Overview of GearBest. Is GearBest Really a Scam as a Lot of People Say it is? Let’s Find Out the Facts, and Everything You Need to Know.
With competition for cheaper prices getting steeper by the day, many consumers are turning to overseas wholesale manufacturers to find affordable electronics, appliances, clothing, and accessories.
One of the most popular sites for buying wholesale electronics is GearBest, an overseas wholesale supplier dedicated to “providing an unparalleled selection of the very best gadgets, an unbeatable shopping experience, prompt shipping and exceptional customer service that exceeds expectations.”
This article will provide a review of the company known as GearBest – including whether it is safe for your credit card, whether GearBest is reliable, is it really a scam, and whether you should expect continuous delays on your delivery. But before providing an overview of GearBest, let us first discuss the whole concept of buying wholesale that GearBest is built on.
Over the last few years, the concept of buying wholesale has become very popular because it can offer customers bulk product options at lower prices. The concept of buying wholesale is similar to buying an entire box of candy bars at once instead of buying one at a time. So instead of purchasing one product and paying full price, consumers can buy multiple quantities of the same product in order to get a reduced “wholesale” price.
Sites like GearBest specialize in wholesale electronics as well as a wide range of other wholesale products.
However, we have observed an increase in customers asking questions like, “Is GearBest legit?”, “Is GearBest safe?” and, “Is it really reliable?” We’ve also received lots of messages of existing and former GearBest customers about issues they’ve had with GearBest. One user stated: “GearBest offers items, which they do not have in stock, and repeatedly offers up supply chain excuses for failed delivery while continuing to offer the same Item for sale. This is fraud.”
Is GearBest Safe?
These questions are being asked because of the increasing number of new online platforms on which customers can buy wholesale products. However, objective GearBest reviews, as well as reviews on other GearBest alternatives, are hard to find.
This makes it tricky for those who would prefer to do a brief background check on the company before completing their purchase. For this reason, we have conducted extensive research and compiled our findings in this GearBest review.
In this article, we will help you answer questions like, “What is GearBest?”, “Is GearBest safe and reliable?” and, “Is GearBest legit?”
So let’s jump right into it.
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GearBest Review | What is GearBest? Where is GearBest Located?
GearBest is a Chinese company providing wholesale electronics, appliances, apparel, and accessories.
Although they sell everything from wallets to dog supplies and even maxi dresses, GearBest is best known for their low prices on wholesale electronics like smartphones, laptops, smartwatches, headphones, and more.
Sites like GearBest have revolutionized the entire concept of commerce by turning the supply chain on its head. Usually, products go through many middle-parties before they finally end up in the hands of the consumer. With sites like GearBest, shoppers can cut out the middleman by ordering directly from the source.
GearBest Review
For example, consider a simple product like a pair of headphones that a consumer buys at an electronics store in uptown Brooklyn. Such electronics are most often manufactured in China and imported into the United States.
In a traditional supply chain, this is what happens:
1. A large distributor will first buy the headphones and other products in bulk from a Chinese manufacturer.
2. The distributor then sells the headphones in bulk to stores that are buying at wholesale prices (such as a Brooklyn Wholesale Store).
3. Next, a retail store (such as a small downtown electronics shop) will buy smaller batches of the product from the wholesaler.
4. Finally, the retail store will sell the headphones to the end customer.
GearBest’s Global Delivery Partners
That makes for quite a journey for such a simple device, which is one reason why the cost to the final customer (the end-user) ends up being much higher than it actually should be. At each step, every seller adds their own margin to cover their own costs.
Consequently, the disparity between the initial factory price and the final retail price is much higher.
On the contrary, sites like GearBest and other GearBest alternatives shorten this costly journey by shipping directly from the manufacturer to the consumer.
This is only made possible by the fact that GearBest has numerous warehouses located in different regions across the globe including the United States, Poland, England, and Spain. This is similar to how Amazon utilizes fulfillment centers spread out across the globe for quick delivery.
GearBest warehouses stock millions of items from global brands such as Lenovo, Xiaomi, CHUWI, Intel, and more. The company then works with shipping partners like DHL, FedEx, and EMS to fulfill their worldwide orders.
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Is GearBest Reliable? Is it Safe? Assessing the Reliability and Safety of GearBest
The main objective of a review article is to provide the information that answers readers’ questions and addresses their concerns. The following section of our GearBest review will answer these questions: First, is GearBest safe? Second, is GearBest reliable?
Is GearBest Secure? Is it Safe?
The answer to this is yes. Here is why:
The first line of security for online eCommerce shopping websites like GearBest is data encryption. The most common certification for this purpose is the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) which tells the user that information entered on the website is secure.
In addition to SSL certification, online eCommerce sites often go one step further by obtaining independent security reviews and featuring satisfaction certificates from PayPal, Better Business Bureau (BBB), Trustwave, TRUSTe, VeriSign, and other firms. The sites then display these security certificates on their webpages.
When researching the GearBest website, we identified 23 security badges and certifications. This high number of security certifications is a testament to GearBest’s commitment to the secure and safe use of information. GearBest’s users can proceed with the peace of mind that GearBest is safe and that they can carry out transactions without worrying if their financial information is at risk.
Other than these security certifications, an eCommerce website is considered secure if it includes multiple authentication layers. To this end, sites provide several layers of information verification before enabling users to log in. For example, users might be asked to answer some security questions when requesting account details such as a forgotten password or username. This is something that GearBest has implemented on their site.
Lastly, having a wide range of payment options offers more secure purchasing for shoppers. GearBest allows shoppers to pay via numerous payment providers such as PayPal. So, is GearBest safe? Is it secure? We believe so.
Is GearBest Reliable?
A reliable eCommerce site should have all of its listed items available and in-stock. For each wholesale electronics category, the listed electronics should be available to ensure that delivery is quick. Customers should not have to wait weeks or months for the products to become available and be shipped.
As part of our research to see if GearBest is a reliable site, we identified that GearBest was indeed doing a good job of keeping their site up-to-date with accurate product availability information.
Another potential area where a lack of reliability could be seen is when a website continues to list products that are sold out because they don’t do a good job of updating their website. This is not an issue that we observed with GearBest.
Particularly, no items were on display that were not available in any of the company’s warehouses. By minimizing such issues, GearBest is helping to improve the customer experience.
In addition, the site has a wide range of wholesale electronics and many other types of products. This large product selection makes it nearly impossible to not find the products that a customer is looking for. So, is GearBest reliable? There is no doubt about the reliability of the platform.
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Is GearBest Legit? Assessing the Legitimacy of GearBest
Aside from reliability and safety, another issue that this GearBest review wants to address is legitimacy. Hundreds of readers have asked the question, “Is GearBest a scam?”
Is GearBest legit? Is it a scam? These are all valid concerns that a useful GearBest review must address.
But we are jumping ahead of ourselves here. Perhaps we should begin by asking the question, “What makes an eCommerce site legitimate?”
You should look nowhere else for answers to the question but in the qualities of a genuine eCommerce website. Such qualities enable customers to dispel fears of a GearBest scam whenever encountered.
First, a genuine and legitimate eCommerce website should have real people working on and supporting the website. Second, it should be a site that has and displays an actual physical address behind the domain.
We performed a “WhoIs” lookup on GearBest to see if we could identify the individual or organization behind the website, as well as to identify where the site was registered and when.
Here are our findings:
The GearBest domain was registered in Guang Dong, China on December 17, 2013. Further research yielded Hichina Zhicheng Technology Ltd. as the controlling organization. The company itself operates out of Shenzhen.
Something else to note is that a genuine and legitimate eCommerce website should have an active and responsive customer service team. Users should be able to get a response from customer service within a reasonable time after reaching out.
When this is not the case, then you end up with customers complaining and asking whether a firm is a scam – for example, is GearBest a scam. Nothing hurts the reputation of an eCommerce company more than such rumors.
So is GearBest a scam? We didn’t find any reasons to believe there are any GearBest scams. The site has comprehensive contact details that customers can use to communicate with them including email addresses, telephone numbers, and even a live chat tool. In addition, users can reach customer service from within their accounts. All of this shows legitimacy and minimizes customer complaints about GearBest.
Other Online Reviews of GearBest – Positive and Negative GearBest Complaints
Millions of resellers use GearBest. Therefore, an objective GearBest review would be incomplete without considering the many online GearBest reviews that customers have left, including positive reviews as well as GearBest complaints from customers.
Users on platforms like Trustpilot and Better Business Bureau (BBB) provide crucial insights for other prospective GearBest users. Their GearBest reviews are a lighthouse for the shopping behavior of many consumers.
Positive GearBest reviews
On Trustpilot, there are over 25,000 GearBest reviews. Of these, 70% feel that the GearBest site is excellent and only 22% offered GearBest complaints. The positive reviewers all seem to agree on one thing: the platform offers convenience at a considerable discount. One user simply wrote, “Great.”
Another user, whose username is Fernando Andrade, fully trusts GearBest. He wrote on Trustpilot, “Already bought several items from GearBest and they always arrived as expected and the prices are excellent! I recommend it! They also send some more expensive items like phones from inside the EU, so you don’t have to pay customs fee!”
Except for a few GearBest complaints on BBB, GearBest reviews were generally positive. Specifically, positive reviewers identified GearBest as the best platform for wholesale electronics. One customer by the name Przemyslaw revealed having used GearBest since 2016 without any issues or regrets.
Negative GearBest reviews
Just like any other eCommerce platform, GearBest has had its fair share of run-ins with customers. On both Trustpilot and BBB, GearBest complaints seem to center around late deliveries. It is worth noting that the majority of these GearBest complaints appeared after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A user by the name Patricia S wrote the following review on BBB: “Horrible service. Placed an order on 4/26 still has not arrived as of 6/4. I tried contacting them through the messenger app, and they said an outside vendor handled it, and I needed to contact them directly, but the directions they provided to do that does not work. Total rip off company. Buyers beware.”
Perhaps the company might have suffered from the effects of disrupted global supply chains. In the spring of 2020, many countries around the world shut their borders in an attempt to get ahead of COVID-19’s spread. In addition, many factories and warehouses have been shut down. Consequently, many third-party suppliers have had to delay orders for an abnormally long amount of time.
In addition, there were GearBest complaints about the delivery of faulty items. This issue pushed some customers to go so far as to claim a GearBest scam. However, these are issues that are common across the board. Sometimes things get damaged in transit, and the blame falls equally on the eCommerce platform and the shipping partner.
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What are the Top GearBest Alternatives?
When you type a simple search query like, “What is GearBest?” into Google, the results show GearBest and many alternative sites. GearBest alternatives offer customers almost an identical selection of products – including wholesale electronics.
Alibaba.com is the most popular and perhaps the biggest of all the GearBest alternatives. Similar to GearBest, Alibaba.com offers items on wholesale terms to a global clientele. The platform hosts a wide selection of items including wholesale electronics, apparel, furniture and lighting.
GearBest Alternatives
Unlike GearBest, Alibaba.com has a deeper global reach with warehouses on every continent. In addition, Alibaba’s extensive network of distributors and resellers means shipping is faster and more reliable.
Another China-based GearBest alternative is Chinabrands. Chinabrands also has an extensive collection of items yet is less popular than Alibaba.com. The platform has been operating since 2011; perhaps explaining why it has deeper roots than GearBest.
Unlike Alibaba.com and other GearBest alternatives, Chinabrands specializes in working with dropshippers. In this arrangement, individuals set up small-scale eCommerce websites while relying on Chinabrands for stock. Consequently, Chinabrands has an immense stature among resellers.
Banggood, on the other hand, is a lesser-known GearBest alternative. Customers can buy wholesale electronics, home appliances and other items available for buying wholesale. Similar to Alibaba.com, Chinabrands and GearBest, Banggood has a group of warehouses in multiple locations to expedite shipping.
Our Verdict: GearBest Review
It is a considerable advantage in today’s market if an eCommerce platform can withstand scrutiny – especially in an era of fraud. In this GearBest review, the key objective was to provide readers with answers to several common questions.
One of our objectives was to reassure customers who are asking questions like, “Is GearBest legit?” Similarly we wanted to address the question of, “Is GearBest reliable?” Additionally, we wanted to establish if there is a GearBest scam going on.
First, we determined that a GearBest scam does not exist. Despite customers lodging several GearBest complaints, the company’s customer service department has shown that they are quick to respond to customers. Another reason we do not believe there is a GearBest scam is the platform’s reliability. Most customers have left positive GearBest reviews, mainly speaking about their trust in the platform.
Secondly, this GearBest review aimed to ascertain the safety of the platform. Secure eCommerce platforms need to have appropriate security certifications – a condition that GearBest satisfies. Also, the platform offers numerous secure payment options and the company’s authentication layers are robust.
Lastly, the number of GearBest complaints is low and most of the complaints have to do with the late delivery of orders during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this regard, one can argue that delivery quality will improve once global supply chains are restored to normalcy. Overall, this review determined that most of the GearBest alternatives fall behind this platform in terms of reliability and safety.
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Conclusion – Overview and About GearBest
The online wholesale market is reaching new heights of popularity and growth, especially as the demand for affordable items rises. Today, one can easily buy wholesale electronics and then resell at a profit afterward.
Sites like GearBest are the stage on which the wholesale market is unfolding. In this GearBest review, it was established that the platform is indeed legitimate, reliable and safe. As such, customers should not lose sleep over the possibility of a GearBest scam. Happy shopping!
Image Sources:
- https://pixabay.com/illustrations/digitization-phone-hands-networking-2118531/
- https://pixabay.com/illustrations/ear-phone-music-headphones-gadget-955352/
- https://www.gearbest.com/about/about-us.html
- https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52771858
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