but for mass supply of goods then it might work, albeit with the same problems as Ebay and Paypal admittedly.
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